High Blood Pressure Support Group
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a medical condition wherein the blood pressure is chronically elevated. Persistent hypertension is one of the risk factors for strokes, heart attacks, heart failure and arterial aneurysm, and is a leading cause of chronic renal failure. Doctors recommend weight loss and regular exercise as the first steps in treating mild to moderate...
I am stopping my bp med myself (slowly) I want to be myself now, I can't ever tell when it's a side effect or if it's me.
In the evening I take 80 mg of Lipitor, 10 mg of Lisinopril. My practitioner is a nure (PC), and says that I will have to take this medication for the rest of my life. That's scary enough. But I don't know what to do. I thought that by finding an ND, the only important thing to do is keep an eye on my BP, BMI, Sugar, Cholesterol, lately I also learned about oxidation and free radicals causing inflamation that is actually responsible for plaque as oppossed to choleterol by itself. We loose coq10 by taking statins for cholesterol, but loose coq10 in the process which is resposible for the many side effects and damage to the liver, kidneys and muscles, etc. The BP meds well you already know. Any suggestions would be surely welcome. strokesantafe@yahoo.com.
People using cholesterol-lowering statins have higher risks of liver dysfunction, kidney failure, muscle weakness, and cataracts, and such side effects of the drug should be closely tracked, doctors said on Friday.
In a study covering more than 2 million people in Britain, researchers from Nottingham University found that adverse side effects of statins, which are prescribed to people with high levels of cholesterol, were generally worst in the first year of treatment.
The findings, published in the British Medical Journal, are unlikely to affect the use of best-selling medicines like Pfizer's Lipitor and AstraZeneca's Crestor, but the study's authors said patients taking statins should be "proactively monitored" for side effects.
"Our study is likely to be useful for policy and planning purposes," said Julia Hippisley-Cox and Carol Coupland, the two professors who led the study. They said it may also be useful "for informing guidelines on the type and dose of statins."
In a commentary on the study, senior cardiologists Alawi Alsheikh-Al, of the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in the United Arab Emirates, and Richard Karas of the Tufts University School of Medicine in the United States, said that, like any medical treatment, statins are not completely risk-free, but that when used properly, their benefits outweigh their dangers.
"It would be wise to interpret the present observations in the context of the confirmed cardioprotective effects of statins and remind ourselves and our patients that these drugs, although considered safe, are, like any intervention in medicine, not entirely free of adverse events," they wrote.
Coupland and Hippisley-Cox studied data from 368 general practices on 2,004,692 patients aged 30 to 84 years including 225,922 patients who were new statin users and had been prescribed a range of statins.
They found that for every 10,000 high-risk women treated with statins, the positive impact would be around 271 fewer cases of heart disease and eight fewer cases of esophageal cancer.
On the other side, there would also be 74 extra patients with liver dysfunction, 23 extra patients with acute renal failure, 307 with cataracts, and 39 with a muscle weakness condition called myopathy.
Similar figures were found for men except rates of myopathy were higher, they said. They noted that some of the effects might be due to better detection rates since patients taking statins are likely to consult their doctors more often.
The adverse effects were similar for all different types of statins, except for liver dysfunction, where the highest risks were found for fluvastatin, which is sold by Novartis under the brand names Lescol and Lochol.
"All of the increased risks persisted during the treatment, but were highest in the first year," they wrote.
ARE THEY REALLY WORTH THE RISK???????
Aspirin: A loaded gun for your heart
The drug companies want you to think of aspirin as a magic bullet for your heart. Oh, it's a bullet all right -- and it's definitely aimed at your ticker.
One of the most irritatingly persistent myths in modern medicine is the downright insane notion that daily aspirin can help your heart. So I can't tell you how it lifts my own heart to see this one finally crumbling.
Even the Wall Street Journal is giving aspirin therapy the kiss of death. A recent story with the headline "The Danger of Daily Aspirin" began with this sentence: "If you're taking a daily aspirin for your heart, you may want to reconsider."
Forget "may" -- definitely reconsider, because this was a bad idea the moment Big Pharma's marketing department dreamed it up.
One new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found no benefit at all in giving aspirin to people at high risk of heart disease. My favorite part: It was funded in part by Bayer.
Must've been awkward when it came time to deliver the results. I'll bet they're looking for a refund... and a few researchers' heads.
But the truth's the truth... and the truth is, aspirin can cause bleeding in the stomach and brain. And that's not the only way this supposed painkiller can kill you... because aspirin can actually cause potentially deadly blood clots.
Yet despite aspirin's obvious dangers, you can't turn on the TV without seeing a commercial that talks up aspirin therapy for heart patients. An actress in one commercial claims, "My doctor says it's the easiest preventive measure you can take."
Easy -- yes. Safe -- heck no! Sounds like you need a new doctor, lady... one who's been reading the medical journals instead of watching aspirin commercials.
Here's one fact you won't hear in those ads: Roughly half of all people who suffer a fatal heart attack took an aspirin that day. I wonder what their final thoughts were. I bet more than a few clutched their chest and cried out, "But... I took an aspirin today!"
Bottom line: Don't gobble down daily aspirin unless you've got a death wish. And if you really hate life, add an ibuprofen to the mix -- patients who take that and aspirin together have double the risk of fatal heart attack.
These are powerful drugs, not candy... even if many people munch on them like Skittles. If you really want to pop a pill for your heart, take a fish oil capsule instead.