In This Issue:

This Week on PeoplesPharmacy.com
Featured Q&A
Featured Home Remedy
Doctors Dismiss Drug Reactions
Confusion Over Drug-Coated Stents
Smoking Ban Helps Hearts
Fountain Spreads Infection
Tai Chi May Boost Immune Response
Women Go Online for Health Information

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Best Choices from The People's Pharmacy

We are pleased to announce a new edition of our book, Best Choices from The People's Pharmacy. Best Choices is filled with natural healing approaches for dozens of common conditions including:

• arthritis
• high blood pressure
• constipation
• insomnia
• diabetes
• leg cramps
• headaches
• menopause
• heartburn
• nail fungus
• high cholesterol
• osteoporosis

We also rate prescription drugs so you can get the best buys for your money. Best Choices is packed with remedies that will surprise you, statistics that will shock you, ratings to help assess your treatment options and drug information that could save your life. Purchases from the web site receive over a 25% discount off the list price of $31.95.

This special edition (524 pages) is not available in any bookstore. It contains an expansion of our People's Pharmacy Favorite Picks (home remedies) and a new chapter on Desert Island Drugs and Dietary Supplements. Some of the country's leading experts have contributed their insights on the best treatments for what ails you. This edition is not in stores or on other Internet sites. It is only available from Rodale Books and directly from The People's Pharmacy. We ship book orders Media Mail (5-10 day delivery expected).

http://ppcart.fountainshosting.com/p-249-best-choices-from-the-peoples-pharmacy.aspx

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This Week on PeoplesPharmacy.com:

This Week's Radio Show: 648 CrazyBusy
Multi-tasking is the order of the day, but can you really pay attention to five things at once? With cell phones, pagers and PDAs, we can stay connected all the time, but we may feel that we are pulled in......
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/radio_shows/648_crazybusy.php

Keeping High Blood Pressure Under Control
Q. I am desperate for non-drug ways to lower blood pressure. The medications my doctor has prescribed have way too many side effects. Do you have any information about this problem? A. High blood pressure puts people at risk for heart...
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/herb_home_remedy_qa/keeping_high_blood_pressure_under_control.php

Monitoring Changes In Thyroid Medication
Q. I had my thyroid removed due to cancer more than a decade ago. Since then I have been on Synthroid. The past few years I was switched to Levoxyl.My doctor has lowered my dosage twice in the last six...
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/pharmacy_qa/monitoring_changes_in_thyroid_medication.php

Possible Pitfalls Of St. John's Wort And Black Cohosh Combo
Q. I have been taking St. John's wort and black cohosh to relieve symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats associated with menopause. This combination works really well. Are there any negative effects that should concern me? A. The combination of...
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/herb_home_remedy_qa/possible_pitfalls_of_st_johns_wort_and_black_cohosh_combo.php

Soy Sauce Experiment Beats Burn
Q. I was an unwitting guinea pig in an unplanned experiment involving soy sauce. Two days ago I foolishly stuck a mug into the microwave to heat up some lukewarm coffee. I had forgotten that mug has a metal glaze...
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/herb_home_remedy_qa/soy_sauce_experiment_beats_burn.php

Dead Grass Raises DEET Safety Question
Q. A few months ago, I sprayed insect repellent containing DEET on my legs to keep mosquitoes away. Then I lay down on the grass on my stomach to pull weeds out of my pond. Two days later the grass...
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/pharmacy_qa/dead_grass_raises_deet_safety_question.php

Stop Bleeding Fast With Low Or High Tech
There is something about the sight of blood that really gets your attention--especially if it is your own. Stopping the bleeding can be a challenge. When your father nicked himself shaving, the chances were good that he either tore off some...
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/editorial/stop_bleeding_fast_with_low_or_high_tech.php

Digging Out Of The Donut Hole
Q. I am about to fall into the Medicare Part D "donut hole" and would like to buy my drugs from Canada to save money for the remainder of this year. How do I know which online pharmacy to select?...
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/pharmacy_qa/digging_out_of_the_donut_hole.php

FDA Should Listen to Patients
The Food and Drug Administration has one overarching mandate from Congress: Make sure that all drugs are safe and effective.Sounds simple, but it's far trickier than it seems. For one thing, there is no such thing as a drug that...
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/joe_and_terrys_blog/fda_should_listen_to_patients.php

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Featured Q & A

How Dangerous is Licorice Fetish?
Q. I was alarmed to read that eating licorice can lead to high blood pressure, weakness, fatigue, loss of libido and mineral imbalance. Is this only true of black licorice? I eat a good deal of strawberry licorice (Twizzler's). Besides the obvious excess sugar, are there any problems with this product?

A. You have nothing to worry about (except for the calories). The ingredient that can cause so many serious side effects is glycyrrhizin. This is the natural flavor found in black licorice, but it is absent from red "licorice."

An occasional treat rarely causes people any trouble, but those who eat black licorice regularly can experience hormone imbalance and potassium loss. This is especially dangerous for those taking diuretics, prednisone or Lanoxin (digoxin).

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Featured Home Remedy

Cetaphil Works for Jock Itch
In your column a fellow wrote about jock itch he had been treating for 20 years. I was similarly plagued with jock itch for over ten years and treated it with numerous dermatologist-prescribed and nonprescription medications.

The last dermatologist I saw said I had developed reactions to all of them. He had me discontinue them and instead use a mild cortisone cream (0.5 percent) and Cetaphil cleanser. Almost at once I found the Cetaphil alone eliminated the condition and I was soon able to discontinue it too.

Jock itch may not sound serious, but when something lasts ten years it has an impact. I was depressed about the problem and even thought about having my scrotum removed. Hope my solution works for the poor guy who wrote to you.

You can read more home remedies on our website:
http://www.peoplespharmacy.org/archives/home_remedies/index.php

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Health Headlines:

Doctors Dismiss Drug Reactions
Doctors don't always pay close attention to the side effects of medicines they prescribe. A survey of 650 patients taking statin-type cholesterol-lowering drugs found that many people experienced problems such as muscle pain or weakness, memory impairment, or nerve pain called neuropathy. When they consulted their physicians about these issues, about half the doctors denied that the problems could be caused by the cholesterol medication. The investigators were surprised by how often doctors did not take patient complaints about side effects seriously. This was true even for some complications that are fairly well documented as drug related and potentially harmful, rather than simply annoying. As a result, say the scientists, patients need to be well-informed about possible side effects of the drugs they take, and be prepared to change doctors if their concerns are dismissed.
[Drug Safety, August 2007]

Confusion Over Drug-Coated Stents
Cardiologists have been quarreling over the benefits and risks of drug-coated stents for more than a year. These tiny mesh tubes are inserted in an artery to prop it open. The stents with small amounts of immunosuppressing drugs on them are less likely than bare wire stents to have artery tissue grow back over them, narrowing the artery. But the more scientists learn about these devices, the more confused the picture becomes. Researchers at the European Society of Cardiology reported that drug coated stents are much more dangerous for patients who have had a particular type of heart attack. But other scientists reported new findings that contradict their own previous report that drug-coated stents are associated with a higher risk of blood clots and heart attacks. It appears that a lot more research is needed to determine whether and when these more expensive stents make sense.
[European Society of Cardiology, Vienna, Sept. 2007]

Smoking Ban Helps Hearts
Another report at the European Society of Cardiology offers a much clearer message. Ireland banned smoking in all workplaces starting in March of 2004. The following year, 10 percent fewer people were admitted to Irish hospitals with heart attacks. That lower rate held steady during the subsequent year. Based on this research the lead investigator from Cork University Hospital concludes that other countries should consider smoking bans in public places. The World Health Organization has called for such bans in work places and enclosed public spaces.
[European Society of Cardiology, Vienna, Sept. 2007]

Fountain Spreads Infection
The sight and sound of running water is intriguing and often soothing, so many public places have decorative water fountains. Such fountains can be a source of serious health problems, however. An outbreak of Legionnaire's disease in Rapid City, South Dakota, was traced to the decorative water fountain in a restaurant there. This bacterial infection can cause fever, headache, muscle pain, digestive distress and breathing difficulties. Once the fountain was identified as the source of the infection and removed from the restaurant, the outbreak stopped.
[BMC Infectious Diseases, Aug, 2007]
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/7/93/abstract

Tai Chi May Boost Immune Response
Older people are at higher risk of complications from influenza, so they are urged to get their flu shots every year. Not all older people benefit from the vaccination, however. Now scientists suggest that traditional Chinese practices may help improve the immune response to immunization. 25 people in their 70s were randomized to learn tai chi and chee-gung in three hour-long classes each week. This instruction included gentle movements as well as meditation practice. Another 25 volunteers served as the comparison group. All volunteers had a flu shot at the start of the study. Blood tests showed that five months later the tai chi students were producing more antibodies to the flu virus. The next step will be to see if they are less likely to come down with the flu.
[American Journal of Chinese Medicine, Aug, 2007]
http://www.worldscinet.com/cgi-bin/details.cgi?id=jsname:ajcm&type=current

Women Go Online for Health Information
Women are more likely than men to see a doctor, so it should not be a surprise that more women than men look for health information on the Web. Four surveys conducted between 2000 and 2004 included more than 1400 women and 1300 men. In 2001, half the men and three fourths of the women sought health information online. By 2004, it was three-quarters of the men and four-fifths of the women. Although women visit more health sites than men, the investigators found that men were more likely to seek out sensitive health information that might be embarrassing to discuss with a doctor.
[American Psychological Association annual meeting, San Francisco, August 2007]