![]() A German study found that for people suffering from chronic lower-back pain, twice-weekly acupuncture sessions were twice as effective as conventional treatments with drugs, physical therapy, and exercise. Your new strategy: What you don't want to do is stop swallowing Celebrex and begin knocking back ibuprofen, because regular use of high doses of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can lead to gastrointestinal bleeding. The caveat to the consumer? In 2004, the FDA advised doctors to consider alternatives to Celebrex. Those on 400 mg twice a day more than tripled their risk, compared with people taking a placebo.Īnd yet Celebrex, a COX-2 inhibitor, is still available, even though two other drugs of that class, Bextra and Vioxx, were pulled off the market due to a similar risk of heart damage. But according to a 2005 New England Journal of Medicine study, the biggest threat is to your heart: People taking 200 mg of Celebrex twice a day more than doubled their risk of dying of cardiovascular disease. The drug has been linked to increased risks of stomach bleeding, kidney trouble, and liver damage. Once nicknamed "super aspirin," Celebrex is now better known for its side effects than for its pain-relieving prowess. Swallowing high doses (1,000 milligrams) of niacin daily may raise your HDL (good) cholesterol by as much as 24 percent, while at the same time lowering your LDL and triglyceride levels. Singh recommends that you talk to your doctor about cholesterol-lowering medicines, such as statins or the B vitamin niacin. "I prefer metformin, an older, cheaper, more dependable medication," says Sonal Singh, M.D., the lead author of the JAMA study. Your new strategy: Stick with a proven performer. Last September, a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study found that people who took rosiglitazone for at least a year increased their risk of heart failure or a heart attack by 109 percent and 42 percent, respectively, compared with those who took other oral diabetes medications or a placebo. This combo won't create dangerous inflammation, and according to a Scottish review, it's as effective as a corticosteroid-and-LABA combo.ĭiabetes is destructive enough on its own, but if you try to control it with rosiglitazone - better known by the brand name Avandia - you could be headed for a heart attack. Still wheezing? "Patients can also consider an inhaled corticosteroid paired with a leukotriene modifier," says Dr. For instance, if you have mild asthma, an inhaled corticosteroid such as Flovent is often all you need. Your new strategy: No matter what you may have heard, a LABA, such as the one in Advair, is not the only option, says Philip Rodgers, Pharm.D., a clinical associate professor at the University of North Carolina school of pharmacy. In 2006, similarly disturbing findings from an earlier salmeterol study prompted the FDA to tag Advair with a "black box" warning - the agency's highest caution level. Because salmeterol is more widely prescribed than other LABAs, the danger is greater - the researchers estimate that salmeterol may contribute to as many as 5,000 asthma-related deaths in the United States each year. A 2006 analysis of 19 trials, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that regular use of LABAs can increase the severity of an asthma attack. Advair contains the long-acting beta-agonist (LABA) salmeterol. Maybe he or she will finally open that big red book with all the dust on it. ![]() If you're on any of these meds, talk to your doctor. So we asked them, "Which medications would you skip?" Their list is your second opinion. ![]() Of course, plenty of M.D.'s do know which prescription and over-the-counter drugs are duds, dangers, or both.
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