Drugs Can Kill You

I've always thought of ibuprofen as "strong aspirin". Even when my wife told me she wasn't supposed to be taking it while pregnant, it didn't faze me. Sure, Prozac and Zoloft have side effects, but we're talking about stuff for your headaches (something I seldom get), not your lifestyle (another blog there entirely). It wasn't until I damaged my shoulder about three months back that I began to see the light.

Thinking myself quite clever and manly, I substituted the doctor's offer of a prescription pain-killer with the readily available and (I thought) milder, Motrin. Heck, I had some in the bathroom. Beats an extra co-pay. However, two weeks later when my bowels were, how shall I put it, not dealing very well with life, I began to wonder if something was up.

When I counsel people, the subject of drugs inevitably comes up. For this reason, awhile back I picked up a copy of the appropriately titled, Pill Book. Thinking such a small-timer as ibuprofen wouldn't even make the pages of this tome, I started flipping through. Sure enough, ibuprofen is one of a group of drugs called NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). I know, most of you know this already. But did you know this? (courtesy of medicinenet):

SIDE EFFECTS: The most common side effects from ibuprofen are rash, ringing in the ears, headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, constipation and heartburn. [Did they say "most common"?] Ibuprofen may cause ulceration of the stomach or intestine, and the ulcers may bleed. Sometimes, ulceration and bleeding can occur without abdominal pain, and black tarry stools, weakness, and dizziness upon standing (orthostatic hypotension) may be the only signs of a problem. NSAIDs reduce the flow of blood to the kidneys and impair function of the kidneys. The impairment is most likely to occur in patients with preexisting impairment of kidney function or congestive heart failure, and use of NSAIDs in these patients should be done cautiously. People who are allergic to other NSAIDs, including aspirin, should not use ibuprofen. Individuals with asthma are more likely to experience allergic reactions to ibuprofen and other NSAIDs.

It appears ibuprofen can cause the very things you are taking it to get rid of. But that's just the beginning. The truth is, according to the Pill Book, ibuprofen is lethal (that means it can kill you).

So when I learned today that the FDA had just pulled Bextra, a subset of the NSAIDs, and is ordering the strongest possible warnings for all other NSAIDs that are still available, it gave me a moment's pause.

The LA Times tells it like it is:
"New drugs are tested on a few thousand patients at most, and side effects may not emerge until after a drug reaches the market, when tens of thousands of people begin using it, the critics said. If the side effect is a relatively common problem such as a heart attack, it may not stand out even then."

Here's Slate's take: "It's not that there's new data revealing previously unknown risks for the drugs. The problem is something of the opposite: There are few long-term studies so, as the New York Times puts it, 'regulators are groping a bit in the dark.'"

Hello. Hello. You are telling me we have no idea what damage this stuff can actually do? So I'm back to the Pill Book, where I learn that NSAIDs are cox-inhibitors. What are those? Well, they aren't ways of stopping this, unlike the TV-Zapper. Medterms.com tells me "Cox-inhibitors can reduce inflammation, but they may also decrease the natural protective mucus lining of the stomach." Did you catch that second part? They block the very things that are there to protect me. Inflammation is my body's way of healing and I'm taking something to stop my body from doing its job.

Okay, maybe I'm going overboard, but I don't think so. I'm sticking with acetaminophen, which has no adverse side-effects, or better yet: an ice pack and a good night's sleep.