Search results below include Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles where your
selected drug is a primary subject of discussion.
February 2024
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) reduce the amount of stomach acid. They are available by prescription and over the counter, and their use has increased in recent years. Although PPIs are generally safe for short-term use, they have serious long-term risks.
January 2024
Osteoporosis occurs when there is a decrease in bone mineral density and bone quality that can weaken bones, making them susceptible to fracture easily. Learn about drugs that are associated with osteoporosis and related fractures.
March 2023
Patients taking the widely prescribed hypothyroidism drug levothyroxine should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with many other prescription and over-the-counter medications, dietary supplements and even certain foods.
March 2022
More than 700 medications have been implicated in inducing diarrhea, accounting for nearly 7% of all adverse drug events. Knowing which medications prescribed or recommended by your doctor cause diarrhea will allow you to take steps to prevent or minimize this common adverse drug effect.
June 2021
Results of recently published studies suggest that use of the potent stomach-acid–suppressing proton inhibitor medications in children may lead to small increases in the risks of fractures and asthma.
February 2021
Magnesium deficiency, due to either inadequate dietary intake, impaired intestinal absorption or excessive urinary loss of the mineral, results in low blood magnesium levels — a condition known as hypomagnesemia — and a wide range of adverse health effects. Importantly, many commonly used drugs also can cause magnesium depletion.
October 2020
Patients taking the commonly used stomach-acid–suppressing drug omeprazole should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with many other prescription medications.
August 2020
Patients taking the commonly used blood thinner warfarin (COUMADIN, JANTOVEN) should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with numerous other prescription and over-the-counter medications, as well as some dietary supplements.
January 2020
Patients taking the commonly prescribed drug methotrexate, which is used to treat certain autoimmune diseases and several types of cancer, should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with many other prescription and over-the-counter medications.
December 2019
Read our response to a reader who asked whether the drug pantoprazole (PROTONIX), which suppresses stomach acid, could have caused a false-positive urine screening test result for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects.
September 2019
Patients taking the commonly prescribed epilepsy drug phenytoin (DILANTIN, PHENYTEK), one of the oldest epilepsy drugs, should be aware that it has clinically impor¬tant interactions with many other prescription and over-the-counter medications. Some of these interactions can lead to phenytoin toxicity, and others can lead to ineffective seizure control.
July 2019
Learn why the widely used proton pump inhibitors should be reserved for certain patients with stomach-acid disorders and only taken at the lowest possible dose for the shortest possible duration needed.
June 2019
Patients who have difficulty swallowing pills will sometimes crush tablets or open capsules and sprinkle the resulting powder, fragments or granules into food or liquids. Other patients will resort to chewing their pills before swallowing. Find out the dangers posed by taking such measures.
May 2019
For men, abnormally large breasts can be distressing and embarrassing. Find out about the numerous drugs that can cause breast enlargement in men.
April 2019
Drugs are the most frequent cause of taste disturbances. In this article, we identify more than 60 commonly used prescription medications that have been linked to problems with taste.
January 2019
Read about the many prescription and over-the-counter medications that can interact in dangerous ways with clopidogrel, a widely used anti-platelet drug.
November 2018
Read about the numerous medications that can interact with digoxin, a drug commonly prescribed for heart failure and atrial fibrillation. These interactions can result in either digoxin toxicity or decreased digoxin effectiveness depending on the other drug being used concomitantly.
October 2018
In this article, we summarize the results of a recent research study showing that use of medications that have depression as a potential adverse effect is very common. We also identify some of the many prescription medications that can cause depression symptoms, including suicidal thoughts or behavior.
August 2016
In this article, we review new research linking use of the heartburn and ulcer medications known as proton pump inhibitors to an increased risk of dementia.
July 2016
Public Citizen's Health Research Group has long warned about the serious risks of the commonly used group of heartburn drugs known as proton pump inhibitors. In this article, we discuss new research suggesting that chronic kidney disease is another potential side effect of these drugs.
August 2015
Proton pump inhibitors, a widely used class of heartburn drugs, and essentially all antibiotics increase your risk of C. difficile infections, which can cause severe, even life-threatening diarrhea illness. Read this article to find out how to protect yourself from this dangerous infection.
February 2015
After a more than three-year delay and a Public Citizen lawsuit filed against the FDA, the agency finally responded to our petition for stronger label warnings on a class of medications, known as proton pump inhibitors, commonly used to treat heartburn. This article discusses the new warnings that the FDA has required in response to our petition.
February 2015
Patients who have difficulty swallowing pills will sometimes crush tablets or open capsules and sprinkle the resulting powder, fragments or granules into food or liquids. Other patients will resort to chewing their pills before swallowing. Find out the dangers posed by taking such measures.
July 2012
This article updates and expands our earlier list of drugs that can have harmful interactions with grapefruit juice. The list now includes 82 different drugs.
November 2011
PPIs are now one of the most widely used classes of prescription drugs, with an estimated one out of every 20 people in the developed world currently taking one of these medications. However, given that recent research shows PPIs may be habit-forming, that the majority of PPI use is probably inappropriate, with minimal or no benefit to the patient, and that new, life-threatening risks with long-term therapy are continually emerging, it is time for the medical community to re-evaluate the role of PPIs in everyday practice.
September 2011
PPIs are now one of the most widely used classes of prescription drugs, with an estimated one out of every 20 people in the developed world currently taking one of these medications. However, given that recent research shows PPIs may be habit-forming, that the majority of PPI use is probably inappropriate, with minimal or no benefit to the patient, and that new, life-threatening risks with long-term therapy are continually emerging, it is time for the medical community to re-evaluate the role of PPIs in everyday practice.
January 2011
This article discusses the dangerous interactions that can occur when using methotrexate (TREXALL) with certain other drugs. See our list of 27 drugs you should never take with methotrexate.
August 2010
The article reviews evidence that patients 50 years old or older who take proton pump inhibitors (PPIs -- a list of the six approved ones is in the article) or use them for a year or more may be at increased risk of fractures of the hip, wrist and spine. Since much of the use of these drugs is inappropriate and unnecessarily dangerous, the article discusses pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic alternatives to PPIs.
July 2010
This sixth drug for treating "heartburn" has no advantage for patients over older drugs such as PREVACID, generic name lansoprazole. Any advantage is for the industry because the manufacturer of DEXILANT charges three times more for this drug than the cost of generic lansoprazole, sold by another company and just as effective for patients.
May 2010
The article reviews 12 prescription drugs, many of which are top-sellers, all of which are greatly overpriced in comparison to older "versions" of the same drugs. The patents on the old drugs expired so the "innovative" companies patented these new products, gaining a patent on them, and, for all practical purposes, using them as a license to print money. There is no evidence that any of the new ones are better than the now less-expensive, old versions.
October 2009
Antacids can interact with a number of medications, either increasing or decreasing drug effect.
March 2008
This article reviews evidence for the international epidemic of overuse of proton pump inhibitors (PPI),
drugs used to treat ulcers and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). There were 70 million prescriptions filled in U.S. pharmacies in 2006 for the four leading PPI drugs: esomeprazole (NEXIUM), lansoprazole (PREVACID), pantoprazole (PROTONIX) and rabeprazole (ACIPHIX). Find out about several serious side effects of these drugs such as increased community-acquired pneumonia, increased hip fractures and acute kidney inflammation. Learn about alternatives to using PPIs.
October 2003
You should try the non-pharmacologic interventions listed in the box below before trying antacids, histamine-2 blockers, or, as a last resort, proton pump inhibitors.
If you classify yourself as a person with frequent heartburn, that is heartburn more than two days per week, and the interventions recommended above have failed, you should be under the care of a physician
March 2003
You should avoid these "new" single mirror images of old drugs, not out of concern about their safety or effectiveness, but because they are the same as the old drugs. In the long run, they cause economic harm both to individuals and to the health care system because they have come on the market with extended monopoly protection. Article lists some examples.
June 2002
Grapefruit juice can interact with a number of therapeutically important drugs that could lead to the possibility of toxicity. These drugs are listed in the article.
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