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With flu vaccination season in full swing, research from the University of Rochester Medical Center cautions that use of many common pain killers – Advil, Tylenol, aspirin – at the time of injection may blunt the effect of the shot and have a negative effect on the immune system. Richard P. Phipps, Ph.D., professor of Environmental Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and of Pediatrics, has been studying this issue for years and recently presented his latest findings to an international conference on inflammatory diseases. (http://bioactivelipidsconf.wayne.edu/) “What we’ve been saying all along, and continue to stress, is that it’s probably not a...

AP (CHICAGO) — Results from a large government experiment are dimming hopes that two common painkillers can prevent Alzheimer's disease or slow mental decline in older people. The arthritis drug Celebrex and the over-the-counter painkiller Aleve showed no benefit on thinking skills, new findings show. Earlier results from the same research showed the two drugs didn't prevent Alzheimer's, at least in the short term. The experiment was halted several years early in 2004 when heart risks turned up in a separate study on Celebrex. Researchers also had noticed more heart attacks and strokes in the people taking Aleve in the...

Women taking daily amounts of non-aspirin painkillers -- such as extra-strength Tylenol -- should monitor their blood pressure, doctors say following a new study suggesting a link between the drugs and hypertension. "If you're taking these over-the-counter medications at high dosages on a regular basis, make sure that you report it to your doctor and you're checking your blood pressure," said Dr. Christie Ballantyne, a cardiologist at the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center in Houston who had no role in the study. While many popular over-the-counter painkillers have been linked before to high blood pressure, acetaminophen, sold as Tylenol, has generally...

When Audrey Eisen flicked her computer on last Monday night and read the news that the painkiller Aleve had been linked to heart attacks, she winced in disbelief. Ms. Eisen, 64, a retired professor who lives in New York, had just returned from her drugstore with a package of Aleve. Her pharmacist allowed her to return it the next morning, no questions asked. It was the third painkiller in four months that Ms. Eisen, who has degenerative spine and disk disease, had quit abruptly because of studies linking the drugs to heart attacks. She flushed her Vioxx down the toilet...

The Painkiller Panic - Needed: A rational discussion on Vioxx, Celebrex and Aleve. Sunday, December 26, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST If there's silver lining to the sudden rash of unsettling news about painkillers, it's that just maybe it will force the American body politic to think twice about whether it really wants to destroy the pharmaceutical industry through an excess of litigation and reactionary over-regulation. If it were just Vioxx that caused occasional cardiovascular problems, after all, it would be easier to convince the ignorant and the opportunistic--i.e., likely jurors and Congressmen--that the FDA and the drug industry had erred...

Another Painkiller Linked to Heart RiskNIH Halts Study On Aleve Ingredient The epidemic of bad news about the potential risks of popular anti-inflammatory medications expanded yesterday as federal officials announced that naproxen, a painkiller sold by prescription and also over the counter as Aleve, might increase people's risk of having a heart attack or stroke. <> The new findings bring to three the number of widely used anti-inflammatory drugs suddenly in the spotlight for their potential health risks. Vioxx was pulled from the market this fall, and its sister drug Celebrex, the blockbuster arthritis drug, was linked to heart attacks...

In the fall, my Vioxx patients fled to Celebrex. Last week they fled to Aleve. This week they don't know what to do. Now that it was discovered that patients taking naproxen (Aleve) for three years had a 50 percent increased risk of heart disease, my patients want to know if any arthritis drug is safe. I tell them that all these drugs are probably safe — if taken for the right reasons and if judiciously prescribed. I tell them that the increased risk of heart disease is due to taking these drugs at high doses over a prolonged period...

A new study has found that Aleve, a popular over-the-counter painkiller made by Bayer, could increase heart problems, and federal officials are warning patients not to exceed the recommended dose of two 200-milligram pills a day or continue therapy for more than 10 days without consulting a physician. It was the fourth big-selling pain medicine in recent months to be suspected of hurting the heart, and federal drug officials said that similar drugs, like Advil, might also increase heart risks. The study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, was intended to measure whether Aleve and Celebrex, made by Pfizer,...

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration Monday issued a warning to patients taking the painkiller naproxen [snip] for increased risk of heart problems. Patients taking naproxen, [snip] should not take it for more than 10 days unless directed by their doctor, the FDA said in a statement.