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Vioxx Users: How to Lessen Pain Naturally
November 07 , 2004 by Doctor FitnessRecently, Pfizer’s pain relieving, anti-inflammatory drug, Celebrex was being questioned for its safety when reports out of Canada said that a number of people had died from a stroke or heart attack while on the drug. A company spokesperson for Pfizer said that these people did not die from the drug but were already sick.
A report from the British medical journal, The Lancet, said researchers at the University of Berne reported there was substantial evidence of the dangerous side effects of the drug Vioxx by the end of 2000, but the mounting data was not analyzed properly. “Our findings indicate that rofecoxib, (Vioxx) should have been withdrawn several years earlier,” the scientists said.
Merck did not recall Vioxx, a COX-2 inhibitor taken by about 20 million Americans, from the worldwide market until Sept. 30, 2004.
Merck said in a statement it “was vigilant in monitoring and disclosing the cardiovascular safety of Vioxx and we absolutely disagree with any implication to the contrary.” The company said it also disagrees with the conclusion that the drug should have been withdrawn several years ago.
“The company could and should have made the statement several years back, when the data we analyzed were readily available,” Matthias Egger, a professor at the Berne University’s department for Social and Preventative Medicine, told a news conference.
Both drugs work similarly by blocking one of the pathways that lead to inflammation (COX 2 - cyclooxygenase). These meds became very popular when they appeared to have minimal side effects and more importantly, could be taken for extended periods without the risk of internal hemorrhaging associated with other cases of COX inhibitors or aspirin.
COX-1 and Cox-2
COX-1 and Cox-2 inhibitors work by blocking production of inflammatory prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are key hormones that are used to carry local messages. Unlike most hormones that are produced in specialized glands and then delivered throughout the body by the blood, prostaglandins are created by cells and then act only in the surrounding area before they are broken down. Prostaglandins control many of these neighborhood processes, including the constriction of muscle cells around blood vessels, aggregation of platelets during blood clotting, and constriction of the uterus during labor. Prostaglandins also deliver and strengthen pain signals and induce inflammation. These many different processes are all controlled by different prostaglandins, but all created from a common precursor molecule.
COX-1 is built in many different cells to create prostaglandins used for basic housekeeping messages throughout the body. The second enzyme, COX-2, is built only in special cells and is used for signaling pain and inflammation.
Unfortunately, aspirin a prostaglandin inhibitor attacks both. Since COX-1 is targeted, aspirin can lead to unpleasant complications, such as stomach bleeding. Specific drugs like clebrex, vioxx, or bextra, that block just COX-2, supposedly leaving COX-1 to perform its essential jobs. These new drugs are selective pain-killers and fever reducers, without the unpleasant side-effects.
Prostaglandins are made from fatty acids, like omega 6 fatty acids (Dihomogamma linolenic acid is now converted by delta-5-desaturase to either Arachidonic Acid), which is converted to arachidonic acid.
The conversion or changing of the fat to this inflammatory hormone is done in the liver by an enzyme delta – 5 – desaturase.
The balance between the inflammatory omega 6 fats and the anti-inflammatory omega 3 is critical in controlling pain. Recent research suggests that livestock fed on grain, produce meat with a poor Omega-6 to Omega-3 fat profile. It theorized that our modern diets, which are grain based, is at least in part responsible for many of today's chronic diseases. High carbohydrate diets due to their high grain and plant content will ultimately be low in Omega-3 fats. Omega-3 fatty acids are more prominent in meat from wild game, free-range beef and poultry. "In man and intensively reared animals it appears that diets have become unbalanced in terms of the make-up of fat - particularly polyunsaturated fatty acids. The content of omega-3 fatty acids has declined and omega-6 fatty acids increased." In fact, experiments are ongoing feeding poultry Fish Oil and Fish meal to improve the meats Omega-3 - Omega-6 fatty acid profile.
The suggested ratio from optimum health is a 1:1 ratio between these 2 fats. The average America is 10:1.
While arthritis is a leading cause of pain, it is not always the case in many people who have mild arthritis but major league pain. Much of the pain they interpret actually is muscle pain associated with fatty acid imbalances, caused from a bad diet and nutrient deficiencies.
These same fatty acids are implicated in many diseases from heart disease to cancers. So it does not surprise me when I hear that people on long term use of Vioxx or any other inflammatory drug die from a heart attack or stroke. These people have other things going on that are just masked, not arrested, when they take pain meds chronically for arthritis.
We know that pain and age related arthritis is associated with acidosis. Acidosis is when the body cells are trying to control the over-production of acids produced from metabolism and it can’t. This defect causes free calcium excess, chronic inflammation, and the breakdown of cartilage and connective tissue.
The presence of one or more of these can lead to degenerative joint disease, commonly referred to osteoarthritis, autoimmune disease, heart disease, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, osteoporosis.
In essence what the Cox-2 drugs were doing was just to manage the pain associated with a disease process that was more than arthritic pain. The pain was just one symptom. The people that were using the drugs and the doctors that were treating the pain, did not address other underlying symptoms that could have prevented an early death, and possibly long haul help to lower pain levels of the people they were treating.
Steps in pain management:
1. Address underlying causes. If your pain is associated with mild arthritis, not severe bone on bone stuff, understand that you may have other things going on and by addressing these causes, it may help address the pain.
2. Make exercise a part of your pain management. Many people with pain don’t exercise because it may make the pain worse. Do tolerable levels of exercise for shorter periods. Remember I said that acidosis is at the root of many pain symptoms, over-exercising creates the same symptoms because it raises acid levels produced from the exercise. Following a “pH-at” lifestyle routine helps this.
3. Change the diet – grain-based diets throw levels of omega 6 and 3 fats out of balance. These are the fats that regulate inflammation. The heavy grained-based fed animals that we eat contain an imbalance in their stored fat, so eat lean meats, or range-fed animals and fish (doing this to salmons now). The heavy sugar content of the grain consumed by Americans today accellerates the changing of these fats. Insulin is the hormone that turns this process on in the liver.
4. Increase the level of green vegetables in the diet, they are nutrient dense, containing essential minerals and vitamins that keep our cells running cool (alkaline) and minimize anaerobic metabolism we find associated with many diseases, including pain related problems.
5. Take alkalizing supplements like – Tri salts- They contain calcium/magnesium/potassium bicarbonates that help us stay alkaline.
6. Take magnesium and calcium in 1:1 ratio. Between these 2 essential minerals they are responsible for over 800 metabolic pathways. In plain terms pain is one of them.
7. Use NADH or energy producing co-enzyme 1. You have heard me mention this before. Acidosis is when the cell can’t make energy efficiently. NADH is the co-enzyme that turns energy making on from our food. So essentially, without it if you have pain, or lack of it will make it worse.
8. Fish Oil – absolutely essential. Most Americans get a 10:1 ration between good and bad fat. Fish oil – omega 3 fats speed healing – everywhere. That means pain management as well.
9. Herbs that help pain - Herbalists use willow bark to fight many of the same symptoms for which you might pop an aspirin. Two cups of tea or 1 to 2 droppers full of willow bark tincture usually does the trick. Ironically, it turns out that these natural aspirins are far less irritating to your stomach than the synthetic drug.
10. Fever few it also stops inflammation and the resulting pain by reducing prostaglandin levels, according to several studies conducted in the United States—and it often works even better than aspirin.
11. Galangal – is an imflammatory herb. It helps take inflammation down.
12. L-Theanine – increases the calming brain (Alpha waves) waves that help control or manage pain and the anxiety of it.
13. Take an antimicrobial / fungal supplement. Most diseases of inflamation are associated with systemic anaerobes that are part of the disease processes and produce the acids that cause pain. We see this in cancer cells. Cancer cells are anaerobic. They produce lactic acid, which cause pain.
14. See a naturopathic doctor. They can help put you on a program that can help.
15. Be patient and stay on a “pH-aT” program., exercising and eating to control this.
Lance Dreher, Ph.D
Doctor Fitness
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For more information about Lance Dreher, visit The Fitness Institute or contact him by email at DoctorFitness @ EVLiving.com.
