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If you have or know someone who has Fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue, please join us in our fight to get these awful illnesses recognized. For more information on how you can help please contact: ivorycgd@noln.com and ask about the million letter campaign. If you need more information or are looking for a support check out: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/cool_sters or www.fibrohugs.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Doctors rethink painkiller use Torrent of warnings on risks complicates prescribing of drugs By Scott Allen and Raja Mishra, Globe Staff Doctors have dramatically shifted how they prescribe painkillers, taking more care to match millions of patients with the most appropriate medicines amid a succession of disclosures that virtually every widely used pain reliever carries significant risks. Federal health officials forced the withdrawal of the painkiller Bextra after tests found that it elevated the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke. In addition, stern warnings about the risks of heart attacks and stomach bleeding were issued for long-term use of all other nonsteroidal painkillers, including those sold without prescriptions, like Motrin, Advil, and Aleve. Every major type of painkiller is now either unavailable or more risky than once thought. In doctors' offices around New England, as well as the nation, the torrent of bad news -- most of it in the past six months -- has caused consternation among patients with arthritis and other chronic pain, forcing doctors to rethink the use of these staples of medicine. Doctors in recent years have increasingly relied on three drugs known as cox-2 inhibitors -- Celebrex, Bextra, and Vioxx, once celebrated as safe and powerful painkillers. Now, only Celebrex remains on the market, though with warnings that it increases the risk of cardiovascular problems, and in many instances doctors are seeing whether patients can get by with milder, over-the-counter pain pills. ''It's caused us to ask if patients needed cox-2s in the first place," said Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center rheumatologist Dr. Robert H. Shmerling. ''Doctors now have to individually assess the benefits of these medicines for individual patients. That should have been happening all along." Most patients, said doctors, have taken the news in stride. The Rev. Cary Young, 33, who has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis since she was 19, said she hasn't found anything that works as well as Celebrex for controlling the crippling flare-ups of her disease. She took the drug almost daily for four years until her doctor became concerned that it could exacerbate her heart condition. She is now on other painkillers and is angry its maker, Pfizer, did not disclose the risks sooner. ''The pharmaceutical companies seemed to let things go a long time before they were honest with everybody," said Young. Patients at risk for gastrointestinal problems in many cases are still prescribed Celebrex, which is easy on the stomach. But patients like Young with a history of heart disease have been steered away from Celebrex. And many doctors have questioned whether they should have ever prescribed cox-2 inhibitors to some patients. Chestnut Hill physician Dr. Steven Flier said the doctors in his internal medicine practice in September contacted all of their patients who were taking cox-2 inhibitors after Merck & Co. pulled Vioxx from the market, to re-evaluate their treatments. Yesterday, he said only a handful of patients remain on the drugs, those prone to the gastrointestinal bleeding that Aleve and other over-the-counter painkillers can cause. However, Flier said he has been surprised at how easily his patients have adjusted, saying, ''I assumed that people would want us to prescribe something else, but what most people ended up saying is that I'll try some Tylenol and, if I get into trouble, I'll take Aleve." For others, the recent spate of bad news has been more troubling. ''The Vioxx withdrawal was traumatic for everyone, patients especially," said Boston Medical Center's Dr. David T. Felson. ''For many patients, it was very helpful. I had patients crying in my office. This was a pretty effective drug that worked for them." The cox-2 inhibitors burst on the scene in 1999 when Celebrex surpassed Viagra as the fastest-selling new drug of all time. Though there was no clear proof that cox-2 inhibitors worked better at controlling pain, drugmakers claimed they were less harmful to the stomach than over-the-counter remedies such as Aleve or Motrin, known collectively as nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. Cox-2 inhibitors prevent the cox-2 enzyme from producing a hormone-like substance that leads to pain and swelling after an injury. Though the NSAIDS also block these enzymes, they also block the more beneficial cox-1 enzymes, which help produce the mucous lining in the stomach. As a result, NSAIDs increase the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. In 2003, Celebrex, Vioxx, and Bextra together were the seventh most popular class of drugs in the nation, accounting for $5.3 billion in prescriptions. But sales of cox-2 inhibitors have since collapsed, dropping more than 40 percent in February compared with the same month in 2004, according to IMS Health, a healthcare information firm. **************************************************************************************** Aspartame is a drug masquerading as an additive. It interacts with other drugs, has a synergistic and additive effect with MSG, and is a chemical hyper-sensitization agent. As far back as 1970, Dr. John Olney founded the field of neuroscience called excitotoxicity when he did studies on aspartic acid, which makes up 40% of aspartame, and found it caused lesions in the brains of mice. He made world news on the aspartame/brain tumor connection in l996. Dr. Ralph Walton, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine has written of the behavioral and psychiatric problems triggered by aspartame-caused depletion of serotonin. Aspartame liberates free methyl alcohol. The resulting chronic methanol poisoning affects the dopamine system of the brain causing addiction. Recent news is full of reports of world-class athletes and other healthy consumers of aspartame suddenly dropping dead. Sudden death can occur from aspartame use because it damages the cardiac conduction system. The effects of aspartame are documented by the FDA's own data. In 1995 the agency was forced, under the Freedom Of Information Act, to release a list of ninety-two aspartame symptoms reported by thousands of victims. This is only the tip of the iceberg. H. J. Roberts, MD, published the medical text "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic" -- 1,000 pages of symptoms and diseases triggered by this neurotoxin including the sordid history of its approval. In l981, the newly appointed FDA Commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes, ignored the negative ruling and approved aspartame for dry goods. As recorded in the Congressional Record of 1985, then CEO of Searle Laboratories Donald Rumsfeld said that he would call in his markers to get aspartame approved. Rumsfeld was on President Reagan's transition team and a day after taking office appointed Hayes. No FDA Commissioner in the previous sixteen years had allowed Aspartame on the market. In 1983, aspartame was approved for use in carbonated beverages. Today it is found in over 5000 foods, drinks and medicines. Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, MD, author of "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills" (http://www.russellblaylockmd.com) wrote about the relationship between aspartame and macular degeneration, diabetic blindness and glaucoma (all known to result from excitotoxin accumulation in the retina). All of these neurodegenerative diseases are worsened by aspartame. In Blaylock says that new studies show excitotoxins trigger significant elevation of free radicals in the lining (endothelial cells) of arteries, which means that aspartame will increase the incidence of heart attacks and strokes (atherosclerosis). In original studies, aspartame has triggered brain, mammary, uterine, ovarian, testicular, thyroid and pancreatic tumors. Plaintiffs have asked for an injunction to stop companies from producing, manufacturing, processing, selling or using aspartame. Let's say it's 6.15 pm and you're driving home (alone of course),after an unusually hard day on the job. You're really tired, upset and frustrated. Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five k's from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far. You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself. HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating.The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital. Tell as many other people as possible about this. It could save their lives!! If you think you have it and have not been diagnosed, check out the site for information on how to get a correct diagnosis and help. If you don't have this illness and know someone who does and want to help or you just want to know more about it, please check out our site. The secretary for Mohegan Tribe and Nation runs the site and was diagnosed back in 1986 with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome so she knows how you feel and has lots of secrets to help you through. Stop and see what we are all about. If you don't know what Fibromyalgia is about, come ask. If you have or know someone that has fibromyalgia and need support or information, come join us. We are a great group of people. e-mail: cool_sters@yahoo.com for information
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