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Ibuprofen Can Double Risk Of Heart Attack, Says Medical Study
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 6-2-2006 | Celia Hall

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."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: attack; can; double; health; heart; ibuprofen; medical; nothingtoseehere; painkillers; risk; study
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To: FreedomCalls

Thanks. But I will continue to take it whenever and how many I want.


41 posted on 06/01/2006 8:06:05 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Never forget Matt Maupin)
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To: Lancey Howard
SOURCE for above posts #39 and #40: Addiction Research Unit/University at Buffalo
42 posted on 06/01/2006 8:08:06 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: dawn53
"800 mg, three times a day, is a prescription dose (at least that's what I've been Rx'd after surgery.)"

Tell your docter you want to stop that if your are on it as an anti-inflammatory.

Voltaren is the most powerful anti-inflammatory pill you can get (sodium diclofenac). It works for me with only 2 each 75mg pills for a day. Neck, back, leg pains go away with only one pill.

Tramadol is Ultracet for pain at 375 mg each. It is more effective for pain than Darvocet or Vicodin. Non-opiate and non-addictive.

I used opiates for a longer time than I should because of injuries and discovered these two are all I need before I realized I needed them no more. Try them. Tell your doctor to order these chemicals for you. I have bad disks. You can't take aspirin or ibuprofin with these.

43 posted on 06/01/2006 8:14:31 PM PDT by BobS
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To: blam

Not trolling your thread, but I'm so sick of this endless litany of 'medical Studies'. I hear about them daily, sometimes multiple times, and they begin contradicting each other eventually. It's all white noise to me.


44 posted on 06/01/2006 8:17:24 PM PDT by KoRn
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To: Always Right

Just take this for aches and pains instead. It's probably not as bad for you as allot of the other junk that's out there lol.

45 posted on 06/01/2006 8:19:55 PM PDT by KoRn
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To: neverdem

ping


46 posted on 06/01/2006 8:20:27 PM PDT by GOPJ ("What we have learned from history is that we haven't learned from history." B.Disraeli)
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To: blam

Okay, define "high doses".


47 posted on 06/01/2006 8:22:01 PM PDT by BlessedBeGod (Benedict XVI = Terminator IV)
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To: GadareneDemoniac
Have no fear, in a couple of years a different bunch of "researchers" will state that Ibuprofen prevents heart attacks.

Ibuprofen may prevent Alzheimer's. And generally, anti-inflammatories should have health benefits. High doses of aspirin (too high to be tolerable), would probably cure type 2 diabetes.

48 posted on 06/01/2006 8:24:57 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: Annie5622
Thanks, I feel so much better now knowing I AM taking the high dosage. lol

Stole my line!

49 posted on 06/01/2006 8:25:56 PM PDT by org.whodat (Never let the facts get in the way of a good assumption.)
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To: blam

A year ago I was taking 6-8 325mg aspirin per day.....today I'm taking NONE....or one a week.....some people could benefit from FISH OIL.....it's an anti-inflammatory. But, you have to take substantial amounts daily.....course, the bio-identical hormones have helped a lot too, I think....and maybe the thyroid med...which I'm weaning off of....there are OTHER ways to deal with pain that is not caused by a specific incident injury.


50 posted on 06/01/2006 8:26:37 PM PDT by goodnesswins ( "the left can only take power through deception." (and it seems Hillary & Company are the masters)
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To: Lancey Howard

You can still buy absinthe around Pamplona and points north over the Pyrinees into France. Don't. A Tech Seargant got busted by a piss test after he tried it out while he was up there for a little vacation with his 3 kids and his wife. His career ended because of that. Just walk away.


51 posted on 06/01/2006 8:29:02 PM PDT by BobS
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To: blam

Whooops! My drug of choice for arthritis, degenerative disc pain and the daily hangover. Whats a guy to do?


52 posted on 06/01/2006 8:30:55 PM PDT by nkycincinnatikid
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To: Always Right

Aspirin is an NSAID class medication.


53 posted on 06/01/2006 8:33:03 PM PDT by Sarajevo
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To: Lancey Howard
Like mothers and pediatricians discovered that Dramamine would quiet the sick child ... active ingredient (diphenhydramine) is the salt of what makes the antihistamine, Benadryl (diphenhydronate), work and we know how drowsy one gets on Benadryl!
54 posted on 06/01/2006 8:37:02 PM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: blam

I am counting the seconds until the next Law Office of James Sokolove commercial...Have you taken ibuprofen? Do you want 2/3 (or less) of a lot of money?


55 posted on 06/01/2006 8:41:35 PM PDT by Sender ("Why, by God, I actually pity those poor sons-of-b*tches we're going up against. By God, I do".)
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To: FreedomCalls
Ibuprofen (800mg TID) is a normal prescription dosage for mild to moderate pain. Ibuprofen is safe at dosages of less than 3200mg per day.

The dosage warning is for over-the-counter ibuprofen.

56 posted on 06/01/2006 8:44:10 PM PDT by Sarajevo
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To: RepoGirl

800mg of Advil ping, FYI.


57 posted on 06/01/2006 8:45:12 PM PDT by ChuxsterS
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To: Sarajevo

The only exception is acetaminophen; it's usually classed in the discussion of pain relievers but is in a class by itself.

I took NSAIDS for thirty years on physician recommendation and nobody ever discussed acetaminophen as an effective pain reliever. Finally I had a bleeding ulcer from an allergic reaction to penicillin and so took a chance that acetaminophen could actually do something. My blood pressure readings dropped 20 points on both systolic and diastolic -- and no longer have chronic gastric distress.

A lot of people than suspected are probably allergic to NSAIDS in the same way I was with all these indeterminate afflictions that can't be explained. Acetaminophen is worth a try -- even if your doctor has been brainwashed into thinking it isn't as effective a pain reliever. Studies haven't indicated that; its weakness is that it doesn't possess as effective anti-inflammatory properties.


58 posted on 06/01/2006 8:54:17 PM PDT by MikeHu
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To: FreedomCalls

You are supposed to stop taking either aspirin or ibubrofin with sodium diclofenac. It is a big blood thinner along with being an anti-inflammatory. You are responsible for your own stroke.


59 posted on 06/01/2006 8:58:16 PM PDT by BobS
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To: ChuxsterS
Yikes. It's the only pain reliever that helps with my knees and elbows. Tylenol does nothing for me.
60 posted on 06/01/2006 9:07:06 PM PDT by RepoGirl ("That boy just ain't right..." Hank Hill)
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