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Folks they are dropping like flies. The leading NSAID in the world, Vioxx, led the cascasde in late September. Vioxx was the beginning of the end of convetional medicine. Merck will lose $50 billion. A few weeks later the second COX-2 inhibitor, Bextra, bit the dust Then this weekend the third and final cox-2 inhibitor Celebrex got hit. Pfizer is the number one drug company in the world and their stock dropped $25 billion over the weekend.
Now, it appears that all NSAIDs may be problematic, not just the COX-2 inhibitors. Yesterday the NIH told us that the popular over-the-counter pain reliever Aleve has been linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The director of the FDA's drugs division, said consumers should take Aleve only as directed on its label: No more than two pills a day. Aleve is the first OTC drug to enter the NSAID mess, but it is still avaialble as prescription strength.
So the warning is about the OTC drug that only has 200 mg of naproxen. But guess what? The prescription product has more than twice the dose of the OTC brand and has 500 mg. The recommended dose is up to 1500 mg. This is nearly FOUR TIMES the dose the FDA now advises consumers not to exceed.
Do you want to hear what deputy director of the FDA's Office of New Drugs said about Aleve? Well, here you go:
"This is a very confusing situation...there is little data about the long-term effects of naproxen or any other related pain reliever."
The FDA has finally admitted that the entire class of drugs known as NSAIDs are are expected to fall as a result of this new information. So that means that if you are taking Advial or any other NSAID, you will want to consider finding a healthier option ASAP, as the drug you are taking but actually take your life.
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So what can you do to treat pain in a way that not only addresses its cause but makes you healthier?
There are two steps that will help the vast majority of people with pain. That is to start a high quality fish oil (cod liver oil) at this time of year and to stop sugar. Omega-3 fats are precursors to mediators of inflammation called prostaglandins. In fact that is how Vioxx and other NSAIDs work. They manipulate prostaglandins. However, when you do it in an unnatural drug way, there is frequently another price to pay like side effects that can lead to death. When you use natural methods like omega-3 fats and stopping sugar, the side effects are good health.
Sugar and grain avoidance for most people will lower insulin levels. Elevated insulin levels are one of the most important reasons why inflammatory prostaglandins are produced. That is why stopping sugar and sweets are so essential to controlling arthritis pain and other types of chronic degenerative illness.
Most people were using Vioxx for osteoarthritis and other types of pain. But for those that were using it for the less common rheumatoid arthritis, it is important to know that optimizing vitamin D is one of the most important physical measures one can take to treat RA. Sun exposure is clearly the best way to achieve this however at this time of year the only alternative to months vacation in the Caribbean that most of us can't do is to consume healthy vitamin D that is in cod liver oil. Cod liver oil is clearly the safest form of vitamin D supplementation as it also has vitamin A and this can balance against absorbing too much vitamin D.
nutritional typing is another tool that I have seen works in thousands of patients to reduce their pain -- if you are not yet aware of your nutritional type and how this can profoundly improve your health and help reduce pain, I strongly recommend you consider my bestselling Total Health book, which is centered around the topic (and provides strategies for avoiding sugars and grains). Eating according to your nutritional type is absolutely amazing , especially when combined with an effective energy psychology tool like EFT that can address previous emotional traumas that cause bioelectrical short circuiting predisposing one to immune dysfunction.
New York Times December 21, 2004
USA Today December 23, 2004
USA Today December 20, 2004