Quote:
Originally Posted by cooloola
There was a marvelous herbal remedy for anxiety/insomnia that was an extract of the Kava root. I found it superior to other herbals and to the pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately however one poor soul took an overdose and died of it (Australia). The regulators promptly removed it from the market and I've been unable since to find anything as good. It was powerful enough to work yet gentle enough to cause no after effect. How many people have died of overdosing on paracetemol yet it is still available. Unfair!
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agreed
I don't think Kava is banned
A google source:
Kava Kava 2400 mg
We don't talk about overdosing, deaths etc when talking about prescription drugs we use the euphemism "Adverse Drug Reactions"
(ADEs)
EG
Quote:
An article in this issue of the Journal by Miller and colleagues1 provides further evidence of the magnitude and seriousness of the problem of adverse drug events (ADEs) in general practice. Their study highlights our ongoing failure to address the problem of ADEs — medication-related incidents that cause patient harm.
“Consumer Medicine Information needs to be routinely used in medical encounters, so that patients can recognise ADEs and know what to report to their GP . . .”
Each year in Australia, about 17.5 million people make 95 million visits to their general practitioner.2 Based on Miller et al’s estimate — that 10.4% of patients attending general practice experience an ADE — almost 2 million people have an ADE annually. Moreover, their findings show that these ADEs are not trivial, with about 1 million being moderate or severe and 138 000 requiring hospitalisation, a finding consistent with previous estimates.3 Many of these ADEs are preventable, although the exact proportion of preventable events can be debated.
There have now been more than 30 Australian studies estimating the number of ADEs in different settings.3 It is clear that counting is not enough — it is time for action, but what can be done?
. . .
If we do not develop a culture of safety, we will continue to have an extra 140 000 hospitalisations per year caused by ADEs
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and
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Results:
From 8215 encounters, GPs reported that 852 patients (10.4%) had experienced an ADE in the previous 6 months. Patients aged over 45 years (versus under 45 years), children aged 1–4 years (versus older children), and female patients (versus male patients) were significantly more likely to have experienced an ADE.- Most patients (83.5%) had experienced only one ADE,
- with 10.7% and 5.8% experiencing two and three or more events, respectively.
- For 71.9% of patients, one reason for the most recent event was a recognised side effect, followed by drug sensitivity (12.4%) and allergy (11.0%).
- Over half of patients were rated as having a “mild” event, with 35.8% rated as “moderate”, and 10.0% as “severe”.
- GPs classified 23.2% of events as preventable, and 7.6% of events resulted in hospitalisation.
Conclusion:
Our study reveals the high frequency of ADEs in patients attending general practice.
This level of morbidity makes ADEs one of the most significant causes of morbidity in the Australian community.
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eMJA: Adverse drug events in general practice patients in Australia
Quote:
Definition of Morbidity
Morbidity: Illness, disease.
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Morbidity definition - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms
See the latest dangerous ones here
Australian Adverse Drug Reactions Bulletin, Volume 24, Number 3, June 2005
Some info on Kava "toxicty"
eMJA: Kava: herbal panacea or liver poison?
