Side effects and complications of NSAIDs are common and serious. In one study, the risk of NSAIDs adverse drug reactions was found to be 26%. Complications include upper gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcers, heartburn, ringing in the ears, headaches, dizziness, liver or kidney problems, leg swelling, high blood pressure, heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and death. In June of 1999, The New England Journal of Medicine estimated that 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur among Americans with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis every year. Over 100,000 NSAIDs users are hospitalized per year for gastrointestinal complications. A review of 17 studies found that 11% of preventable drug-related hospital admissions could be attributed to NSAIDs. In 2005, U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory warning people of the increased cardiovascular risks of NSAIDS, and again in 2007 they published a medication guide for NSAIDs recommending the lowest dose possible for patients using these drugs. In January 2016, the FDA strengthened the existing label on all NSAIDs to warn that there was an increased chance of heart attack and stroke.
Over the past two decades, multiple studies have proven the anti-inflammatory benefits of phytocannabinoids and terpenoids, compounds that abound in the cannabis plant. The plant cannabinoids have many different mechanisms of action in their anti-inflammatory properties, including the blockage of pro-inflammatory compounds that are made in the body as a result of injury or illness. CBDA, cannabidiolic acid, the raw non-psychoactive cannabinoid precursor to CBD, showed significant COX-2 enzyme blockage when compared to placebo, two NSAIDs and other cannabinoids. Dr. Ethan Russo and Dr. Geoffrey Guy, in their excellent 2005 study, report that the phytocannabinoids work synergistically (the “entourage effect”) to provide balanced and nontoxic medicinal effects when compared with single molecule anti-inflammatories.
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