Antipsychotic drugs can cause heart disease

Monday, December 14, 2009 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: antipsychotics, heart disease, health news

(NaturalNews) Popular antipsychotic drugs are under fire for causing severe side effects such as hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and weight gain. Researchers discussed the issue in Biological Psychiatry, noting that the mentally ill who take such drugs are already at an increased risk for developing heart disease problems including diabetes and hypertension.

Jonathan Meyer and his study team took data from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) and used it to evaluate the effect of antipsychotic drugs on systemic inflammation. Every drug tested, particularly Zyprexa and Seroquel, markedly increased inflammation levels which are implicated in causing all sorts of other disorders.

Elevated levels of C-reactive proteins in particular were noted as a common side effect of taking antipsychotic drugs. High levels of these proteins are implicated in bringing about illnesses like heart disease and stroke.

Cardiovascular problems have long plagued the mentally ill. There is a much higher death rate from cardiovascular disease among the mentally ill population than there is among the general population. With current research indicating that serious inflammation also occurs from the same drugs, all indications seem to point directly to antipsychotic drugs as the culprit in unleashing a myriad of health problems.

Study doctors believe that the findings will encourage medical professionals to more closely examine the effects of these drugs in their patients. They also hope that as new information comes to light about the consequences of commonly-prescribed medications such as antipsychotic drugs, doctors will be more cautious in evaluating when and if to prescribe them.

Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

According to the pharmaceutical companies, there's no need to be concerned about the side effects caused by psychiatric drugs. Why? Because they have other drugs to treat all those side effects, too!

In fact, there's nothing wrong with one drug that can't be treated with another drug.

Seriously: This is the mindset of modern medicine: Pump people full of drugs, chasing side effects with one chemical after another until people either die or run out of insurance coverage, at which point none of it really matters anymore.

From a Big Pharma marketing perspective, the best thing about pharmaceuticals is precisely the fact that they have side effects that create long-term repeat business. And psychiatric drugs, it turns out, are particularly good at bringing patients back to the hospital with yet more serious health problems.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-...