The People's Perspective on Medicine, since 1976
Helping you to make informed decisions about both traditional and alternative treatments.
Will Politicians Ever Lower High Drug Prices?
Are you paying too much for your medicines? The headlines lately have been full of controversy about how politicians will try to lower high drug prices. But current prospects are looking grim. Everybo…
Vinegar Eases the Pain of Jellyfish Stings
People who swim in the ocean may encounter jellyfish. These floating sea creatures (which are not fish) have long tentacles equipped with tiny barbs supplied with venom. The most poisonous is the box …
Beware Zolpidem Zombies on Airplanes
One of the most popular prescription sleeping pills in the pharmacy is zolpidem (Ambien). At last count, over 19 million prescriptions were dispensed annually. Despite its popularity, zolpidem remains…
Can You Prevent Blisters Safely with Aluminum An…
Have you ever developed a blister while walking or hiking? If you aren’t prepared, the rest of the hike can be agony. Is there any way to prevent blisters in the first place? Obviously, comfortable …
How to Remove Splinters with Duct Tape
How do you remove splinters? Sometimes, people go in for home surgery with sharp tweezers or even scalpels. That could be risky. Other folks use home remedies that seem to work well with a lot less pa…
Why Are Pharmacists Silent about Generic Drug Qu…
10 Reasons Why Pharmacists Are Silent about Generic Drug Quality: Two recently published books (Katherine Eban’s Bottle of Lies and Rosemary Gibson’s China Rx) spell out in graphic detail the…
Soy Sauce Helps Ease the Pain of a Burn
Sometimes we learn about a surprising home remedy and then we hear from scores or even hundreds of people that they have used it successfully. More than a decade ago, a listener to our radio show call…
Announcing a New Design for The People’s Pharm…
On Tuesday, July 16, 2019, www.PeoplesPharmacy.com will be offline for several hours. That’s because we are launching a complete re-design of our website to serve you better. What Will Be Different?…
Think Zinc for Better Blood Sugar Control
Zinc is not one of the sexy minerals. Doctors and patients are far more interested in calcium, potassium and magnesium. But we think zinc is an unrecognized hero that often gets short shrift. This min…
Should You Eat Yogurt for a Healthy Colon?
Your diet could influence your risk of developing colorectal cancer. Data from the long-running Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses’ Health Study included detailed information on die…
Prostate Cancer Therapy and Dementia: The Link G…
Prostate cancer is hard enough by itself. That’s because treatment often comes with unpleasant complications. Now, add the possibility of Alzheimer’s disease and/or dementia linked to testosterone…
Show 1172: How Can Antibiotics Affect Your Brain…
Antibiotics are crucial for treating serious infections, but the specter of bacterial resistance to antibiotics is scary. Many public health experts have called for more diligent antibiotic stewardshi…
Do Sweet Drinks Boost Your Risk for Cancer?
Sugary beverages may increase your risk of developing cancer, according to a French study (BMJ, July 10, 2019). Soda pop is not the only culprit, though. Sweet drinks containing 100 percent fruit juic…
Are Diets and Supplements Useless for Your Heart…
Most people believe that a good diet is a cornerstone of vibrant health. Many also take supplements as dietary insurance to make sure that they get the nutrients they need. A massive new review of 277…
How to Grill Safely This Summer
In the summer, the great American pastime is the cookout. From burgers and corn on the cob to s'mores, cooking food over the fire or on a grill has enormous appeal. But public health experts have iden…
Are You Suffering Senility or Vitamin B12 Defici…
Whether they admit it or not, a lot of middle-aged and older people worry about senility. By this, they mean cognitive difficulties or even dementia, perhaps coupled with physical frailty. However, ge…
Statins and Nerve Damage (Peripheral Neuropathy)…
By now, almost everyone agrees that statins like atorvastatin, lovastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin can cause muscle pain (myalgia). Most clinicians also acknowledge that statins are also linked t…
Do Drugs Like Antihistamines Trigger RLS (Restle…
What causes Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)? Check with most medical authorities and you will learn that “there’s no known cause” (Mayo Clinic). Symptoms are often blamed on a chemical imbalance in…
Is It Safe to Take Red Yeast Rice for High Chole…
Statisticians have shown that people with elevated levels of LDL cholesterol, are more likely to develop clogged arteries and coronary artery disease (Heart, Lung & Circulation, March 2018). If se…
Thyroid Trouble Was Behind Stomach Problems
Doctors often attribute stomach problems like indigestion or discomfort after eating to excess stomach acid. Usually, they prescribe a PPI such as esomeprazole (Nexium), lansoprazole (Prevacid) or ome…
The Beta Blocker Blahs Can Be Debilitating
Beta blockers are blood pressure medications that have been around for many decades. They include drugs like atenolol (Tenormin), metoprolol (Toprol) and propranolol (Inderal). In some instances, such…
Do Statins Cause Diabetes? Many MDs Wish It Were…
Search the medical literature for statins and diabetes and you might be surprised at what you will find. Many health professionals would prefer that this side effect were never discovered. There is tr…
Show 1114: How Health Care Became Big Business (…
The American health care system is a $3 trillion mess. Although it has significant technological sophistication, this big business doesn’t seem consistently able to get appropriate treatments to the…
Radioactive Iodine for Hyperthyroidism Increases…
A new study in JAMA Internal Medicine (July 1, 2019) has linked exposure to radioactive iodine for hyperthyroidism to a 6 percent increased risk of death for all solid cancers and a 12 percent increas…
Vegetables Linked to Improvement in Psychologica…
When you were little, did anyone tell you to eat your vegetables? Eating more fruits and vegetables, especially vegetables, may boost your sense of well-being. An analysis of ten studies that included…
How to Prevent and Stop the Itch of Mosquito Bit…
Some people are mosquito magnets. They attract mosquitoes like honey draws flies. A bunch of people can be sitting around the back yard enjoying themselves and not being bothered by mosquitoes. That…
10 Favorite Wart Remedies That Work!
Warts are mysterious. There are more questions than answers. We do know that warts are caused by a virus (human papilloma virus or HPV). How that virus penetrates the skin on fingers, hands or knees i…
Will Melatonin Help Travelers with Jet Lag?
Humans, like most other animals, have daily rhythms. When these are disrupted by shift work or jet lag, people may feel out of sorts, fatigued or even vulnerable to illness. Are there ways to get slee…
To Stop a Nosebleed, the Key Is Cold on the Neck
We have heard from scores of people over the years about their methods for stopping nosebleeds. One favorite method sounds bizarre: dangling keys down the back of the neck. We recently got an explanat…
When Treating Hyperthyroidism Results in Too Lit…
An overactive thyroid gland that pumps out too much thyroid hormone can be extremely uncomfortable or even dangerous. When this condition is caused by the immune system attacking the thyroid gland, it…