Everybody has heard about drugs and side-effects.
A few years ago Newspapers and TV involved public in a less glorious success story:
– The one of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs!
One of most prescribed over-the-counter medicine.
Meaning during the years thousands of deaths on American ground.
I am working in Switzerland as a medical practitioner since more than 30 years, and can give you feed-back about evolution of policy concerning this particular topic.
When I started working as a young doctor, I was the only one reluctant to prescribe this kind of medicine. (As I had just read the Goodman&Gillmann’s best-seller on pharmacology!)
Not so with my colleagues, who would consider it a flaw in my side, being restrictive with AINS.
Twenty years later, at University Hospital in Geneva, young practitioners were forbidden prescribing this kind of medicine!
Despite extensive knowledge and numerous publications in lay press and dedicated literature, this kind of drug remains most used in Switzerland.
– Why is it dangerous?
Mainly because of insufficient information of public!
Hence this page on my blog.
Most casualties with AINS drugs are due to kidney insufficiency, and more rarely to gastro-duodenal perforation.
It would be sufficient to inform people to drink enough, that is at least 2l, or 8 glasses of water each day, to prevent renal insufficiency in most cases.
And to take the pills with a meal, which prevents gastro-duodenal perforation or bleeding.