Painkillers Increase Heart Risk / Chiropractic can Help

Patients frequently tell me that they are taking twice or three times the recommended dosage of some NSAID pain killers. Everyone has to be reminded that these drugs, both over the counter and prescription, carry a risk of increasing the risk of future heart attack.  This was brought to light after the withdrawal of Merck & Co.’s Vioxx a decade ago after it was linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular events.

An FDA panel recently did not find that the painkiller Naproxen Sodium (Naprosyn, Aleve) carried a lower risk of increasing heat attack potential with long term use.  Multiple clinical trials published last year in The Lancet suggested naproxen was less dangerous to the heart than other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen and Celebrex, but the FDA panel said that available data did not prove this.  Reuters

As for Aleve, the FDA panel voted 16-9 that while the retrospective combining of results from different studies, known as meta-analysis, hints at a relative benefit for naproxen over other NSAIDs, the data is not reliable and does not warrant changing the prescribing information to reflect a lower risk.

Please take over-the-counter medications as seriously as you do prescriptions; they do have an impact.  There are also a large selection of natural medicines and supplements that we can make available and discuss in order to give you other options.  Feel free to bring this up with me at your next appointment!