Fibro/Virus Article

[DEL]

I suppose getting a pool cue and using them as suppositories on the headache cause could also work-faster!

[Sleep Mode zZ]

10 years ago a smaller drug trial investigated valacyclovir on fibromyalgia. It concluded that it performed not better than placebo and was not recommended for treating fibromyalgia. That confirms for me that the antiviral part of the combined drug can not be very effective on its own. The talk about this new drug being a "game changer" is PR bullcrap.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15088307

[looneylane]

I still wish Vioxx was available it worked well for me with only small doses of pain killers so there was less risk of dependency

[foxgrove]

Trying to remember.. they pulled vioxx because it caused heart problems or something??

[looneylane]

  Yes but ti was effective for me. It had an increased possibility of heart related issues.

[foxgrove]

Yeah.. thought I recognized it.  I have a good friend who took Vioxx for her rheumatoid arthritis until it was pulled from the shelves.  Said it was a miracle pill for her!!  Sucks that it turns out to be dangerous for so many folks.  I know Charlene was pretty distraught when they pulled it as it meant that she had to stop working again.  I think they've found some meds that work pretty well now as she's back part time but geez... 

[Sleep Mode zZ]

It was because of heart issues but also as much about the way Merck handled the situation - hiding the information instead of being open about it. They had evidence that Vioxx (rofecobix) increased the risk of myocardial infarction four or five times compared to naproxen but kept it to themselves. Doctors should have been informed so that they would have known about the risks and prescribed it more wisely.

Now we know that the figure of 4-5 times more myocardial infarction was also to some extent also attributable to the fact that naproxen - which was used as a comparison - reduces the risk somewhat compared to placebo. We also know now that close to similar risks are also associated to most NSAIDs. Ibuprofen also increases the risk of myocardial infarction but has never been studied to such an extent as rofecoxib and naproxen  were. One comparative study estimated 0.82 for naproxen, 1.61 for ibuprofen and 2.12 for rofecoxib (Vioxx) - but the estimate for ibuprofen is based on smaller samples and it could as well be better than naproxen or much worse than rofecobix. It is not a problem as long as nobody knows for sure?

There are other cardiovascular events in addition to myocardial infarction that NSAIDs do also increase. Rofecoxib does better than most NSAIDs (ibuprofen included) regarding strokes. Overall it is really no worse than other NSAIDs.

Anyway, the risk is with long term high dosage use - so looneylane was not in any practical risk with an occasional Vioxx.

Furthermore, the risk of a cardiovascular event does not increase in the same way for all users - it increases especially for those that have other risk factors present - and possibly not at all for those that do not have any other risk factors. Vioxx was investigated more thoroughly than ibuprofen ever was but they then unethically chose not to publish some relevant information - and that probably unnecessarily cost many lives.

With most drugs we don't know about their risks to the same extent. Ibuprofen you can still buy without prescription.