RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: The drugs that cause cancer
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: The drugs that cause cancer
A well-known media doctor once tried to put us straight. �What you (What Doctors Don�t Tell You) don�t realize is that when you (the doctor) use a sharp sword (a powerful drug) sometimes heads get cut off (the patient dies),� he explained.
One very sharp sword indeed is the family of drugs known as monoclonal antibodies, which are designed to fight rheumatoid arthritis.
This is how they work. Doctors have noticed that victims of this crippling disease have excessive amounts of a cytokine called tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF) in their blood and joints. Cytokines are �good guys� � the body releases them to fight bacteria and viruses � and the resulting battle ends in an inflammation. But this process breaks down in arthritis patients, and cytokines are constantly being released even when there are no bacteria to kill, so causing inflammation around the joints.
Step forward the monoclonal antibodies, which are designed to switch off the cytokine production line. Fine, except that now the patient doesn�t have any natural defence against bacteria and viruses.
As a result, patients on the drugs can die from serious infections, including TB, sepsis and pneumonia, and fatal liver and blood disorders are not uncommon. Patients are also much more prone to develop cancers such as lymphoma � but, until now, doctors have not known to what extent.
A new way of assessing drug safety has been used on two monoclonal antibodies, Remicade (infliximab) and Humira (adalimumab), and with alarming results. Researchers have discovered that patients given either of the two drugs treble their risk of developing cancer. In a group of studies that involved 3,493 rheumatoid arthritis patients taking one of the drugs, 24 developed cancer compared with just three from a group of 1512 sufferers who had been given a placebo.
It�s certainly a sharp sword � but is it worth losing your head over?
(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2006; 295: 2275-85).
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STROKE: Nobody talks about the pain, and so nobody treats it
There�s something that happens to stroke victims following the attack, and for many months afterwards, that is never mentioned, and so never treated � they�re in a great deal of pain.
Around one-third of stroke victims experience moderate to severe pain for up to 16 months afterwards, and it seems they suffer in silence. Nearly half say they cannot sleep at night, and a sizeable minority report that the pain is constant.
One study has discovered that just 20 per cent of stroke patients had been offered physiotherapy, while fewer than half of the victims were even given analgesics.
It seems that post-stroke pain is a common phenomenon, but one that medicine hasn�t recognised, and so rarely treats. If medicine realized that constant pain is part of the stroke profile, perhaps an effective and planned pain control programme could be built into the treatment protocol. Just a thought.
(Source: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 2006; 77: 590-5).
TALK, TALK: It stops people committing suicide
Doctors aren�t renowned for their people skills - a strange lack for what must be the ultimate �people business�. It�s a great pity because even a glimmer of human kindness could do so much for the patient.
Take, for instance, the patient who tries to commit suicide. One new study has discovered that it makes all the difference if the doctor can find the time for a telephone chat a month or so afterwards.
Researchers tracked the progress of 605 patients who had attempted suicide by drugs overdose, and discovered that those who were telephoned a month afterwards were far less likely to try again.
And with all those business call rate packages out there, it�s far less expensive than prescribing a drug. So go on doc, make the call. You know it�s good to talk.
(Source: British Medical Journal, 2006; 332: 1241-4).
TALK, TALK: It�s a drug-free way of treating Alzheimer�s, too
Talking about talking, regular communication also helps with victims of Alzheimer�s disease.
A programme of communication and therapy � without a drug in sight � worked wonders on patients with moderate Alzheimer�s, and it also reduced the stress levels of their carers.
The care programme lasted for a year, and it included behavioural therapies, regular assessment and feedback, and active support for the carer.
Encouraging though the results were, it�s not a therapy that will ever be adopted because it�s just too expensive.
(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2006; 295: 2148-57).
ASTHMA: Steroids aren�t helping
It�s been an established fact among critics of conventional medicine for ages � medicine always treats the symptoms, never the cause. This observation has been reinforced by two recent studies on children with asthma who are treated with inhaled steroids.
Steroids are powerful drugs that can affect the development of children. We know that a child given steroids early on will be far shorter than his counterparts, and the bad effects could go deeper.
Steroids also don�t help with the asthma. The two studies have found that the drug doesn�t stop the disease from progressing. Toddlers who wheeze still go on to develop asthma even if they are taking steroids, one study found, while the second study found that the drugs merely suppressed the symptoms, and they returned the moment the drug therapy was stopped.
(Source: New England Journal of Medicine, 2006; 354: 1985-97, and 1998-2005).
IF YOU�RE at a loss as to how to treat asthma effectively and safely, the solution is likely to be found in our comprehensive Asthma Manual. This ring-bound volume explains what the disease is, what causes it, and how it can be treated by a range of remedies, many of which are safe � and proven to be effective. Click here to order your copy.
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