Medicine

Prescription Drug Use and Abuse : Complexities of Addiction
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
NIDA, along with several health organizations, has launched a national initiative to educate the public about the dangers of the non-medical use of prescription drugs, and the potential for abuse and addiction.

Birth Control Pill Safety Concerns
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
When the birth control pill was first introduced in 1960, the response of many Americans was like love at first sight. But soon, safety concerns took the blush off the romance, leading to reformulation and the safer lower doses now available.

Over the Counter Drugs: Pain, Pain Go Away
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Consumers may welcome the growing array of pain relievers available without prescription, but this profusion can cause confusion. Knowing the differences - and similarities - among these products is crucial to making wise choices.

Beta Blocker Drugs
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
All beta blockers are used to treat high blood pressure. Many are also used to prevent the heart-related chest pain or pressure associated with angina pectoris (a condition often occurring during exertion where too little blood reaches the heart).

Reading Prescriptions
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
What looks like gobbledygook to most laypersons and has been Latin shorthand to many medical professionals is now being replaced by clearer ways to write prescriptions to avoid medication errors.

Estrogens Side Effects and Risks
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Estrogens cause the uterine lining, or endometrium, to thicken in preparation for possible pregnancy. In the absence of a fertilized egg, female hormones called progestins cause the lining to shed, as menstruation.

Penicillins : Side Effects and Risks
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Although most penicillins are safe for the majority of people, some people may experience side effects. The most serious of these is anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction that can cause skin rash, hives, itching, difficulty breathing, shock

Types of Drug Interactions
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Drugs with other drugs: This includes both prescription and over-the-counter medicines. Tricyclic antidepressants such as Elavil (amitriptyline) and Pamelor (nortriptyline) can interfere with blood pressure-lowering Catapres (clonidine).

Penicillins : How to Take Your Medicine
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Penicillin, the world's first antibiotic, was discovered by British scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928. But it was not used until World War II, when the need for a treatment for injuries and infectious disease became desperate and penicillin was speeded

Taking Aspirin To Avoid Heart Attack And Stroke
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
In recent years, you may have seen television ads promoting aspirin's ability to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in certain groups of people. You should know that deciding to take an aspirin a day is not as simple as it may seem.

Prescription Drug Use and Abuse
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Most people take medicines responsibly, but about 9 million Americans misuse prescription drugs to get high, calm down, or for other non-medical purposes. Physician supervision and appropriate use is critical for all prescription drugs.

Use Prescription Drugs Safely, Controlled Substances
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
The FDA has worked with Purdue to make specific changes to the OxyContin labeling. The new labeling is intended to change prescription practices, as well as increase the physicians' focus on the potential for abuse and misuse.

Children and Antidepressants
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Experts give advice on the safe use of antidepressants in children. Concerns about a possible risk of suicidality in children taking antidepressants emerged from an FDA analysis of a May 2003 report on pediatric studies of the antidepressant drug Paxil

Aphrodisiacs Facts
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
People looking for magical love potions are likely to be disappointed and defrauded. But real help for impotence does exist in several forms, including a recently approved prescription drug.

The Evolution of Modern Medicine
by William Osler
This work, composed originally for a lay audience and for popular consumption, will be to the aspiring medical student and the hardworking practitioner a lift into the blue, an inspiring vista or 'Pisgah-sight' of the evolution of medicine

Fight Against Heroin Addiction
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
FDA and other government agencies are working with pharmaceutical companies in a new approach to finding anti-addiction medication. One result is the approval of Orlaam, an alternative to methadone, only 18 days after FDA received the application.

Disease and its Causes
by William Thomas Councilman, M.D.
Certain conditions have arisen in the past fifty years which have profoundly affected the thoughts, the beliefs and the activities of man. Within this period what is generally known as Darwinism, including under this evolution, has developed.

Warfarin Interactions with Drugs, Herbs and Food
by Health Canada
Many people take the prescription drug warfarin as a blood thinner. If you take warfarin, you should be aware that certain drugs, natural health products and foods can alter the levels of warfarin in your system, and this may cause serious health effects.

Evening Round-Up
by William Crosbie Hunter
The doctors are giving less medicine and doing more in the way of suggesting diet, and exercise rules, sanitation and preventive practices. Medicine is mostly poison and its effect is to shock the organs or glands to bring about reaction.

Pregnancy and Drug
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Experts say that while they have certainly learned some useful information for successful drug treatment in pregnancy, their knowledge is limited for the most part. Unless research focuses on a pregnancy-related condition such as labor induction, drugs