Currently viewing the category: "lifestyle drugs"

Dumb Doctoring

By On · Add Comment · In acid reflux, doctor, heartburn, hip fractures, indigestion, lifestyle drugs, lifestyle habit, medication, proton pump inhibitors, smoking, symptoms

You want me to let you in on a little secret? It’s called dumb doctoring. Here’s how it works: Patient comes into doctors office with symptoms. The symptoms are of a normal physiological process gone awry. Doctor prescribes medication to relieve the symptoms, ignoring the cause (usually a faulty lifestyle habit). Patient gets relief as long as the medication is continued (lifestyle drug), but then develops more symptoms related to the long-term drug use. The patient goes back to the doctor with new symptoms…and gets more medication.

But where does it end?

Well let’s see. How about I finish the story like this: Um…study comes out…yeah, uh…showing that…the medication used to treat initial symptoms…uh, increased the risk of hip fracture! Yeah, that’s it–better than a freakin’ movie of the week, because IT”S REAL!

A recent study shows that women who take popular heartburn and indigestion medications (read: commonly prescribed) may put themselves at a higher risk for hip fractures. Long-term use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), may increase that risk by 35-50% for current or former smokers. Prilosec, Nexium and Prevacid are some examples of these heartburn/indigestion medications.

Can I give you some Prilosec?

Dr. Hamed Khalili, clinical and research fellow in gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and lead researcher of the study says that postmenopausal women, particularly with a history of smoking should be closely monitored on these drugs. These results coincide with a recent FDA revision of labeling of PPIs “to incorporate concerns about a possible increase in risk of fractures with these drugs,” he said.

Khalili’s team looked at over 80,000 postmenopausal women over the course of eight years, from 2000 to 2008, and found that nearly 900 hip fractures occurred–with a 35% increased risk for women using PPIs compared to women who didn’t take the drugs. And the increased risk of fractures among women who smoked was even higher, reaching 50%. The longer a women took a PPI, the more her risk increased.

But back to dumb doctoring. The data showed that the number of women in the study taking PPIs increased from 6.7% in 2000 to 18.9% in 2008. Duh! Couldn’t the dumb doctors have gotten the numbers higher than that?! Consequently, the researchers expect hip fractures to rise even further in upcoming years.

What’s so laughable about this story is that it’s simply an everyday occurrence in the world of modern medicine. The story I described above is the way it’s done in 99% of medical practices in the country (g’head, prove me wrong). The only fools not seeing it are the doctors themselves; so blinded are they by their backwards ideology.

Listen, drugs are useful–but in moderation! Short-term drug use is best, Trapper–not a freakin’ decade-long habit. Duh! But that’s what we call dumb doctoring here in the western world. Most indigestion and heartburn issues are diet related. The body responds to foods it doesn’t agree with (or activities, like lying down immediately after eating, or smoking) with acid reflux. The long-term answer is not drugs! On the contrary, it’s finding the real cause and correcting it. But oh no…that would be far too much work, wouldn’t it?

And when patients return with more symptoms…? Why, let’s give ’em more drugs. May I repeat…DUH! And people of the general public you are not off the hook, either, because you don’t ask yourself why? Why does the body respond with heartburn for months…years? You think it’s normal? You think you just don’t have enough drugs in your body?

I know that not everybody cares about maintaining health–that many people want to just live their lives and deal with their illnesses as they come. I get it–I really do. But I also know that some of you reading this do care about your health, because it allows you to live more fully; it allows you to do the things you love. So this post is really for you. If you have symptoms lasting for more than a couple of months, then just understand that you are disrupting your body in one way or another. No biggie–find out what it is and make the necessary changes, that’s all. But understand that if you ignore it; or worse if you ignore it by quieting it with drugs, but never really solve the problem, then you will pay later. And not that much later, either.

As for you dumb doctors–whoops, your bad. Maybe no one will notice…

The Mad, Mad World of Erectile Dysfunction

By On · Add Comment · In Cialis, erectile dysfunction, Levitra, lifestyle drugs, sudden hearing loss, Viagra

Oh, the madness of erectile dysfunction. Seems like there are stiff problems surrounding the pharmaceutical and herbal remedies meant to treat this malapropos malady. According to new reports from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, taking the impotence drugs Viagra, Cialis, or Levitra can bring on sudden hearing loss. A review done by the governmental agency found that 29 cases of sudden hearing loss were reported with use of these three drugs, with two thirds of the cases being ongoing.

And if that ain’t bad enough, researchers in Hong Kong report that many “herbal remedies” sold over-the-counter have untested variants of the same pharmaceutical agents named above. The illegal analogues of sildenafil and vardenafil (Viagra and Levitra respectively) are produced with minor changes to the chemical structures and then added to, or more accurately–concealed in–the supposedly natural mix. Unfortunately, chemical variants are neither tested nor reviewed by regulatory bodies, like the FDA, as patented pharmaceuticals are, and this can lead to problems.

For instance, a previously healthy 28-year-old man was recently hospitalized with an unsteady gait (called ataxia–a neurological issue) and frequent falling. It was discovered that he had been taking an anti-impotence “health product” for over a week before showing those symptoms. Funny that a healthy young buck would need an anti-impotence drug. But as you all know from my podcast on lifestyle drugs (Episode 3), many a young stud is taking erectile dysfunction drugs to enhance performance. Bad, bad idea, Padners.

For men who truly suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED), let it be known that problems with impotence may underlie an even more serious problem–heart trouble or vascular disease. Erectile dysfunction, or the inability to gain an erection is the result of poor circulation to the penis. In fact, drugs like Viagra work precisely by increasing blood flow–vasodilation it’s called–which allows the penis to engorge with blood. Failure to do so means that the body has encountered an obstacle, most likely a problem with the pump. So simply treating ED with drugs isn’t the answer. On the contrary, not only may it mask the true issue, but that kind of cover up can also prevent men from seeking out the care they really need; or prevent them from changing their lifestyle to promote good heart health.

Unfortunately, many doctors are missing this connection. Not a surprise considering the mass volume of impotence drugs prescribed every year. Furthermore, many men with erectile problems aren’t aware of the vascular implication, so they don’t discuss it in depth with their physicians. According to Dr. R. Parker Ward, an assistant professor of medicine and director of the cardiology clinic at the University of Chicago Hospitals, and lead author of the study linking ED to heart disease, “We as physicians should be asking about, and men should be reporting to their physicians, symptoms of ED, so it can be considered as we work to modify their risk — treat blood pressure, cholesterol more aggressively, advise healthy lifestyle changes like exercise and healthy diet.” Always better to treat the cause than to put on a band-aid, I always say. And this is one of those situations where a band-aid can ultimately cost you your life.

So if your having trouble standing up to the task, take it as a firm warning–get your heart checked, start exercising, and start eating a healthy, wholesome diet. And please be cautious of purchasing that “natural” impotence herb you’ve been considering. Chances are it’s not all that natural.

A Drug for Every Lifestyle

By On · Add Comment · In birth defects, cancer, drugs, lifestyle drugs, male pattern baldness, pharmaceuticals, propecia, Viagra, weight loss drugs

This month on the Dr. Nick Show, I talk at length about lifestyle drugs. Lifestyle drugs are devised to treat conditions that fall outside the medical realm of illness. Take male pattern baldness for instance – medical illness or life circumstance? Oh well, we have drugs to treat it either way. Should insurance companies (read: insurance premium holders/consumers/you and me) have to pay for it?

Another way to define lifestyle drugs is: medicines that treat conditions caused by lifestyle choices. So, for instance, there are some groovy weight-loss drugs on the market right now. Cool. Should you rely on them solely? Hmmm. Or, should you pound the treadmill, pound the weights, and cut the calories? I mean, why should one do all that hard work when there’s this cool little pill? I dunno, why?

Well if you listen to the latest episode of the Dr. Nick Show, you’ll get all the details on lifestyle drugs, and you’ll be able to make a decision on your own. And no matter what, you’ll see how these drugs are defining the direction our culture is moving with regard to pharmaceutical science.

It’s no problem – it simply is what it is. However, just know that every substances comes with an added risk. And there just ain’t an easy answer – like a pill – that can fix all of our problems. The piper always gets paid in one way or another, ya know.
Anyway, lifestyle drugs are here to stay. It’s big business. Check out these booming numbers – BusinessWeek calls them blockbusters (with sales of $1 billion or more a year). Drugs to help people wake and sleep as they please are particularly popular. And, of course, let’s not forget the drugs that help men have better erections.
No, no Campos – that’s help men who can’t have erections.
Uh, no…it’s not. Lot’s of young, healthy guys are partying on Viagra – Viagra and methamphetamine, that is. Or ecstasy. Or coke. Swear. Check it out . But don’t forget the risks gents. There’s always risks. For instance, the baldness drug propecia can cause birth defects if pregnant women inhale particles of broken pills (dosages are taken in half pills, so consumers must break them in half – brilliant, right?) or handle whole pills. And some cancer concerns exist with propecia too (scroll down to possible health concerns).
So, like I said, the lifestyle drugs are here to stay. Risk aside, the market is far too lucrative for pharmaceutical companies to slow down development. No to worry, just know the risks and be careful. Avoiding lifestyle drugs, in my opinion is always best, but, if ya gotta do ’em, then do ’em intelligently – which is, for a very short period of time.
Copyright © 2013 Dr. Nick Campos - All Rights Reserved.