Double jeopardy Think what's sold over the counter can't put you under a coffin-lid? You already know how I feel about the "aspirin-a-day" kick that every doctor in the whole nation seems to be on right now - ostensibly for the prevention of heart disease. In fact, I wrote a Daily Dose on the subject just last month… But just to reiterate: I think "aspirin therapy" is crazy. Not only does aspirin increase the risk of potentially lethal internal bleeding, it's also makes blood MORE likely to clot up, not less! And as if these reasons weren't enough to make you flush your Bayer down the commode, there's new research about over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers that's even more damning: It turns out that taking Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) in combination with aspirin actually doubles your risk of death from heart-related causes! That's right: According to a study of eight years' worth of medical records of over 7000 patients conducted by Britain's Medical Research Council (and reported in my favorite medical journal, The Lancet), if you pop Ibuprofen for any reason - say, arthritis pain relief - while engaged in aspirin therapy for heart disease, you're twice as likely to keel over from a heart attack because of the way these two powerful drugs interact. These findings only prove what I've been saying all along - that just because something is available over the counter doesn't mean it's harmless, or that it can't kill you… In fact, a recent survey by the National Consumers League found that 44 percent of adults KNOWINGLY exceeded the recommended dose of OTC pain-relievers - while only 16 percent had even read the warning label! Lunacy. Didn't these people hear about the dangers of possible liver damage from unintentional acetaminophen overdosing? I wonder if these folks would have been so careless if they'd known that Federal officials estimate that annually over 150,000 Americans end up in the emergency department because of complications from OTC pain-relievers - while these "harmless" meds kill 16,000 of us outright every year… Here's my recommendation: Take OTC medicines like aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen only when you're in pain - and never take them simultaneously or exceed the maximum dosages as listed on the labels (if you can even read them, they're printed so small). And remember, these are DRUGS. Be sure to treat them that way. Dental hygiene high jinks - or maybe HIJACK is a better word… Well, parents and grandparents everywhere can finally rest easy about their children's precious pearly-whites. Because the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD for short) has just inked a deal with that stalwart sentinel of sugar and phosphates - Here's to knowing what's harmless - and what's not,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
| 
