{"id":3194,"date":"2015-09-01T15:05:45","date_gmt":"2015-09-01T20:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/?p=3194"},"modified":"2015-09-01T15:05:45","modified_gmt":"2015-09-01T20:05:45","slug":"risks-of-pill-popping-side-effects-in-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/2015\/risks-of-pill-popping-side-effects-in-the-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Risks of Pill-Popping: Side Effects in the News"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Cathie Dunal, MD, MPH: \u00a0<\/em>A few months ago we were astonished to learn that common medications\u2014sleep meds like Sonata and Ambien, anxiety meds like Xanax and Valium, and over-the-counter allergy meds\u00a0like Benadryl and Chlor-Trimeton\u2014are all associated with increased risk of Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u00a0 A five percent increased risk with as little as ninety days of use in your lifetime! Yikes!<\/p>\n

The latest medicine surprise is NSAIDS, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. They bring a ten to fifty percent increased risk of \u201ccardiovascular thrombotic events\u201d\u2014heart attacks and strokes.\u00a0 We pop these pills like candy\u2014the most common are Motrin\/ibuprofen, Aleve\/naproxen, and prescription anti-inflammatories.\u00a0 The new advisory from the FDA is to take as little as possible for as short a time as possible.<\/p>\n

My take is that we ought to wake up to the possibility that popping a pill isn\u2019t the optimal first step to treating medical conditions.\u00a0 (Note that I\u2019m not talking about serious infections, endocrine conditions, etc.)\u00a0 The first step should be prevention via lifestyle.\u00a0 The next first step, assuming a problem is already raising its ugly head, is lifestyle treatment. \u00a0Then\u2014but only after addressing immediate\u00a0and preventive lifestyle interventions\u2014we should delve into non-pharmacological interventions–and\u00a0prescriptions.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take aches and pains as an example.\u00a0 Self-care options include ice, exercise, and the all-important stop-whatever-you\u2019re-doing\u2013that\u2019s-triggering\u2013the-problem-for-a-while strategy. Walk or swim. Get enough sleep.\u00a0 (And do you have a good mattress and pillow?) \u00a0Try Tai Chi.\u00a0 You might see an athletic trainer, massage therapist, physical therapist or acupuncturist.\u00a0 Strategies as simple as drinking more water and stopping smoking can significantly improve back pain.\u00a0 Look at your posture.\u00a0 Lose some weight.\u00a0 See your doctor, orthopedist, or chiropractor for help.\u00a0 Food-based alternatives to NSAIDS are curcumin and ginger, and these also come in pills that are easy to take like the drugstore ones\u2014with less risk of stomach upset.<\/p>\n

Please know that \u201ctincture of time\u201d heals many musculoskeletal problems, and the default in the medical community is to do a little something to take the edge off so you can wait to see if it gets better on its own.\u00a0 The\u201d little something\u201d has often been an NSAID.\u00a0 But now we know better!<\/p>\n

However, the larger issue isn\u2019t any particular medication or over-the-counter drug, or any particular condition.\u00a0 The take-home from this latest \u201cyikes\u201d warning is that we need to look at our lifestyle to prevent and treat \u201cmedical\u201d conditions.\u00a0 Not pop a pill.\u00a0 We need to take an active approach to our health, not a passive one.\u00a0 And yes, it\u2019s work.\u00a0 It\u2019s harder and less convenient.\u00a0 But it\u2019s safest.\u00a0 And it\u2019s also a great way for us each to do our part to rein in our galloping healthcare costs.<\/p>\n

For more information, see: FDA website www.fda.gov\/Safety\/MedWatch\/SafetyInformation\/SafetyAltersforHumanMedicalProducts\/ucm454141.htm<\/a>, American Academy of Family Practice News http:\/\/www.aafp.org\/news\/health-of-the-public\/201507nsaidrisk.html<\/a>, BMJ 2014;349:g5205 (British Medical Journal), JAMA Intern Med.<\/a>\u00a02015 Mar;175(3):401-7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cathie Dunal, MD, MPH: \u00a0A few months ago we were astonished to learn that common medications\u2014sleep meds like Sonata and Ambien, anxiety meds like Xanax and Valium, and over-the-counter allergy meds\u00a0like Benadryl and Chlor-Trimeton\u2014are all associated with increased risk of Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u00a0 A five percent increased risk with as little as ninety days of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,271],"tags":[68,96,117,152],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3194"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3203,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3194\/revisions\/3203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}