NationStates Jolt Archive

As always, a study has contradicted previous research about what causes/prevents cancer. When will people learn that a balanced diet (WITH MEAT!!!), excercise, good genes, a healthy lifestyle and a bit of luck will keep all this crap away from you.

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/hl_nm/heart_painkillers_dc)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Popular painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen can raise blood pressure and thus the risk of heart disease among men, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

Men who took such drugs for most days in a week were about one-third more likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure than men not taking them, the researchers found.

Their findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, reinforce a study published in 2002 that these commonly used drugs raise blood pressure in women.

"This is a potentially preventable cause of high blood pressure," Dr. John Forman of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who led the study, said in a statement.

Millions of people take the painkillers as pills every day to treat headaches, arthritis, muscle pulls and other aches and pains.

"These are the three most commonly used drugs in the United States," Dr. Gary Curhan, who also worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.

For their study, the researchers looked at a continuing study of male health professionals. After they filtered out everyone who already had high blood pressure and other problems, they had 16,000 men whose records they checked for a 4 year period.

Men who took acetaminophen (paracetamol), sold generically and under the Tylenol brand name, six or seven days a week were 34 percent more likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure than men who did not take analgesics.

Men who took aspirin that regularly were 26 percent more likely to have high blood pressure than non-users. For non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS, which include ibuprofen and naproxen, the increased risk was 38 percent.

FREQUENCY A FACTOR

Men who took 15 or more NSAID pills a week were 48 percent more likely than non-users to have high blood pressure. The drugs can affect the ability of blood vessels to expand, and may also cause sodium retention -- two factors that can both raise blood pressure.

Being overweight reduced the risk from acetaminophen, but raised the risk from NSAIDS, the researchers found.

But men who are advised by a doctor to take an aspirin a day to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke should not stop taking them, cautioned Curhan. "The benefit outweighs the risk," he said in a telephone interview.

The
American Heart Association issued its own advisory based in part on the report's findings.

"We advise physicians to start with non-pharmacologic treatments such as physical therapy and exercise, weight loss to reduce stress on joints, and heat or cold therapy," said the Association's Dr. Elliott Antman, also of Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The Heart Association was especially worried about the use of COX-2 inhibitors, prescription arthritis drugs designed to be safer than NSAIDS. Many have been found to actually raise heart risk and cause strokes.

"We believe that some physicians have been prescribing the new COX-2 inhibitors as the first line of treatment. We are turning that around and saying that, for chronic pain in patients with known heart disease or who are at risk for heart disease, these drugs should be the last line of treatment," Antman said in a statement.

Curhan said it will be important to study patients directly, not simply look at their medical records, to fully understand the risks and what might be causing the effect.

"Even if we can't explain the direct mechanism, it seems pretty clear," he said.

Eggs Good For You This Week

BOSTON—According to a Northeastern University study released Monday, eggs—discovered last week by a University of California-Santa Cruz study to be unhealthy, raising serum cholesterol by as much as 20 percent—have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health this week. "Contrary to what was previously thought, consuming an egg a day can lower a person's blood pressure and increase the heart's efficiency for the next week," the Northeastern study stated. The report urged Americans to increase egg consumption immediately, as eggs may be unhealthy again as soon as next Monday.

Every so often I wonder if the Onion has completely mined out all the little absurdities of our culture. They've got to be getting pretty close...

Popular painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen can raise blood pressure and thus the risk of heart disease among men, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. [...] "This is a potentially preventable cause of high blood pressure," Dr. John Forman of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who led the study, said in a statement.
That is every single over the counter pain medication. It is potentially preventable cause if we stop having headaches.

"These are the three most commonly used drugs in the United States," Dr. Gary Curhan, who also worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.
Duhh. Everything else for pain is illegal or needs a prescription.

I take naproxen sodium everyday. I used to take ibuprofen but it started to mess with my liver. Before that I took prescription anti-inflammatory but they made me fat and also screwed with my liver :( I can't win.

Aspirin has always been bad for you. It can cause all sorts of nasty side effects, high blood pressure probably being the least among them.

You'd think people would realize that every single possible thing on Earth that doesn't kill you outright has benefits as well as drawbacks. People are seeking a panacea that can allow them to avoid the reality that they're going to need a combination of things like proper diet, exercise, regular health examinations, and proper use of medication in order to stay as healthy as possible.

I mean, there are a lot of medications out there that can have incredible benefits on your health, but if you don't commit yourself to attacking the problem at its roots it's not really going to go away and the medicine will be that much less effective.

Aspirin has always been bad for you. It can cause all sorts of nasty side effects, high blood pressure probably being the least among them.

Isn't Aspirin recommended as an aid for those with high blood pressure?

one time I made aspirin. Oh yeah!

I LIKE high blood pressure, dammit. The media's goin' all up in me grill and tellin' me what I can and can't take. Damn the media.

Isn't Aspirin recommended as an aid for those with high blood pressure?

Not to my knowledge. That's what blood pressure tablets are for.

"But men who are advised by a doctor to take an aspirin a day to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke should not stop taking them, cautioned Curhan."

Apparently they are, I'm a little confused by this study, Curhan says the benefits of taking Aspirin outweigh the risks but the sole purpose of taking Aspirin in these cases is to reduce blood pressure. He does go onto say that they're only deducing from medical history rather than directly studying the patients to see if any other factors are involved.

Maybe the fact that you're having to take an Aspirin a day despite not having high blood pressure means something else is bugging you thus leading to high blood pressure, like that blinding headache you have each morning.

Paracetamol FTW.

Paracetamol FTW.Acetaminophen is Paracetamol.
para-acetyl-amino-phenol and para-acetyl-amino-phenol

Isn't Aspirin recommended as an aid for those with high blood pressure?Nope, aspirin is used to thin blood (stopping strokes by preventing blood from clotting in the brain, and stopping heart attacks by stopping blood from clotting in the capillaries that supply blood to the heart muscles), and not to reduce blood pressure.

one time I made aspirin. Oh yeah!I have too, I love the smell of salicylic acid. :)

I take naproxen sodium everyday. I used to take ibuprofen but it started to mess with my liver. Before that I took prescription anti-inflammatory but they made me fat and also screwed with my liver :( I can't win.Why on earth do you take ANY drug every day if your body doesn't require it to survive. No matter which drug you take you will always be damaging your body. If your body aches all the time then you're doing far too much work and are damaging your body further even if you can't feel the pain because of the pain killer. :(

Isn't Aspirin recommended as an aid for those with high blood pressure?

No.
And it's been known for decades that it causes stomache ulcers when taken over a longer period of time.

Asprin killed my entire family.

Thanks (runs off to Grandpa's house...'Gramps, about my recommendation...')

nearly all real physicly healing substances are poisons in other then thripudic quantities. thus all are both good and bad at the same time. all can be over used. or fail to be used when their use would otherwise be indicated.

i have heard of people being saved from heart attacs by taking aspren at the onset of chest pains. this i do and so far i'm still alive. i've also heard it increases likelyhood of developing stomac ulcers. so i don't take unless i feel it is really neccessary.

whether i am over or under cautious, i do think it would be idiotic to pop them like m and m's.

with or without this report or any other.

=^^=
.../\...

Isn't Aspirin recommended as an aid for those with high blood pressure?

Not exactly for hypertension, but for patients with thromboembolic states (i.e. coronary artery disease, etc.) It's not prescribed for them, rather some take it 'cause it can be beneficial. Aspirin works by decreasing the chances of your blood clotting inside the arteries, reducing the incidence of blockage of blood vessels.

And that gastric ulcer thing... Salicylic acid is corrosive to the gastric mucosa, that's why it is esterified with acetic acid (mmm... vinegar!) to form acetylsalicylic acid. And one thing, if your aspirin has a tinge of vinegar smell, don't take it anymore. The acetylsalicylic acid probably has decomposed and you'll just hurt your stomach. ;)

As always, a study has contradicted previous research about what causes/prevents cancer. When will people learn that a balanced diet (WITH MEAT!!!), excercise, good genes, a healthy lifestyle and a bit of luck will keep all this crap away from you.

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/hl_nm/heart_painkillers_dc)

Can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet:

Being overweight reduced the risk from acetaminophen, but raised the risk from NSAIDS, the researchers found.
NSAIDS

Aah!!



Sorry, I had to.

I thought aspirin lowered blood pressure. I know someone who won't take aspirin because she's prone to anemia, or something like that.

Men who took such drugs for most days in a week were about one-third more likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure than men not taking them, the researchers found.

Why would you take painkillers "most days"? Surely that would be an indication of a more serious problem? Or, in the case of headaches, possibly even the cause of the problem in the first place?

These three drugs have always been *bad* for you in that they have a range of effects that mean you should only really take them when you need to. And are even quite dangerous doe to ease of overdosing - particulary paracetamol.

One thing I question is that surely the people who are taking painkillers every day are probably suffereing from health issues... And those who don't need painkillers every day are probably not and therefore healthier... Does that make sense to anyone else?

I am a bit worried that this study has just found something similar to concluding that people who are currently taking anti-biotics have a greatly increased chance of having a bacterial infection. Or people taking cold medication are likely to have a cold...

Asprin killed my entire family.
When I was a boy, aspirin raped my mother right in front of me.
Twice.
Isn't Aspirin recommended as an aid for those with high blood pressure?
In the past few years, they've been trying to sell a daily dose of aspirin as a way to prevent heart attacks and strokes for those at high risk, because of its effects as a blood thinner. Who said the era of "better living through chemicals" was past?

When I was a boy, aspirin raped my mother right in front of me.
Twice.

In the past few years, they've been trying to sell a daily dose of aspirin as a way to prevent heart attacks and strokes for those at high risk, because of its effects as a blood thinner. Who said the era of "better living through chemicals" was past?

Blood thinner, that's what I was thinking of. Thanks Fiddly.

Why on earth do you take ANY drug every day if your body doesn't require it to survive. No matter which drug you take you will always be damaging your body. If your body aches all the time then you're doing far too much work and are damaging your body further even if you can't feel the pain because of the pain killer. :(
it's on the advice of my doctor, the whole thing is heavily monitored. I hurt myself pretty badly in an accident once and it's either steroids or non-steroid anti-inflammatory

This is just sick... the one day they tell you if you take aspirin you are to 30% less endangered of a heart attack, the next they tell you the exact opposite!

I mean, do they dice their findings or what?

"Men who took such drugs for most days in a week were about one-third more likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure than men not taking them, the researchers found."

Yeah? Well, people who drink a litre of water an hour all day every day die of water intoxication. Therefore, water is bad for you! OMG stop drinking water!

Meat is bad for you. Whether part of a balanced diet or not, it contains carcinogens, drugs (usually used to keep the animal alive after ill-treating the animal), and can contribute to heart problems and other medical problems. By all means eat it if you want to, who am I to say you shouldn't? Just know that it's bad for you.

OMG air is bad for you (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperventilate)

Meat is bad for you. Whether part of a balanced diet or not, it contains carcinogens, drugs (usually used to keep the animal alive after ill-treating the animal), and can contribute to heart problems and other medical problems. By all means eat it if you want to, who am I to say you shouldn't? Just know that it's bad for you.

This is like objecting to eating vegetables because they can contain pesticides. Or like objecting to a glass of red wine from time to time because drinking two bottles a day is harmful.

In case no-one has mentioned it yet, willow bark is a painkiller because it contains aspirin.

I take naproxen sodium everyday. I used to take ibuprofen but it started to mess with my liver. Before that I took prescription anti-inflammatory but they made me fat and also screwed with my liver :( I can't win.

If you don't mind me asking, why do you need painkillers everyday?

If you don't mind me asking, why do you need painkillers everyday?
it's the anti-inflammatory that is the purpose, I crushed my knee when I was a teenager, and it is still in pretty bad shape, if I don't take the anti-inflammatory I can't move my leg at all. I have a nifty morphine patch for pain, that I use on days when my knee is particularly painful, other than that I just try to ignore the pain and go on with life (which is much easier when I am able to walk).

I have a few pins holding my knee together now, when I am older they can do a replacement surgery, but we are trying to hold off on that as long as we can, because it's not a one time thing, and the more times I have to go in and get things messed with the harder it's going to be on my body.

I used to take steroids to keep the inflammation down, but you can't take them for very long before they seriously mess you up, and also, they made me fat and cranky......I am 2 years out now still trying to lose weight from those.

In case no-one has mentioned it yet, willow bark is a painkiller because it contains aspirin.
No it doesn't. Willow bark contains Salicin, a precursor to aspirin. It has to be converted to salicylic acid first, the acetylated to acetylsalicylic acid. It exhibits much the same effect, as far as I'm aware, only obviously in lower concentrations in the tree bark.
And that gastric ulcer thing... Salicylic acid is corrosive to the gastric mucosa, that's why it is esterified with acetic acid (mmm... vinegar!) to form acetylsalicylic acid. And one thing, if your aspirin has a tinge of vinegar smell, don't take it anymore. The acetylsalicylic acid probably has decomposed and you'll just hurt your stomach.
That's only half of the problem. Aspirin irreversibly inactivates COX1 by covalent modification, thus preventing the cyclooxygenases creating prostaglandin H2. Basically it stops production of the compound which prevents stomach acid attacking the lining, so you get an ulcer.

As always, a study has contradicted previous research about what causes/prevents cancer. When will people learn that a balanced diet (WITH MEAT!!!), excercise, good genes, a healthy lifestyle and a bit of luck will keep all this crap away from you.

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070226/hl_nm/heart_painkillers_dc)


OR without meat. Either way actually. Most nutritionists tell you to really limit the meat. I got a real health boost when I quit eating meat completely. Before that I ate it sparingly but had to quit because even that was making me sick.

Why do you INSIST that people need to eat meat to have a healthy diet? Just curious if you have some actual data or are you just being argumentative to get people riled up.

As for aspirin, I have been told by a doctor and a dentist that if they knew then about aspirin what we know now that it would never have been made an over-the-counter drug.

Oh, and I don't generally get random pains. For headaches I have a drink of water or juice.

Isn't life the number one cause of death?

This is like objecting to eating vegetables because they can contain pesticides. Or like objecting to a glass of red wine from time to time because drinking two bottles a day is harmful.


No, any amount of cooked food (meat or vegetable) contains carcinogens actually. Any amount of carcinogens is bad for you but the more you eat the greater risk you are taking.

I actually do object to eating vegetables that contain pesticides, which is why I don't. I do eat cooked food though but I try to limit that and intake a lot of live foods.

You mean the asprin that has so many dangerous side effects that if a drug company tried to release it today it would proberbly not get past animal tests?

Cant even take it, it gives me liver faliure

The aspirin taken to prevent heart attacks is low-dose, I believe, though how much lower, I don't know. Perhaps the researchers failed to consider that men taking an aspirin a day for most days of the week already have high blood pressure and a risk of heart attack, which is why they're taking it.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. Wait a couple months and a new survey will contradict this one. I'm all for modern medicine, but stuff like this just encourages the weed-chewers who say alternative treatments like herbs and tree bark and sticking pins in specific places are just as good as science. :rolleyes:

(WITH MEAT!!!)

why?

why?

Because Meat is awesome.

Of course, there are such things as anti-hypertensive drugs...so if you're taking aspirin to substantially reduce your chance of a heart attack, you can always lower the "increased" blood pressure too.

Aspirin has always been bad for you. It can cause all sorts of nasty side effects, high blood pressure probably being the least among them.
It makes your headache go away. And as we all know pain is our bodies way of communicating to us that everything is not allright. So when aspirin opresseses the headache we could remain ignorant to for example a brain tumor.:eek:

I never use aspirin, except when some French doctors gave it to me as a child. It would clash with my DNA.

I ignore dietary and medical trends. I eat a balanced diet, or at least try to, with moderate amounts of meats, vegetables and carbs. I take Aleve if I hurt.

Since the "data" on what's good or bad for you changes from minute to minute, I ignore it. I figure the stress of trying to figure out what's good for me and bad for me will kill me sooner than the food and meds will.