Search results below include Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles where your
selected drug is a primary subject of discussion.
August 2023
Patients taking the stomach-acid–suppressing drug cimetidine, which is available over the counter as a generic, should be aware of its clinically important interactions with many other prescription medications.
December 2021
Learn why we have designated St. John’s wort, an herbal dietary supplement that is commonly available in capsules, tablets or teas, as Do Not Use.
March 2021
Patients taking the commonly prescribed epilepsy drug carbamazepine (CARBATROL, EPITOL, EQUETRO, TEGRETOL, TERIL) should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with numerous other prescription and over-the-counter medications.
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.
March 2020
Patients taking the widely prescribed calcium channel blocker verapamil — which is used to treat high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and certain abnormal heart rhythms — should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with many other prescription medications.
December 2019
Patients taking the commonly prescribed antifungal drug fluconazole (DIFLUCAN) should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with many other prescription medications. Some of these interactions can lead to an increased risk of fatal heart rhythm abnormalities.
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 2018
Tremor is the single most common movement disorder, affecting millions of people in the U.S. If you have tremors, could one of your drugs be the cause? Read this article to learn the answer.
November 2015
In this article, we provide a detailed update of the various drugs available for the long-term management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Learn which drugs are safest for treating COPD and which ones we have designated as Do Not Use.
August 2015
Asthma is a common disease afflicting more than 16 million American adults and 6 million children. Find out the safest and most effective options for managing this chronic lung disease.
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.
July 2010
Experts in sleep and aging have stated, “It’s extraordinarily rare to find an old person who actually requires sleeping pills." This article lists many over-the-counter and prescription drugs that can actually cause difficulty with sleeping and also discusses a variety of non-pharmacologic alternatives to sleeping pills. Sleep experts have also said that “Nonpharmacological treatments not only cause fewer side effects, but they can sustain long-term improvements more successfully than pharmacological treatments.”
November 2009
Because exenatide (BYETTA) is a new drug with increasing reports of severe, hospitalization-requiring pancreatitis and offers no significant breakthrough compared to other diabetes drugs, we urge readers not to use it until 2012--seven years after its approval, by which time much more will be known about its dangers.
November 2007
Something never mentioned on cigarette warning labels is that smoking can affect the way a number of medications work, in some cases resulting in significant, dangerous adverse outcomes. Smokers should be aware that a number of medications may not work as well because of smoking cigarettes. The article lists 16 drugs whose levels in the blood become lower, making the drugs less effective, if the patient is also smoking.
February 2004
The January 5th issue of the Medical Letter, a widely respected source of independent information about pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements, has a review of the increasingly researched problem of the interaction between grapefruit juice and many prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Like most interactions between chemicals in the body, this one involves the impairment, by grapefruit juice, of the body’s ability to metabolize many drugs, leading to higher than expected — and sometimes dangerous — levels of these drugs.This article lists the drugs.
November 2002
This is the second of a two-part series on drug-induced psychiatric symptoms that began in last month’s Worst Pills, Best Pills News. The information is based on the July 8, 2002 issue of The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics. Article lists drugs and adverse effects.
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