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Antidepressants with Painkillers Heighten Risk of Stomach Bleeding

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For those suffering from depression, antidepressants offer great respite, despite various possible side effects. Now a new study has indicated that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), a class of drugs including Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, which are commonly used to treat depression could double the risk of stomach bleeding.

What’s worse, if mixed with over the counter painkillers like ibuprofen the risk could increase six fold, according to a study by Dr. Yoon Loke, a clinical pharmacologist at UEA’s School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, in collaboration with colleagues at North Carolina’s Wake Forest University.
The results are published in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. The findings are based on an analysis of four studies covering more than 153,000 patients, which estimate that over a period of one year, one in every 106 patients taking SSRIs together with painkillers will require hospital admission due to bleeding in the stomach.

Though SSRI use has been suspected to harm the stomach, this is the first time that the threat from combined SSRI and painkiller use has been established. Dr Loke’s advice for those with a history of stomach ulcers is to use other types of antidepressantswhich seem to be less harmful. He also advised patients on SSRIs that painkillers such as paracetamol may be a safer choice, rather than the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen.

Via:ScienceDaily

Image: MSNBC

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