Worst Pills, Best Pills

An expert, independent second opinion on more than 1,800 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, and supplements

tamoxifen (SOLTAMOX)


DISEASE AND DRUG FAMILY INFORMATION

Search results below include Disease and Drug Family Information where your selected drug is a primary subject of discussion.

Hormone Replacement Therapy
In 1991, the Health Research Group published the Women’s Health Alert. The largest chapter in the book was on hormone replacement therapy (HRT). By then, the evidence was clear that these drugs caused breast cancer, and very serious doubts had been raised about their ability to protect against heart disease. The first sentence in this chapter began: Female replacement hormones may someday be remembered as the most recklessly prescribed and dangerous drugs of this century.

DRUG AND DIETARY SUPPLEMENT PROFILES

A comprehensive review of the safety and effectiveness of this drug. If the drug is not a Do Not Use product, information on adverse effects, drug interactions and how to use the medication are included.
Search results below include Drug and Dietary Supplement Profiles where your selected drug is a primary subject of discussion.


WORST PILLS, BEST PILLS NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

Search results below include Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles where your selected drug is a primary subject of discussion.

Important Drug Interactions for the Anticoagulant Warfarin
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.
Drug-Induced Liver Injury
May 2020
There are more than 1,000 prescription and over-the-counter medications, as well as certain herbal and dietary supplements, that are implicated in liver injury, and the list continues to grow.
Commonly Used Oral Drugs That Can Cause Eye Problems; Second of a Two-Part Series
February 2020
In this second of a two-part series, we review some of the many commonly prescribed medications that can damage your eyes and the steps that you can take to protect yourself from these adverse effects. The first part in this series appeared in our December 2019 issue.
Important Drug Interactions for Immune-Suppressing and Cancer Drug Methotrexate
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.
An Update on Drug-Induced Parkinsonism
October 2019
Next to Parkinson’s disease, drug-induced parkinsonism is the second most common cause of parkinsonism, accounting for about 8-12% of all parkinsonism cases. Find out which commonly used drugs can cause this condition.
Corticosteroid Drug Interactions
November 2010
This article discusses 36 drugs that, when used by people also using a corticosteroid, can either cause toxic interactions with the steroid or decrease the steroid's effectiveness.
Drug-Induced Parkinsonism
October 2010
A study discovered that more than 1 out of every 10 people who went to a Parkinson’s disease center was found to have drug-induced Parkinsonism. These people were misdiagnosed as having the more common illness, Parkinson’s disease, which is irreversible and has unknown causes.
The Dangers of Combining Sleeping Pills With Other Medication
September 2010
The article list 34 other medications that can harmfully interact with sleeping pills, increasing their sedative properties and causing excessive sedation. Excessive sedation at night could increase the risk of falls, should the person get up in the night for some reason. Moreover, excessive sedation causing respiratory depression could be dangerous for people with certain disorders, such as lung disease.
Interactions With Cancer Drug Vincristine (ONCOVIN)
August 2010
The article lists 34 prescription drugs that can have harmful interactions with vincristine. Recognizing signs of toxicity from vincristine early, as described in the article, is urgent because most of the side effects are reversible when the interacting drug is stopped and the patient receives corrective treatment.
Oral Drugs for Diabetes: Avoiding Hypoglycemia
May 2010
After explaining the symptoms of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) the article lists 42 prescription drugs that can interact with one or more diabetes drugs to increase the chance of hypoglycemia.
Aripiprazole (ABILIFY) Drug Interactions
April 2010
The article lists 53 drugs that can interact with the psychiatric drug ABILIFY to either increase the amount in the body, which can lead to toxicity, or decrease the amount rendering the drug less effective.
Digoxin Drug Interactions
March 2010
The article lists 35 different interacting drugs that can either increase blood levels of digoxin, leading to the serious problem of digitalis toxicity or decrease blood levels, causing the drug to be less effective.
Quetiapine (SEROQUEL) Interactions With Other Drugs
February 2010
Quetiapine (SEROQUEL) can interact with 26 different drugs, increasing its blood levels and causing dangerous side effects such as slowed breathing, dizziness and fainting. The article also lists 10 other interacting drugs that can result in lower blood levels, rendering the drug less effective.
Oxycodone: Be Careful What You Take With It
September 2009
The article lists 24 drugs that can increase the toxicity of oxycodone if taken together with the drug and 11 other drugs that can weaken its effectiveness as a painkiller if they are simutaneously used.
Muscle Damage from Interactions Between Statins and Other Commonly Prescribed Drugs
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. .
Alpha-Blockers for Prostate Enlargement: Some Important Drug Interactions
June 2009
Taking alpha-blockers in combination with drugs for erectile dysfunction and with other drugs can cause dizziness and fainting. In this article we will discuss alfuzosin (UROXATRAL), doxazosin (CARDURA), tamsulosin (FLOMAX) and terazosin (HYTRIN) and drugs with which they can have harmful interactions.
Watch Out for Interactions with Tamoxifen (NOLVADEX)
March 2009
Tamoxifen (NOLVADEX) is still widely and successfully used for treatment of breast cancer. However, when used along with certain other drugs, its effectiveness can be significantly reduced. The article explains how this can happen and lists 19 different drugs that can cause this serious problem if used with tamoxifen.
Colchicine Interactions with Other Drugs Can Be Life-Threatening
December 2008
This article lists 27 drugs that can have life-threatening interactions with the widely-used gout drug, colchicine, resulting in dangerously elevated levels of colchicine. Too much colchicine in the body leads to toxicity such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and muscle pains. Even worse, it can impair the bone marrow’s ability to make red and white blood cells, causing severe anemia and dangerously low numbers of white blood cells. When the number of white blood cells is reduced, your body may have difficulty fighting infections. Most people who have died from colchicine toxicity have had bone marrow toxicity or had preexisting kidney problems. Every patient on colchicine — whether on other drugs or not — should be alert for evidence of colchicine toxicity as described above.
Drug-Induced Eye Toxicity: 62 Drugs That Can Cause Eye Disease
April 2008
This article, based on a recent review in Drug Safety, lists 62 prescription drugs that can cause eye disease. The range of drug-induced eye diseases includes diseases of the eyelids, glaucoma, cataracts, retinal damage and optic nerve damage. As is true for drug-induced diseases in other parts of the body, you should consider newly developed eye symptoms beginning shortly after starting a new medication to be possibly drug-induced and consult a physician.
Women Should Wait to Use Osteoporosis Drug Raloxifene (EVISTA) to Prevent Breast Cancer
July 2006
You should wait to use raloxifene for reducing the risk of breast cancer until the drug is FDA approved for this use.
Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) for Breast Cancer Prevention?
February 2003
In order that they suffer the least harm, women need to be fully informed about the results coming from these tamoxifen “prevention” trials. They need to realize that the current poor risk assessment tool coupled with the increase in possible serious illnesses or death is a poor foundation on which to base their hopes by taking tamoxifen for many years.
Black Box Warning Added to the Cancer Drug Tamoxifen (NOLVADEX)
August 2002
The strongest cautionary language that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can require, a so-called “black box warning,” was added to the professional product labeling, or “package insert,” for the cancer drug tamoxifen (NOLVADEX) in June 2002. The warning concerns increased risk of sometimes fatal uterine cancers, stroke and blood clots in the lungs (pulmonary embolism) in women at high risk of breast cancer who use the drug to reduce the incidence of breast cancer and in women with a form of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM PUBLIC CITIZEN

Search results below include Additional Information from Public Citizen where your selected drug is a primary subject of discussion.

Citizen's petition with the National Women's Health Network to the Food and Drug Administration to change the labeling on tamoxifen (Nolvadex). (HRG Publication #1479)
When tamoxifen, a known human carcinogen, is prescribed to healthy women, there must be compelling evidence of great benefit. Although we are not convinced that the benefits of tamoxifen outweigh its risks in this population, tamoxifen has been approved and is now being prescribed for the reduction in incidence of breast cancer.
Press Release Concerning FDA'S Approval of Tamoxifen to Reduce Incidence of Breast Cancer in Healthy Women Puts Women at Risk (HRG Publication #1464)
Public Citizen's Health Research Group finds it incredible that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved tamoxifen, a drug that is a known human carcinogen, to reduce the risk of breast cancer in women who are at a so-called high risk of the disease. Tamoxifen can induce tumors by altering a woman's DNA and may cause other types of cancers years later.