Just yesterday I was training one of my clients who happens to be a doctor. He’d noticed that I raised my rates by five dollars. I explained it was because I’d had a 29% increase in my health insurance. It’s the first time I’ve raised my rates in five years, although I’ve had huge increases in my health insurance for the past four years. What he told me was shocking. My 29% increase was going to the drug manufacturers! He said that they put pressure on the insurance companies to get them a huge rate increase, as if the price of these drugs weren’t high enough. I’m so glad they’re looking out for the little guy!

Another shocking headline was about the drug Vioxx, an arthritis medicine. It was promoted on TV and in magazines and newspapers for years as a remedy for arthritis. It was pulled from the market last week after it’s maker said a study showed it doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke. The FDA said that similar prescription drugs were safe.

Studies done when Celebrex and Vioxx were approved suggested the mechanism that inhibits inflammation, and makes the drugs easier on the stomach than traditional painkillers, also blocks a substance that prevents heart problems.

Vioxx was the largest prescription drug withdrawal in history, but had the many warning signs been heeded, such a debacle may have been prevented from happening. Merck, the company that made Vioxx, and the FDA were both chastised by the Cleveland Clinic for not doing further studies investigating heart problems with Vioxx when hints of them appeared years ago. Concerns have spread to Celebrex and a newer drug called Bextra. Phizer insists that their two drugs are safe to use. Long term studies on Bextra are not in yet.

Ok, folks, you think that’s bad? It gets worse. A widely used antibiotic long considered safe has been found to dramatically increase the risk of heart attack, especially when taken with some popular drugs for infections and high blood pressure. The study found that Erythromycin, a drug that has been on the market for 50 years, can contribute to a heart attack. The drug is prescribed for everything from strep throat to syphilis. The old drug was found to interact with new drugs causing a new major problem for patients.

Taken alone, Erythromycin doubled the very low risk of sudden cardiac arrest (death) among patients in the study.

In patients taking other drugs—those that increase Erythromycin’s concentration in the blood—the risk of cardiac death was more then 5 times greater. Yikes—that’s really high. Seems nobody realized the magnitude of the problem before. Here’s what was discovered. The danger seems to come from other drugs slowing the breakdown of Erythromycin, which increases it’s concentration. At high levels it traps salt inside resting heart muscle cells, prolonging the time until the next heartbeat starts, and, sometimes triggering an abnormal, potentially fatal, rhythm. Alternative antibiotics are being looked at. Amoxicillin is one of the drugs considered safe and showing no cardiac risk.

The drugs that pose a risk when taken with Erythromycin are Biazin (also an antibiotic), Fluconazole or Diflucan (for vaginal yeast infections), and the anti-fungal drugs Nizoral and Sporanox. It was also mentioned that protease inhibitors (AIDS drugs) and grapefruit juice should not be taken with Erythromycin.