Celebrex Heart Attack Risk and TV Commercials

Celebrex heart attack risk? I’ve blogged extensively about how non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID’s) can dramatically increase your heart attack risk. This morning, while watching TV and trying to get in a “just show up” work-out, I chanced upon a Celebrex commercial. The first 1/3 was an uplifting and inspirational story of a woman who couldn’t exercise because of her arthritis. She then began taking Celebrex and everything changed, heck, the people in the commercial even got better looking! However, because of the huge number of side effects, the latter 2/3’rds of the commercial still features the happy woman riding her bike, but with a dubbed over list of the bad things that can happen when you take the drug. The problem was that this monologue was so dense with side effects, that I tended to gloss over what the announcer was saying and instead concentrate on the video footage of the cheery woman riding her bike (which I’m sure was the intended response). Is there a way to simplify all of this and deliver the risk message in a way that doesn’t lull the viewer into a post-Christmas coma? How about this:

-Celebrex is a really dangerous drug that can kill you

–Think your cholesterol, blood pressure, and exercise levels are fine-just wait until this little pill doubles to quadruples your chance of dying from a fatal heart attack

-That increased risk of dying from a heart attack will continue long after you stop the drug

I think these warnings would help hit arthritis patients with enough punch to put the risks of taking Celebrex into an understandable perspective.

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Chris Centeno, MD is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics. Centeno pioneered orthopedic stem cell procedures in 2005 and is responsible for a large amount of the published research on stem cell use for orthopedic applications. View Profile