It is now estimated that 1 in 8 Americans are on serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants and a shocking 1 in 4 among women in their 40s and 50s. Yet the U.S. suicide rate of 38,000 a year has never been higher.
Clearly the glut of SSRI prescriptions is not lowering the national suicide rate; rather there is compelling evidence that the popular pills are actually contributing to suicide. Continue reading
Many aspects of the GOP’s newly proposed A Better Way healthcare plan would improve the health system. But “A Better Way” seems to mean “Much of the Same” when dealing with Food and Drug Administration regulation. Continue reading
“The medical profession is being bought by the pharmaceutical industry, not only in terms of practice of medicine but also in terms of teaching and research.”
Many might say that a doctor saves lives and helps increase the average life span, but this is not true. Sure, they save a life here and there, but do they really relieve suffering? Patients extrapolate what doctors say, but they don’t realize that, while doctors do know about the diseases in depth, they know very little about the drugs they prescribe. Continue reading
One does have to wonder how much collusion there is between the Food and Drug Administration and the food and pharmaceutical companies. After all, there is no real accountability for the FDA in anything they approve, just money to be made. However, in an extensive investigative report, journalist Ben Swann uncovers the truth regarding the propaganda the pharmaceutical companies put out, the ties to the FDA, the manipulation of physicians by Big Pharma and the profits that are amassed from deadly drugs. Continue reading
Many children with hyperactivity disorders are prescribed medication that is intended to help them. But a recent comprehensive study (the first of its kind) showed that certain drugs may be doing more harm than good. For kids with ADHD and other behavioral issues, a few different types of drugs are often prescribed including ADHD medications, anti-depressants and in extreme cases anti-psychotics. It is this last group on which the study, published by neuroscientists at the University of Wollongong, focused: Continue reading
Why Do Americans Consume 80 Percent Of All Prescription Painkillers?
If Americans are so happy, then why do we consume 80 percent of the entire global supply of prescription painkillers? Less than 5 percent of the world’s population lives in this country, and yet we buy four-fifths of these highly addictive drugs. In the United States today, approximately 4.7 million Americans are addicted to prescription pain relievers, and that represents about a 300 percent increase since 1999. If you personally know someone that is suffering from this addiction, then you probably already know how immensely destructive these drugs can be. Someone that was formally living a very healthy and normal life can be reduced to a total basket case within a matter of weeks. Continue reading
Skyrocking rates of antibiotic prescriptions now suggest that as many as four out of five Americans may be getting antibiotics annually, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s is concerning officials, especially because overuse is one reason antibiotics are losing their punch and making infections harder to treat.
“It sounds high,” said Keith Rodvold, a professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Continue reading
Women who take antidepressants during pregnancy may be more likely to have children with autism, a Canadian study suggests.
The overall risk is low— less than 1 percent of the nearly 150,000 babies in the study were diagnosed with autism by age six or seven, but children of women who took antidepressants during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy were 87 percent more likely to develop autism than kids born to women who didn’t take the drugs, researchers report in JAMA Pediatrics. Continue reading
For the first time, researchers have found a person in the United States carrying bacteria resistant to antibiotics of last resort, an alarming development that the top U.S. public health official says could mean “the end of the road” for antibiotics. Continue reading
Martin Shkreli’s antics are giving the drug industry’s greedy ways a bad name.
Khalil Bendib is OtherWords’ cartoonist
A billion-dollar system in which charitable giving is profitable.
In August 2015, Turing Pharmaceuticals and its then-chief executive, Martin Shkreli, purchased a drug called Daraprim and immediately raised its price more than 5,000 percent. Within days, Turing contacted Patient Services Inc., or PSI, a charity that helps people meet the insurance copayments on costly drugs. Turing wanted PSI to create a fund for patients with toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that is most often treated with Daraprim.
Having just made Daraprim much more costly, Turing was now offering to make it more affordable. Continue reading
(graphic: Bull’s Eye/Imagezoo/Getty Images)
From the campaign trail to the halls of Congress, drugmakers have spent much of the last year enduring withering criticism over the rising cost of drugs.
It does not seem to be working.
In April alone, Johnson & Johnson raised its prices on several top-selling products, including the leukemia drug Imbruvica, the diabetes treatment Invokana, and Xarelto, an anti-clotting drug, according to a research note published last week by an analyst for Leerink, an investment bank. Other major companies that have raised prices this year include Amgen, Gilead and Celgene, the analyst reported. Continue reading
Common cold medicines and heartburn pills found to shrink the brain and slow thinking
If you find yourself forgetting more than usual, or you sometimes feel like your mind is not as sharp as it once was, you might want to take a look inside your medicine cabinet.
Older people in particular are being advised to avoid some common over-the-counter medications, as evidence piles up of their connection to thinking problems and memory loss. Continue reading
Major pharmaceutical companies have been feeling intense political heat in the past year over skyrocketing drug prices, with some lawmakers and politicians threatening congressional or administrative action to rein in those costs. Continue reading
Cardiologist explains why FAT is the best medicine – and why it’s so crucial to our health
For decades, we were told that eating fat would lead us to early grave. Horror stories of clogged arteries and coronaries were the norm, while foods such as pasta were seen as healthy.
But research is increasingly disproving this theory – and sugar is now public enemy number one.
In fact, fat is good for us and should be our medicine, claims cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, who is based in Surrey. Continue reading