Dementia 'linked' to common over-the-counter drugs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30988643

by k-mcgrady • 11 years ago

113 60 11 years ago

bbc.co.uk

Zaheer4• 11 years ago

I stopped taking over-the-counter drugs years ago unless its vitally necessary. Common colds, allergies etc are not too difficult to bear in most circumstances and with the all the side-effects of pharma drugs I prefer to go with alternative medicines ex. local honey, lemons, etc.

pdabbadabba2• 11 years ago

I prefer to go with alternative medicines ex. local honey, lemons, etc.

These alternatives clearly have the advantage of being side-effect free for most people, but I have always been very skeptical about their effectiveness. Are there actually any reliable studies on the efficacy of local honey in treating allergies? And I thought that the role of vitamin C in warding off colds had been pretty well debunked. (I assume that's what the lemons are for.)

Don't get me wrong, I really wish all this nice stuff worked. Show me firm evidence that it does, and I'm sold. (And some of it I'm happy to do even if it's not effective in the pharmacological sense, just because it feels/tastes nice.) But as I said, I'm skeptical.

k-mcgrady2• 11 years ago

I agree with the parent when it comes to things like the cold. I seriously don't understand people who take paracetamol and tons of other over the counter stuff for that. When it comes to allergies though (hay fever in my case) I can barely function without antihistamines (and with them I'm still a wreck). I haven't found any of the home remedies to be effective for it whereas in the case of the cold plenty of water and some lemon and ginger tea seems to improve things a bit. In fact I've noticed I feel better with that than over the counter stuff for the cold.

benbreen• 11 years ago

I haven't found any hard evidence to support the local honey for allergies thing, but honey really does have some remarkable medicinal properties, especially as a natural antibacterial:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3609166/

satellitecat• 11 years ago

One thing I've found is that honey is an amazing sore-throat cure.

marincounty• 11 years ago

That Placebo Effect is so strong I don't even bother to debunk natural remedies. Plus, I might be throwing the baby out with the bath water, but right now I'm very skeptical of a lot of pharmacuticals studies. They just lied to us so many times when it comes to the efficacy of their newest drug.

Zaheer4• 11 years ago

There's quite a lot of anecdotal evidence in support of both. Lemons for colds are more a relief than a cure according to [1]. The way I tend to look at, people have survived/healed themselves for thousands of years prior to the advent of modern medicine. Some methods are not that effective while many others are even if due to a placebo effect.

A large part of staying healthy I believe is being preventative. Many 'normal' activities can actually be coined as cures to common ailments. Staying active, sleep, eating healthy, not over-eating etc.

[1] http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/in...

fit2rule2• 11 years ago

Try it for yourself, and don't be so dependent on third parties to tell you how to live your life. There's nothing to lose and a whole world of independence to gain. Honey and lemon is awesome if you have a cold - if you're not trying it yourself because there isn't a study to prove its efficacy, then you're missing out on one of the true great values in life: experiencing things for yourself.

scott_s2• 11 years ago

I feel obligated to say that "alternative medicine" means treatment attempts that are not based on science or evidence.

gress3• 11 years ago

They are based on evidence, but that evidence has not been scientifically evaluated.

sanderjd• 11 years ago

Honest question: what convinces you that over-the-counter drugs have a negative effect rather than a neutral or even positive effect?

meursault334• 11 years ago

It's pretty well documented that over the counter pain killers such as acetaminophen, aspirin, and ibuprofen can have long term negative consequences with long term use. Allergy meds appear to be joining this group. In many cases the threshold for harm is fairly low in terms of lifetime cumulative dose. In some cases there are long-term benefits to these drugs(aspirin for instance) but there are definitely downsides. That isn't to say that pursuing alternative treatments to colds and allergies makes sense.

totony• 11 years ago

I agree with not using drugs except if necessary (i.e. not a simple cold).

Also, I hate when an article has the word "scientists" with the quoted work "linked". Looks too much like click baiting.

omgitstom• 11 years ago

There is still so much that we do not understand about the brain and its diseases.

When we find the source of dementia, alzheimer, etc, I won't be surprised if very common activities put people at higher risk. Artificial sweeteners, OTC drugs, THC, and drinking water out of plastic bottles can all be 'linked' to brain diseases in a similar fashion to the study mentioned in the article. __Correlation does not imply causation__.

I think the important stat out of this article is that over ~20% of people in the study ended up developing dementia. It is hard to compare this with past trends because we didn't understand brain diseases like we are understanding them today, but that is extremely scary for an aging population.

girvo• 11 years ago

Somewhat unsurprising to me. I once accidentally overdosed on an anticholinergic drug, and it was the most unpleasant experience of my life. It was a combination of psychosis and hallucinations coupled with what I imagine dementia to be like. Hideous. Of course, expect the two to be linked in the long term is ridiculous on my behalf, but if it can have that effect in the short term...

giggles_giggles• 11 years ago

For what it's worth, diphenhydramine (mentioned in the article) is Benadryl, and it's widely known that it causes hallucinations in high doses:

https://www.erowid.org/pharms/diphenhydramine/diphenhydramin...

eurleif2• 11 years ago

I wonder if choline supplementation would counteract this effect. In fact, I wonder if choline supplementation might help stave off dementia in general. As much as 90% of the population may be deficient in choline.[0]

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choline#Groups_at_risk_for_chol...

mmanfrin• 11 years ago

(Wild speculation ahead)

I think it has to -- almost all of the nootropics that people use (-iracetams) are recommended to be taken with choline supplements, as people tend to get headaches without them. These nootropics were looked at as Alzheimer-preventing or -delaying drugs, and they cause an uptick in choline use that necessitates the supplements. I feel that indicates choline is used in keeping the mind strong against Alzheimers.

snarfy• 11 years ago

I know that choline supplementation via lecithin pills (turns into choline + inositol) certainly helps my ability to focus.

hollerith• 11 years ago

Sadly, choline promotes the production of TMAO by gut bacteria, which in turn promotes the formation of arterial plaque.

api• 11 years ago

"Linked..."

matznerd• 11 years ago

Is it that surprising that inhibiting choline would be a bad idea? Choline's positive effects on memory and the brain are very well known and increases in acetylcholine are one of the main methods of actions of nootropics in the racetam class.

Profound effects of combining choline and piracetam on memory enhancement and cholinergic function in aged rats. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7301036

Effects of citicholine and of the combination citicholine + piracetam on the memory (experiments on mice). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2392950

Comparative studies on the effects of the nootropic drugs adafenoxate, meclofenoxate and piracetam, and of citicholine on scopolamine-impaired memory, exploratory behavior and physical capabilities (experiments on rats and mice). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3136617

metamet• 11 years ago

And people have been told to avoid egg yolks since the whole Ancel Keys debacle.

slavik81• 11 years ago

This study might not be the final word, but as someone who has taken quite a few antihistamine pills over the years, I was certainly a little concerned upon seeing hay-fever mentioned. I'm glad to see that the medication I took is a little different from the ones in the study.

From the article:

A study has linked commonly used medicines, including over-the-counter treatments for conditions such as insomnia and hay-fever, to dementia.
All of the types of medication in question are drugs that have an "anticholinergic" effect.

From Wikipedia: [1]

Cetirizine /sɛˈtɪrɨziːn/ (trade names Zyrtec, Reactine).
Unlike many other antihistamines, Cetirizine does not exhibit anticholinergic properties.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetirizine

fensipens• 11 years ago

Let me complement your helpful answer with some details about the stuff I'm eating..

Fexofenadine (Allegra, Telfast..):

"Unlike older antihistamines, fexofenadine does not have anticholinergic activity." http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/406437_3

Bilastine (Bilaxten):

"No anticholinergic adverse events were observed in the clinical trials.." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilastine

"bilastine's safety profile is satisfactory, since it lacks anticholinergic effects" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22149338

Moru• 11 years ago

Thankyou, I was just about to search for Allegra, my current favourite.

fpgaminer• 11 years ago

As someone who doesn't respond to second-generation antihistamines, this sucks. The one I take is even listed on the "anticholinergic" Wikipedia page (Chlorpheniramine). I've always been worried about the long term effects of the drug, and limit my dosage as much as possible. I guess an allergy free life is worth some dementia risk later down the line.

spo8• 11 years ago

As someone who takes ~70mg of diphenhydramine per night to help with insomnia, this is terrifying to me.

Alex3917• 11 years ago

Doesn't that not even work better than placebo after a few days?

ggchappell2• 11 years ago

This is apparently a new study, but the idea is not new. For example, see this article from American Family Physician in 2009: http://www.aafp.org/afp/2009/0301/ot2.html

A quote:

Background: Medications with anticholinergic properties are often associated with adverse events, including falls, cognitive dysfunction, delirium, and loss of independence.

That's from 2009, and it is stated as something already known.

Also, it should be noted that loratadine ("Claritin"), which lots of people take, has anticholinergic effects. See http://doctorslounge.com/chest/drugs/antihistamines/claritin...

jcl• 11 years ago

That's weird... The following article has a quote from one of the dementia study authors that specifically calls out loratadine/Claratin as an antihistamine that does not have anticholinergic effects:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/1137023...

ggchappell2• 11 years ago

Yep, that's weird.

aydinhan• 11 years ago

This article examines and compares the anticholinergic effects of antihistamine drugs. It seems that loratadine has an anticholinergic potency greater than chlorpheniramine which is one of the experimented drugs in the study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15627436

arvinjoar• 11 years ago

The study[1], if anyone is interested. I couldn't gain free access through my university it seems, oh well.

[1] = http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=20917...

Dementia 'linked' to common over-the-counter drugs

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