"Severe Memory Loss From Ditropan "

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pinker
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:29 pm

"Severe Memory Loss From Ditropan "

Post by pinker »

This is quite alarming considering this drug is widely used.

The article in question compares Data from two prescription medications used to treat overactive bladder (OAB): Enablex® (darifenacin) did not result in impaired memory function in healthy adults age 60 and older.(1) In contrast, treatment with Ditropan XL®(i) (oxybutynin extended-release or ER), the other medication evaluated in the study, caused significant memory deterioration. Importantly, the individuals receiving oxybutynin ER failed to notice the change in their memory function. These findings were presented today during the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA).




Link to the study:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ ... 052306.php

Rhubarb

Post by Rhubarb »

Hi All
It's very important to note, with any clinical paper that has been produced, who has funded the paper, who has conducted the trials and do they have any connections or vested interest of any kind in the drug which is shown to be more favourable - and probably most importantly, how many people were involved in the trial and over how long a period of time,
Having had a brief look at the link, I can say this :
the sample is relatively small
the time over which this study was conducted was incredibly short.....this in particular should be noted.
Having not read the full paper, it's not possible to add much more, just to say that it's very easy to make any statistics say just what you want them to and, I could be reasonably sure that there's an element of that here.
It's a possibility that this type of drug may lead, in certain circumstances, to an element of memory loss - but it's a very difficult thing to establish, especially amongst the elderly. I'm only 50 yrs old, but let me tell you, as one gets older, one most certainly does forget more and more things ; it's often very worrying, but it's also quite a normal thing, if an annoying one, to happen.
Another things is this : drugs used to treat Alzheimer's Disease behave in the reverse way to Ditropan/Oxybutinin - that is, they are 'cholinergic' agents, not anti-cholinergic agents. This fact has been used by some to speculate that, surely, if a cholinergic drug is used to treat Alzheimers, then doesn't it make sense that to use an ANTI-cholinergic drug will surely CAUSE Alzheimers?
Well, no......things just don't work like that - although medicine would be so much easier if they did, they simply don't.
In short, this train of thought is at best, very speculative.
Always question stuff - there's always more information in there if you look in the right places - though with a lot of pharmaceutical company funded studies, a lot of the info that emerges being negatively biased against their product will be hidden wherever legal and possible to do so
Apologies for the long rant - but it's hard to talk about anything like this in brief.
Ciao for now
***

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