From the category archives:
Possible Reason for Cholesterol-Drug Side Effects Such as Memory Loss May 10, 2013 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and physicians continue to document that some patients experience fuzzy thinking and memory loss while taking statins, a class of global top-selling cholesterol-lowering drugs. Share This: 139 A University of Arizona research team has made [...]
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(As has been mentioned before, in my opinion Cardiologist Richard Fogoros publishes the most medically reliable heart information on the Web..) My own experience with statins is that all of them had side effects of muscle weakness and pain…. For months I attributed it to an exercise program, but by gong to such sites as [...]
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Taking aspirin to prevent a heart attack? Doctors warn stopping can pose serious risks.br/> CBS News July 21, 2011 Ryan Jaslow Doctors have long said taking daily low-dose aspirin helps prevent a myocardial infarction, or heart attack. But a new study warns these patients that they shouldn’t stop taking aspirin- or they could die. Spanish [...]
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From the article: One of the strongest and best-studied factors that thickens someone’s arteries is age, and that happens at around 10 microns per year,” Shah says. “In our study, users of antidepressants see an average 40 micron increase in IMT, so their carotid arteries are in effect four years older. This implications of this [...]
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Although at present I can find no research about increased risks from Plavix because of a trauma, this research about Warfarin suggests that it may be a problem. One is told to stop Plavix about ten days before surgery due to increased bleeding; this suggests that one should also stop Plavix ten days before any [...]
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40-Point Cholesterol Drop=20% Lower Heart Risk Heart Disease Protection Tied to Cholesterol Reduction Achieved With Drugs WebMD Health News Sept. 27, 2005 — The heart disease protection offered by popular cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may be directly related to the degree they actually lower a person’s cholesterol levels. A new review of studies on statins shows [...]
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From the article: Although some statins are stronger than others, there’s no evidence that one is better than another at preventing heart attacks or other cardiovascular outcomes. National guidelines on lowering cholesterol treat the statins as equivalent. A study from the Boston VA Healthcare System supports this approach. Veterans who achieved the greatest reduction in [...]
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This article highlights an interesting problem with placebo research — the ingredients in the placebo itself. Note that it mentions a study where heart patients did better with a placebo — the placebo had olive oil in it, which may have been a helpful ingredient. However, I think most people and researchers are missing the [...]
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In 1961, someone made up the term “Nocebo”, taking a clue from the Latin “placebo”, and essentially meaning, “I will harm.” The term became popular in the 90′s, but I haven’t seen it around much these days. I always found it a bit of a strange word, and never used it in a sentence until [...]
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This research suggests that red and pink pills are most effective. Do you suppose the pink Plavix pill pushers took this into account? Note that this research was done in India: the psychological effects of color are different in different cultures. Personally — and fitting in with this research – I prefer red pills. I [...]
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I love the fact that placebos exist and that they are usually as effective as pills. It also tells me that medicine is essentially looking in the wrong place — much more research should be directed at how the placebo effect works, and how to make them even more effective. The Mind/Body is a very [...]
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in the Wikipedia article on the placebo effect it starts out by defining the placebo effect as a “sham”: A placebo… is a sham or simulated medical intervention that can produce a (perceived or actual) improvement, called a placebo effect. Wrong. Very wrong. Very very wrong. Calling the effect a “sham” epitomizes the current emphasis [...]
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The “placebo effect” is essentially a measure of how powerful the mind is in changing the chemistry of the body. It is more powerful than medication, yet we look for pills to cure us… How about we start understanding and using more placebos…
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It is difficult to find the research behind this article, but given that it is by the Mayo Clinic, it must be credible… What happens if you stop taking aspirin every day? You might be surprised to learn that stopping daily aspirin therapy can have a rebound effect that may increase your risk of heart [...]
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Similar to yesterday’s Mayo article about only taking aspirin if you have had a heart attack, Dr. McDougall conveys the same information, but in more detail. Note that these recent recommendations are a change from what previously recommended, that essentially everyone take preventative aspirin… (I would note however, that this still isn’t very tailorized science. [...]
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All of these posts about Plavix make one wonder about aspirin, which also works as an anti-coagulant.. (Again, nothing in this blog should be taken for medical advice. The purpose of the blog is to provide information and links so that the reader can make informed medical decisions.) Daily aspirin therapy: Understand the benefits and [...]
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To Bristol Myers Squibb, the makers of Plavix: Perhaps your scare tactics will eventually backfire. Lots of folks out there have a very negative reaction to your gurney ads.. You’re making a major marketing mistake — Why not market an anti-anxiety pharmaceutical at the same time you are scaring people to death? (On the other [...]
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Continuing the theme of tasteless Plavix ads…. From www.thiscommericalsucks.com Wednesday, December 2, 2009 Ask your Daughter–errrr, Doctor- about Plavix Daughter with waaaaayy too much time on her hands- and too much control over her dad- is staring at a laptop screen conveniently (?) located on the kitchen table when she commands her father’s attention- “Dad? [...]
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Note that this study was funded by Bristol-Myers-Squibb, the makers of Plavix. Double-Dose Plavix Benefits Certain Patients, Study Finds And higher-dose aspirin is no more effective than low dose, researchers say Wednesday, September 1, 2010 (HealthDay News) – - More isn’t necessarily better when prescribing the two drugs commonly used to treat patients who are [...]
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This was the original research in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine comparing Prasugrel (Brilinta) with Clopidogrel (Plavix.) The bottom line is that while Brilinta prevented more deaths from heart attacks, it increased the risk of fatal bleeding… No difference it fatal outcomes, take your pick. (Why am I thinking of Robert Frost’s Poem [...]
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This is an article written by Merrill Goozner, an independent journalist. Sure makes the whole industry looks suspicious (no surprise, of course). Yes, why not aspirin? About Mr. Goozer: In April 2004, the University of California Press published his first book, “The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs,” an exposé [...]
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I have been following heart information on the web for many years. In my opinion, Dr. Fogoros column provides the best heart information out there: The Plavix “Rebound Phenomenon” Higher risk of cardiac events immediately after stopping Plavix By Richard N. Fogoros, M.D., March 14, 2008 An article in the Journal of the American Medical [...]
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This issue of differential metabolizing also came up in the earlier posts about coffee. Again, the problem is that we all are different in how we metabolize drugs: how do you tailor the drug to the person? Booster Shots Oddities, musings and news from the health world The FDA requires a black-box warning on anti-clotting [...]
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For the first time in nine years, I have not met my deductible for health insurance. No operations this year. This is (mostly) good news. It also means I don’t get any kind of reimbursement for expensive drugs, like Plavix ($3.00 a pill, $1000 a year.) Apparently when I pay for Plavix I am also [...]
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Plavix is the second best selling drug in the world and dominates the market; it will be interesting to see how well Brillinta and Effient do, both in terms of research results and market share. Los Angeles Times Health Booster Shots Oddities, musings and news from the health world Two new blood thinners better than [...]
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It is very rare to hear a doctor so blunt about the effects of a drug. This kind of anecdotal information is very difficult to find. (Any markings in bold are mine, not those of Dr. Parks. (Again, the information reported in this blog is provided so that the reader can make informed choices; it [...]
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The opinion stated in this blog is just that, an opinion. It should not be taken for medical advice. One of the most tasteless ads on TV – and that is a very, very low bar – is the Plavix ad where a gurney follows around a woman who has had a heart attack and [...]
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Plavix is a “platelet aggregation inhibitor” — it prevents blood from coagulating, from clumping together. It thus increases the amount of bleeding from injury or surgical operations — it is standard practice to stop Plavix a week to ten days before an operation. Similarly, anyone with an active bleeding condition such as ulcers or a [...]
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This is a good summary of Plavix from one of the major health websites in England, www.netdoctor.com How does it work? Plavix tablets contain the active ingredient clopidogrel hydrogen sulphate, which is a type of medicine called an antiplatelet (sometimes referred to as a ‘blood-thinning’ medicine). It stops blood cells called platelets from clumping together [...]
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The focus of this blog for the next week or so will be on Plavix. Please don’t mistake these articles for medical advice: they are provided so that you can make an informed decision about your heart. Note that although Plavix is relatively better than aspirin ( “patients treated with clopidogrel had an annual 5.32% [...]
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The focus of this blog for the next week or so will be on Plavix. Please don’t mistake these articles for medical advice: they are provided so that you can make an informed decision about your heart. It is surprisingly difficult to find a good history of the development of Plavix. This information was fairly [...]
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(Continuing on the theme that “The way out is through”, that depression after a heart attack is not something that can be easily denied or medicated away…) Dream of Ravens On the mythological level, nigredo signifies the difficulties man has to overcome on his journey through the underworld. Nigredo is sometimes called ‘blacker than the [...]
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Brilliant idea. Let’s also put statins in the drinking water. Outlets Should Offer Free Statins With Junk Food Say UK Researchers MedPage Today 13 Aug 2010 Imagine this: order a cheeseburger and fries, and pick up a free cholesterol-busting statin tablet along with the other free condiments, that’s what a group of UK researchers suggests [...]
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Scientific American Observations August 2, 1010 Industry-sponsored drug trials more likely to report positive results Katherine Harmon Drugs being counted as trials backed by pharmaceutical companies are more likely to report positive resultsClinical trials to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of new drugs are expensive investments for pharmaceutical companies and other funding organizations—and failures can [...]
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The Avandia story — science at the wounded heart of medicine By Kate Scannell 07/24/2010 THE TROUBLING story about the diabetes drug Avandia concerns everyone — not “just” the millions of diabetic patients who have taken it. It concerns everyone because it provides an instructive and cautionary tale about prescription drug evaluation and marketing in [...]
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from: Cardiology Blog, Alegent Health Care June 6, 2010 There is no class of medications in the history of the world that has been better studied that statins. This class of drugs is more properly termed HMG CoA reductase (3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl co-enzyme A reductase) inhibitors, but with a name like that a terser nickname is almost [...]
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Boston Globe May 9, 2010 … A recent study by Harvard’s Kaptchuk suggests the importance of ritual and the doctor-patient relationship. A 2008 paper published in the British Medical Journal described experiments conducted on patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Two groups underwent sham acupuncture, while a third remained on a waiting list. The patients receiving [...]
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Statin drugs, or HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, are a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol. Statins work by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, the enzyme that determines the rate of cholesterol formation. Some research suggests that statin drugs may interfere with the body’s production of Co q10, a substance produced naturally in the body and [...]
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