Beware this dangerous, stroke-inducing drug combo

I spent a good portion of my medical residency taking people off of unnecessary medications — and it’s still a primary focus in my practice to this day.

So I’ll never understand why mainstream doctors almost never really look into all of the medications their patients are taking to determine if they’re actually necessary.

Taking a laundry list of pharmaceuticals places a tremendous burden on your liver and kidneys. But what’s even worse is the potential interactions between various drugs.

For instance, according to a new trial, the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and anticoagulant medications (blood thinners) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) — an irregular, rapid heart rate — significantly increases your risk of bleeding and stroke.

Muddying the waters

The new study, published in the Journal of The American College of Cardiology, conducted a randomized evaluation of long-term anticoagulant therapy in 2,279 participants.

Each participant took an NSAID (like ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac or ketorolac), an anticoagulant (like dabigatran or warfarin), or both.

Those who took NSAIDS and anticoagulants had a 68 percent higher rate of major bleeding compared to those who only took anticoagulants. The additional NSAID use was also associated with:

• A 50 percent increase in the risk for stroke or systemic embolism
• A 64 percent increase in frequent hospitalizations
• An 80 percent increase in major gastrointestinal bleeding

These are pretty staggering numbers, especially since there aren’t many trials that actually pit drugs against one another to check for specific interactions.

Are you at risk?

To be clear, there are two types of strokes:

• Ischemic – a blood vessel becomes blocked, usually by a blood clot, depriving a portion of the brain of oxygen. This accounts for around 80 percent of strokes.
• Hemorrhagic – an emergency condition in which a ruptured blood vessel causes bleeding inside the brain.

And NSAIDs increase both types. Plus, they also skyrocket your risk of stomach and intestinal bleeding.

I see many people who take NSAIDs and anticoagulants like candy. And patients with AF are often older and use pain medications for various things, like osteoarthritis.

But the fact is, NSAIDs are dangerous and almost always unnecessary. If you’re dealing with pain, I recommend you approach it with a holistic plan of action.

In fact, if you’re interesting in learning  how to effectively manage your pain without the use of harmful drugs with disastrous side effects, I’ve recently released my Pain-Free Life Protocol. Click here to learn more about the all-natural solutions for eliminating your pain, or to get started right away!

Source:

medscape.com/viewarticle/899187