The coast-to-coast opioid epidemic is swamping hospitals, with government data published Tuesday showing 1.27 million emergency room visits or inpatient stays for opioid-related issues in a single year.
The 2014 numbers, the latest available for every state and the District of Columbia, reflect a 64 percent increase for inpatient care and a 99 percent jump for emergency room treatment compared to figures from 2005. Their trajectory likely will keep climbing if the epidemic continues unabated. Continue reading
Last February, Dr. Bérard and her colleagues published an updated analysis of the Quebec Pregnancy Cohort data. Between 1998 and 2009, the rate of antidepressant use during pregnancy for the study population doubled, from 2.1% to 4.3%. During that same period, the rate of major congenital malformations increased by more than 50%, and the rate of maternal depression went up slightly as well.
Most Americans reach for drugs such as Advil or Motrin to alleviate the debilitating pain, regardless of whether it is a headache, joint pain, back pain, or pain of any other kind. Usually, we start with the recommended dose which is then gradually increased if the drug doesn’t seem to help. This has become such a common practice that the FDA has even issued a warning about the risk of these drugs and their role in causing strokes and heart attacks. 
“Life was amazing.” 
Since the beginning of the modern psychopharmaceutical era, the proportion of the population diagnosed with depression has skyrocketed. A condition that once affected fewer than one person out of a thousand now afflicts more than one out of twenty. Today major depression is the leading cause of disability for adults between the ages of 15 and 43.
The state of Ohio has sued five major drug manufacturers for their role in the opioid epidemic. In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, state Attorney General Mike DeWine alleges these five companies “helped unleash a health care crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences in the State of Ohio.”
The HPV vaccine controversy has got many people confused. Here’s what you need to know. The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common virus that is transmitted via sexual contact. Symptoms aren’t always apparent and someone can be a carrier without knowing it. The virus, like influenza, will usually go away on its own. If the immune system is not working optimally, however, the virus can linger, causing genital warts. There is also evidence that extended exposure to the virus can cause cancer of the cervix, vagina, anus, rectum, mouth, throat, penis, and vulva. 
Industrial pollution from Indian pharmaceutical companies making medicines for nearly all the world’s major drug companies is fuelling the creation of deadly superbugs, suggests new research. Global health authorities have no regulations in place to stop this happening. 
The #1 Children’s Vitamin Brand in the US contains ingredients that most parents would never intentionally expose their children to, so why aren’t more opting for healthier alternatives?
“ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease.” These were the words of Leon Eisenberg, the “scientific father of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder),” in his last interview he gave before his death at age 87 in 2009.
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