Beta blockers only prevent one death per year for every 2500 people given these drugs

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Tuesday, October 28, 2014 7:52 am Email this article

People given beta blockers were:

• 10 to 24 times more like to dropout of studies due to fatigue
• 5 times more like to dropout of studies due to sexual dysfunction.

Beta blockers only prevent:

• one stroke per year out of every 1400 patients given these drugs.
• one heart attack per year out of every 1400 patients given these drugs.
• one death per year out of every 2500 patients given these drugs.

This was noted in a Letter to the Editor in JAMA by cardiologist, Franz Messerli, MD who has written several papers about the ineffectiveness of beta blockers.

For every one heart attack or stroke that is prevented by these drugs 3 people are made impotent 8 people have so much fatigue that they stop taking the drug.

“[This is] hardly an acceptable risk/benefit ratio for a completely asymptomatic disease such as mild essential hypertension.”
—Franz Messerli, MD

“In the case of hypertension in patients older than 60 years, such benefits [of beta blockers] have not been documented.”
—Franz Messerli, MD

In other words beta blockers have not been shown to benefit people over the age of 60.

Beta blockers include drug like atenolol (Tenormin) and propranolol (Inderal).

I believe that potassium bicarbonate is vastly superior to beta blockers and the other blood pressure medicines for improving health.

I’ve been taking 2000 mg of potassium per day in the form of potassium bicarbonate since 2000.

My blood pressure dropped by about 20 points, from roughly 140/70-something mm Hg to120/70-something mm Hg.

WARNING: Only take potassium under a doctor’s supervision. Too much potassium can kill you.

For anyone who needs to lower their blood pressure, why not try potassium (bicarbonate) first?

REFERENCE

Messerli F, Grossman E. Beta-blocker therapy and depression. JAMA. 2002 Oct 16, 288(15):1845-6; author reply 1846.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

Franz H. Messerli, MD
Division of Cardiology
St Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
1000 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY, 10019, USA
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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