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        New Message Board Archives >> 2004 Posts >> Vioxx recall
        
(Message started by: E-Double on Oct 1^st, 2004, 7:59am)

Title: Vioxx recall
Post by E-Double on Oct 1^st, 2004, 7:59am

I've read here quite a few times about people taking vioxx and wasn't sure if this was posted yet....

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/NEW01122.html

Pain Free wishes,

Eric

Title: Re: Vioxx recall
Post by catlind on Oct 1^st, 2004, 8:13am

Hmmm, I've been taking vioxx since April when my doc at NECH put me on it for migraines. I wonder what kind of damage effects are involved if any for someone like me that has a cardiac condition. NECH had me taking it no more than 2-3 times a week for migraines and my PCM had me taking it daily for my knee. Guess I should go have a chat with the doc. My local neuro team switched me over to celebrex about 3 weeks ago because of the initial reports about the heart dangers, but I'd like to know if there is any long term or damaging effects.

It's nice to see a pharmaceutical company that will voluntarily pull a medication rather than wait for the gov't to force them. Merck gets a few extra points in my book for that one ;)

Cat

Title: Re: Vioxx recall
Post by floridian on Oct 1^st, 2004, 8:22am

Yeah, increases heart attack and stroke risk; didn't show up in the short term testing they did to get approval, but after people were taking it for a year or 18 months, the data started piling up.

The big question - do all the Cox-2 inhibitors do the same, or are some without these side effects??

I'll stick to dietary COX-2 inhibitors for now - black cherry juice, turmeric, green tea, etc. Here are some citations on green tea (or ECGC and major tea ingredients) inhibiting Cox-2:

Quote:

Free Radic Biol Med. 2002 Oct 15;33(8):1097-105.
Green tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate inhibits the IL-1 beta-induced activity and expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and nitric oxide synthase-2 in human chondrocytes. Ahmed S, Rahman A, Hasnain A, Lalonde M, Goldberg VM, Haqqi TM.

Int J Cancer. 2004 Sep 28 [Epub ahead of print]
Green tea constituent epigallocatechin-3-gallate selectively inhibits COX-2 without affecting COX-1 expression in human prostate carcinoma cells. Hussain T, Gupta S, Adhami VM, Mukhtar H.

J Nutr. 2003 Nov;133(11 Suppl 1):3805S-3810S.
Inhibition of phorbol ester-induced COX-2 expression by epigallocatechin gallate in mouse skin and cultured human mammary epithelial cells. Kundu JK, Na HK, Chun KS, Kim YK, Lee SJ, Lee SS, Lee OS, Sim YC, Surh YJ.

Biochem Pharmacol. 2001 Nov 1;62(9):1175-83.
Effects of purified green and black tea polyphenols on cyclooxygenase- and lipoxygenase-dependent metabolism of arachidonic acid in human colon mucosa and colon tumor tissues. Hong J, Smith TJ, Ho CT, August DA, Yang CS.

Mutat Res. 2001 Sep 1;480-481:243-68.
Molecular mechanisms underlying chemopreventive activities of anti-inflammatory phytochemicals: down-regulation of COX-2 and iNOS through suppression of NF-kappa B activation. Surh YJ, Chun KS, Cha HH, Han SS, Keum YS, Park KK, Lee SS.

Nutr Cancer. 2000;38(1):60-4.
Suppression of azoxymethane-induced preneoplastic lesions and inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 activity in the colonic mucosa of rats drinking a crude green tea extract. Metz N, Lobstein A, Schneider Y, Gosse F, Schleiffer R, Anton R, Raul F.

And tea is protective against heart attack and stroke.

Quote:

Am J Clin Nutr. 2002 May;75(5):880-6. Related Articles, Links

Inverse association of tea and flavonoid intakes with incident myocardial infarction: the Rotterdam Study.

Geleijnse JM, Launer LJ, Van der Kuip DA, Hofman A, Witteman JC.

Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: Dietary flavonoids may protect against cardiovascular disease, but evidence is still conflicting. Tea is the major source of flavonoids in Western populations. OBJECTIVE: The association of tea and flavonoid intake with incident myocardial infarction was examined in the general Dutch population. DESIGN: A longitudinal analysis was performed with the use of data from the Rotterdam Study-a population-based study of men and women aged >or=55 y. Diet was assessed at baseline (1990-1993) with a validated semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. The analysis included 4807 subjects with no history of myocardial infarction, who were followed until 31 December 1997. Data were analyzed in a Cox regression model, with adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, pack-years of cigarette smoking, education level, and daily intakes of alcohol, coffee, polyunsaturated fat, saturated fat, fiber, vitamin E, and total energy. RESULTS: During 5.6 y of follow-up, a total of 146 first myocardial infarctions occurred, 30 of which were fatal. The relative risk (RR) of incident myocardial infarction was lower in tea drinkers with a daily intake >375 mL (RR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.33, 0.98) than in nontea drinkers. The inverse association with tea drinking was stronger for fatal events (0.30; 0.09, 0.94) than for nonfatal events (0.68; 0.37, 1.26). The intake of dietary flavonoids (quercetin + kaempferol + myricetin) was significantly inversely associated only with fatal myocardial infarction (0.35; 0.13, 0.98) in upper compared with lower tertiles of intake. CONCLUSIONS: An increased intake of tea and flavonoids may contribute to the primary prevention of ischemic heart disease.

Title: Re: Vioxx recall
Post by vig on Oct 1^st, 2004, 10:05am

A business decision:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002050870_merck01.html

The ~~vultures~~ lawyers were circling:
http://www.vioxx-side-effects.com/
http://www.bigclassaction.com/class_action/vioxx.html?ref=epilot_vioxx

Title: Re: Vioxx recall
Post by Woobie on Oct 1^st, 2004, 2:12pm

Yo! Floridian -

WTF does all that mean in stupid people words? ;;D

This is what I got ..........

"DRINK TEA." Is that all it's sayin?

been taking either vioxx, celebrex, or bextra for the past 7 years... almost all the time......... do i need to drink more tea or what?

inflammed
tina :(

Title: Re: Vioxx recall
Post by TomM on Oct 1^st, 2004, 2:22pm

on 10/01/04 at 10:05:24, vig wrote:

Hey now! Those lawyers pay my salary.

Title: Re: Vioxx recall
Post by Lizzie2 on Oct 1^st, 2004, 6:39pm

I was just talking with my dad today about the Vioxx thing. He takes it daily, and I have taken it in the past for tendonitis. I'm going to a new orthopedic specialist in Philadelphia this Monday for the Avascular Necrosis in my knees, so I'm sure I'll probably get thrown on some type of cox-2 or another!

My dad told me that the ortho that we see here told him that the study is a bit on the biased side. The long term study was on elderly who already had multiple conditions. Most of them were already predisposed to some sort of cardiac condition. The doc here said that no healthy people who were on vioxx for ortho injuries/migraine/whathaveyou were included in the study.

The ortho also said that Merck has a different Cox-2 coming out in the very near future. Apparently, it is identical to Vioxx... This isn't as clear cut as it may appear!! Of course, I haven't read the research on that Vioxx study, but I am just relaying what our orthopedic surgeon told my dad today!

From what I've read, Celebrex and Bextra don't act the same. Our ortho also said you need about 10 pills of Celebrex to equal one pill of Vioxx. All Cox-2's are not created equal!

Funny how this makes us question the long term effects of meds. Cat, I know you already are afraid of prednisone. I actually quit almost all of my meds this past Monday because I'm now afraid of pills. Prednisone caused the avascular necrosis in my knees and I'm scared to know what other damage might have been caused by the meds I take! Right now I'm down to Nexium, Orthotricyclen-Lo, and Concerta. I will take my Amerge and Ultracet as needed for headache. So far though, I've been doing equally the same as I was when popping all those pills. Makes me realize that I ingested about 20++ pills a day that did not help my headaches at all!!! That's one way to get a health shocker!

L2 :)