{"id":804,"date":"2016-09-04T16:38:56","date_gmt":"2011-09-04T16:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edrugstore.md\/blog\/?p=804"},"modified":"2011-09-04T16:38:56","modified_gmt":"2011-09-04T16:38:56","slug":"overuse-heartburn-meds-l0901","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edrugstore.com\/blog\/current-health-news\/overuse-heartburn-meds-l0901\/","title":{"rendered":"Overuse of heartburn medications may cause other problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Studies show that 15 million Americans deal with heartburn so severe that it causes painful burning in the chest and throat.\u00a0 The cause is from stomach acid working its way backwards up through the throat.\u00a0 The symptoms often force people to take medications like Prevacid<\/a> or Nexium to battle the pain.\u00a0 However, a new study shows too many people are taking these pills for too long.<\/p>\n

The timetable<\/strong>
\nThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration had the maker\u2019s of heartburn medication put a new label on their medications, warning people to only take them for two months.\u00a0 However, many people continue to take the medications like Prevacid<\/a> well beyond that time table and it can cause serious medical problems.<\/p>\n

The complications<\/strong>
\nBy taking heartburn medications for too long, doctors believe several health problems will arise:
\n*Double the risk of hip fracture
\n*Double risk of colds and flu
\n*Higher risk of infection
\n*Double risk of B12 deficiency
\n*Increased risk of re-hospitalization after severe angina or heart attack<\/p>\n

The newest warning<\/strong>
\nNow researchers are adding magnesium deficiency to the list of possible complications.\u00a0 For some taking magnesium supplements will help but in 25 percent of cases the supplements are enough and heartburn medications have to be discontinued.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Medications prescribed too much, some say<\/strong>
\nPublic Citizen\u2019s Health Research Group, a nonprofit consumer health organization, believes the medications have become too common.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese drugs are being prescribed far too commonly to people who shouldn\u2019t be taking them,\u201d Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the group\u2019s director, said in a statement. \u201cAs a result, millions of people are needlessly setting themselves up to become dependent.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to this the maker\u2019s of Nexium and Prilosec issued a statement saying, \u201cWe work with the FDA to ensure the benefit\/risk profile of our products are reflected appropriately so that health care professionals can weigh the risk and benefit of medicines when making treatment decisions,\u201d said Blair Hains, a spokesperson for AstraZeneca.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, it\u2019s up to doctors to prescribe these medicines based on individual patient need.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Studies show that 15 million Americans deal with heartburn so severe that it causes painful burning in the chest and throat.\u00a0 The cause is from stomach acid working its way backwards up through the throat.\u00a0 The symptoms often force people to take medications like Prevacid or Nexium to battle the pain.\u00a0 However, a new study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_autoblog_aioseo_focus_keyphrase":"","_autoblog_aioseo_title":"","_autoblog_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-health-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t