SIX OF THE MOST DANGEROUS PRESCRIPTION DRUGS AND WHAT YOU MUST KNOW

The pharmaceutical industry makes sky-high profits that allow them to move quickly from one faulty drug to the next. The side effects of prescription medication can be horrific. Is it really worth taking medication if the cure is worse than the disease. It does not necessarily mean that every medication he prescribes is safe for you. The latest studies have shown that many of the popular prescription drugs have potentially serious side-effects, ranging from short-term nausea and headaches to chronic inflammatory myopathy and heart disease — and in some cases even worse. Whether it’s an FDA advisory or a trial lawyer solicitation about harm that may have been done to you, the warnings are always belated and useless.

Here are six classes of prescription drugs you should definitely think twice about taking due to their inherent dangers:

  1. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are drugs which irreversibly inhibit proton pump (H+/K+ ATPase) function and are the most potent gastric acid-suppressing agents in clinical use. There is now a substantial body of evidence showing improved efficacy of PPIs over the histamine H2 receptor antagonists and other drugs in acid-related disorders. PPIs may increase the risk of Clostridium difficile infection. High doses and long-term use (1 year or longer) may increase the risk of osteoporosis-related fractures of the hip, wrist, or spine. Prolonged use also reduces absorption of vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin).

Long-term use of PPIs has also been associated with low levels of magnesium (hypomagnesemia). Analysis of patients taking PPIs for long periods of time showed an increased risk of heart attacks.

Therefore, it is important to use the lowest doses and shortest duration of treatment necessary for the condition being treated.

  1. Statins

Statins are a class of drugs often prescribed by doctors to help lowercholesterol levels in the blood. By lowering the levels, they help prevent heart attacks and stroke. Studies show that, in certain people,statins reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and even death fromheart disease by about 25% to 35%. Studies also show that statins can reduce the chances of recurrent strokes or heart attacks by about 40%. Statins lower LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol levels. At the same time, they lower triglycerides and raise HDL cholesterol levels. Statins may also help to stabilize plaques in the arteries. That makes heart attacks less likely. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle while taking a statin can improve the effectiveness of the drug.

  1. Antibiotics

Simply put, antibiotics are poisons that are used to kill. Only licensed physicians can prescribe them. The drugs are used to kill bacteria. Certainly, many people have benefited from using them. However, if bacteria were the only organisms that antibiotics killed, much of this book would be unnecessary. In fact, I contend that poisons that kill small organisms in small doses — organism-specific varieties notwithstanding — can also kill big organisms, when they are taken in big doses. You, my friend, are a big organism. Tons of antibiotics are fed to American livestock on a daily basis, purportedly to proof them against bacteria. This practice not only possibly contributes to antibiotic resistance in humans — many experts feel weight gain, and not disease prevention, is the real reason antibiotics are so widely used. Fat cattle sell for more than thin cattle. That’s all very well, but imagine what the antibiotics thereby possibly present in dairy products could be doing to our children’s health.

  1. Antipsychotics

Different antipsychotic drugs may have different effects. It is important to study the brain changes caused by antipsychotic drugs, since this may tell us how these drugs work and/or predict which individuals are more likely to experience side effects. The changes caused by antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are similar in kind to structural brain changes caused by drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and other brain diseases. It is incorrect to characterize these brain changes as an indication that these drugs are dangerous or should not be used.

  1. Opioid pain relievers

Opioid drugs such as OxyContin and Vicodin are among the most effective pain medications, but the likelihood of abuse and addiction has discouraged some doctors from prescribing them.
Pain doctors are starting to come around to prescribing opioids, says Roger Chou, MD, associate professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, in Portland. “If somebody’s at low risk [for addiction or abuse], opioids can be a reasonable option for chronic pain,” he says.
Today these medications are more readily prescribed, but they’re hardly risk-free. If you decide to take them, be on the lookout for these potential side effects.

  1. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

The side effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can be troublesome at first, but most improve with time. In general, SSRIs are better tolerated than most other types ofantidepressants. The majority of people will only experience a few mild side effects when taking them. It’s important to persist with treatment, even if you’re affected by side effects, as it will take several weeks before you begin to benefit from treatment. With time, you should find that the benefits of treatment outweigh problems related to side effects. Antidepressants like Prozac (fluoxetine), Zoloft (sertraline), Paxil (paroxetine), and Lexapro (escitalopram) have been around for years, but their dangers typically receive far less attention than they deserve. You’ll usually see your doctor every few weeks when you first start taking SSRIs to discuss how well the medication is working. However, you can contact your doctor at any point if you experience any particularly troublesome or persistent side effects.

 

Source : http://www.fhfn.org/