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.
Diarrhea Drug Caused Brain Fog
Q. I appreciate your warning about brain fog due to anticholinergic drugs. I took Lomotil to control diarrhea from IBS only when I went out for an event. At first I thought my episodes of brain confus…
PPIs and Risk of Hip Fracture
Older people are often prescribed powerful acid suppressing drugs called proton pump inhibitors. These PPIs include over-the-counter drugs like Prilosec and Prevacid or prescription medications such a…
PPIs Linked to Low Magnesium
Acid suppressing drugs may have an unexpected complication. A series of case reports linking proton pump inhibitors to low magnesium levels is worrisome. PPIs may interfere with magnesium absorption f…
Medications Contribute to Constipation
Q. I am in my 70s and like many seniors must take several medications. Mine make me constipated. I am taking MiraLax but still have bleeding hemorrhoids occasionally. Will a sitz bath help? I would ap…
Medication Errors in Assisted Living Facilities
Q. I have been a critical care nurse for more than 30 years and recently started monitoring assisted living facilities for the state. Most medication errors are made by their medication technicians. T…
Will Your Painkiller Kill You?
When ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB) was initially introduced as an over-the-counter pain reliever in 1984, it was advertised as "advanced medicine for pain." The implication was that this drug, previous…
Allergy Drug Makes It Hard to Pee
Allergies mean misery, whether it is a seasonal reaction to pollen or a year-round problem with dust mites or cat dander. Itchy eyes, a runny nose and congested nasal passages are no fun. Treating th…
Protecting Bones without Heartburn
Q. I have osteoporosis and my doctor prescribed Fosamax. I took it for years, but it caused severe heartburn that I could not handle. When I complained to the doctor, he offered Boniva. Reading the la…
Drugs That Trigger Violent Behavior
Americans revere personal responsibility. It resonates with our respect for accountability and frontier justice. That may explain why we have a hard time believing that medications could alter peoples…
Pain Relievers Boost Heart Risks
Common pain relievers may increase the risk of heart attacks, especially for people with high blood pressure and heart disease. More than 22,000 volunteers from 14 different countries participated in …
Heartburn Medicines May Thin Bones
Q. I have been on omeprazole for years. It relieved my severe reflux, but unfortunately, it caused my bones to thin. My hip socket cracked and I needed hip replacement surgery. I am worried about anot…
Do Statins Cause or Aggravate Type 2 Diabetes?
Over 10 years ago we began hearing from readers of our newspaper column that statin-type cholesterol-lowering medicine might be having an impact on blood sugar control. One of the first messages was f…
Questions about Generic Thyroid Medicine
Q. I have been on thyroid medication for the past year. Last fall I noticed my hypothyroid symptoms returning: fatigue, muscle cramps and stiffness after walking just a mile of my usual three-mile wal…
High-Dose Statins May Raise Blood Sugar
Diabetes may be an unexpected side effect of cholesterol-lowering medicine. Statin-type drugs such as Crestor, Lipitor, and Zocor (also known as simvastatin) are frequently prescribed to people at ris…
Preparation H Raises Blood Pressure
Q. After using Preparation H for several days, my blood pressure went to 206 over 98 and I ended up in the emergency department for hours. Later that week I read in your column that someone else had e…
Who’s Afraid of Drug Side Effects?
There was a time when drug companies did not advertise prescription medicines directly to consumers. After all, doctors, not patients, make the decisions about which medication a patient should take. …
FDA Warns about Simvastatin Side Effects
Q. I've been on simvastatin (80 mg) for several years. I've had serious problems with leg cramps and now my tendons are affected from my toes to my knees. Could the medication be responsible? A. The F…
Pain Relievers Pose Predicament
There is bad news for people in pain. Those who have had a heart attack raise their risk of another if they take popular pain relievers such as celecoxib (Celebrex), diclofenac (Cataflam, Voltaren), i…
Lung Treatment Linked to Urinary Retention
A new study suggests a connection between the use of certain inhaled drugs for breathing difficulties and emergency treatment for urinary retention. The authors reviewed the records of approximately 1…
Broken Thigh on Osteoporosis Treatment
Q. My sister has been on the osteoporosis drugs Fosamax, Forteo and Reclast during the last ten years. The first of March her leg just gave way and she had a broken femur. She has also had jaw and tee…
Zolpidem Linked to Digestive Distress
Q. I took Ambien CR for insomnia for years with no problems. My insurance company required a switch to generic zolpidem. Within hours of taking it, I developed terrible heartburn and stomach cramping.…
Can Medicine Trigger Hot Flashes?
Q. I read that women who have bad hot flashes may be less likely to get breast cancer. That's ridiculous. I cannot imagine how hot flashes could be good for you. I experienced such debilitating hot fl…
Concerns About Osteoporosis Drugs
Another controversy involves the use of bisphosphonate drugs to treat osteoporosis. Medications such as Actonel, Boniva, Fosamax and Reclast are supposed to reduce the risk of broken bones. A new stud…
Newer Birth Control Pills Pose Risks
Oral contraceptives are known to increase a woman's risk of blood clots. Recent research shows, however, that the newer types of birth control pills containing the progestin drospirenone raise the ris…
Remedy Needed for Flatulence
Q. I am having a problem with gas and am at my wits' end. I am really desperate for something that will work. I am taking sertraline for depression and wonder if that could be a factor. I am not a ple…
Thinning Hair Linked to Blood Pressure Pill
Q. I have had thinning hair since I started on blood pressure meds. I had to switch to a short haircut. Since then I have been put on atenolol, Norvasc, Diovan and enalapril. I suspect the beta-blocke…
Antidepressants and Atherosclerosis
The Vietnam Era Twin Registry is a research project involving roughly 7,000 middle-aged male twin pairs. It includes men who served in the military during the Vietnam War. These twins have been tracke…
Lipitor Raises Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Statin-type cholesterol-lowering drugs like Crestor and Lipitor are very popular for reducing the levels of dangerous blood fats like LDL cholesterol. This seems to reduce the probability of having a …
Side Effect Reports Soar
Reports of adverse drug reactions have been increasing at a dramatic rate over the last decade. That's according to a new analysis of the FDA database called AERS or Adverse Event Reporting System. Th…
Pain Relievers Linked to Erectile Dysfunction
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs for short, have been linked with an increased risk of erectile dysfunction. This finding was NOT what the investigators expected. In 2002 researchers as…
Weighing Drug Benefits Against Harms
Why do we take medicine? The most obvious answer is to feel better. If you have a headache, aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil) can often make it go away. Heartburn can be relieved w…
Generic Prozac Was A Downer
Q. My husband has been taking Prozac successfully for years. He was recently switched to generic fluoxetine. In the last several months he has become much the same person he was before Prozac--angry, …
Heartburn Drug Leads to Deficiencies
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are enormously popular drugs to treat acid reflux or heartburn. While they can be very helpful for symptom control in the short term, they may lead to important deficienc…
Can You Trust the Drug Label?
The bible of drug information is the Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR). It contains the prescribing guidelines for medications provided by drug companies and approved by the Food and Drug Administratio…
Is Your Medicine Causing Bad Dreams?
Drug-Induced Nightmares Have you ever awakened in the middle of a nightmare? On the one hand it can be an enormous relief to realize that you are dreaming rather than actually be attacked by monsters …
Osteoporosis Drug Zapped Sense of Smell
Q. I took Miacalcin a few years ago, and ever since then my sense of smell has disappeared. That's dangerous, since I can't smell smoke or natural gas. It is also sad that I can't smell bread baking o…
Heartburn Drugs Have Unexpected Hazard
Acid Suppressing Drugs Lead to Low Magnesium Levels Magnesium is essential for good health, but this mineral doesn't get nearly the respect that it deserves. Every cell in the body requires magnesium …
Keeping Bones Strong
Q. I was diagnosed with osteoporosis around menopause and was prescribed Fosamax. It gave me flu-like symptoms every time I took it. Actonel gave me an ulcer. My doctor discovered I have celiac diseas…
Osteoporosis Drugs Raise Risk of Broken Thighs
Some osteoporosis drugs may actually cause fractures rather than preventing them. Bisphosphonates like Actonel, Boniva and Fosamax have become very popular. Commercials on television urge older women …
Diabetes Medicines and Risk of Pneumonia
The diabetes drug Avandia has been controversial for years because of concerns that it might increase the risk of heart attacks. The drug was banned in Europe and the U.S. FDA severely restricted its …