Side effects of medicine

[waltky]

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome...

The worst side effect you've never heard of
4/20/2011 - Common drugs can trigger rare and sometimes deadly Stevens-Johnson Syndrome

It only took two small pills to alter the course of Veronica Zenkner’s life forever. Seven years ago, Zenkner, then 13, popped a couple of ibuprofens over the course of two days, hoping to get rid of a headache — something she’d done many times in the past. But this time the drug triggered an allergic reaction that left the basketball-loving teen fighting for her life in a hospital burn unit. Zenkner, now 20, was a victim of one of the most frightening drug side effects you've likely never heard of: Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), a rare but devastating condition where the top layer of skin and mucous membranes, such as those covering the eyes and lips, blisters and peels off in waves. It can even affect the internal organs like the lungs. Some patients go blind. Some wind up with severe scarring. Some patients die.

In about half of all cases, doctors don’t know what jumpstarts the syndrome. Sometimes an infection is to blame. Or, in rare cases, a malignancy. But one of the most likely causes lurks in the medicine cabinet: over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Although virtually any drug can cause the disorder, the medications most often implicated include anticonvulsants, antibiotics like penicillin and sulfonamides, and common anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin, naproxen and ibuprofen, like Zenkner took.

Some over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen, for example, warn consumers of “severe allergic reactions,” such as rash, blisters or facial swelling, with no mention of SJS specifically, or its devastating effects. But other drugs such as the anticonvulsant Lamictal (lamotrogine) carry the FDA’s black box warning, cautioning physicians about the potential for patients to develop SJS. But the problem is that most of us don’t pay much attention to those labels — or recognize what the warning really means. In cases where SJS does develop, recognizing the symptoms and stopping the medication immediately is key, but many don't even know what to look for, experts say.

More The worst side effect you've never heard of - Health - Health care - More health news - msnbc.com

See also:

Grandsons may be affected by old pregnancy drug
4/20/2011 - Diethylstilbestrol was prescribed decades ago to prevent pregnancy complications

Four decades after doctors realized that a drug called DES — used to prevent pregnancy complications — had devastating consequences for babies, a new study finds those effects may be reverberating into the third generation. French researchers report that the grandsons of women who took diethylstilbestrol (DES) are more likely than other men to have deformations in the opening of the penis. Doctors prescribed DES to pregnant women in the mid-20th century until research, published 40 years ago this week, revealed a tragic side effect: girls exposed in the womb have a vastly higher chance of developing a cancer in the vagina. Later studies found that girls whose mothers took DES while pregnant were also more likely to have birth defects and fertility problems.

One of the birth defects suspected in boys is hypospadias, in which the urethra (the tube that carries urine) ends somewhere along the penis or close to the scrotum, rather than at the tip of the penis. About 4 out of every 1,000 boys are born with hypospadias. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it's unclear whether DES increased the risk of hypospadias, but some studies have shown a link. Previous studies have also suggested that the effects of DES might transmit down to the third generation - to the grandchildren of women who took the drug.

In this study, Dr. Nicolas Kalfa at Universite Montpellie and colleagues looked at the number of hypospadias cases among the sons and grandsons of a group of women who took DES. The women reported using DES during 1,000 pregnancies, and did not take the drug during 180 pregnancies. About 3 out of every 100 boys exposed to DES while their mother was pregnant had the defect. There were no cases of hypospadias when mothers did not take DES. Among grandsons, the only ones to have the malformation were the sons of daughters who were exposed to the drug prenatally. Eight out of every 100 grandsons in this group had hypospadias.

More http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42685291/ns/health-pregnancy/

 

[Grace]

Which is why one should stick to what granny's granny did back in wagon wheel days. Home remedies, deal with the ailment the best you can, and know you live, then you die. All this medicine being shoved in our bodies is killing us more than the disease that may be inhabiting it.

 

[Grace]

btw...don't google images of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. It will give you nightmares. I'd kill myself.

 

[editec]

FYI: The contraindications for Marijuana​

Marijuana is remarkably safe to use. To date, there are no known fatalities. A lethal dose would be 20,000 to 40,000 times higher than a normal dose: consumption cannot induce a fatal overdose. However, as with any medication, it may not be harmless in some who have an increased risk such as pregnant or nursing mothers, adolescents, and persons with a family history of mental illness.

In particular, before deciding if the use of cannabis is safe, you should consult with your physician and review the potential for risk if you have the following conditions: pulmonary disease such as COPD, Hepatitis C, heart disease, stroke or hypertension.​

Good to know, eh?

 

[strollingbones]

ahh grace...the outward appearance is nothing compared to what it does to one's innards.

but the side effects of meds....sometimes i listen to commericals for a new drug and then listen to the side effects.....who knew what anal leakage was till they produced potato chips with that stuff that caused 'anal leakage' ....is that just a pr word for shitting your pants

the one i love is the pill to cure your yellow toes.....it can kill you.....yellow toes cant...and yellow toes are best treated with....*drum roll here please* vicks vapor rub

 

[Grace]

Commercials for drugs scare the bejesus out of me.
I really really really need to study up on herbal remedies, edible plants with healing properties and just become a witch with my own concoctions.

I don't have yellow nails but when I get older and if they turn yellow, I'll keep it in mind.

I think I'll go to the used book store and stock up on some herbal remedy books.

 

[editec]

Commercials for drugs scare the bejesus out of me.
I really really really need to study up on herbal remedies, edible plants with healing properties and just become a witch with my own concoctions.

I don't have yellow nails but when I get older and if they turn yellow, I'll keep it in mind.

I think I'll go to the used book store and stock up on some herbal remedy books.

Be CAREFUL with those, too.

Some of those nostrums can be very strong medicines with very serious contraindications.

Just because it is natural, does not mean it is benign.

 

[Grace]

Yes, I know. Most drugs are made from herbal plants. But I'd like to go as natural as I can. Hence my fascination with apple cider vinegar.

 

[whitehall]

More and more we are seeing Ads for prescription drugs on TV and everywhere else. Apparently the law says that the drug companies must list the side effects of prescription drugs and that's a good thing. On the radio they speed up the words so you can hardly understand it but on TV they are more up front although they use words that might tend to confuse people. "Some fatal episodes have occurred" means the drug could kill you. I've seen them recite horrifying side effects for drugs that are supposed to cure relatively harmless ailments. Who would take a chance like that?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Fear is a crazy thing. One would think millions are dying when in fact almost no one is affected.

One of the medications I take for controlling my depression ( it is also an anti psycotic)can have a chance to affect the heart and can cause higher blood sugar. I have diabetes.

For what that medication does for me I do not care what the side effects are.

Informed choice is the word you are looking for. Learn the side effects and potential side effects before you take it. Funny thing is that for every medication over the counter or prescribed one can and does get a sheet that clearly lists all known and suspected side effects.

 

[Samson]

I think to avoid side effects of the Medicines must adopt Naturopathy and Yoga to our lifes.

Masturbating to a recording of Whale Sounds doesn't work for everyone.

 

[editec]

The number of deaths and serious injuries associated with prescription drug use rose to record levels in the first quarter of this year, with 4,825 deaths and nearly 21,000 injuries, a watchdog group said Wednesday.

The most dangerous medications were the anti-smoking drug varenicline, which was linked to 1,001 injuries and 50 deaths in the three-month period ending in March, and the blood thinner heparin, which was associated with 779 injuries and 102 deaths.

The data came from voluntary reports of adverse effects to the Food and Drug Administration, which made the data public after stripping information that identified victims. Because the reporting is voluntary, researchers have speculated that fewer than 10% of adverse events actually make it into the system.

source

 

[waltky]

Stick with metformin, it's safer...

Drug linked to increased risk for older diabetics
New research shows that older people with type 2 diabetes who take drugs known as sulfonylureas to lower their blood sugar levels may face a higher risk for heart problems than their counterparts who take metformin.

Of the more than 8,500 people aged 65 or older with type 2 diabetes who were enrolled in the trial, 12.4 percent of those given a sulfonylurea drug experienced a heart attack or other cardiovascular event, compared with 10.4 percent of those who were started on metformin. In addition, these heart problems occurred earlier in the course of treatment among those people taking the sulfonylurea drugs, the study showed. The head-to-head comparison trial is slated to be presented Saturday at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting in San Diego. Because the findings are being reported at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. With type 2 diabetes, the body either does not produce enough of the hormone insulin or doesn't use the insulin it does produce properly. In either case, the insulin can't do its job, which is to deliver glucose (blood sugar) to the body's cells. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood and can wreak havoc on the body.

Metformin and sulfonylurea drugs -- the latter a class of diabetes drugs including glyburide, glipizide, chlorpropamide, tolbutamide and tolazamide -- are often among the first medications prescribed to lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. The findings are important, the researchers noted, partly because sulfonylurea drugs are commonly prescribed among the elderly to lower blood glucose levels. In addition, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among people with type 2 diabetes. For several reasons, however, the new study on these medications is far from the final word on the issue, experts said. For one, people who are started on the sulfonylureas instead of metformin are often sicker to begin with, said Dr. Spyros G. Mezitis, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Metformin cannot be prescribed to people with certain kidney and heart problems, he said.

Both medications lower blood glucose levels, but go about it in entirely different ways, he explained. "The sulfonylureas lower blood sugar by making the body produce more insulin, and this may cause low blood sugar or hypoglycemia," he said. In contrast, metformin enhances the activity of the insulin that the body produces. Previous research has shown that metformin is not linked with as high a risk of low blood sugar as the sulfonylureas. Hypoglycemia robs the muscles -- including those in the heart -- of the glucose they need for energy, so they don't work as well. This is why these drugs may confer a higher risk for heart attack, Mezitis said. The new study, however, is based only on observations and does not prove any cause-and-effect relationship between these drugs and heart problems. Dr. Jerome V. Tolbert, medical director of the outreach team at the Friedman Diabetes Institute in New York City, urged caution in reacting to the new findings.

"I wouldn't bet on this study and say, 'Everyone stop taking sulfonylureas,'" he said. But, "we are using less and less of these drugs because there are now newer and better drugs out there," he added. Some of the newer drugs are more costly, he noted. "If you are concerned about your risks, talk to your doctor for reassurance," he said, adding that people should never stop taking any prescribed medication without first talking to their doctor. Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, agreed that the latest findings are far from definitive. But, "we are using sulfonylureas less and less now," he said. "And we are only using them in very specific patients and often for short periods of times to treat high blood sugar, and then we switch to another drug."

Source

 

[geauxtohell]

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome...

The worst side effect you've never heard of
4/20/2011 - Common drugs can trigger rare and sometimes deadly Stevens-Johnson Syndrome

It only took two small pills to alter the course of Veronica Zenkner’s life forever. Seven years ago, Zenkner, then 13, popped a couple of ibuprofens over the course of two days, hoping to get rid of a headache — something she’d done many times in the past. But this time the drug triggered an allergic reaction that left the basketball-loving teen fighting for her life in a hospital burn unit. Zenkner, now 20, was a victim of one of the most frightening drug side effects you've likely never heard of: Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), a rare but devastating condition where the top layer of skin and mucous membranes, such as those covering the eyes and lips, blisters and peels off in waves. It can even affect the internal organs like the lungs. Some patients go blind. Some wind up with severe scarring. Some patients die.

In about half of all cases, doctors don’t know what jumpstarts the syndrome. Sometimes an infection is to blame. Or, in rare cases, a malignancy. But one of the most likely causes lurks in the medicine cabinet: over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Although virtually any drug can cause the disorder, the medications most often implicated include anticonvulsants, antibiotics like penicillin and sulfonamides, and common anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin, naproxen and ibuprofen, like Zenkner took.

Some over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen, for example, warn consumers of “severe allergic reactions,” such as rash, blisters or facial swelling, with no mention of SJS specifically, or its devastating effects. But other drugs such as the anticonvulsant Lamictal (lamotrogine) carry the FDA’s black box warning, cautioning physicians about the potential for patients to develop SJS. But the problem is that most of us don’t pay much attention to those labels — or recognize what the warning really means. In cases where SJS does develop, recognizing the symptoms and stopping the medication immediately is key, but many don't even know what to look for, experts say.

More The worst side effect you've never heard of - Health - Health care - More health news - msnbc.com

See also:

Grandsons may be affected by old pregnancy drug
4/20/2011 - Diethylstilbestrol was prescribed decades ago to prevent pregnancy complications

Four decades after doctors realized that a drug called DES — used to prevent pregnancy complications — had devastating consequences for babies, a new study finds those effects may be reverberating into the third generation. French researchers report that the grandsons of women who took diethylstilbestrol (DES) are more likely than other men to have deformations in the opening of the penis. Doctors prescribed DES to pregnant women in the mid-20th century until research, published 40 years ago this week, revealed a tragic side effect: girls exposed in the womb have a vastly higher chance of developing a cancer in the vagina. Later studies found that girls whose mothers took DES while pregnant were also more likely to have birth defects and fertility problems.

One of the birth defects suspected in boys is hypospadias, in which the urethra (the tube that carries urine) ends somewhere along the penis or close to the scrotum, rather than at the tip of the penis. About 4 out of every 1,000 boys are born with hypospadias. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it's unclear whether DES increased the risk of hypospadias, but some studies have shown a link. Previous studies have also suggested that the effects of DES might transmit down to the third generation - to the grandchildren of women who took the drug.

In this study, Dr. Nicolas Kalfa at Universite Montpellie and colleagues looked at the number of hypospadias cases among the sons and grandsons of a group of women who took DES. The women reported using DES during 1,000 pregnancies, and did not take the drug during 180 pregnancies. About 3 out of every 100 boys exposed to DES while their mother was pregnant had the defect. There were no cases of hypospadias when mothers did not take DES. Among grandsons, the only ones to have the malformation were the sons of daughters who were exposed to the drug prenatally. Eight out of every 100 grandsons in this group had hypospadias.

More Grandsons may be affected by old pregnancy drug - Health - Pregnancy - msnbc.com

I've heard of S-J-S and the fatal complication of it (TEN). Considering the massive number of people who take bactrim and other causative drugs that never have any problem, it's worth knowing about. It's not worth abandoning drug therapy.

 

[geauxtohell]

Which is why one should stick to what granny's granny did back in wagon wheel days. Home remedies, deal with the ailment the best you can, and know you live, then you die. All this medicine being shoved in our bodies is killing us more than the disease that may be inhabiting it.

And their average life expectancy was 45. Ever wonder why Cancer has become such a big deal in the past 80 years? Because people generally need to live for about 50 years to start worrying about cancer.

Things were soooooooooooooooo much better back in the good old days.

 

[geauxtohell]

Commercials for drugs scare the bejesus out of me.
I really really really need to study up on herbal remedies, edible plants with healing properties and just become a witch with my own concoctions.

I don't have yellow nails but when I get older and if they turn yellow, I'll keep it in mind.

I think I'll go to the used book store and stock up on some herbal remedy books.

Be CAREFUL with those, too.

Some of those nostrums can be very strong medicines with very serious contraindications.

Just because it is natural, does not mean it is benign.

Absurd. Everyone knows "all natural" means it can't be bad for you!

[Fulminant liver failure after administration of t... [Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 2001] - PubMed result

 

[geauxtohell]

Fear is a crazy thing. One would think millions are dying when in fact almost no one is affected.

One of the medications I take for controlling my depression ( it is also an anti psycotic)can have a chance to affect the heart and can cause higher blood sugar. I have diabetes.

For what that medication does for me I do not care what the side effects are.

Informed choice is the word you are looking for. Learn the side effects and potential side effects before you take it. Funny thing is that for every medication over the counter or prescribed one can and does get a sheet that clearly lists all known and suspected side effects.

And that is the reality. Every foreign substance you put in your body (to include the "magical cure all drug Marijuana") is risk/reward.

 

[geauxtohell]

Stick with metformin, it's safer...

Drug linked to increased risk for older diabetics
New research shows that older people with type 2 diabetes who take drugs known as sulfonylureas to lower their blood sugar levels may face a higher risk for heart problems than their counterparts who take metformin.

Of the more than 8,500 people aged 65 or older with type 2 diabetes who were enrolled in the trial, 12.4 percent of those given a sulfonylurea drug experienced a heart attack or other cardiovascular event, compared with 10.4 percent of those who were started on metformin. In addition, these heart problems occurred earlier in the course of treatment among those people taking the sulfonylurea drugs, the study showed. The head-to-head comparison trial is slated to be presented Saturday at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting in San Diego. Because the findings are being reported at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. With type 2 diabetes, the body either does not produce enough of the hormone insulin or doesn't use the insulin it does produce properly. In either case, the insulin can't do its job, which is to deliver glucose (blood sugar) to the body's cells. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood and can wreak havoc on the body.

Metformin and sulfonylurea drugs -- the latter a class of diabetes drugs including glyburide, glipizide, chlorpropamide, tolbutamide and tolazamide -- are often among the first medications prescribed to lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. The findings are important, the researchers noted, partly because sulfonylurea drugs are commonly prescribed among the elderly to lower blood glucose levels. In addition, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among people with type 2 diabetes. For several reasons, however, the new study on these medications is far from the final word on the issue, experts said. For one, people who are started on the sulfonylureas instead of metformin are often sicker to begin with, said Dr. Spyros G. Mezitis, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Metformin cannot be prescribed to people with certain kidney and heart problems, he said.

Both medications lower blood glucose levels, but go about it in entirely different ways, he explained. "The sulfonylureas lower blood sugar by making the body produce more insulin, and this may cause low blood sugar or hypoglycemia," he said. In contrast, metformin enhances the activity of the insulin that the body produces. Previous research has shown that metformin is not linked with as high a risk of low blood sugar as the sulfonylureas. Hypoglycemia robs the muscles -- including those in the heart -- of the glucose they need for energy, so they don't work as well. This is why these drugs may confer a higher risk for heart attack, Mezitis said. The new study, however, is based only on observations and does not prove any cause-and-effect relationship between these drugs and heart problems. Dr. Jerome V. Tolbert, medical director of the outreach team at the Friedman Diabetes Institute in New York City, urged caution in reacting to the new findings.

"I wouldn't bet on this study and say, 'Everyone stop taking sulfonylureas,'" he said. But, "we are using less and less of these drugs because there are now newer and better drugs out there," he added. Some of the newer drugs are more costly, he noted. "If you are concerned about your risks, talk to your doctor for reassurance," he said, adding that people should never stop taking any prescribed medication without first talking to their doctor. Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, agreed that the latest findings are far from definitive. But, "we are using sulfonylureas less and less now," he said. "And we are only using them in very specific patients and often for short periods of times to treat high blood sugar, and then we switch to another drug."

Source

Most people still on sulfonureas are on them because their A1C is way too high to be controlled by Metformin alone.

Though, Metformin is a good drug. It's a shame that it's best use is in staving off diabetes/metabolic syndrome and most people get on it too late.

 

[editec]

Mostly, the increase in life average expectancy has to do with more of us surviving childbirth and the early childhood diseases, and with better nutrition, folks.

Modern medicine is just now beginning to seriously impact average life expectency.

If you want an example of that, go check out a 19th century graveyeard and read the ages of the people buried there.

The number of kids who died under 5 years old is startling.

 

[Loveyourbody008]

When you are taking many medications there are secondary unwanted effects that a person should expect, because as far as I know allmost all medications have it's side effects. Adverse effects may happen when taking, reducing and increasing the dosage of the drug, or by not being compliant of the medication. Your way of living and dietary changes may help to decrease the effects of drugs.