Painkillers can cause fatal stomach bleeding

[Constant]

Painkillers can cause fatal stomach bleeding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Approximately one third of all hospitalizations and deaths related to gastrointestinal bleeding can be attributed to the use of aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents ( NSAIDs) painkillers like ibuprofen, a study in Spain suggests.

Moreover, up to one third of these painkiller-related incidents may be due to low-dose aspirin.

Dr. Angel Lanas, at University Hospital in Zaragoza, and his associates evaluated data from 26 Spanish hospitals on hospitalizations related to peptic-ulcer disease or complications such as bleeding or perforation, as well as drug use during the month prior to hospitalization.

They report their findings in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

A total of 8010 serious gastrointestinal bleeding events were reported, and among these, the mortality rate was 5.7 percent.

The authors report that the proportion of complications and deaths attributed to NSAID and aspirin use was 36.3 percent. They also note that nearly 90 percent of deaths occurred in patients older than 60 years of age.

To extrapolate the impact of aspirin and NSAID use on the general population of Spain, Lanas' group obtained data from 197 hospitals representative of all the hospitals in the Spanish National Health System.

Their results suggest that the death rate resulting from NSAID- or aspirin-related gastrointestinal complications was between 21 and 25 cases per million inhabitants. This translates to about 15 such deaths for every 100,000 users of aspirin or NSAIDs.

According to the authors, these results highlight "the importance of taking ever-greater steps to research new and better alternatives to treat pain and inflammation in the elderly, to heighten physician and public awareness of the associated problems of NSAID therapy, and to educate them on the use of appropriate prevention strategies."

Dr. Byron Cryer, from the Dallas VA Medical Center, agrees with this conclusion. He writes in a related editorial: "Although clinically significant gastrointestinal events with NSAIDs are uncommon, as a result of the vast numbers of patients who take these medications, when assessed by percentages these complications remain a significant public health concern."

[hmh]

Read the warning labels on asprin and Tylenol. Read the instructions on prescription pain meds. Listen to the side effects of the new pain meds that are being advertised. All can cause some form of stomach bleeding. Sometimes I wonder if the side effects of the treatment is worse than the problem being treated.

[Constant]

The other day, I took some pain killers for my neck. That night I was in the worse pain. My stomache felt like it was going to explode! I was so scared. It went on all night and I just passed out from the pain. My husband and I decided that it was the fault of the pain killers!

[PwrInTheBld]

Always, always, always take medication with food in your stomach!

I even have food in my stomach when the medication says "best taken on empty stomach"....all that means is that it won't be absorbed as quickly if food is in there.

Aspirin, like other pain killers can, cause as many problems as they are supposed to prevent.

[Gerioke]

My mom takes aspirin daily for her heart. She's 82 and never had a problem.

[hmh]

My mom takes aspirin daily for her heart. She's 82 and never had a problem.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is she taking the 81mg dosage? If taken properly, you should encounter no problems.

[Gerioke]

My mom takes aspirin daily for her heart. She's 82 and never had a problem.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is she taking the 81mg dosage? If taken properly, you should encounter no problems.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dunno. She takes 1 aspirin per day.

[PwrInTheBld]

If she ever requires surgery, the doctors should know about the aspirin. It's not a "blood thinner" as people think it is....it does reduce inflammation in the blood though and causes the blood to flow quicker. Don't want a bleeder in surgery.

[Guest stevej]

The problem with pain killers is not the occasional use. Folks like my wife who are in constant severe pain are limited to prescription pain killers. We are very careful about the use of those drugs because some of them are addicting as well as dangerous to overall health.

The one thing we do on any prescription is look at the 10 page documentation to find out what is known about side effects. Unfortunately, the FDA seems to be releasing drugs without enough study. The FDA should be regulated better.