Dr. Agnes Eguagie, a physician with the National Hospital Abuja, on Wednesday said prolonged consumption of analgesics could cause damage to the kidney and liver.
Eguagie told the News Agency of Nigeria that analgesics were pain killer drugs and were classified according to their strength.
Eguagie said analgesics include Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs such as Ibuprofen, Cataflam and Feldene.
She said: “Generally, long-term use of these drugs has effect on the body.
“If you have short duration of usage, taking non-steroidal for menstrual pain just for three days and you stop and the next period you take it, that generally should not cause any problem.
“The non-steroidal drugs are very notorious because they have several effects, which can cause erosion in the stomach, so they usually give ulcer-related pain.
“So, we advice people who have ulcer not to take it and if you need to take non-steroidal such as Feldene, Ibuprofen, Cataflam, take it with a meal because it can erode the stomach.
“For people who have arthritis, they tend to take these drugs for one month, two months continuously.
“Now this is where they will have a problem because it has been found to be a cause of kidney failure, when you have prolonged usage of non-steroidal.
“The liver is involved in clearing most of these drugs.
“So, sometimes, you might have liver toxicity from such drugs, if they are taken for long periods.”
Eguagie added that long-term use of analgesics could also contribute to high blood pressure and could lead to addiction.
“If a patient is on it for a long time, the patient can actually become addicted to those drugs and can start taking them for recreation,” she said.
She, however, said that patients who had terminal illnesses such as cancer could take analgesics for long, in order to make them comfortable for the period they had to live.
Eguagie advised patients who were on stronger analgesics to switch to milder ones after a few days of taking the stronger drug.
She added: “For drugs like non-steroidal, we usually advice: ‘don’t use it for too long’.
“What we usually do for patients with arthritis, if they have an acute pain, is to give them non-steroidal as they respond better to it.
“So we say: ‘take it for three to five days and then you can switch to something like paracetamol which is milder, which does not have the addictive effect and it doesn’t cause kidney problems’.
“Even though paracetamol in high doses causes liver failure, usually you are talking of someone swallowing eight to 12 tablets at once before that can happen.
“So if you need to take pain killers for a long time, take the non-steroidal in that acute phase.
“When the pain has reduced, switch to paracetamol, which you can take for another one week without much of a problem.”
Eguagie said that alternatively, people who had arthritis could use creams and gels on the affected area.
She said: “People with arthritis are dependent on analgesics.
“So, instead of taking the drugs they can use creams and gels, which are readily available.”
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