Liver Vitamin

What does “fatal liver disease” mean on a TV commercial on a certain medication?

What does “fatal liver disease” mean on a TV commercial on a certain medication? On a TV Commercial, when they advertise about a certain drug and its side effect being one of them as “fatal liver disease”, does it mean, you’ll die from liver cancer or scirrosis? Then, why take the drug? Then, why did my doctor prescribe it?

Public Comments

1. All medication has some level of risk. Your doctor assesses if the very small risk is less than the danger of not taking the medicine, they will prescribe it for you. But only a doctor can assess the risk and benefit, so that is why many medicines are not available over the counter, only on prescription
2. Most all medications, after they enter the body, go to the liver first to be broken down before going to the rest of the body. The liver is a wonderful organ that can take toxins and change them into non toxic forms, also. All medications have side effects and warning on them. The patient doesn't always see these warnings, that the druggist is given, as an insert on these medications...if they did, they would never take any of them. The doctor has to decide if the benefits of taking the medication outweighs the risk. The doctor also knows the patients medical background and if their body chemistry is okay to handle the drugs. It is best that any medications a patient takes is cleared through the doctor first; this includes over the counter, herbs, herbal teas, vitamins, and minerals, etc. Many drugs can interact with other drugs including prescription drugs. Some drugs are harder on the liver than other ones are (therefore they contain these warnings). If a drug is taken in excess of the prescribed amount or taken with something like alcohol or grapefruit juice...it can cause the drug to go toxic in the body and then cause damage to the liver cells. Once the liver cells become damaged, then the patients immune system responds to the damage in the body and causes inflammation to develop in the liver. Normally, this inflammation is to help the body stop any bacteria, virus, or other foreign things that enter the body from reaching other areas of the body. However, now the inflammation is inside the capsule of the liver and causes the liver to enlarge in size. Once this happens the cells of the liver can become so stressed that they start to die off. When they do this, the dead cells cause scar tissue to develop in the liver and then it turns into a progressive disease known as Cirrhosis of the liver. This is what they mean by fatal liver disease. The public is becoming more aware of the dangers that are involved in taking these medications, but also it is scaring them. The drugs companies do extensive research and testing on all drugs on the market. That is what puts the costs of the drug up so high. It may take years to develop the drug and then do all of this before it is even approved for public use. They have to list all their findings, even if it is just one patients reaction out of thousands that has taken the drug. As long as your doctor is prescribing the medication or recommending this medication, it should be okay for you to take. You can even ask him about side effects or even talk to the druggist about the medication you are on. The pharmacies have on their computers a system that show if one drug interacts with another...they even give patients printouts to read about each drug they take. So many people don't read these print outs but they should. It is almost impossible to cover every side effect a patient may have in the doctors office. Fatal does mean that it could lead to death, since the liver isn't an organ, like the spleen or gallbladder is...where you can remove it and still live. I hope this information is of some help to you.