Saturday, November 04, 2006
Crushing Pills can endanger Patient's' life
Crushing pills to make them swallow may cause serious side-effects that can sometimes be fatal.A group of experts,including pharmacists and lawers,said that pills are often coated with a special material that governs their release into the body,but crushing them disturbs the system.David Wright,who led the group,saidthat rather than crushing pills,people should take them in patches,liquids or inhalers.He also said that drugs like tamoxifen and morphine,which are used in the treatment of breast cancer,should never be crushed,as it cuold trigger a fatally fast release of the drug inside the body.Wright said that Nifedipine,the angina and blood pressure drug ,can cause dizziness,headaches and an increased risk of stroke or heart attack when consumed in crushed form.Crushing pills increase the risk of side-effects,of the patientgetting a large dose of a drug which should be released slowly,or a drug being cleared from the body to earlybefore it could do anythingFatalities can happen,although not that common.
posted by suzzee, 7:05 PM