Common drugs can pose risk to your heart
Keeping your heart healthy is a daily challenge. You eat right, exercise, reduce stress, get enough sleep, and stay away from tobacco, among other things. Surely you don’t want to sabotage all that hard work by taking a medication that will harm your heart.
Unfortunately, that’s very possible. In the last
few years, the number of prescription and over-the- counter (OTC) medications has skyrocketed. Many are very bene cial, but all of them have side e ects — some which can damage your heart.
To beat heart disease, you must learn which medications are safe and bene cial, and which ones could pose danger. In this month’s issue of the Heart Health Report, I will tell you how various prescription and over-the-counter drugs can be bad for your heart.
Why Drugs Cause Problems
Americans are always looking for quick xes, especially from a pill bottle. But those pills can cause problems for people with heart disease.
According to a Harvard report, new prescription drugs have a 1 in 5 chance of causing serious reactions even a er they have been approved. In fact, a review of hospital charts found that even properly prescribed drugs result in 1.9 million hospitalizations each year.
Most drugs are approved a er safety testing on only a few thousand people. Side e ects may not become apparent until larger numbers of people have taken a drug for extended periods of time.
And it’s not just prescription medications. There are currently more than 100,000 OTC drug products
on the market, with about 1,000 signi cant active ingredients. And these drugs can be strong. In fact, of these products, some 700 contain ingredients and dosages that were available only by prescription less than 30 years ago.
But perhaps most troubling is the fact that people tend to take these medications in higher quantities than indicated:
• Two-thirds of Americans said they take more than the recommended amount at a single time
• Three- hs reported taking the next dose sooner than directed
• Two- hs said they take more than the recommended number of doses in a day
What’s more, one-third of those surveyed said they are likely to combine nonprescription medicines when they have multiple symptoms, like a headache and a sore throat.
we shall discuss each at a relative pace-watch for further posts more
Unfortunately, that’s very possible. In the last
few years, the number of prescription and over-the- counter (OTC) medications has skyrocketed. Many are very bene cial, but all of them have side e ects — some which can damage your heart.
To beat heart disease, you must learn which medications are safe and bene cial, and which ones could pose danger. In this month’s issue of the Heart Health Report, I will tell you how various prescription and over-the-counter drugs can be bad for your heart.
Why Drugs Cause Problems
Americans are always looking for quick xes, especially from a pill bottle. But those pills can cause problems for people with heart disease.
According to a Harvard report, new prescription drugs have a 1 in 5 chance of causing serious reactions even a er they have been approved. In fact, a review of hospital charts found that even properly prescribed drugs result in 1.9 million hospitalizations each year.
Most drugs are approved a er safety testing on only a few thousand people. Side e ects may not become apparent until larger numbers of people have taken a drug for extended periods of time.
And it’s not just prescription medications. There are currently more than 100,000 OTC drug products
on the market, with about 1,000 signi cant active ingredients. And these drugs can be strong. In fact, of these products, some 700 contain ingredients and dosages that were available only by prescription less than 30 years ago.
But perhaps most troubling is the fact that people tend to take these medications in higher quantities than indicated:
• Two-thirds of Americans said they take more than the recommended amount at a single time
• Three- hs reported taking the next dose sooner than directed
• Two- hs said they take more than the recommended number of doses in a day
What’s more, one-third of those surveyed said they are likely to combine nonprescription medicines when they have multiple symptoms, like a headache and a sore throat.
we shall discuss each at a relative pace-watch for further posts more
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Mr. GC Mathur, True, What you have said about costly Ayurvedic medicines. Ayurvedic consultations are generally not costly as they appear to be. In fact many vaidya offer free consultation, but somehow manage to give their costly dispensation to recover their consultation fee even if their consultation fee may be small or nominal. The treatment continues for long, as they claim to root our diseases from the root, which I have never seen myself. The same is true for Unani system. All alternate treatments never say no for treating any disease even in very advanced or highly chronic stage, which virtually tent amount to deceiving the patients. There are side effects in almost all alternate treatments, however, it is always claimed for them to have no side effects. Even the least costly homeopathic medicines in dispensation now a days by famous doctors are given in very high prices, in the name of German, imported make, without any name or level. We must now be able to live with side effects with least harms as advised/prescribed by qualified and ethical doctors in the same way as we live now with foods & milk etc. with marginal chemically treated by various insecticides, pesticides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, chemical coatings as preserver, harmful injections for accelerated growth of foods, harmful injections to cattle for immediate milk yield, with air & water pollution and shortly genetically modified foods to come in our daily life to cover food shortage/deficit etc. more
Nov 22
Dr. Puneet Chandna Sir. Many thanks for guiding us through your series of resources. You have raised a very pertinent issue, which also raise many sub-issues as listed in my earlier post. Few issues to ponder over are 1. The prescription medicines sold without prescriptions in India, as well as OTCs do not write any side effects on their packing/ packaging for any patients to judge which would have otherwise confused them much more. 2. Do the doctors have sufficient time to analyze and evaluate all existing symptoms of diseases or the patients physical weakness, strengths, side effects of few medicines taken in the past by the patients? 3. Can Allopathic doctors give affordable treatment to lower middle and poor patients to attract them to genuine allopathic doctors in the beginning of disease? 4. Can IMA persuade the govt. to make it mandatory for medical stores not to sell prescription medicines without proper prescriptions? 5. Similarly for OTC manufactures to write side effects of the OTCs on the packing in both English & Hindi. 6. How to restrain doctors not to write unnecessary tests and costly medicines? 7. How to bring the doctors to write generic medicines wherever possible? 8. How to persuade the govt. to make it mandatory for generic medicines manufacturers to write "Generic Medicine" in bold? 9. How to persuade the govt. to force generic medicines manufacturers to write correct MRPs and not to write MRPs same or more than as prevalent for ethical medicines? 10. How to reduce/finish unethical practices in health & medicines more prevalent in allopathic system. 11. Following some of the above guidelines by govt. and doctors will automatically reduce consumption of OTCs in India and diversion of patients to allopathic system of treatment in the beginning itself. more
Nov 22
Mr. GC Mathur Ji. A good question indeed. Regular & proper diet, walk, exercise, yoga, pranayama, dhyana etc. are good to ward off or delay onset of diseases. However saying/preaching these are easy but doing very difficult. Considering a normal Indian citizen, diseases progress to a level, when awakening of going to a proper doctor/specialist is there and by that time it is normally quite late. Once any disease had reached to a middle or advanced stage, my experience has revealed that all all alternate treatment other than Allopathic are unable to give instant relief or enduring relief in short or medium time. There may be side effects of all Allopathic medicines, but they are able to give instant relief as also enduring relief in short and medium term as they are more scientifically proven at that time. In India, almost all citizens are doctors in one or another way for some or other disease and are quite enthusiastic in giving their prescriptions without analyzing all previous symptoms and their body strength and weakness. If any prescription worked on them, they would immediately recommend that prescription or doctor, who may not be properly qualified for that. Due to very high fees and donations required for MBBS, MD/MS, DM/M.Ch education now a days etc. unaffordable even to upper middle class, the high cost and unethical practices in Allopathic treatments have kept the common masses away to avail proper Allopathic services at the onset of any illness to avoid quite higher unnecessary expenses later on. I have stretched it too long for the background, but for India, the country with a very large population, the Allopathic system of medicines with known side effects is as necessary as green and white revolutions were in recent past and may be GM Foods (genetically modified foods) in near future with side effects of many chemicals like pesticides, insecticide, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, colors, artificial sweeteners, coatings for long life. What is required is changed mental attitude of patients for quickies and short term economies and of doctors to extract all juice from patients at their earliest. more
Nov 22
