Vioxx

Phyllis · Aug 26, 2004

This was reported on NBC nightly news tonight.
"Heart researchers at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation have found that the popular arthritis drug Vioxx may increase the risk of heart attacks and other cardiac side effects. As a result these researchers are warning doctors to think twice about prescribing Vioxx to patients who have a history of heart disease. The study was reported in the Aug. 22 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
According to the report, people taking Vioxx are twice as likely to have heart attacks as people who take older anti-inflammatory drugs to treat arthritis. In the current study, Vioxx was compared to the traditional arthritis drug naproxen, which works in a way similar to aspirin. People on Vioxx were twice as likely to have a heart attack than patients on naproxen. In the study of 8000 people 161 patients had heart attacks and 70% of them were taking Vioxx. "

Granbonny · Aug 26, 2004

Thanks

Thanks

I just posted on another thread..about 10 minutes ago..about my neighbor (female) taking vioxx for her lower back pain. will load my printer and print it out for her tomorrow. I know she was recently put on b/p meds..due to high pulse rate. Always in the higher 90's...She is age 65 and just retired from school teaching.Bonnie

Bryan B · Aug 26, 2004

Yikes! I'm glad my stomach already vetoed the Vioxx (and all other cox2 nsaid's) because it sure worked good on my sternum pain. Now I don't miss it as much...thanks for the info.

I assume this means all cox2 inhibitors increase the risk of heart attack and not just Vioxx.

Phyllis · Aug 26, 2004

They claimed on the news that it is only Vioxx and not Celebrex ( Pfizer's (maker of Celebrex) stock went up today. Who knows. That's why I suffer with my arthritic knees and pop a Tylenol for Arthritis now and then. All these new wonder drugs seem to come out with the bad news - 5-10 years after we have all been on them.

KimC · Aug 27, 2004

Oh, great. I just left CVS with an Rx for Vioxx to treat menstrual cramps.

My doc didn't mention the increased heart attack risk, only that I shouldn't take it with Pravachol. Maybe the threat is nill if you only take it once monthly, but yeesh ...

Thanks,

Marguerite53 · Aug 27, 2004

too bad

too bad

That's a shame. I loved Vioxx. Took it for a year, 2 years ago. Hmmmm. Interesting that the stenosis reared its ugly head a year after.........I think it was heading my way anyway!

Took the Vioxx for achey knees which I finally had MRI'd and fixed. Repaired the badly torn meniscus and then went for a "lateral release" to prevent the "pull" which may have torn the meniscus in the first place. A little extra mending time, but wonderful results.

I highly recommend the knee MRI if you are experiencing "theater knees", the kind of knees that just ache like the dickens when you stand up after watching a movie, or sitting a long time. My final straw was when I fell flat on my face walking across a gym to pick up my daughter from volleyball -- very embarassing! Apparently there is a misfiring that can occur to suddenly desensitize the communication and the knee just buckles. Pretty funny!

Perhaps we need to just give up and bite the bullet like our ancestors did......or keep a little Jack Daniels on hand!

Thanks for the update. Really a shame. Loved that Vioxx.

Marguerite

hensylee · Aug 28, 2004

I use Celebrex. Wonder when the report's coming out on it? I would really miss it - took a long time to get my stomach to put up with it, but when I don't take it, things freeze up.