Dangerous Prescription Drug Warning ☠ ☠ ☠

From ITN News broadcast 24th June 2011

Well-known brands of hay fever tablets, painkillers and sleeping pills pose a previously unknown threat to people's health when taken together, British scientists claim.

Many are available over the counter at pharmacies as well as being prescribed by GPs, nurses and chemists.

Today the scientists behind the study call for doctors to recognise how dangerous these drug combinations can be and to prescribe harmless alternatives instead.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia and the University of Kent identified 80 widely used medications that, when used in combination, were found to increase the risk of serious health problems.

The drugs, including common allergy treatments Piriton and Zantac, as well as Seroxat, an anti-depressant, are thought to be used by half of the 10  million over-65s in Britain. Many of the drugs, when taken in combination, were found to more than treble an elderly patient's chance of dying within two years.

Common bladder medications, heart drugs, eye drops and asthma treatments were also among those found to pose a risk.

All the drugs work by blocking a key chemical in the nervous system called acetylcholine.

The researchers placed each of the drugs into one of three groups based on how effectively they blocked acetylcholine. The more effective the drug was in blocking the chemical, the more dangerous it was in high doses.

The most dangerous included the antihistamines chlorphenamine (used in the brand Piriton) and promethazine (used in Phenergan), the anti-depressant paroxetine (used in Seroxat) and the incontinence drug oxybutynin (used in Ditropan).

The heartburn drug ranitidine (used in Zantac), beta blocker Atenolol, the painkiller codeine and some eye drops were among the drugs in the mildest category.

Low-risk drugs were graded one point while high-risk drugs were graded three. The study found that patients who took a combination of drugs that added up to four points or more — such as a high-risk antihistamine combined with low-risk eye drops — had a 20 per cent chance of dying within two years, compared with just seven per cent for over-65s who did not take anything.

The risk of dying increased by a further 25 per cent for each additional point accumulated, the study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, concluded.

The scientists suggest that the combination of treatments could also exacerbate dementia. In patients showing early signs of mental impairment high doses could "tip them over" into a more confused state, they said.

Previous research has shown that acetylcholine-blocking drugs could have a harmful impact on the brain.

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[GangStalkingUK]

Take a good look at what you are taking. Good Advice Don't trust the NHS and all prescription drugs as they are all poison . Only take Natural remedies as BIG PHARMA is only there to make money to sell sickness

[RollandSmokeAB]

I've just watched this for a second time and taken more notice of the illnesses that are being treated. My conclution, this is an advert for cannabis

[RollandSmokeAB]

At the age of 23 i had a psychotic episode and was diagnosed as having deppression. I was prescribed anti depressants and if I had stuck to my doctors advise I would now have spent most of my adult life on them. I generaly take them to drag me out of the pits of despair then try my best to deal with things myself. Ok so these drugs are harmfull to the over 65's but by the time I'm that age I could have been on them for 40 years. What damage are these drugs doing to the younger generations?