Drug Information
Prednisone Side Effects Can Be Disastrous
Prednisone is one of the most prescribed drugs in the country. The last time I checked, more than 10 million people filled at least one prescription for this corticosteroid. Some people take it every …
Are Rage and Depression Side Effects of Chantix?
No question about it: smoking is terrible for your health. Heart disease, strokes, lung cancer and other malignancies and premature death are all more common among people who smoke tobacco. …
Do ACE Inhibitors or ARBs Work Better for Blood …
One out of two adults in the US has hypertension. That means their systolic blood pressure reads 130 or above and their diastolic blood pressure is at least 80. Most of these people need medication to…
Alcohol for Longer Life? How Much Is Enough and …
The benefits and risks of alcohol consumption have been controversial for decades. Some studies suggest that “moderate” amounts of alcohol have health benefits. In other words, people who drink a …
Is Lp(a) the Best Kept Secret in Heart Disease?
Ask most people about their risk factors for heart disease and they will likely mention total cholesterol (TC), LDL-C (“bad”) cholesterol and HDL-C (“good”) cholesterol. Sometimes people even …
Is There a Link Between Statin Drugs and Gingivi…
Doctors have been prescribing statin drugs to lower cholesterol for more than 30 years. Drugs such as simvastatin and rosuvastatin lower cholesterol very effectively. Consequently, millions of people …
The Zantac – Ranitidine Weirdness Just Got Str…
If you have been reading this newsletter, you know that one of the most popular acid-reducing drugs in the world became embroiled in a carcinogen controversy over two years ago. That's when a pharmacy…
How Do You Weigh the Benefits and Risks of Aspir…
Aspirin has been around over 100 years. It is one of the most versatile drugs in the pharmacy. It relieves pain, lowers fever and reduces inflammation. In addition, it has anti-platelet activity that …
Trelegy for COPD Leads to Hoarseness
According to the CDC, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is surprisingly common. The experts say that at least 16 million Americans suffer with this challenging breathing problem. We’re …
Will Your Eyedrops Affect Your Heart Rate?
As many as three million Americans have glaucoma, a condition that can damage the optic nerve and impair vision. Frequently, glaucoma is associated with increased pressure within the eye, which is why…
Scary Side Effects of Immune-Modulating Drugs
Immune-modulating drugs have revolutionized the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease and several other hard-to-treat conditions. Many of the ads you see on TV for s…
Statins and Shortness of Breath (Pleural Effusio…
There are so many statin side effects we have lost count. But here is one we’ll bet you have never heard of before. To be perfectly honest, we never heard about it either. That’s probably because …
Do You Love Your Liver Enough?
Most Americans have no idea where the liver is located or what it does. They generally ignore their livers until something goes badly wrong, such as cirrhosis or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Adm…
Can People Overdose on Potassium-Rich Foods?
Potassium is an essential mineral. When potassium levels fall too low doctors call it HYPOkalemia. This condition can become life threatening. Symptoms include weakness, confusion, muscle cramps, musc…
Stopping Antihistamine Leads to Unbelievable Itc…
Every so often, doctors discover something from their own experience as patients that they didn't learn in medical school and haven't heard from their colleagues. Often, the symptoms of withdrawa…
How Well Does the New Weight Loss Medicine Work?
The FDA recently approved the first new weight loss medicine in seven years. New might not be exactly the best way to describe Wegovy (pronounced wee-GOH’-vee), though. The name is new and so is the…
Show 1178: Do We Need a Revolution in Managing P…
Pain is a difficult topic. To begin with, the experience of pain is completely subjective. There are no independent objective measures that doctors can use to assess a patient’s pain. They have to t…
Can You Reverse Tardive Dyskinesia from Abilify?
Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a kind of brain damage. It can be brought on by drugs prescribed for a variety of mental conditions ranging from depression and bipolar disorder to schizophrenia and autisti…
If Acetaminophen Is Killing People, Why Should Y…
Acetaminophen is considered one of the safest pain relievers in the pharmacy. That's partially because Tylenol is a household brand that most people take for granted. They assume its super safe and th…
Which Blood Pressure Pills Help Protect Memory?
High blood pressure is a risk factor for dementia as people age. However, people who take certain blood pressure medicines that cross the blood-brain barrier might be able to protect memory and c…
Do Statins Affect Memory or Scramble Your Brain?
The top four statin-type cholesterol-lowering medications are atorvastatin, simvastatin, pravastatin and rosuvastatin. Our back of the envelope calculations suggest that over 210 million prescriptions…
Do Steroid Injections Melt Bones and Weaken Join…
Years ago, a physician shocked us by stating on our radio show that corticosteroids melt bones. We thought he was exaggerating. It turns out, however, that both oral corticosteroids and steroid inject…
Problems with Generic Wellbutrin (Bupropion)? No…
More than a decade ago we received a message from J. in Danville, New York about her antidepressant--generic Wellbutrin (bupropion). She said: "I have been taking Budeprion XL 300 mg for three months …
Surprising Gabapentin Side Effects
Gabapentin (Neurontin) was initially introduced as an anticonvulsant, which is not normally a blockbuster drug category. However, doctors prescribe gabapentin far more often than you might imagine. At…
When PM Pain Meds Might Make Sense
We are not big fans of "PM" Pain meds. We’re talking about products such as Advil PM, Aleve PM, Excedrin PM, Motrin PM, Tylenol PM or Unisom PM. We suspect that a lot of people see a familiar brand …
New Alzheimer’s Drug Aduhelm: Breakthrough or …
The FDA stirred up tremendous controversy earlier this week when it approved the new Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm (aducanumab). It’s being presented as the first medication to actually alter the Alzhe…
Show 1261: Overcoming Hearing Loss
Hearing loss is a common problem, but many people with difficulties don’t know how to address it. Not everyone who has trouble hearing in noisy spots like restaurants or busy workplaces needs hearin…
Why Won’t Pharmacies Fill Prescriptions with A…
We are always surprised and disheartened when health professionals are unfamiliar with the concept of authorized generic drugs. We shouldn’t be. Medical and pharmacy students are not taught that the…
Does Alcohol Get into Your Body After Using Hand…
COVID-19 changed how people wash their hands. For months it was hard to find alcohol-based (ethanol) hand sanitizers. That's because there was a run on such products. Then there were reports that quit…
Why Drug Commercials Are Far More Harmful Than Y…
Dennis Miller, RPh, is the author of the explosive new book The Shocking Truth About Pharmacy: A Pharmacist Reveals All the Disturbing Secrets. The entire book is available for download from Amazon fo…
Will COVID Crisis in India Lead to Drug Shortage…
What would you do if your medicine were unavailable? How would you cope if your pharmacy could not supply your blood thinner, thyroid medicine, diabetes drug or asthma inhaler? Most of us assume that …
Probiotic Can Help Prevent C. Diff Due to Antibi…
Have you ever experienced a bad bout of diarrhea after finishing a course of antibiotics? This reaction is not uncommon. Now, researchers are beginning to recognize that sometimes this problem is caus…
Atorvastatin (Lipitor) Side Effects & Compl…
It is not entirely clear why Lipitor (atorvastatin) became the most successful drug in the history of the pharmaceutical industry. Tens of millions of people have taken Lipitor to lower their bad LDL …
Do Flonase and Nasacort Harm the Sense of Smell?
The benefits of steroid nasal spray for allergies are significant. There are, however, some side effects that you may want to know about before you start using them. A loss of the sense of smell or ta…
Will Saffron Extract Help You Sleep Better?
People with insomnia face a difficult dilemma. Could saffron extract help overcome it? The Insomniac's Dilemma: On the one hand, insomniacs hear that if they don't sleep, they may develop diabetes, hy…
Is Vitamin Deficiency at the Bottom of Burning S…
What could cause a burning sensation on the bottoms of the feet? This symptom seems to indicate nerve damage, technically termed peripheral neuropathy. There are a number of potential causes, ranging …
How To Stop Duloxetine (Cymbalta) Without Withdr…
From what we hear from readers of our syndicated newspaper column and visitors to this website, most patients are not warned about how to stop duloxetine (Cymbalta). Perhaps the prescriber assumes tha…
Solve Spring Allergy Symptoms Safely!
This spring has been especially heartening. We went from a really hard winter to a time of renewal. Watching everything turn green has given a lot of people hope for the future. But for tens of millio…
Can You Delay Alzheimer Disease with Drugs for D…
People with Alzheimer’s disease have distinctive lesions within their brains. Individuals with diabetes also have pathological changes resembling those seen in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. P…
Can You Trust Your Drug Quality? Maybe Not!
When you get on an airplane or an elevator you assume someone inspected the equipment. That is the implicit understanding between customers and companies. The goal is safety. But who inspects pharmace…