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All good points!
Stimulants, including caffeine, have the potential of doing you in in all kinds
of
ways when diving.
Wendell Grogan

Barbara/San Francisco wrote:

> .....but better now than never. Ephedra is bad news. Phenylpropanolamine (PPA,
> used in OTC "weight loss" pills) and pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) deserve
> similar consideration. All of these are CNS stimulants---they simulate
> epinephrine's effects on vital organs, the CNS, and blood vessels. Heart
> rate and blood pressure increase, as may anxiety. Divers who take them could
> well be more susceptible to underwater panic. And then there are drug/drug
> interactions, which can cause hypertension, changes in sensorium, and any
> number of problems that are well known to the FDA but are not widely
> publicized.
>
> The bottom line: If you take a medication or, especially, a dietary
> supplement, do your homework. The FDA approves medications based on
> recommendations of physicians who work with the manufacturer and/or who
> participate in clinical trials. More frightening are the unregulated drugs,
> such as ephedra, ma huang, homeopathic remedies and botanicals. These
> remedies usually are extracts of herbs, barks, or other plant substances and
> can have extremely potent effects. The consumer has no way of knowing what
> s/he's ingesting.
>
> Don't wait for a government agency or for anyone to warn you about these
> issues. Ephedra should have been pulled from the market years ago. I predict
> that we'll see either 1) more of these "natural" substances being banned  by
> FDA or 2) the pharmaceutical companies getting into the business of
> "legitimizing" the so-called natural medications. The "snake oil" effect and
> profit potential create too lucrative a marketing opportunity to pass up.
>
> Best,
> Barbara/San Francisco
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "anthony rue" <true@gu*.co*>
> To: <quest@gu*.co*>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 7:37 AM
> Subject: Stroke Alert (ephedra health risk)
>
> > http://www.nejm.org/content/haller/1.asp
> >
> > Just released this morning, by The New England Journal of Medicine:
> >
> > Because of its potential public health implications, this article is being
> > released before its publication date. The final version of the report will
> > be published on December 21.
> >
> > Dietary supplements that contain ephedra alkaloids (sometimes called ma
> > huang) are widely promoted and used in the United States as a means of
> > losing weight and increasing energy. In the light of recently reported
> > adverse events related to use of these products, the Food and Drug
> > Administration (FDA) has proposed limits on the dose and duration of use
> of
> > such supplements. The FDA requested an independent review of reports of
> > adverse events related to the use of supplements that contained ephedra
> > alkaloids to assess causation and to estimate the level of risk the use of
> > these supplements poses to consumers.
> > ...
> >
> > Ephedrine and related alkaloids have been associated with adverse
> > cardiovascular events, including acute myocardial infarction, severe
> > hypertension, myocarditis, and lethal cardiac arrhythmias. (10,11)
> > Constriction of coronary arteries and, in some cases, vasospasm are
> believed
> > to be the mechanisms of myocarditis and myocardial infarction. The
> > adrenergic effects of ephedrine shorten cardiac refractory periods,
> > permitting the development of reentrant cardiac arrhythmias. Ephedrine can
> > predispose patients to both hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke. (12)
> > Subarachnoid hemorrhage is thought to be a result of the hypertensive
> action
> > of ephedrine, which can be short lived, or of cerebral vasculitis, which
> has
> > been described in association with a variety of sympathomimetic drugs.
> > (13,14) Thrombotic stroke is presumably related to vasoconstriction of
> large
> > cerebral arteries, which leads to local thrombosis as a result of stasis
> and
> > sympathomimetic-induced platelet activation.
> >
> > Because of the severity of the adverse events that we reviewed and, in
> > particular, the occurrence of events that caused permanent disability and
> > death, we conclude that dietary supplements that contain ephedra alkaloids
> > pose a serious health risk to some users. Although the incidence of
> serious
> > adverse effects cannot be determined from our analysis, our findings
> arouse
> > concern about the risks of these products, given that they have no
> > scientifically established benefits. Our findings indicate the need for a
> > better understanding of the determinants of individual susceptibility to
> the
> > serious adverse effects of dietary supplements containing ephedra
> alkaloids
> > so that appropriate dosing guidelines and warnings can be devised.
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe, e-mail: quest-unsubscribe@gu*.co*
> > For additional commands, e-mail: quest-help@gu*.co*
> >
>
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