The FDA has issued a warning about how are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) increase the risk of heart attack and stroke for anyone using them (see our post for details). The federal government is requiring drug makers of these popular pain medications (think Motrin, Aleve, Advil) to put new warnings of the dangers of using these pills on their package labels.
What are NSAIDs?
They are pain medications. Aspirin is one; others are various drugs known as COX-2 inhibitors. You don’t need a prescription for most of them. Some you do. Names for NSAIDs include:
- Motrin
- Aleve
- Advil
- Celebrex
- Bayer Aspirin (and other aspirin brands)
- Arthrotex
- Cataflam
- Voltaren
- Nalfon
- Ansaid
- Ocufen
- Indocin
- Tivorbex
- Mobic
- Daypro
- Feldene
- Disalcid
- Clinoril
These drugs lessen the pain that an accident victim is experiencing. They also help lessen inflammation, and they can lower fever, as well.
NSAIDs Can Cause Harm To Accident Victims: Brain Bleed, Intestinal Damage, Slow Healing of Fractures
The FDA is warning that using these pain pills may bring on a stroke or a heart attack. However, that’s far from the only dangers involved in using these pills.
Accident victims who are recovering from a car accident, motorcycle crash, on the job accident, or other type of injury, will be experiencing lots of pain. In fact, “pain and suffering” is something that is recognized as worthy of compensation in an negligence case or personal injury claim.
It’s understandable that accident victims will be needing pain medication. However, their doctors need to be monitoring their recovery and warning them not only of the new FDA concerns about heart attack and stroke, but also the possibility of “brain bleed” if they are using NSAIDs at the same time that they are taking antidepressants.
Since recovery from a serious accident with long term if not life-altering injuries can lead an injury victim to depression, it’s understandable that they may have been prescribed antidepressants.
These injury victims need to know that taking Motrin or Aleve with those antidepressants may cause them even more serious bodily harm.
Taking NSAIDs can also impact the digestive system in a bad way. Even at low doses, these pain pills can cause bleeding ulcers (which can be fatal in some cases) as well as permanent liver damage.
Furthermore, injury victims should be aware that they are studies out there that show taking NSAIDs can mean they will need longer time to recover from their fractures. Studies are showing that taking NSAIDs can impede the body’s ability to heal broken bones.
Recovery from a serious accident and severe injury will come with days, weeks, or months of pain – and medicating that pain is a good thing. However, accident victims should be informed and monitored closely by their treating physicians during their recovery to insure that the use of NSAIDs isn’t creating another personal injury for someone who has already been the victim of someone’s negligence and bad judgment.
