So, you have some swelling, after an
injury, or maybe it's a chronic condition? So you pop some ibuprofen
or two?
After a while, you realise the
ibuprofen is no longer having the same effect, so you take some more
to reach the same level of pain relief?
Before you know it, you've been taking
it for weeks/months/years.
Sound familiar?
I hope not.
Non-steriodal anti-inflammatories drugs
(NSAIDs for short) have there place and can be relevant when taking
appropriately. However, I wanted just to discuss some recent evidence
that was brought to my attention about the dangers of NSAIDs (not to
scare anyone, but just to inform you).
It has been widely documented that
NSAIDs can cause kidney damage (Murray & Brater 1997) due to all
NSAIDs reduce blood flow to the kidneys. As a result 2 things can
occur: elevation of blood pressure; and, more dangerous, the risk of
acute renal failure/acute tubular necrossis.
But other studies have now shown the
they may also cause damage to the intestines, and to bone healing.
Bone Healing:
A recent systematic analysis of studies
looking at affects on bone healing caused by NSAID's by Pountos et al
(2012), and found that, although there is an absence of robust
clinical trials, that due to the scientific knowledge of the
interference at a cellular level caused by NSAIDs, that they should
be viewed as a risk factor to bone healing.
The idea is, due to the
anti-inflammatory effect of NSAIDs, that it reduces the amount of
certain chemicals in the cells that aid healing, as they are induced
by the inflammation process.
These chemicals are thought to enlist
osteoblasts which are responsible for bone formation.
 |
| Osteoblasts via microscope |
Intestinal damage:
It has already been tested that you get
some marginal intestinal damage when exercising (due to functions
such as digestion become a luxury when exercising, as the blood that
normally supplies the small intestine is instead diverted to the
muscles. Due to this lack of blood to the intestines, some of the
cells lining the intestines are traumatized and start to leak.)
However, it has been shown in a recent
study by Van Wijck et al (2012) that NSAIDs, specifically ibuprofen,
can aggravate this phenomena. To what extent, I'm not too sure, but
the result was a significant one.
It is worth noting that this was
performed on healthy males performing an aerobic exercise (cycling),
and only 9 subjects were used, and is only a short term effect. The
long term effects and consequences are not yet clear.
So, there you have it. I'm no
pharmacist or chemist, but I thought I'd share with you what I'd
read. Draw whatever conclusions you wish to from this, but it's worth
bearing in mind.