Drug Side Effects
Learn what others have experienced when taking medications. Which side effects should you be alert for? Share your own experience so others can learn.
Bad Reactions to Dietary Supplements Can Lead to…
How safe are dietary supplements? Many people assume that products such as vitamins, minerals or botanicals are safe because they are natural. Emergency Department Visits Due to Dietary Supplements: T…
Are Calcium Supplements A Waste of Money?
Vitamins Are Worthless: For decades, many doctors have told their patients not to bother with vitamin and mineral supplements. The argument is that such pills are a waste of money. Calcium is Wonderfu…
Drugs That Cause Brain Fog For People Over 60
Q. Do you have a list of the drugs that should not be prescribed to elderly people? If you don't, do you know where I could get such a list? My doctor was not very well informed nor was he interested …
Antibiotics (Quinolones) Linked to Aortic Aneury…
Fluoroquinolone antibiotics were introduced in the late 1980s. Drugs like ciprofloxacin (Cipro) and levofloxacin (Levaquin) became household names and mainstays in treating common infections in the re…
Does Ambien Cause Acid Reflux?
When a medication causes a side effect in an area that seems completely unrelated to the problem for which it is prescribed, it can take quite a while to notice.We have heard for many years that zolpi…
Statins Are NOT a Magic Bullet for Longer Life
Current guidelines from heart experts insist that virtually every man over the age of 63 and every woman over 70 should be on statin-type cholesterol lowering drugs, regardless of risk factors. What …
Calcium Supplements Do NOT Prevent Broken Bones
Can you keep your bones strong by taking calcium supplements? Older people, particularly older women, have long been advised to get 1,200 mg of calcium daily, primarily from supplements. Many doctors …
Antidepressants Linked to Violence: Rape, Robber…
Q. I am 30 years old and have been taking fluoxetine. I was prescribed this last year because I attempted to take my own life. I have noticed that my behavior, though no longer suicidal, is increasing…
Lisinopril Reaction Nearly Proved Fatal
Some medications that are extremely useful for the majority of people can cause frighteningly serious reactions in others. That is surely the case for the ACE inhibitors used to control blood pressure…
Lower Blood Pressure Could Save Your Life But at…
Doctors have been debating the pros and cons of aggressive blood pressure treatment for decades. A comprehensive analysis of all prior well-controlled blood pressure trials by the independent Cochrane…
Lymphoma as a Side Effect of Remicade
It can be difficult to weigh the benefits against the risks of medicines that are used to treat dreadful conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. On the one hand, having a way to ease pain and permit …
Is Paxil (Paroxetine) Unsafe for Teens?
New research suggests that antidepressant medications may pose a serious problem for adolescents. A study from Sweden reveals a relationship between such drugs and violent crimes. More troublesome, a …
Why Does My Shoulder Still Hurt So Much After a …
Last year we learned a new acronym from our readers: SIRVA. It stands for Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration. This is the first message we received: "It has been seven weeks since I had…
At What Age Do NSAID Pain Relievers Become Deadl…
Q. I heard the FDA issued a stronger warning about cardiac risks associated with NSAID pain relievers. Is this correlated with age? If older persons are at greater risk of heart attack and stroke from…
Metformin Reduces Vitamin B12 Absorption
What happens when a medication interferes with the usual absorption of a nutrient? This problem might be more common than you imagine. Many vitamins and minerals require an acidic environment before t…
Diabetes Drugs Trigger Severe Joint Pain
The FDA has just issued a warning about a serious complication of certain popular diabetes drugs. Gliptins, known as DPP-4 inhibitors, include medications like Januvia and Onglyza. Januvia was approve…
New FDA Warning About Januvia Joint Pain Side Ef…
On August 28, 2015, the FDA issued the following caution: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that the type 2 diabetes medicines sitagliptin, saxagliptin, linagliptin, and aloglipt…
Pharmacist Speaks Up About Statin Side Effects
Do health professionals trust the pharmaceutical industry too much? That is the provocative question raised by a pharmacist who has had personal difficulties taking statins: Q. I am a retired pharmaci…
The Inside Story on the Female Sex Pill Flibanse…
There has been a great deal of excitement about the FDA's announcement that it has finally approved Addyi for women with low sex drive. Not surprisingly, this is the hot health story this week and the…
What Are the Risks of Tooth Whitening?
With access to good dental care, it is now possible to keep teeth healthier compared to past decades. Many people are now taking steps to keep their pearly whites prettier, too. This reader wants to k…
Medicines that Shift Serotonin Levels Can Cause …
Serotonin used to be an esoteric term used by neuroscientists to describe a chemical found in the brain, digestive tract and blood. But thanks to drugs like Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft, this chemical t…
Prednisone Side Effect Led to Hip Replacement
One of the great benefits of an interactive website such as this one is that people get to point out things we may have omitted. They often illustrate their points with their own experience. This read…
Are Your Drugs Secretly Causing Your Diabetes?
Q. My husband is really struggling with high blood sugar. I suspect some of his medications may be causing it to stay up. We are on a fixed income and his diabetes drugs are terribly expensive. We are…
Inhaled Steroid Can Cause Hoarseness
Inhaled corticosteroids are supposed to solve problems rather than cause them. But although they can certainly make breathing less laborious for people with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary dis…
Contrave Side Effects: Benefits and Complication…
Q. I am a 56-year-old female who had my thyroid removed in 2006. Fortunately, there were no signs of cancer. Of course, without a thyroid gland I have been on thyroid medication ever since. I am havin…
Gabapentin for Pain Drove Patient to Brink of Su…
How could a medicine that is supposed to relieve pain make someone suicidal? Turns out it happens far more often than most health professionals realize. If physicians and pharmacists do not warn patie…
Drug Companies Delay Reporting Drug Reactions Th…
When a drug company finds out that one of its medications caused a serious or unexpected reaction, it has 15 days to report the case to the Food and Drug Administration. How well do pharmaceutical fir…
The Dental Fillings Cover-Up and the FDA
Did you know that the FDA proposed restricting mercury amalgam dental fillings back in 2011? If that comes as a surprise, don't feel bad. We didn't know about it either, and we pay close attention to …
Tart Cherries Excel in Marathon Competition
Dedicated athletes of many stripes often rely on "vitamin I"-ibuprofen. (The other OTC nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, naproxen, may be nearly as popular but lacks a snappy moniker.) We have hear…
Devastating and Surprising Side Effects of Cipro…
Over 20 million people take a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones annually for everything from sinusitis and urinary tract infections to bronchitis and skin infections. Two of the most famous…
Patients Detect Drug Side Effects Before FDA Doe…
How do you know what side effects your drug can cause? If you ask doctors or pharmacists, they will often consult the official prescribing information sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration. T…
Some Drugs Should Not Be Given to an Elderly Per…
Sometimes it seems as if the very people who are most likely to be taking medications are those who are most vulnerable to side effects, not to mention interactions. Of course, accumulating birthdays…
New FDA Warning About NSAIDs and Heart Attacks I…
On July 9, 2015, the FDA issued another warning about non-aspirin NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). We have been warning about cardiovascular complications for years and now the FDA is st…
Natural Crystal Deodorant Caused Bad Body Aches
Q. For years I have used a crystal-type (stick or rock) deodorant. This last year I have noticed frequent all over body aches; playing golf, taking walks, just moving around. I quit the crystal deodor…
Common Medicines Throw a Monkey Wrench Into Ment…
Many people fear a diagnosis of Alzheimer's more than cancer or heart disease. That's because we have treatments for the two big killers, but virtually nothing to reverse the inevitable decline of dem…
ADHD Drug Daytrana Can Cause Permanent Disfiguri…
A "Drug Safety Communication" from the FDA (June 24, 2015) is alerting physicians, pharmacists and patients that the Daytrana skin patch containing the drug methylphenidate can cause permanent skin c…
Do Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Damage Memory?
Q. I read that a new study on statins and short-term memory was published in the June 8, 2015, JAMA Internal Medicine. Would you address this? It seems contrary to what I have read in your column. A. …
Hidden Hazards of MRIs
Have you ever had an MRI to diagnose osteoarthritis of the hip or check for cancer or an aneurysm? MRI or magnetic resonance imaging is considered much safer than CT scans that require ionizing radiat…
Sex Pill for Women Cracks Medical Taboo
The topic of women's sexuality has been taboo for centuries. Both men and women are often uncomfortable discussing female libido. Men's sexuality, on the other hand, has received a lot of attention. P…
Cataracts and Diabetes Could Be Complications of…
It can be extremely frustrating to discover that a medication you have been taking conscientiously to prevent illness has resulted in a new health problem. Unfortunately, this has been the experience …