Mixed Meds Can Pack a Deadly Punch!

[Guest guest]

Mixed Meds Can Pack a Deadly Punch! JoAnn Guest Feb 11, 2003 07:44 PST

Mixed Meds Can Pack a Deadly Punch

Fri Feb 7, 5:10 PM ET

 

 

By Randy Dotinga

HealthScoutNews Reporter

 

FRIDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthScoutNews) -- Millions of Americans, especially

women, could be putting themselves at risk by taking combinations of

common medications with potentially deadly side effects.

 

 

 

Or, they might not be in much danger at all.

 

 

Those are the conflicting messages of a new study that examines how many

people get prescriptions for drugs that could work together to create

havoc in the heart.

 

 

" The next step that's really crucial is for us to better understand what

the real risks are associated with these drugs, " says study co-author

Lesley Curtis, a research associate with Duke University's Clinical

Research Institute.

 

 

Many drugs have the potential to disrupt the heart's rhythm and cause a

condition known as torsade de pointes. In some cases, especially among

susceptible people, the condition could make the heart thrash

uncontrollably and lead to death.

 

 

Some common drugs that could cause the condition include the antibiotics

clarithromycin, levofloxacin and erythromycin, and the antidepressants

Prozac and Zoloft, says Dr. Joe Selby, director of research for the

Kaiser Permanente Health Plan in Northern California.

 

 

Medical reference books let doctors know that the drugs could

potentially lengthen the " QT interval, " the time between beats when the

heart reboots itself electronically, Selby says.

 

 

To determine how often patients were prescribed the drugs, Curtis and

colleagues examined statistics compiled by a pharmaceutical benefits

company about prescriptions for nearly 5 million people.

 

 

The study appears in the new issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

 

 

The researchers found that 23 percent of the subjects received

prescriptions for one or more of 50 drugs that could cause irregular

heartbeats. About 10 percent of these subjects were prescribed at least

two potentially risky drugs or one drug that could cause the condition

and another that could relieve it.

 

 

Half of all potentially risky prescriptions were for antidepressants,

and 64 percent of all the subjects were women, who are more likely to

suffer from depression.

 

 

Both Curtis and Selby says it's not clear how much danger the subjects

face by taking the drugs either by themselves or in combination with

others.

 

 

It's possible that many of the doctors who prescribe the drugs know

about the possible side effects and consider the potential benefits to

be worth the risk, Selby says. " We can't tell whether these

[prescriptions] are mistakes or conscious decisions, " he says.

 

 

JoAnn Guest

jgu-

DietaryTi-

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Botanicals.html

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/AIM.html

 

*theaimcompanies*

-Wisdom of the past,Food of the future-

" Health is not a Medical Issue "

 

 

 

The complete " Whole Body " Health line consists of the " AIM GARDEN TRIO "

Ask About Health Professional Support Series: AIM Barleygreen

 

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/AIM.html

 

 

 

 

 

SBC DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!