Posted on 06/01/2006 6:35:06 PM PDT by blam
Ibuprofen can double risk of heart attack, says medical study
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
(Filed: 02/06/2006)
Common painkillers such as ibuprofen can double the risk of suffering a heart attack, a study has found.
Research published in the British Medical Journal analysed results of 138 trials involving 140,000 patients over several years. It found that ibuprofen and diclofenac, two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), could cause attacks when taken in high doses.
Vioxx: Banned in 2004
The drugs have been previously noted for increasing heart attack risk but experts say that this is the biggest and most definitive study of its kind.
Vioxx, which is part of a group of anti-inflammatories known as COX-2 inhibitors, was banned in 2004 after it was shown that patients on the drug were more than twice as likely to have heart attacks as those not taking it.
The latest study showed that, as expected, COX-2 inhibitors doubled the risk of an attack but so did NSAIDs.
When all "vascular events" - heart attacks, stroke, or vascular disease - were taken together, the risks increased by 40 per cent on the drugs.
Researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Rome carried out the study. They examined the results of all trials in which vascular events had been recorded for COX-2 inhibitors and NSAIDs. By combining the results, they were able to estimate the effects of these drugs more reliably than any individual trial.
They found that there were three more heart attacks per 1,000 people every year in those who did not already have heart disease but who were taking COX-2 inhibitors or NSAIDs.
Colin Baigent, who directed the research for the Medical Research Council, said that people should not panic at the findings - which relate to the highest doses recommended by doctors. "The rate is three heart attacks in every 1,000 patients treated for a year," he said. "For a person who is unable to move unless they take these drugs, they may be willing to accept that risk if [the drug] is giving them back their life."
Prof Peter Weissberg, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "This study adds to the mounting body of evidence that taking high doses of NSAIDs increases the chances of having a heart attack. However, the increased risk is small and many patients with chronic debilitating pain may well feel that this small risk is worth taking to relieve their symptoms."
The International Ibuprofen Foundation said: ''The occasional and short-term use of ibuprofen for minor pain conditions, i.e. the way the majority of consumers use over-the-counter ibuprofen products, is not shown to be a risk factor."
800 mg, three times a day, is a prescription dose (at least that's what I've been Rx'd after surgery.)
I take that much some days, and other days I take none. All depends on the pain level.
Tylenol will kill your liver, ibuprophen will give you a heart attack...well, you gotta go some way, so why not go out pain-free, LOL.
Quick work, thank you :)
You know what? Practically everything kills you.
No food is 100% safe, no drug, no substance is without adverse circumstances in at least some obscure scenario.
Frankly, the human body doesn't work forever. And that's pretty much not going to change.
Take the danged narcotics.
This is a load of BS. Heroin = Bad, Oxycontin = Good. The only things that makes Oxy "good" are the facts that it is made by a legitimized drug company from synthetic substances to EXACTLY mimic the effects of Heroin.
Nothing inherently wrong with either drug. Heroin would be fine, as long as its purity is assured and the patients can get enough of it as tolerance builds. Don't think for one minute you can't develop tolerance/addiction problems with ANY synthetic opiate. Better to be a FUNCTIONING addict than debilitated by pain.
Thanks, I feel so much better now knowing I AM taking the high dosage. lol
Don't you know? Suffering is good for you!
800mg three times a day is what you get prescribed after a minor surgery to take for a week or longer.
ping for later
The exception is acetaminophen (paracetamol), commonly known as Tylenol -- which should be the pain-reliever of first resort because of its much lower incidence of negative side-effects.
In fact, the drug makers have caused it to be overlooked in favor of much more expensive medications and often claim that it isn't much more than a placebo -- because of the absence of negative side-effects.
While as effective in providing pain relief to the receptors in the brain, they are not as effective anti-inflammatories, which can be addressed separately by inflammation reducing movements. The worst thing about the NSAIDS and COX-2 inhibitors is the propensity to produce gastric upset and thus keeping the body always stressed out by those concerns.
Hey, I've already had the heart attack - so I use wine. Pain free and smiling, at least in the evenings!
More LOL!!!
The only time liver damage seems to have occurred is because of suicical high dosages for the deliberate purpose of producing death in this manner.
Tht's like forcing the rats to consume 1,000 diet soft drinks daily to see if they will have bladder irritation -- and then extrapolating an increased probility of cancers from saccharine.
That was my wife's experience too.
You are giving very dangerous and incorrect information (Hope you are not a salesperson for J & J and Tylenol). Tylenol, known as paracetamol in most of the world, and as acetaminophen in the USA, is indeed, less damaging to the stomach than NSAIDS. However, it can be very dangerous to the liver, particularly in combination with alcohol. And when taken in a overdose, unlike aspirin, is almost always fatal. More children now die from accidental Tylenol poisoning,by far, than from aspirin overdose. So folks, please keep those bottles of Tylenol away from your children and grandchildren.
Two aspirin will do me in - I can only take willow bark caps - which has the active ingredient in aspirin, but still contains the buffers that nature built in - and I have no problem.
I also have good luck with homeopathic anti-inflammatories
This comment was made to someone I know regarding narcotics: "so what's worse? the pain or the constipation?"
It should also be noted that chronic pain also carries physical risk factors, not just discomfort. Elevated blood pressure for one. So, it seems to me, that one should wonder what other risk factors are already present in the population that has the need to use high doses of NSAIDs in the first place.
* Disclaimer: Don't take whole bottles of acetaminophen to kill yourself!
Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup was an indispensable aid to mothers and child-care workers. Containing one grain (65 mg) of morphine per fluid ounce, it effectively quieted restless infants and small children. It probably also helped mothers relax after a hard day's work. The company used various media to promote their product, including recipe books, calendars, and trade cards such as the one shown here from 1887 (A calendar is on the reverse side.).
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