Don’t risk a stroke over a stuffy nose say docs
PHENYLEPHRINE is not the only medicine to be wary of the next time you are looking at the list of ingredients on the back of your cold and flu medicine.
French health officials have urged people not to take nasal decongestant medicines containing pseudoephedrine over potential risks of strokes and heart attacks.
It is feared the medicine may cause blood vessels to contract or spasm, potentially reducing blood flow to the brain leading to strokes.
Pseudoephedrine is a more effective decongestant than phenylephrine, but the director of France’s National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products said: ‘The message is clear – do not use them. We do not risk getting a stroke for a stuffy nose.’
Dr Madeleine Ní Dhálaigh told the
Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s fine in a young and healthy person who wants to have decongestant medication, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it for anybody who has risk factors for heart disease or stroke or is currently receiving treatment for heart disease or cardiovascular disease.’
The Roscommon GP explained: ‘It can interact with blood pressure or heart medication because the medicine can raise a person’s blood pressure. It’s fine for somebody who is otherwise very well and just wants to get symptomatic relief, but I would always use pseudoephedrine with caution.’
When asked whether pseudoephedrine would be pulled from the Irish market, a spokeswoman for the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) said the European Medicines Agency is currently conducting a review of
pseudoephedrine-containing medicines and expects to publish its findings next month.
They told the MoS: ‘This [review] follows a very small number of reports of patients who had experienced conditions affecting blood vessels in the brain.
‘The safety committee will issue an EU wide recommendation following its review and any updated advice will be implemented in Ireland, as appropriate.’