NSAIDS:
NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs) are dangerous drugs!
According a Brigham & Women's Hospital study of drugs most likely to have serious side effects, NSAIDs follow Anti Depressants and Beta Blockers in causing the most adverse side effects and only NSAIDs can be bought OTC.
NSAIDs have been shown to contribute to liver and kidney damage, painful gastrointestinal bleeding, and an increased risk of hypertension. Thousands die annually from the side effects of NSAID overuse, taken as directed!
NSAIDs include common OTC medicines such as Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Advil, Excedrin, Motrin, Aleve and others.
Common Rx NSAIDs are Celebrex, Vioxx, Naprosyn, Feldene, Clinoril, Indocin, Lodine, Relafen, Voltaren and others.
Side effects can be sudden gastrointestinal bleeding, ulcers, kidney damage, liver failure and increased cardiac risk. It now now becoming recognized that "long term" use of NSAIDs accelerate the degeneration of joints and soft tissue.
DMARDs:
DMARDs are second level drugs used when NSAIDs alone do not provide sufficient relief. All DMARDs are prescription drugs and have extremely dangerous side effects.
Commonly used DMARDs are:
Methotrexate:
Methotrexate originated as an immune suppressing drug for use in organ transplants. It powerful effects made it a good chemo therapy drug for cancer, until it was relized the drug was too toxic in the amounts needed to kill cancer.. However, Its high toxicity made it especially good for quick, drug induced, abortions in 3rd world countries.
In an effort to continue earning money from Methotrexate, it was tried in low does for treating rheumatic diseases. In this use, it was successful in providing some patients with relatively good tempory relief from painful symptoms. Therefore, it has become the first drug of choice in treating rheumatic diseases. However, the great majority of patients on Methotrexate cannot tolerate the adverse side effects and quit the treatment within one year, if not sooner. Many ex-Methotrexate users tend to show signs of having a permanently damaged immune system.
Common side effects are mouth and lip sores, stomach pain, diarrhea, loss of hair, bruising or bleeding, weakness, headache and extreme tiredness. More serious side effects include liver damage, kidney failure and susceptibility to serious bacterial or viral infection.
Sulfasalazine:
Originally used to treat severe colitis. Sulfasalazine has anti biotic characteristics and can react adversely with many other medications, vitamins and supplements. People with known liver, kidney or blood disorders should not take Sulfasalazine.
Ironically, the most common side effect of Sulfasalazine is aching joints and muscles! Other common side effects are cough, dizziness, fever and extreme tiredness. Serious side effects are gastrointestinal pain, diarrhea (bloody), blood disorders, sun sensitivity and organ damage.
Plaquenil (Hydroxychloroquine):
Plaquenil is an anti parasite medicine developed to treat malaria. Plaquenil is slow acting, so any relief in rheumatic cases may take 3 to 6 months. Plaquenil does not appear to suppress the immune system greatly, but long term use can damage your sight and cause congestive heart failure and muscular weakness and atrophy.
The most common side effects of Plaquenil are stomach irritation, diarrhea, flatuation, itching, psoriasis, sun sensitivity, bleaching of hair color, ringing in the ears and tiredness.
Corticosteroids (Prednisone):
Corticosteroids mimic natural cortisone which is a hormone that reduces swelling, pain and discomfort. Short applications can be extremely helpful in emergency situations. Long term use reduces the body's ability to produce natural cortisone and can produce a myriad of adverse side effects. The major side effect with Corticosteroids is increased risk of infections due to lowered immune system strength, more difficulty in treating resultant infections and Corticosteroids ability to cover symptoms of other, perhaps, serious, maladies. Extreme mood swings and depression are also common side effects.
Long term use of Corticosteroids creates a dependency which is difficult to break. One must wean off Corticosteroids slowly to prevent experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms.