Re: Times: Alert over fatal mix of herbal pills and medicines
From: Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD (nospam5_at_heartmdphd.com)
Date: 07/03/04
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Date: 3 Jul 2004 04:44:19 -0700
sufaud@hotmail.com (Sufaud) wrote in message news:<766fc3.0407022159.4418bbcb@posting.google.com>...
> July 03, 2004
> The Times (London)
>
> Alert over fatal mix of herbal pills and medicines
> By Sam Lister, Health Correspondent
>
>
> Doctors warn that thousands are at risk
>
> THOUSANDS of people are risking their lives by mixing herbal remedies
> with common prescription drugs.
>
> Of the 10,000 deaths caused by adverse reactions to prescription drugs
> every year, a "significant number" were likely to have been caused by
> patients mixing their treatments with complementary medicines,
> doctors' leaders said yesterday.
>
> Research has shown that more than 90 per cent of people prescribed
> drugs such as warfarin, a powerful anti- coagulant taken to stop the
> build-up of lethal blood clots, were not asked by their GPs if they
> were taking any complementary medicines.
>
> Popular substances such as St John's wort, a plant extract taken for
> mild depression, have been found to react dangerously with warfarin
> and other prescription drugs, preventing the treatments from working.
>
> In the study, published in the British Journal of General Practice
> (BJGP), one in five patients on warfarin was found to be taking
> complementary medicines also.
>
> Lindsay Smith, the lead author of the report, said that the findings
> raised serious concerns about the lack of communication between
> doctors and patients about herbal remedies. Current software used by
> GPs to compile patient records does not include a facility to record
> data on alternative medications.
>
> "What was really striking was that one in five people is taking
> something and nine out of ten are not discussing it with their
> doctor," Dr Smith, a GP in Somerset, said.
>
> "If complementary medicines were perfectly safe and had been
> thoroughly tested, there wouldn't be a problem. But most of these
> medications remain untested and unresearched. This is potentially very
> dangerous."
>
> In the research carried out by Dr Smith, 1,360 patients taking
> warfarin from 35 different practices were surveyed about herbal remedy
> use. Almost 300 were found to be taking a listed complementary
> medicine, of which 25 were taking at least one reported to react with
> warfarin, such as St John's wort, ginseng or gingko biloba, a tree
> leaf extract believed to improve blood flow to the brain. A further
> 200 patients were on other unidentified alternative medicines. Dr
> Smith said that problems arise from the lack of medical knowledge of
> interactions between prescription and alternative medicines. His group
> is to undertake further research into gingko and garlic pills.
>
> It is estimated that at least 12 million Britons regularly use herbal
> remedies, while more than 500,000 take warfarin. The overlap, which
> remains undocumented, is likely to be high among the elderly, who
> often rely on multiple medications for different ailments, health
> experts said.
>
> The report follows the publication yesterday of research from
> scientists at the University of Liverpool which estimates that more
> than 10,000 patients may be dying every year because of reactions to
> common medications such as aspirin, anticoagulants and
> antidepressants.
>
> Researchers said that while most cases had been attributed to
> conventional drug reactions ? with patients and GPs asked about St
> John's wort usage ? other herbal remedies were likely to have
> contributed to the high death rate.Concerns have been raised about the
> effects of echinacea, a popular anti-viral supplement, on the liver
> when combined with other drugs, and garlic supplements on some
> anti-HIV treatments Jim Kennedy, the Royal College of General
> Practitioners spokesman on prescribing, said that adverse reactions
> triggered by herbal remedies would be high.
>
> "It is going to be a factor in a significant number of those deaths ?
> certainly in the hundreds," he said.
>
> Edzard Ernst, director of the Department of Complementary Medicine at
> the University of Exeter and an adviser on the BJGP report, said that
> many British GPs " know absolutely nothing about complementary
> medicine".
>
> "But they have a moral duty to advise patients responsibly on all
> matters of healthcare. To exclude a whole strain of healthcare and say
> it's got nothing to do with us because we didn't learn it at medical
> school is not responsible."
>
> He added: "With a drug like warfarin the therapeutic window is very
> narrow. Underdosing you can have a blood clot, and overdosing can lead
> to extensive bleeding and, in worst -case scenarios, brain
> haemorrhages. You are dead as a church mouse. Any interference with
> herbal medicines is potentially life-threatening."
>
>
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1166505,00.html
Words to the wise about self-doctoring and "alternative" medicine.
Servant to the humblest person in the universe,
Andrew
-- Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD Board-Certified Cardiologist http://www.heartmdphd.com/ ** Who is the humblest person in the universe? http://makeashorterlink.com/?L26062048 What is all this about? http://makeashorterlink.com/?R20632B48 Is this spam? http://makeashorterlink.com/?N69721867
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