Monday, May 28, 2007

Avandia - don't panic say Diabetes Australia

The New England Medical Journal a highly reputable publication, publishes a study which reports that the diabetic drug Avandia increases the risk of heart attack by 45% - excuse me.. I think this is time to stop taking this drug. Despite the fact that our Diabetes experts say its most likely okay.

Avandia maker GlaxoSmithKline says the study is flawed and that better data -- some already submitted to the FDA, some from an ongoing clinical trial -- show Avandia poses no significant risk to patients' heart health. Well I imagine they do say this.. after all it is rather in their interest to make sure they can quickly finance another "better" trial to prove all is well in the pharmaceutical world.


According to the Federal Centre for Disease Control in the USA, poisoning from prescription drugs has risen to become the second-largest cause of unintentional deaths in the United States, for more on this see this link
It seems to me that we need to really take notice when a prestigious journal gives information about the dangers of a commonly used drug.. don't wait for the next paid study to come out disproving it all!

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Paracetomol dangers

Paracetamol is one of the world’s most popular painkillers – and it is also far more dangerous than the millions who take it realize. It kills around 450 people in the USA and around 120 in the UK every year.

The American drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, is so concerned that it is considering restricting the drug’s availability, an action that has already been taken in Ireland.

There, it is illegal to buy more than 24 tablets, or 500 mg, in a single transaction. Despite this, it was responsible for nearly a third of all the 7,933 drug overdoses recorded in Ireland in 2004.

The drug can become dangerous at even relatively low dosages, and can cause serious – and sometimes fatal – liver damage.

(Source: The Lancet, 2007; 369: 1346).

Thanks to Lynne McTaggart and her newsletter What Doctors Don't Tell You

Highly recommended newsletter!