Pradaxa for Blood-Thinning Vs. Spices for Blood Cleansing
Majid Ali, M.D.
In acute medical situations, blood thinners (Coumadin, Pradaxa, Xarelto, and Eliquis) can be life-saving. In chronic illnesses, spices as blood cleansers are far more preferable.
When does an acute illness become chronic so that spices can be used as good alternatives. This is not a simple decision and requires a careful review of all available information concerning a specific individual not only by an experienced integrative physician but also by the individual taking the drugs or spices.
Below is some texts from The New York Times that show the importance of considering this subject carefully:
* Pradaxa, a blood thinner and blockbuster drug, is linked to 500+ deaths. Now some say approval was hasty (NYT Fri Nov 02)
* Pradaxa has become a blockbuster drug in its two years on the market, bringing in more than $1 billion in sales for its maker, the privately held German drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim.
* Pradaxa is an example, some critics say, of what can happen when a drug that performs well in tightly controlled trials is released into the messy world of real-life medicine
* But almost as soon as doctors started prescribing Pradaxa, concerns surfaced about its safety. Pradaxa was identified as the primary suspect in 542 patient deaths reported to the F.D.A. in 2011, and was linked to more reports of injury or death than any of the more than 800 drugs regularly monitored by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a nonprofit based in Pennsylvania that monitors medicine safety.
