Search results below include Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles where your
selected drug is a primary subject of discussion.
September 2023
Patients taking the oral antidepressant drug desipramine (Norpramin) should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with many other prescription medications. Public Citizen’s Health Research Group has designated desipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant, as a Limited Use drug; antidepressants in other drug classes are safer and better tolerated.
May 2023
Patients taking the antifungal drug voriconazole (VFEND), which is marketed in both oral and injectable forms, should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with many other prescription medications.
March 2023
Learn about the numerous prescription and over-the-counter medications that can cause or exacerbate insomnia.
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.
February 2023
Patients taking the frequently prescribed antidepressant nortriptyline (PAMELOR) should be aware that it has clinically important and potentially dangerous interactions with many other prescription and over-the-counter medications.
January 2023
Patients taking the drug sotalol (BETAPACE, BETAPACE AF, SORINE, SOTYLIZE) should be aware that it has clinically important and potentially dangerous interactions with many other prescription medications.
June 2022
Patients taking the drug quinidine should be aware that it has clinically important and potentially dangerous interactions with many other prescription medications.
January 2022
In this article, we discuss results of new research indicate that in men with acute UTIs and no fever, a 7-day course of oral antibiotics appears to be just as good for eradicating the infection as the commonly used 14-day course. Importantly, shorter courses of treatment can reduce the risk of adverse effects of antibiotic therapy.
July 2021
Patients taking the commonly prescribed abnormal heart rhythm drug amiodarone should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with many other prescription medications.
June 2021
Patients taking the commonly prescribed antibiotic erythromycin 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.
June 2020
Patients taking the commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drug simvastatin (FLOLIPID, VYTORIN, ZOCOR) should be aware that it has clinically important interactions with many other prescription medications.
July 2019
Read about the growing body of evidence showing that the commonly prescribed fluoroquinolone antibiotics increase the risk of potentially fatal ruptures or tears of the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body.
June 2019
Read about the many prescription drugs that can interact in dangerous ways with grapefruit or grapefruit products.
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.
September 2018
In this article, we discuss results of new research linking the widely overused fluoroquinolone antibiotics to an increased risk of life-threatening damage to the body’s largest blood vessel, the aorta.
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.
February 2018
Abnormal involuntary movements (movement disorders) occur as adverse events associated with many widely used medications and can cause substantial hardship for affected individuals. Find out which drugs are associated with these adverse effects.
February 2017
One of the biggest-selling but most overprescribed classes of antibiotics in the U.S. is the family called fluoroquinolones. Learn why the FDA required the addition of new black-box warnings to the labels of these antibiotics that describe risks of several disabling and potentially permanent side effects.
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.
May 2016
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are very common, accounting for more than 10 million visits to doctors’ offices and 2 million to 3 million emergency department visits in the U.S. in 2007. Hear our take on which antibiotics are safest for treating these infections.
April 2016
In this article, we discuss results of new research linking the widely overused fluoroquinolone antibiotics to an increased risk of life-threatening damage to the body’s largest blood vessel, the aorta.
October 2015
Fluoroquinolones are the biggest-selling and most overprescribed classes of antibiotics in the U.S. Learn why Public Citizen's Health Research Group designates two of the five available fluoroquinolones as Do Not Use and why the other three should be used only in limited circumstances.
April 2015
Patients should never take more than one of the following drugs used to treat high blood pressure at the same time: an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB), and aliskiren. Learn why doing so could have serious, even fatal consequences.
July 2012
Find out the most common symptoms of the vision-threatening condition retinal detachment and how, although rarely, it can be caused by commonly used antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin (CIPRO) and levofloxacin (LEVAQUIN). We also discuss evidence that these antibiotics are overused.
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.
October 2009
Antacids can interact with a number of medications, either increasing or decreasing drug effect.
April 2009
This second article about drug-induced dementia or delirium lists and discusses an additional 79 drugs that can cause these reversible kinds of mental deterioration. The two articles collectively review 136 drugs that can cause these serious side effects, especially in older people.
September 2008
Thyroid medications are among the most widely-prescribed drugs in the U.S. In this article, we review 29 different medications that can have harmful interactions with thyroid medicines such as levothyroxine (Synthroid). There are four major kinds of interaction problems that can occur:
• Certain medications can decrease the absorption of levothyroxine resulting in lower levels in the blood.
• Other medications can increase the rate at which the body gets rid of levothyroxine, also resulting in lower thyroid levels in the blood.
• Other medications can cause changes of levothyroxine binding in blood, decreasing the body's ability to use levothyroxine.
• Levothyroxine can affect the safety or effectiveness of other medications by raising or lowering the levels of these other drugs in the blood, causing them to be either infective (lower levels) or dangerous (higher levels).
August 2007
The muscle spasm drug tizanidine (ZANAFLEX) combined with certain other drugs could cause serious complications such as drowsiness and can dramatically lower blood pressure, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The article lists 20 drugs to avoid if you are using Zanaflex so that you avoid these potentially dangerous interactions.
November 2006
You should stop taking fluoroquinolones(listed in the article) and immediately contact your physician if you experience pain in any tendon while taking one of these antibiotics so you can be switched to another antibiotic.
February 2006
Antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) is quite common and its incidence varies from 5% to 20% of patients depending on which antibiotic they are taking. The article lists some of the drugs most associated with this potentially life-threatening adverse reaction.
December 2004
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now requires that the professional product labeling, or package inserts, for all fluroquinolone antibiotics must warn about the possibility of peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage).
A list of the fluroquinolone antibiotics currently available in the U.S. appears at the end of this article.
September 2004
You should consider that all fluoroquinolone antibiotics have the potential to interact with warfarin and your physician should be ordering blood tests to monitor the status of your blood clotting if one of these antibiotics is needed and you are using warfarin. This is the safest thing to do.
September 2003
DO NOT stop taking any of the drugs listed in the table without first consulting your physician.
You should report any alteration in your sense of taste to your physician if you are taking a drug.
July 2003
In this study, the researchers evaluated 100 consecutive patients who went to the emergency room and received a prescription for a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Of the 100 patients, 81 (81%) received a fluoroquinolone antibiotic for an inappropriate use. In 43 (53%) of these patients, a fluoroquinolone was found inappropriate because another antibiotic was considered first-line treatment, and in 27 (33%) patients there was no evidence of an infection and therefore no indication for the use of any antibiotic.
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.
November 2001
With each new day come new reports of exposures, possible exposures and what turn out to be fake exposures to anthrax. Originally coming from Florida, reports are now emanating from other states including New York, Nevada and the District of Columbia.
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