Search results below include Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles where your
selected drug is a secondary subject of discussion.
May 2017
Find out which commonly used prescription and over-the-counter diarrhea medications can cause dangerous abnormal heart rhythms and cardiac arrest if taken at higher-than-recommended doses.
January 2014
A dangerous and easily substituted antifungal drug presents yet another example of Europeans being more protected from dangerous medicines by their regulatory authorities than Americans.
January 2009
The article lists 56 drugs that can interact with the three drugs for erectile dysfunction (ED): sildenafil (VIAGRA), tadalafil (CIALIS) and vardenafil (LEVITRA). Eight of the drugs are either nitrates such as nitroglycerin or a certain group of high blood pressure drugs.In combination with ED drugs, these drugs can cause a dangerous fall in blood pressure that could lead to a heart attack or stroke. Thirty-two other drugs can inhibit the enzyme that helps the body to eliminate the ED drugs, resulting in abnormally high blood levels of the drugs and a potentially harmful "overdose" even though you are actually taking the recommended amount. The other 16 drugs speed up the metabolism of the ED drugs, thereby lowering the blood levels and reducing the effectiveness of the ED drugs.
May 2008
This article lists more than 60 prescription drugs that can interact with calcium channel blocking drugs such as amlodipine (NORVASC),diltiazem (CARDIZEM, DILACOR XR TIAZAC)or nifedipine (PROCARDIA)to either cause toxicity or to lessen the effectiveness of the calcium channel blocking drugs. Included in the lists are a number of drugs that we list in Worst Pills, Best Pills as DO NOT USE or LIMITED USE drugs. The article also explains the different kinds of toxicity that can ensue from these interactions.
January 2008
More than 70 million prescriptions a year are filled for these popular antidepressants, including Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox, Celexa and Lexapro. This article gives details about more than 60 other widely prescribed prescription drugs that can have harmful interactions if used with these antidepressants. The two different kinds of interactions are also discussed.
January 2007
Serious health complications involving toxicity to the bone marrow have been reported in association with the drug terbinafine (LAMISIL), according to the August 2006 edition of the Australian Adverse Drug Reactions Bulletin. This is in addition to the hundreds of cases of liver toxicity that were the cause of our listing this drug as Do Not Use.
October 2005
As the black box warning suggests, fentanyl skin patches should not be used in the following situations:in patients who have not previously been prescribed opioid painkillers, in the management of acute pain or in patients who require opioid pain killers only for a short period of time.
November 2004
You should not take erythromycin in combination with one of the interacting drugs listed in this article. If you are, you should contact your physician immediately. As mentioned above, erythromycin is an important antibiotic when used appropriately. Therefore, we do not recommend against its use when it is not used with one of these interacting drugs.
December 2003
This statement appears in the professional product labeling, or package insert, for eplerenone: “The principal risk of INSPRA is hyperkalemia. Hyperkalemia can cause serious, sometimes fatal, arrhythmias (heart rhythm disturbances).”
June 2002
A study published in the May 1, 2002 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has resulted in a major change in the Health Research Group's drug safety policy. The study, in association with physicians from the Harvard Medical School, examined the frequency and timing of the identification of new adverse drug reactions resulting in the addition of a black box warning in the drug's professional product labeling or its outright removal from the market.
Three of the authors have close identification with the Health Research Group: its director, Sidney M. Wolfe, and former HRG staffers Drs. Steffi Woolhandler and David Himmelstein. The other co-authors are affiliated with the Harvard Medical School.