To listen to the audio version
of this secret
please click the play button when it appears:
TOPIC:
"A
Dangerous Drug Mix (Erythromycin)"
Have you heard about the latest study in the New England Journal of Medicine carried out by Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville concerning the safety of mixing older medicines with newer ones?
This study involves a common antibiotic drug that’s been prescribed
millions of times for 50 years to treat all sorts of infections from strep throat to syphilis.
It’s been discovered that this drug dramatically increases the risk of cardiac arrest when taken with other common drugs.
Normally I wouldn’t get involved in anything to do with drugs of any kind, but in this case, specifically involving the widely prescribed drug, erythromycin, the results of this study are just too frightening to ignore.
According to the study, apparently patients taking erythromycin along with other drugs that cause an increase in concentration of this drug in the blood are at five times greater risk of cardiac death. This means that there
are about six deaths for every 10,000 individuals taking the typical two week course of erythromycin while they are also on other drugs.
Apparently, most heart doctors knew that erythromycin all by itself carried a slight risk of patient death mostly in those who took the drug intravenously, but that family doctors are less likely to be aware of this.
This was the first study to document the risk of combining the much more commonly used erythromycin pills, which are usually sold as a generic, along with certain medicines for infections and calcium channel blockers for high blood pressure.
According to those involved in the study, it’s the other drugs slowing the breakdown of the erythromycin that is causing the danger because this causes an increase in the erythromycin concentration. When the erythromycin builds up to high levels, it traps salt in resting heart muscles, which in turn prolongs the time until the next heartbeat starts. This combination can sometimes trigger a potentially deadly heart rhythm.
So after 50 years out in the marketplace with nobody realizing the hidden dangers of mixing erythromycin with other common drugs, it looks as though this drug may go the way of the allergy drug Seldane which was taken off the market in 1998 after it was found to cause sudden cardiac death due to similar abnormal heart rhythms.
According to the study done on erythromycin, some of the other common drugs that may cause serious troubles when mixed together include clarithromycin (sold under the Biaxin brand); fluconazone or Diflucan (for vaginal yeast infections); the antifungal drugs ketocanazole (Nizoral) and itraconazole (Sporanox); and the AIDS drugs called protease inhibitors and also grapefruit juice should be avoided because they also help boost levels of erythromycin in your blood.
As well, erythromycin boosts blood levels of verapamil and diltiazem,
which slows heart rate and can worsen irregular heart rhythms.
It’s possible that you’ve been taking these drugs for years, and then, for instance, may develop a sore throat, so your doctor gives you erythromycin and, uh oh...you drop dead from irregular heart beat.
A word of warning...always do your own research before subjecting yourself to the many dangers associated with the drug cocktail industry because doctors don’t have the time to know everything or read every piece of paper that comes across their desk.
Make it a rule to always keep a current list of all drugs you take, and ask a lot of questions...especially about
interactions with other drugs.
Thank you for enjoying this simple health
"secret", compliments of SolvingTheHealthPuzzle.com
where you'll learn simple "secrets" every week about how to live a healthier
and more toxic-free life.
* Need content? You may use this article at your website, or in
your newsletter.
The only requirement is inclusion of the following sentence: Article by Asia Moore of SolvingTheHealthPuzzle.com.
Dedicated to helping you solve your own health
puzzle, naturally.
Please visit our home
page often to see newly added health related products and information!
