Parkinson’s Drugs Hold Greater Risk of a Serious Side Effect Than Previously Thought…
The New England Journal of Medicine published information recently suggesting that two drugs prescribed for Parkinson’s Disease might have much greater risks for damage to heart valves that supposed “experts” previously thought.
Two studies were performed. The first, included researchers from the Instituti Clinici di Perfezionamento in Milan analyzing echocardiogram images from 155 patients who were on a variety of Parkinson’s drugs. They compared these images to a sample of 90 healthy people. Twenty-three percent of patients on the Parkinson’s drug pergolide (also known as Permax) displayed moderate to severe valve problems. The same is true for nearly 29 percent of those taking cabergoline (also known as Dostinex, among other names). None of the patients on other Parkinson’s medications and less than 6 percent of the control group showed heart valve problems.
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Scientists in Berlin and in Montreal conducted the second study where more than 11,400 medical records of patients with Parkinson’s Disease in the UK were reviewed. Patients on pergolide and cabergline, showed to be between a five-to-seven-times greater risk of leaky valves than in those on other Parkinson’s medications.
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Dr. Bryan Roth, a pharmacology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who was not involved in either study had this to say:
“This is an extraordinarily high risk,” “It’s a bad side effect. As far as I know, there are no medications that can reverse it.”
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An estimated 1.5 million people in the United States, and about 6 million people all over the world are afflicted with Parkinson’s disease. It is a condition with symptoms that include tremors, loss of muscle control, and even death. Parkinson’s is usually the result of a deficiency of the chemical dopamine in the brain. The drug levodopa, which promotes dopamine production in the brain is the primary treatment for the disease.
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Pergolide and cabergoline are typically not used as primary treatments for Parkinsons. However, they are often used synergistically with levodopa, or a substitute for levadopa if the disease becomes progressively worse.
Eli Lilly and Co. marketed pergolide for 14 years before they added heart valve damage to the list of potential side effects. By that time, this poison had been prescribed to about half a million people. Lilly says the risks were only significantly increased for five in 100,000 users.
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So what does that mean? That these five people’s lives are worth nothing?
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Big Pharma really seems to blow my mind sometimes. First off, they make billions from selling poison to people. Their revenue is fear based. People basically put this stuff in their body because they’re afraid of what may happen if they don’t.
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That in itself makes me sick to my stomach. But at least in most situations people are aware of the side effects. In essence, they get to pick their own poison, even if it is only out of fear.
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But when a chemical is on the market for that long with no listing of an extremely serious side effect, that blows my mind.
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Here’s one more fact I find to be rather interesting. A few years back, the supplements Pondimin and Redux which contained fen-phen were pulled off the market because evidence suggested fen-phen caused heart valve problems. Yet when a paper published by Dr. Bryan Roth warned that pergolide and cabergoline appeared to set off the same heart-related mechanism as fen-phen, nothing was done.
Folks, I urge you to learn about some safe and natural alternatives that can help slow the progression of Parkinson’s Disease.
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Posted: January 16th, 2007 under Prescription Drugs.
Comments
Comment from Bill Ferares
Time January 17, 2007 at 4:11 am
Pergolide and cabergline are obviously dangerous drugs. May I suggest you do a little research on another dangerous drug, Gentamicin? This drug is destroying the vestibular of a lot of people! I’m one of them. I have no sense of balance and I also have oscillopsia due to Gentamicin! Most doctors have no clue how dangerous this drug is. Since most doctors don’t know, how is the public going to know? You can also check out a support group for people that were damaged by Gentamicin at http://WWW.Wobblers.com.
Thank you very much!
Bill