Posts Tagged ‘drug side effects’

Cancer Treatment a Word of Caution

When we say cancer treatment a word of caution, we mean paragraphs full of cautionary warnings.

There is a relatively new medication for pancreatic cancer. It is a drug used for advanced liver and kidney cancer and appears to be effective against cancer stem cells in pancreatic cancer. The drug sorafenib inhibited typical properties of cancer stem cells from pancreas tumors and greatly reduced tumor growth. The effect lasted four weeks before new colonies of cancer stem cells formed that no longer reacted to a further treatment with sorafenib.

Well if that isn’t a breakthrough I don’t know what is. Except for these side effects we have a winner.

The drug manufacture claims that you will not get all the side effects, and they are almost always reversible, will go away after therapy is complete, and of course are quite manageable. It’s a promise that isn’t guaranteed in writing. These are the garden variety of problems.

Constipation; diarrhea; dry skin; hair thinning or loss; headache; loss of appetite; mouth, bone, muscle, stomach, or joint pain; nausea; tiredness; vomiting; weakness; weight loss.

These are the big boys. Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur when using Sorafenib:

Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); black, tarry stools; chest pain; confusion; coughing or vomiting blood; decreased sexual ability; decreased urination; depression; fainting; fever, chills, or sore throat; irregular heartbeat; mouth sores; numbness of an arm or leg; one-sided weakness; redness, pain, swelling, numbness, tingling, or blisters on the palms of hands or soles of feet; seizures; severe or persistent dizziness; severe stomach pain; shortness of breath; speech changes; sudden severe headache or vomiting; sudden weight gain; swelling of the ankles, hands, or feet; unusual bruising or bleeding; vision changes; yellowing of the eyes or skin.

This is just part one, wait there are more delightful surprises. Come back and see for yourself the drawbacks of these kind of drugs.

Type 2 diabetes treatments for both cholesterol and high blood pressure fail to save lives.

Diabetes Type 2 Treatment

Key results from a landmark federal study shows that adding drugs to drive blood pressure and blood-fats lower than current targets, does not prevent heart problems, and in some cases causes harmful side effects.

Study

The study involved people with Type 2 diabetes. Diabetics have more than double the risk of being a heart attack or stoke statistic. Researches led by Columbia University’s Dr. Henry Ginsburg studied more than 5,500 diabetics who also had another health risk, such as high blood pressure or cholesterol.

All were given statin-cholesterol-lowering pills sold as Lipitor and Zocor. Half were also given Abbott Laboratories’ TriCor, and the rest got placebos. TriCor is a drug that lowers fats called triglycerides while boosting “good” cholesterol. People with very high blood fats seemed to have some benefit from TriCor.

Women taking TriCor appeared to have a higher chance to have heart problems compared to the women taking the placebo.

The blood-pressure part of the study was led by Dr. William Cushman, preventive medicine chief at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee. About 4,700 diabetics were treated with different medicines to keep their systolic blood pressure-the top number-either below 140 or below 120.

The intense treatment did not reduce the number of heart attacks, although it prevented more strokes, a less common problem. Side effects were greater with the intense treatment.

North Chicago, Illinois-based Abbott makes TriCor and a newer version, Trilipix. The drugs had more than $1.3 billion in U.S. sales last year.

The Natural Way

There are natural ways to combat type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Natural healing is an underutilized intervention. It is both potent and convenient.

The optimal defense is a lifestyle makeover. Lifestyle changes are unmatched and have the potential to turn around chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes. This is a modality that physicians have not tapped into. This has the ability to prevent drug induced serious conditions. The pharmaceutical companies are still looking for a little green pill, the color of a dollar bill.