One of the most well known prescription drugs of the last several years is celecoxib, best recognized by its brand name, Celebrex. The huge Pfizer pharmaceutical company markets the drug. It is a capsule, and it is available only by prescription.

The purpose of Celebrex is to be an NSAID: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. It is used to treat arthritis, menstrual pain, and other kinds of pain. It can also reduce the number of polyps in the colon and rectum for certain patients with certain kinds of polyps.

At first, the main use for Celebrex was to relieve pain while causing fewer gastrointestinal side effects than most NSAIDs cause. Over the course of time, though, Celebrex came to be better known for other uses, particularly for long-term use. Taking it for temporary or short-term pain is probably no better than taking any other NSAID. It is over the long haul that Celebrex can be particularly beneficial.

But like all powerful drugs, Celebrex has side effects, some of them potentially serious and even life-threatening .Most of this was not particularly well-known when the drug was first marketed to the public. Like all NSAIDs, it has a risk of causing gastrointestinal and cardiovascular problems. But Celebrex is particularly dangerous with regard to the cardiovascular risks, even more so than other NSAIDs. In fact, the American Heart Association has declared that Celebrex should be used only as a last resort on patients who have heart disease or who are at risk for getting it.

There is also some indication that Celebrex might be useful in reducing the rate of some kinds of cancers in some patients, but considering the side effects of the drug, it has not been recommended for use for cancer prevention or reduction.

Like many new drugs, Celebrex was seen as something of a cure-all when it came on the market in 1999. Millions of people got prescriptions for it, and doctors happily prescribed it. The early tests indicated it was effective, safe, and not liable to cause many significant side effects. But then the Food and Drug Administration began to look at those tests more closely and see omissions, errors, and loopholes. The drug’s cardiovascular risks: heart disease, high blood pressure, and so forth, came to light, and many patients began to report side effects beyond the mild things they had been told to expect when they started taking the drug in the first place.

If you took Celebrex, you should see a doctor to determine whether any damage was done to your gastrointestinal system or cardiovascular system. Keep careful records of when you took the drug and for how long. It may turn out that you have suffered injury and do not even know it. For some kinds of gastrointestinal and cardiovascular damage, only a doctor’s tests can show what has been done.

As reluctant as you may be to make it a legal issue, you really should consult a lawyer to see what your options are. Pharmaceutical companies have an obligation to be up front and honest with patients about the effects their drugs can have. It is their job to know what their medications will do, and to inform the public accordingly before they start taking the pills by the millions.

Remember that the reason pharmaceutical companies are in business is to make money. A class-action lawsuit against a faulty drug may be all it takes to make the drug companies wake up and pay attention to what they are doing. If you have been harmed by Celebrex, you are certainly not alone, and you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to see an attorney to discuss your options.