TMCnet News
3RD LD: U.S. Vice President Cheney leaves hospital: news reports+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)WASHINGTON, Jan. 9_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING WITH CHENEY'S RELEASE FROM HOSPITAL) U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was released from a hospital about four hours after being taken there early Monday due to shortness of breath, news reports said. The vice president was released from George Washington University Hospital at about 7:30 a.m., the Associated Press said. AP earlier quoted Cheney's spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride as saying that doctors found his EKG unchanged and determined he was retaining fluid because of medication he was taking due to a foot problem. Cheney has a history of heart problems and has a pacemaker in his chest. The foot ailment forced Cheney to use a cane on Friday. It was unclear exactly what medication Cheney was taking for his foot ailment, but a side effect of commonly used anti-inflammatory drugs is fluid retention, which can cause swelling and shortness of breath and strain the heart muscle, the report said. Fluid can also leave the circulatory system and accumulate in various parts of the body which can cause a shortness of breath. All anti-inflammatory drugs -- popularly known as NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, including such drugs as ibuprofen and naprosyn -- can cause that side effect, the report said. Now that Cheney has suffered it, he should avoid those medications, Dr. Stuart Seides, associate cardiology director at Washington Hospital Center, was quoted as saying. |