Search results below include Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles where your
selected drug is a primary subject of discussion.
June 2023
Some drugs, including commonly used prescription and over-the counter medications, can cause photosensitivity, increasing the skin’s vulnerability to sunlight. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics are the drug classes with the strongest evidence for photosensitivity.
September 2022
Patients taking the cholesterol-lowering drug pravastatin should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with many other prescription medications.
August 2019
Most U.S. adults drink alcohol at least occasionally. Many also take prescription or over-the-counter drugs that have the potential to inter¬act adversely with alcohol. Avoid serious harm by knowing which drugs should not be taken in combination with alcohol.
May 2019
Read about the many prescription medications that can interact in dangerous ways with colchicine, a commonly used drug for treatment of acute gout attacks.
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
In this article, we review new research showing that statins are associated with a potentially disabling autoimmune muscle disorder known as idiopathic inflammatory myositis, a rare disorder that is distinct from the much more common type of muscle injury seen with statins.
July 2016
Summer is a terrific time for healthy outdoor activities, such as walking, hiking, biking and swim¬ming. But for an unlucky few, certain medications can lead to adverse skin reactions following exposure to the sun. Find out whether you are at risk and how to protect yourself.
March 2015
The most recently issued prescribing guidelines for cholesterol-lowering statin drugs were partly based on a new patient risk calculator that significantly overestimates patients’ risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Learn how this overestimation will lead to overprescribing of statin drugs to patients who will not benefit from using them.
November 2014
One year ago, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association released controversial new guidelines on treating high cholesterol. Get Public Citizen’s Health Research Group’s independent take on these new guidelines.
June 2013
For people who have had heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases, statins can prevent further damage. But for primary prevention — in people without such disease — a number of articles raise serious questions about whether the risks of statins outweigh the benefits.
June 2013
These updates provide new information that has become available since we published our last articles regarding these three categories of drugs.
November 2012
Find out about the latest evidence that statins such as LIPITOR, LESCOL, ALTOPREV, MEVACOR, LIVALO, PRAVACHOL, CRESTOR and ZOCOR can cause fatigue and reduced energy levels, especially in women. The authors concluded that "These effects, germane to quality of life, merit consideration when prescribing or contemplating use of statins, particularly in groups without expected net morbidity/mortality benefit."
October 2012
A recent study challenges the assumption that men and women with pre-existing cardiovascular disease benefit equally from the use of statins to prevent subsequent death or strokes.
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.
February 2012
Over 15.2 million prescriptions were filled in 2010 for the brand-name or generic versions of two essentially identical drugs (fenofibrate [TRICOR] and fenofibric acid [TRILIPIX]) that clearly do not add any benefits to taking statin drugs alone but add to the risks.
December 2010
Find out how simvastatin (ZOCOR) can interact with another widely used drug to greatly increase the chance of life-threatening muscle damage that can lead to kidney damage.
December 2010
Find out why you should not use the newest entry into the crowded statin market.
July 2009
The article lists 38 prescription drugs that can harmfully interact with statin drugs. The article also advises that No matter what statin you are taking and regardless of any interacting drugs, you should notify your prescriber immediately if you develop muscle pain, weakness or a darkening of your urine.
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February 2008
We review a recent study suggesting that very low cholesterol levels may be linked to an increased risk of cancer. The related issue discussed in the article is whether the current U.S. thinking that "lower is better," especially for those who have not yet had a heart attack or stroke or angina, is correct. There is also a discussion about the difference between primary and secondary prevention.
November 2007
The authors of a recent British Medical Journal article plead for physicians to take a more global look at their patients, not to focus on individual diseases, and especially not to turn healthy patients into “sick” ones by the inappropriate use of certain prescription drugs. Rather than putting people on drugs for prevention of a disease they might never have, they recommend using the available money to improve the quality of life of their patients (e.g., provide cataract operations, joint replacement surgery, and personal care of those with dementia). Physicians should not turn the elderly population into patients worried about disease. Instead, they should provide them with the care needed to increase their enjoyment of day-to-day life.
December 2005
In the October 2005 issue of the Canadian Adverse Reaction Newsletter, 19 case reports of memory loss or impairment associated with the use of a cholesterol-lowering statin drug were analyzed. If you are taking a statin drug and you notice memory problems, talk to your doctor about stopping the drug or reducing the dose.
June 2005
You should not use coenzyme Q10 in an attempt to prevent or treat the adverse reactions associated with the use of the cholesterol lowering statin drugs.
March 2005
If you must use a statin drug to control your cholesterol, you should use one that has an FDA health benefit claim in its professional product labeling.
(chart with these statins listed in the article)
April 2004
There has been an extraordinary amount of news attention focused on recent studies concerning statins and heart disease, presented at the American College of Cardiology meetings in March and, in one case, published in the April 8, 2004 New England Journal of Medicine.This article discusses several specific ways in which industry-spun news coverage has misrepresented the facts about this issue.
October 2002
This is the first of a two part series on drug induced psychiatric symptoms that is based on the July 8, 2002 issue of The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics. Regular readers of Worst Pills, Best Pills News will recognize The Medical Letter as a reference source written for physicians and pharmacists that we often use because of its reputation as an objective and independent source of drug information. The article lists the drugs and their psychiatric adverse effects.
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.
January 2001
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Postmarketing Drug Risk Assessment (OPDRA) recommended in a memorandum dated May 1, 2000, that liver failure be included as an adverse reaction in the professional product labeling, or “package insert” for the family of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as “statins.” The statins now being marketed in the U.S. are .....
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