Is your BP med linked to pancreatic cancer?

You know that researchers have stumbled upon something serious when they tell us not to panic!

In this case, that’s what scientists from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston told a reporter at The Los Angeles Times. But this finding is about as grave as it comes – a significant link between pancreatic cancer and certain blood pressure meds.

Pancreatic cancer can kill quickly. The one-year survival rate is only 20 percent, with only 8 percent seeing five years after diagnosis.

So, anything that’s linked to this deadly cancer deserves immediate action.

And even though the Baylor researchers have called upon the FDA to further investigate this connection, I think we both know that’s probably never going to happen.

If you’re taking a prescription drug to lower blood pressure, it’s urgent that you find out if it falls into this cancer-risk category. Because the chances are nil to none that anyone else — be it the feds, drugmakers, or even your own doctors — will protect you against this newfound lethal link.

A clear and present danger

Doctors will be the first ones to admit that the current treatments for those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer aren’t doing much at all to prolong lives.

It’s a tough nut to crack, they’ll tell you. And further compounding the problem is that by the time most patients are diagnosed, their cancers are very advanced.

As to what might cause pancreatic cancer… well, that’s as much a mystery as how to treat it.

Some of the explanations proposed have to do with genetics – being either closely related to a family member who had the disease or exposed to cancer-causing chemicals that mutate your genes.

Well, now we can add something else to that list: a class of blood pressure drugs known as “short-acting calcium channel blockers” (I’ll give you some names in a minute).

What the Baylor scientists discovered is that women taking those kinds of meds for three years or more had over twice the risk of developing pancreatic cancer as those on other types of blood pressure drugs.

So… don’t panic? Really?

The study was conducted using data generated by the Women’s Health Initiative, a huge research project that delved into the lives of over 161,000 women who ranged in age from 50 to 79. And although these new cancer findings are specifically linked to women, that by no means tells us that men are in the clear.

Even the researchers acknowledged that.

And as to why these drugs appear to be connected with pancreatic cancer, that’s another unknown. The best these scientists could tell us is that the meds probably set into motion a “complex chain of action,” one that might increase inflammation all over the body.

Brand names for these short-acting calcium channel blocker drugs include Procardia, Adalat CC, Cardene IV, and Cardizem. They’re also found under the generic names of nifedipine, nicardipine, and diltiazem.

Certainly, if you’ve got one of those meds in your medicine cabinet, you need to contact your doctor ASAP about getting off of it.

And before you inquire as to which Rx drug might be safer, there’s something else you should be asking: “Do I really have high blood pressure in the first place?”

Just because you’ve been told that your BP is high doesn’t mean that you need drugs to lower it. In fact, that may not be the case at all.

For example:

• Last year, I told you about an important study that shows how millions may have been misdiagnosed with hypertension due to an outmoded method of taking blood pressure. That technique, one using a manually inflated cuff and stethoscope requires at least 15 minutes to get an accurate reading. An automated device, however, is much more precise right away.
• The well-known “white coat syndrome” is another reason why many people exhibit high blood pressure during a doctor’s visit. Research out of the Netherlands found that combining readings taken over a 30-minute period can produce dramatically different results.

And last (but certainly not least), there’s the matter of what your doctor considers high blood pressure.

Several years ago, top docs in the field said that a reading of up to 150/90 is perfectly fine for people over 60. For those under 60, going up to 140/90 is also A-OK.

“Attention women: Your choice of blood pressure medicine may affect your risk of pancreatic cancer” Melissa Healy, April 18, 2018, Los Angeles Times, latimes.com