 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Arthritis / June 2005Cox 2s vs trad NSAIDs
Well folks, it's all over the media today. Just fancy that I have been 55% more likely to have a heart attack using diclofenac these last 20 odd years ! All that fuss in the 1970 s when, without good reason, they withdrew the one drug that put me in remission. One wonders how we have survived ? OK so who started all this and how valid is this great fuss. To what extent is this stuff pharmaceutical politics ? To what extent are the PCTs taking the opportunity to cut down on costs by failing to recommend COX 2s. I smell a rat or rats somewhere along the line Peter >Just fancy that I have been 55% more likely to have a heart attack >using diclofenac these last 20 odd years ! All that fuss in the 1970 s >when, without good reason, they withdrew the one drug that put me in >remission. One wonders how we have survived ? Yeah - that was my point to my rheumy the other week. If these drugs were really unsafe then i would actually have heard of someone ... anyone ... who'd had a heart attack while taking them. What i'd like them to have shown is how much more likely you are to have a heart attack compared with: a) smoking b) working in a stressful environment c) eating a fat-laden diet etc etc I think the statistics there would have made taking Cox-2s seem completely irrelevant. I think the hype is from the drugs companies themselves - as a reaction to the litigious society we live in now. The Cox-2 drugs are so widely used that they are worried about even a slightly higher risk because a class-action suit taken by just a fraction of a percent of the users of Cox-2s would be very serious indeed. Chris R. (still taking Celebrex since swapping from Vioxx, which in turn i had taken for 4-5 years previously - all with no noticable side-effects) Hi Chris. Yes the BBC came up with one today. Smoking makes you 4 times more likely to have a heart attack than the 55% extra risk you have by taking diclofenac. My local PCT have not exactly banned cox 2 s but they seem to have done their best to discourage GPs from prescribing them. Are we really talking costs here I wonder ? Name any other PCTs who are doing this Peter >Yes the BBC came up with one today. Smoking makes you 4 times more >likely to have a heart attack than the 55% extra risk you have by >taking diclofenac. Yeah - i rest my case. I wish it was mandatory to compare statistics when they are made public. Releasing something like "55% more chance of a heart attack" sounds very dramatic but my reading of the stats is that if your chances of getting a heart attack are 2/1000 (i have no idea what the real figures are) then after taking Diclofenac they are 3/1000 - not quite such a headline grabber eh? Just saying "55%" makes people think they have a 55% chance of getting a heart attack, which is totally misleading. >My local PCT have not exactly banned cox 2 s but they seem to have done >their best to discourage GPs from prescribing them. Mine (Berkshire) seem OK and they have kept prescribing Celebrex to patients who are outside the (assumed) major risk group - those with previously existing heart problems. Chris R. >>Just fancy that I have been 55% more likely to have a heart attack >>using diclofenac these last 20 odd years ! All that fuss in the 1970 s [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >were really unsafe then i would actually have heard of someone ... >anyone ... who'd had a heart attack while taking them. the world has, for sure, gone mad. anyone who starts on anti-tnf treatment[*] has to sign to say they understand the possible increased risk of cancer. why on earth can't we be allowed to sign in the same way for nsaids (all of which now seem to be under attack). the possibility of going without is pretty much unbearable, imo. [*] here in cambridge, at least  SignatureRobin (http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq) Fairbairns, Cambridge >anyone who starts on anti-tnf treatment[*] has to sign to say they >understand the possible increased risk of cancer. why on earth can't >we be allowed to sign in the same way for nsaids (all of which now >seem to be under attack). True ... and i have often signed consent forms for surgery which i know do the same - acknowledging that i have been informed of the risk etc. These arent exactly waivers, and we can still expect treatment if a complication does occur, but they do at least prevent a person trying to make money by taking the local health authority to court claiming they didn't know and then asking for damages to compensate for stress etc. >the possibility of going without is pretty >much unbearable, imo. You raise a very good point - i think it is highly ulikely they will withdraw NSAIDs across the board because the resulting outcry would be massive. Not to mention the fact that the risks are comparatively small when compared to many other day-to-day activities. Chris R. >Well folks, it's all over the media today. >Just fancy that I have been 55% more likely to have a heart attack [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >Peter I was watching a news report on this and the two comments which leapt out of it to me were: 1. "the results of these trials are far from conclusive" 2. "Doctors advise patients to keep taking there medication" Anyway if they scratch all the nsaids what are they going to replace the with? Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin maybe? http://www.amateurtransplants.com/ then listen / then number 1........ Like someone said, it's a funny old world. -- Andy I'm on celebrex - no side effects and it's working wonders for me!! I'm 32 and I did query it with my GP and consultant and they both said I have nothing to worry about! I've got to trust them to some degree haven't I! Sarah > Well folks, it's all over the media today. > Just fancy that I have been 55% more likely to have a heart attack [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Peter |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.