I'm taking 150mg of diclofenac a day for PA until my Enbrel starts to > work. I'll be taking my first shot on Thursday.>

My dr. prescribed 100mg of the slow release at bedtime to help me sleep. > It usually helps enough to sleep and then have enough left over in the > morning so my poor wife doesn't have to dress me.>

He also prescribed 50mg diclofenac SOD so when the slow release wears off > I can take that.>

My question; the diclofenac can take hours to kick in. If I take it a 6AM > it'll start providing relief between 11 and noon. Is this normal for > diclofenac? The slow release can take a long time as well. (I'm also doing > hep-c tx)>

Anyone have any ideas?>

snip >I can also tell you that if you have to take cholesterol>> lowering medication as well, like I do, the dosage of these two different >> medications will cause liver problems if not monitored carefully. For >> instance: the most effective dosage of diclofenac for me is 75mg twice a >> day, and the most effective dosage of cholesterol lowering medication is >> 20mg of Zocor. But the two in combination always raises my hepatitis B >> liver count to unhealthy levels. So currently I am working with my Dr. to >> try and find a combination of the two meds that works, yet doesn't raise >> my liver count.>>

I've been taking 3 x 50mg of Diclofenac Sodium for years now. Once or > twice I've stopped taking it for various reasons. Within a couple of days > I can hardly walk.>

I'm four weeks into taking a 10mg daily dose of statins tablets for high > cholesterol. No side effects yet, but I don't know what the symptoms are > for "unhealthy levels". Could you tell me, or won't I know util the moment > I collapse lol>

Splodge

I have been taking diclofenac retard for years (100 mg daily). My> experience is similar to yours ie taken at breafast time, it takes> around 3 hrs to show any effect. This may not be totally a drug effect.> Remember that in the case of rheumatoid patients there is a natural> progression thro the day, and these people are generally at their best,> late morning until early afternoon. Fatigue can occur in the mid pm and> maybe they feel better for a while in the evening.>

Elimination half life is stated as 1.2 - 3hrs (slow release spreads the> release over a longer period and the effect of a single dose is much> longer than the half life) - See> http://en.wikipedia­.org/wiki/Diclofenac­> Max dose seems to be 150 mg daily, but 100 mg more usual.> My own experience is that a single 100 mg retard tablet is effective> for about 18 hrs.> I think, also, that increasing effectiveness over several days may be> due to the drug's progressive damping effect on inflammation rather> than to a continual build up in the body. Blood test have always been> part of my treatment. I also get occasional gut problems.>

Peter>