![]() ![]() (Mergenhagen was also a co-author on the Veterans Affairs sleep-aid study.) Headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and hallucinations are a few of the short-term concerns associated with hypnotics-a class of prescription drugs designed to induce sleep that includes Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata and other popular meds, she says. “There are new reports of side effects coming out on a yearly basis,” says Kari Mergenhagen, a clinical pharmacist and adjunct instructor at the University of Buffalo. Prescription sleep aids carry their own risks. (To his knowledge, these studies are not being done.) “But the only way to 100% attribute a health issue to any specific treatment is through a randomized trial,” Maust says, referring to an experiment in which one group of people is given a drug and another is not. A more recent study from the UK turned up only “tentative” links, and its authors stated that more research is needed. ![]() The links between these OTC drugs and dementia are far from certain. For individuals who took these drugs about once every three days (or more), their dementia risks rose by 54% compared to people who did not take these types of medications. One 2015 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that over a 10-year period, people who regularly took the amount of diphenhydramine found in two Benadryl or two Extra Strength Tylenol PM pills roughly once every week or two were at significantly increased risk for dementia. “Another concern for which evidence is growing is that long-term use appears to increase the risk of dementia-and the more use, the greater the risk,” Maust says. There is also growing worry about another more-serious risk associated with these OTC drugs. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |