I've warned you for a long time about the misconceptions floating around about over-the-counter (OTC) medications. The most important one, when it comes to your health, is that OTC meds are safer than prescription drugs, when, in fact, they aren't (as a study I posted in May demonstrates so well).
A new study has found women taking a non-aspirin painkiller like acetaminophen every day may be twice as prone to high blood pressure than those who don't use them.
Blood pressure risks by the numbers:
- Women in two age groups (34-53, 51-77) doubled their risk of high blood pressure when they took more than one 500 mg tablet of acetaminophen a day.
- Those in the 51-79 group who took 400 mg of NSAIDs daily had a 78 percent greater risk of developing high blood pressure.
- Women in the 34-53 group taking that same dosage of NSAIDs as the previous group increased their risk of high blood pressure by 60 percent.
If you're using an OTC or prescription drug to relieve your pain, you have many options at your disposal that are safer, cheaper and far healthier for you. To that end, I urge you to read an article I posted earlier this year about the seven health-promoting ways to relieve your pain without harming your heart.
USA Today August 16, 2005