Depression
Unexpected GLP-1 Side Effects: Fragile Bones to …
GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound are transforming medicine. They help people with type-2 diabetes control blood sugar and often lead to dramatic weight loss. Researchers are als…
Are You Stuck Inside? Too Busy, Too Hot? Too Tir…
Terry and I work a lot of hours. We create 2 newsletters each week and then there is our radio show. The People's Pharmacy is heard on over 200 NPR stations/repeaters. There is a lot of work that goes…
Oral Ketamine for Depression: Game Changer or Fa…
Oral ketamine has been a tantalizing possibility for people with hard-to-treat depression. Instead of traveling to a ketamine clinic for pricey IV infusions or using a nasal spray (esketamine, aka Spr…
Show 1478: The Outdoor Prescription for Fighting…
Too many of us are spending our days staring at screens. Little screens on our phones, big screens on the television, medium-size screens on our computers at work. Our modern lifestyles mean that we s…
FDA Drug Approval Standards: Can 2 Wins Erase 11…
Most people assume that FDA drug approval standards require convincing proof that a medicine actually helps patients. Doctors often make the same assumption. After all, the agency has long reassured…
Science, Marketing, Ideology, and Mythology in t…
Dennis Miller, R.Ph. is a retired chain store pharmacist. His book, The Shocking Truth About Pharmacy: A Pharmacist Reveals All the Disturbing Secrets, can be downloaded in its entirety at Amazon for …
Does More Screen Time Pose Hazards for Everyone?
Parents have been concerned about screen time for years. Social media has become hugely popular among teens and young adults. Does it hold dangers for younger people? Some studies have suggested a lin…
Dangers of Antidepressants: Life Savers or Hidde…
Americans are taking antidepressant medications in huge numbers and the trend is upward. The most recent data show that: "Overall, antidepressant use increased from 9.8% in 2019 to 11.4% in 2023" (Cur…
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…
Psilocybin for Depression: Why One Dose May Chan…
For decades, people struggling with major depression have been told they may need antidepressants every day for years, perhaps indefinitely. While some patients may get very good results, many people …
Why Buproprion Smells Bad: Uncovering the Myster…
Some drugs have a distinctive odor. That’s a nice way of saying that some medications naturally smell nasty. For example, Mucomyst (acetylcysteine) is prescribed to dissolve mucus. It can smell like…
Drug Effectiveness: The Missing Number Behind Ev…
You might assume that drug effectiveness would be one of the most important things a doctor would discuss when writing a new prescription. That almost never happens. Patients may be told what a medici…
Show 1470: Why Your Doctor Should Prescribe Exer…
If you had to name one thing that could contribute to better health throughout the lifespan, what would it be? We think exercise, or at least physical activity deserves the top spot. Yet in 2025, fewe…
Show 1188: The Healing Potential of Psychedelic …
Many indigenous peoples around the world have developed traditional uses for psychedelic compounds. In Western medicine, these were mostly unknown until Albert Hoffmann synthesized LSD (lysergic acid …
Rediscovering Low-Dose Lithium for Mood Disorder…
Lithium is a chemical element that is widespread in nature. You can find it in the earth's crust, in water and even in the food you eat. Depending upon where you live, there is a good chance that ther…
Pharma’s Embarrassing Placebo Problem
Dennis Miller, R.Ph. is a retired chain store pharmacist. His book, The Shocking Truth About Pharmacy: A Pharmacist Reveals All the Disturbing Secrets, can be downloaded in its entirety at Amazon for …
Veterans Who Depend on Mental Health Care Keep L…
by Vernal Coleman, Topher Sanders, Joel Jacobs and Eric Umansky, photography by Benjamin Rasmussen for ProPublica This story was originally published by ProPublica. As Jason Beaman recounts hi…
Does Junk Food in the Diet Affect Children’…
Children in North America eat a lot of junk food. A study notes that nearly half of the calories consumed by Canadian preschoolers come from ultraprocessed foods. The investigators wanted to know whet…
Can Lithium in Water or a Supplement Prevent Alz…
The chances are good that you are exposed to some lithium almost every day of your life. That's because this natural element is plentiful in nature. It is found in rocks and soil all over the earth. T…
Can You Overcome Depression with Exercise?
Over 40 million Americans take antidepressant medications. Millions more take anti-anxiety agents. For many people, these drugs are lifelines. Studies suggest that regular physical activity can help o…
Is Pharma’s Narrow View of Depression Immo…
Dennis Miller, R.Ph. is a retired chain store pharmacist. His book, The Shocking Truth About Pharmacy: A Pharmacist Reveals All the Disturbing Secrets, can be downloaded in its entirety at Amazon for …
Bupropion Helps With Mood, Sex and Quitting Smok…
Bupropion (Wellbutrin) was first approved by the FDA in 1985 to treat depression. It remains a totally unique antidepressant. There is no similar antidepressant on the market. Unlike SSRI and SNRI ant…
How to Fight Back Against SAD This Winter
As the weather changes from a welcome chill in the air to wet and nasty to cold and icy, many people discover that they are spending more time inside. During short days, they get relatively little sun…
Show 1460: Calming Chronic Inflammation Without …
Inflammation is a double-edged sword. When you have a sudden injury or infection, your body responds by calling immune cells to the site of the problem. It may become red, swollen and painful, but all…
Mental Health Funding Chaos Puts Lives at Risk 
For 24 chaotic hours this week, the nation’s mental health system was thrown into mental health funding chaos. Thousands of programs that provide addiction treatment, crisis services, school-based c…
Exercise Is Effective Treatment for Psychologica…
Depression is debilitating, so it deserves prompt and effective treatment. Most physicians do that by writing a prescription for an antidepressant. At last count, nearly 50 million Americans swallow a…
Show 1456: Beyond the Label: The Transformative …
Do you know someone who has struggled for years to meet deadlines or manage their time? Perhaps you have a smart friend who just never did well in school (or possibly at work) because they couldn’t …
GLP-1 Depression Warning: Weight-Loss Drugs May …
Weight loss drugs such as semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) continue to set record sales. Most people assume that the side effects of medicines prescribed for weight l…
Bioidentical Hormones: Estrogen, Progesterone &#…
The FDA is removing the boxed warning from hormone replacement therapy (HRT). What about the bioidentical hormones? Does the green light for HRT include the bioidentical hormones estrogen, progesteron…
How To Stop Venlafaxine: Very, VERY Slowly!
It has taken the medical profession a very long time to acknowledge that many of the most popular drugs in the pharmacy can cause a kind of dependence. By that we mean such drugs can precipitate serio…
Problems with Generic Wellbutrin (Bupropion)? No…
Eighteen years 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 inst…
The Amazingly Variable Downsides of Antidepressa…
At last count, nearly 50 million Americans swallow an antidepressant medication daily. The top 6 drugs are in order: sertraline (Zoloft), escitalopram (Lexapro), bupropion (Wellbutrin), fluoxetine (Pr…
Ketogenic Diet Advantages and Disadvantages
Although the ketogenic diet is now in vogue, it is by no means a new phenomenon. Doctors began prescribing ketogenic diets containing few if any carbohydrates in the early 1920s. At that time, they ha…
Show 1447: Falls, Fractures and Fatalities: Surp…
This week, we start the show with an interview with epidemiologist Thomas Farley, MD, MPH. His essay in JAMA Health Forum (Aug. 8, 2025) describes why older Americans are dying of falls at an alarming…
Young Woman Suffers Long-lasting Sertraline Side…
When a healthcare provider gets ready to offer a patient a prescription, there are a few questions they should answer before the transaction is complete. Patients should know what they are taking and …
How To Stop Duloxetine (Cymbalta) Without Withdr…
Based on 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…
Rx for Disaster: Why Common Meds Are Silently Ki…
Americans are dying from an invisible killer far faster than their counterparts in rest of the developed world. These deaths are mostly unreported and ignored by the healthcare system. I am referring …
Will a Free Lunch Influence Your Doctor’s …
Ask most physicians whether a free lunch from a drug company would affect their prescribing patterns and the chances are pretty good that they would say no. Some would be highly insulted by the very i…
Antidepressant Withdrawal: A Scandal the FDA and…
When most people hear the word "withdrawal" they think of drug abuse. Alcoholics who stop drinking suddenly can experience delirium tremens or the DTs. Going "cold turkey" after injecting heroin for w…
Should Women Worry About Antidepressants During …
When women are pregnant, they frequently worry that something they swallow will harm the developing baby. The debate about antidepressants during pregnancy has been going on a long time. Now, an FDA p…