Articles filed under 'PRESCRIPTION DRUGS'
After looking into the recent deaths of two U.S. women following their use of the abortion pill RU-486 (Mifeprex), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled out medical abortion as the cause of one death. The second case is still under investigation.Â
The two deaths in March brought the total to six U.S. women and one Canadian woman whose deaths may have been related to taking Mifeprex and the follow-up drug Misoprostol two days later.
About 560,000 women have taken the pills since their approval in September 2000 for ending a pregnancy of less than 50 days. In most cases, the second drug was taken by mouth; however, some women were advised to insert Misoprostol vaginally. A very small number of these women developed serious or fatal infections.
The FDA will hold a public hearing in Atlanta in May to address the growing number of infections from bacteria called Clostridium sordelli.
There is increasing political momentum in the U.S. House of Representatives in support of Hollys Law, a bill calling for withdrawal of RU-486 from the market.
Sources: Yahoo!News; Oakland Tribune, April 11, 2006,AP story, reporter Andrew Bridges
Related Article: Two More Women Die After Taking Abortion Pill RU-486
April 17th, 2006
More Americans than ever are turning to sleep medications to get through the night. Ads promising safe slumber with little or no side effects may be behind this new trend. Many of us lead stressful lives — at the office, in our long commutes, raising children, and caring for older parents. It may be next to impossible to tune it all out at night.
Health experts are concerned that these drugs may be over-prescribed. About 42 million prescriptions for sleeping pills were filled in 2005, up nearly 60 percent since 2000. At least 10 percent of U.S. adults complain of having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep throughout the night. Although the newer drugs may not carry the same risk of dependence as the older ones (usually barbiturates), there is concern that they can sometimes cause strange side effects.
Episodes of sleepwalking or short-term amnesia may be connected to their long term use. In taking sleeping pills, many experience continued sleepiness for several hours after awakening.
Among the most commonly prescribed sleep aids are Ambien and Lunesta. The drug Sonata is shorter acting and may work better for persons who have difficulty falling asleep but who are able to sleep through the night.
Some psychiatrists believe that difficulty sleeping can be a sign of multiple disorders. Among them might be anxiety and depression, problems which are not being addressed.
Developing sleep-promoting habits in the hours just prior to bedtime could solve your insomnia better than taking pills, in the long run. Suggested strategies: Use your bed only for sleep and for sex; take a warm shower to relax; don’t watch violent movies just before bedtime; don’t exercise in the late evening hours; drink a glass of warm milk; avoid caffeine in the evening; gently wind down your conversations; listen to a relaxation tape at bedtime; try to fall asleep in the same general time frame each night.
Labels on sleep medications warn that they should be used only when you can devote a full night to sleeping. If taken in the wee hours of the morning, these drugs could cause sleepiness when driving to work or school or even temporary memory loss.
Newer drugs, such as Rozerem, are coming on the market which may pose fewer long-term risks. This drug acts on the brain’s melatonin receptors, thought to play a role in sleeping and waking cycles.
The best strategy, if possible, is to avoid taking pills to sleep each night. Reducing the stress in your life, developing good sleep preparation habits, or addressing any psychological problems with your doctor may be the wisest course.
Sources:Â New York Times (date?) (www.nytimes.com); Dr. Dean Edell, ABC daily broadcasts (www.healthcentral.com)Â
March 29th, 2006
New research has found women with higher natural estrogen levels may have a greater risk of stroke. High levels of estrogen are linked to obesity, which is also a factor in raising the odds of a stroke. The drug raloxifene (Evista) may guard women against this potential risk. The study led by Dr. Jennifer Lee of UCSF was presented this month at an American Stroke Association conference.
The four-year study involved 7,290 women – in which 4,843 took raloxifene and the others a dummy pill. Raloxifene is a designer estrogen that blocks that hormone’s action to the breast, for example, while providing beneficial effects to the bones.
The drug appeared to lower stroke risk in those with highest levels of a form of estrogen called estradiol, the most potent kind in estrogen circulating in the bloodstream. Women taking placebo pills had no detectable postmenopausal levels of estradiol at the study’s conclusion. Dr. Lee’s results factored in the women’s weights, their ages and other heart and stroke risk factors.
Dr. Lee estimates that if recent results prove true in additional studies, perhaps one stroke might be prevented for every 78 women given raloxifene. The drug is used to treat osteoporosis and also inhibit development or recurrence of estrogen-dependent breast cancers. Preliminary evidence suggests that taking hormones after menopause is especially risky for women with naturally high estradiol levels.
San Francisco Chronicle, 2/18/06 (Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press report)
March 27th, 2006
The majority of strokes occur because a clot restricts the flow of blood to an area of the brain, causing it to die. Persons who survive a severe stroke can linger for a decade or more with devastating physical and mental impairments. Strokes kill approximately 163,000 Americans annually and are a leading cause of long-term disability.
The costs of their care can quickly drain a family’s financial resources. Recognizing the symptoms of a stroke and getting appropriate treatment rapidly can determine the severity of the outcome. New treatments are offering hope for a full recovery within days or months.
In the past decade, the clot-buster TPA has been administered to dissolve brain clots. Originally used for heart attacks, TPA was shown to be also effective for strokes if given intravenously during the first three hours after onset of symptoms. It doesn’t always work for the patient and sometimes causes bleeding in the brain.
In 2005, a new stroke treatment – a corkscrew device to physically remove the clot – came into use for certain patients with major strokes. Now, an experimental treatment gives doctors even more options to help save lives and minimize the disabilities that strokes can produce.
Doctors involved in clinical studies are now delivering TPA precisely to the clot area and dripping the dissolving agent directly onto the blockage. Similar to angioplasty, in which a catheter is threaded through a vessel in the groin to the heart blockage, a tube is guided to the brain instead. TPA is delivered through a specialized tube to the clot, instead of making its way there through the bloodstream.
Many patients given this experimental treatment made stunning recoveries by the next day – often without the speech loss and paralysis that can result from stroke. One study found that after this novel treatment, 65 percent of patients were able to walk, talk and function normally after three months, compared to those given standard care.
According to study leader Dr. Doojin Kim, one-fourth of 128 patients given this localized treatment at UCLA over ten years at UCLA showed dramatic improvement of stroke symptoms within a day of administering TPA with the drip method.
Ninety percent of them survived, compared with 74 percent of stroke patients receiving standard intravenous TPA. Not only did they survive, they had excellent final outcome. Bleeding in the brain was less common with the new approach.
In a second study, 73 patients with severe strokes first got intravenous TPA, followed by the dripped treatment if needed. Some also received ultrasound through the TPA tube to further break up the clot. Bleeding was a more common side effect, but the twice as many clots were dissolved.
The new dripping technique is suggested for patients under age 80 who suffer a major stroke. Using those criteria, doctors estimated that up to half of stroke patients might qualify for the procedure. Only about 30 percent of clots dissolve with intravenous TPA alone, according to Dr. Gergory Del Zoppo, a stroke expert from Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.
Now physicians must decide which individuals would do best with various clot-dissolving strategies instead of using the corkscrew type device to pull out the clot.
Both the dripping technique and the corkscrew device promise to give stroke patients another option if their initial treatment with intravenous TPA fails. Doctors involved with the new treatment strategies agree that relative risks and benefits of each need further study.
Sources:Â San Francisco Chronicle, 2/17/06 (original article by Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press wire service)
March 27th, 2006
Califonia Deaths Investigated
In May, the FDA will hold a day-long scientific meeting to look into sudden deaths of four California women after taking abortion pill RU-486 in early pregnancy. A bacterial infection killed all four within days of their taking the pills — sold under brand name Mifeprex, and a follow-up drug called misoprostol. It is uncertain how each contracted the unusual infection and whether it was related to taking Mifeprex.
Dr. Marc Fischer, medical epidemiologist at the Center for Disease Control, will present at the workshop. His theory is that pregnancy or abortion could predispose a tiny number of women to acquire the bacteria that produce toxins in the lining of the blood vessels. The California women died from rapidly developing toxic shock brought on by the bacterium Clostridium sordellii.
Most abortion providers maintain that RU-486 is effective and safe when administered correctly and with careful patient monitoring and follow-up. More than 460,000 doses of Mifeprex have been sold in the U.S. to abortion providers since its approval. Half a million women in 35 countries have taken the abortion pill.
At the workshop, participants will develop a draft research agenda and put together recommendations for detecting the toxic condition. A panel of experts in immunology, epidemiology, and gynecological infections will present information at the investigatory meeting to determine whether RU-486 used in medical abortions needs further study.
Source:Â The Oakland Tribune, 2/15/06Â
(Contact Rebecca Vesely at rvesely@angnewspapers.com)
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March 26th, 2006
A new study involving 1,500 persons found that patients who had taken beta blocker or statin drugs were more likely to experience only mild chest pain, rather than a full-blown heart attack. Statins such as Lipitor, Zocor and Pravachol reduce artery-clogging cholesterol, while beta blockers like Coreg help lower high blood pressure. The Kaiser Permanente study of men aged 42 to 74 and women aged 55 to 74 indicated that heart drugs can lessen severity of the first symptoms of the disease.
Previous studies have shown that statins cut heart disease risk overall. This recent clinical trial demonstrated that these drugs reduce chances of a heart attack without having previous warning symptoms. Twice as many of the patients experiencing only chest pain had been taking a beta blocker or a statin during the previous five months, compared to those who experienced a sudden heart attack and did not take these drugs.
Only statins and beta blockers lowered the risk of heart attack when looking at all medications used to prevent heart disease. This conclusion was reached by Dr. Alan Go, the study’s lead author and researcher at Kaiser Permanente of Northern California.
Mark Hlatky, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University and a study author explained that if a patient experiences angina while exercising, it’s an early warning that allows time to start on treatments to reduce risk. He emphasized that a heart attack may cause permanent damage even if you survive it.
Additional study is needed to confirm these findings. Patients’ health records did not indicate whether patients were taking aspirin as a heart-protective measure. This study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was conducted jointly by Kaiser and Stanford researchers and also scientists at the University of California-San Francisco.
Source:Â MSNBC.com; 2/21/06
March 22nd, 2006
New research indicates that persons diagnosed with the AIDS virus are better off taking powerful medicines before their symptoms appear. So called “drug cocktails†combining three or more strong medications can be hard on the body. Researchers discovered in a new study that patients who started the drugs early and took them continuously developed 28 percent fewer cases of serious complications. These include kidney failure and peripheral neuropathy (numbness in hands and feet caused by nerve damage).
A surprising finding was that if you didn’t develop toxicity in the first six to twelve months, the risks of complications went down rather than up. Researchers examined medical records of 2,304 patients with HIV in eight cities in the U.S. Patients were placed in five groups, depending on their white-blood-cell counts – an index of the degree of their illness. Risks of kidney failure and neuropathy were studied for all five groups.
Reduced side effects were seen in 28 percent of patients who started treatment early, before their cell counts dropped. These findings were presented in February at a scientific conference in Denver, Colorado. Scientists were encouraged to find that in one quarter of patients, the harsh side-effects could be avoided or minimized, regardless of length of time on the drugs. The key was to start on drug cocktails early.
San Francisco Chronicle, based on article by health writer Sabin Russell, (2/12/06)
March 22nd, 2006
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