Posted on 04/04/2007 9:10:23 PM PDT by blam
High doses of ibuprofen raise heart attack risk
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
Last Updated: 2:05am BST 05/04/2007
The common pain killer ibuprofen has been found to increase an existing risk of having a heart attack or a stroke in people who suffer from arthritis, research shows today.
For some the risk was nine times higher.
The findings bring more anxiety to the millions of arthritis sufferers in Britain as they follow a series of research studies that have shown increased risk of heart disease from the pain killers they take to ease the condition.
The latest evidence comes from a study of more than 18,000 people who took one of three pain killers for their arthritis.
One patient in 10 was also at high risk of heart attack or stroke and some of these patients took low dose aspirin as well as one of the pain killers for arthritis. For high risk patients taking both aspirin and ibuprofen the risk of a heart attack or stroke was nine times greater, over one year, when compared with those who were taking one of the other arthritis painkillers, lumiracoxib, alone.
In the new research, published in the journal, Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, patients were taking either a high dose of lumiracoxib, a type of drug known as a cox-2 inhibitor, high dose of ibuprofen or naproxen, which are both non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs known as NSAIDs.
The study from the cardiovascular institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, says that the findings fit with other work that has shown that ibuprofen interferes with the effects of aspirin when it is taken to prevent blood clots.
The researchers, led by Dr Michael E Farkouh, say it is the first time this effect has been shown in arthritis patients. In the study 3,042 patients were at high cardiovascular risk and of these 623 were taking ibuprofen for their arthritis pain. About half of them were also taking aspirin.
The results showed that there was no difference in the total number of heart attacks or strokes among patients who had a low risk of such an event, whichever painkiller they were taking.
The risk was only for those at a high risk of a heart attack or stroke. In this group for those not taking aspirin the risk was higher for people taking lumiracoxib than it was for those taking naproxen. But it was no higher for those taking ibuprofen alone.
Prof Alan Silman, medical director of the Arthritis Research Campaign, said: "This is now a very complicated story. It is not just a simple relationship between ibuprofen and the risk of heart disease alone. It should be noted that people in the trial were taking very high doses of ibuprofen a day (2.4g). Very few people would be taking that amount and there is no evidence at all that at low doses ibuprofen is harmful.
"But there does seem to be this relationship between ibuprofen and aspirin. This is the unexpected finding. You might be losing the protective benefits of aspirin if you also take ibuprofen," he said.
Prof Silman added that people already taking ibuprofen successfully should continue to do so but if they were taking low dose aspirin as well they could talk to their doctor.
A spokesman for the support group, Arthritis Care, said: "Although low dose ibuprofen is now available over the counter, the high levels involved in this test are likely only be taken on prescription, and under medical supervision, by people with severe and chronic pain."
Ibuprofen Can Double Risk Of Heart Attack, Says Medical Study
ping
Life is fatal if you live long enough.
This is a fairly high dosage, considering that the average off-the-shelf pill is no more than 200mg, although prescriptions can range to 800 mg. Nonetheless, an interesting study.
bump
btt
Another excuse to stick with my favorite pills in the world- Vicodin.
Yes, with those you only have to worry about Liver failure if taken in high doses . It’s just all depends which way you want to go out .
I tell any patient taking low dose aspirin for cardiovascular disease or stroke prevention to take the aspirin at least 2 hours before any NSAID.
Here we go..........bring on the lawsuits!
Life: a sexually transmitted disease with a 100% mortality rate.
My mom is prescribed 2400mg (3 800mg pills) per day. Since Vioxx was taken off the market, more and more people have been prescribed high doses of ibuprofen. (If one doesn’t kill you, the other will.)
This has me worried, since she has been short of breath with relatively low levels of activity. I am going to suggest (vehemently) she see her doctor again, since my dad had similar symptoms just before he died of a massive heart attack.
She has a bad combination of high blood pressure and severe arthritis in her knees.
The risk seems to be to people already in danger of a heart attack, or stroke, not to those who have no pre-existing risk.
Statistics have proven that 100% of the people who live a healthy lifestyle...die!!! The same statistics hold true for pain relievers.
Have her try giving up dairy for two weeks to see if it helps her arthritis. She can go back on it if it doesn’t, but it’s a small sacrifice if it does. My mother just recently went off dairy and the pain in her arthritic knees has stopped and she’s able to get around a lot better.
Do a Google search on dairy and arthritis, it’s the highest ranked food for causing arthritis/join pain.
200mg tablets, Recommended "1 tablet every 4 to 6 hours, not to exceed 6 tablets in a 24 hour period".
So, if you double the dosage over an extended period of time, it's bad for you. Makes sense to me.
May consider some Co Q-10 too.
Liver failure is very real when taking acetaminophen. The newest studies say no more than 4 grams a day. If you take too much, you can have liver failure in just two weeks. If you take the whole bottle, you get liver failure within 2 days. Your liver is already a gonner on the first day, it just takes two days for it to hit you because you appear to get better.
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