Drug Interactions
Drug interactions are the Achilles heel of modern medicine. Even with computers, pharmacists, physicians and nurse practitioners may overlook a combination of drugs that is incompatible and could cause serious problems.
Do Antidepressants and Anti-Anxiety Drugs Cause …
In most parts of the country, people are suffering from the heat. In many places, humidity is also making life more challenging. For some people, the medications they are taking will make them even mo…
You vs. “ALERT FATIGUE” – Prev…
You're heard the story of the boy who cried wolf, right? It's about a shepherd boy who keeps warning his village that a wolf is attacking the sheep just because he got lonely. After a few too many of …
MAO Inhibitors Are Oldies but Goodies for Stubbo…
Psychiatrists estimate that depression affects as many as 1 out of 10 Americans. Teenagers and young adults are even more vulnerable, with as many as 17% impacted. There are ongoing questions about th…
Do Antidepressants Prevent Pain Relief After Sur…
Surgery can be quite painful. Thank goodness for anesthesia! Imagine what it would be like if you had to have an appendectomy or knee replacement surgery while wide awake. Ouch! Fortunately, you can s…
Show 1425: How Can You Combine Supplements, Herb…
This week, two pharmacists describe why you should check with a pharmacist about possible problems when you combine supplements, herbs and medicines. In some cases, a supplement might interfere with y…
Purple Peril? Grape Juice Interaction Differs fr…
Have you ever been warned about a grape juice interaction with the heartburn medicine omeprazole (Prilosec)? I didn't think so. If you were to poll most pharmacists and physicians and ask them about s…
Potassium Interaction with Blood Pressure Pills:…
Do you know how your diet relates to your medication? Prescribers don't always mention dietary precautions when they hand out a prescription. But often they should discuss this to avoid a potential pr…
Beware Coffee and Cipro and Other Drug Interacti…
Most of us have learned how much coffee we can handle before getting into trouble with jitters, insomnia or heart palpitations. But some drugs may interact with caffeine to give us more of a java jolt…
Should You Be Taking Vitamin Supplements?
Vitamins were among the most exciting discoveries of the early 20th century. Since then, however, doctors have been expressing a lot of skepticism about the value of taking vitamin supplements. A pron…
Antidepressant Reacts Badly With Cold Medicine: …
When you reach for an over-the-counter medicine, do you think about whether it is compatible with other drugs you may be taking? Few people do, but that could be a big mistake. Something as seemingly …
Cough Remedy Plus Antidepressant Spark Scary Ser…
Chances are good that you’ve heard of serotonin. It is a neurotransmitter in the brain that has been linked to mood. Fluoxetine (Prozac) and its antidepressant chemical cousins (citalopram or Celexa…
Beware Mixing Xarelto or Eliquis and OTC Pain Re…
Anticoagulant medications are frequently prescribed to people with atrial fibrillation (AFib). This arrhythmia can cause blood clots that might lead to a stroke. AFib used to be treated primarily with…
Validating Your Suspicions About Pills—You’r…
Do you often feel that there’s much in the world of pills that doesn’t make sense? Does it sometimes cause you to question your sanity? You’re not alone. It had that effect on retired pharmacist…
Taking Synthroid in the Middle of the Night
An underactive thyroid gland is a surprisingly common condition, affecting up to 5 percent of adult Americans. More people experience subclinical hypothyroidism than overt hypothyroidism. Nonetheless,…
Will Soy Interfere with Thyroid?
People managing a chronic condition like hypothyroidism want to avoid simple activities that might interfere with the best outcome. They may have heard that you have to take your thyroid medication ea…
Why Pharmacists Can’t Just Slap a Label on…
“Don’t you just have to slap a label on it?” Pharmacists around the country hear the same thing, all day, every day. I know this because I am in several pharmacist groups on Facebook, each with …
Polypharmacy and Premature Deaths Especially in …
Have you been to a doctor’s office or a clinic lately? Chances are very good that a med tech weighed you, measured your blood pressure and took your temperature. This information was entered into a …
Taking Thyroid Medicine Properly
Millions of people suffer from an underactive thyroid gland. That is why the synthetic thyroid hormone levothyroxine (Synthroid, Levothroid, Levoxyl, Unithroid, etc.) is one of the most widely prescri…
Does Your Medicine Have a Boxed Warning? Why You…
When people are poised to participate in risky activities, they are supposed to follow safety protocols. For example, sky divers exercise proper precautions and procedures before each jump. No commerc…
Tylenol & Alcohol: Acetaminophen Side Effec…
We keep getting questions from readers who want to know about taking Tylenol & alcohol together. You might think that this question would be easily resolved. The various Tylenol labels are a bit c…
Medical Mistakes and Deadly Drug Interactions
No one likes to make mistakes. It is a humbling experience. Even when lives are not at stake, errors can open you up to ridicule or sanctions. That's why many people try to deny or cover up their erro…
Show 1385: The Dangers of Overdosing on OTC Meds
This week, Joe and Terry Graedon welcome your questions and stories about the dangers of overdosing on OTC meds. Dr. Lisa Sanders, an acknowledged expert on medical diagnosis, starts us off with a sto…
Will Food and Drink Affect Your Drug?
Everyone is in a hurry these days. This is especially true when it comes to prescriptions. Many doctors don't even hand you a paper prescription; they just transmit it electronically from their comput…
Why Potassium Chloride Is Not Always a Safe Salt…
People have been warned that salt (sodium chloride) is dangerous, especially for people with high blood pressure. But most people love the taste of standard salt. That's why potato and tortilla chips …
Preventing Deadly Drug Interactions Harder Than …
If I told you that over 2 million people were harmed while flying on an airplane and 100,000 people died each year in airplane crashes you would be astounded. You might be reluctant to get on an airpl…
Do Doctors Ignore Dangerous Drug Interactions?
In the United States most law-abiding citizens don't run red lights. They know that the traffic rules are there to protect everyone from accidents. There's also the fear factor. If a policeman catches…
Beware of Biotin Interfering With Thyroid Tests
It's alarming to get a laboratory test result that shows a serious problem. Learning later that the test might have given a false reading is also frustrating. One reader discovered that you should bew…
Taking Lisinopril | Avoid POTASSIUM but ZINC Cou…
Lisinopril is about the most popular drug in the pharmacy. This ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitor is swallowed by over 20 million hypertensive Americans every day. Over 110,000,000 bottles…
Surprising Gabapentin Side Effects
The Food and Drug Administration first approved Neurontin (gabapentin) in 1993 to treat epilepsy. Anticonvulsants are not normally blockbuster drugs. Perhaps that is why the original manufacturer, Par…
Should You Be Driving While Taking Medicine?
Has your physician or pharmacist ever told you not to drive a car while taking a medication? About the only time patients are warned not to drive is after a medical procedure that requires anesthesia …
Is the Oral Pill Paxlovid an Answer to COVID-19?
Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir + ritonavir) and Legevrio (molnupiravir) got a green light from the FDA two years ago. Like everything surrounding COVID-19, there is controversy about the benefits and risks …
Can You Trust Your Electronic Prescriptions?
There was a time when a visit to the doctor's office often resulted in a paper prescription that you would take to the pharmacy. Nowadays there is a strong likelihood that if you need a medication you…
Interactions May Have Deadly Results
Ask any sixth grader what 1+1 equals and you will be told the answer is 2. Ask a pharmacist, though, and you might get a very different answer. In the Alice-in-Wonderland world of pharmaceuticals, som…
Show 1343: Hidden Harms of Herb and Drug Interac…
Millions of Americans take dietary supplements, and most of us assume that they are safe. While that is probably a reasonable rule of thumb, there are some situations that require more vigilance. In p…
If You Take Paxlovid, Will You Get Over COVID Mo…
It appears that most people have put COVID out of mind. That’s because 99% of people shopping, traveling and attending events are no longer wearing masks. We get it. DONE with COVID seems to be the …
How Can You Stop PM Sleeping Pills?
People with insomnia are caught between two hard rocks. On the one hand, they are told that lack of sleep can lead to all sorts of health problems including high blood pressure, forgetfulness, diabete…
Is it Risky to Take Atorvastatin with Grapefruit…
Physicians and pharmacists are super busy these days. Some pharmacists have confided to us that they feel like they are in an I love Lucy skit like this one where Lucy and Ethel wrap chocolates. Patie…
What Pharmacists Don’t Tell You
This critical perspective is from retired pharmacist, Dennis Miller. There’s a huge amount of important information about drugs that pharmacists rarely discuss with customers. Chances are you feel y…
Will the Kraken XBB.1.5 COVID Subvariant Get You…
So many variants: Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Delta (B.1.617.2) and Omicron (with lots of subvariants including BA.5, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1). Now we are faced with the Kraken XBB.1.5. It is spreading l…
Thyroid Medicine You Can Take with Breakfast
Many people don't realize that coffee and several other foods may partially block absorption of the thyroid medicine Synthroid (Benvenga et al, Thyroid, March 2008). Over-the-counter medicines such as…