Most Americans have a bottle or two of expired medication sitting around. You may be tempted to take this medicine, but concerned about the safety. The Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide reported that 90 percent of drugs tested were found...
You may buy of bottle of vitamins or minerals, take them for a few weeks and then stop. They may stay in your medicine cabinet for a few years without you thinking about the expiration date -- until you decide to start taking the supplement again....
Approximately 4 billion prescriptions are filled each year, many of which end up unused or unwanted by the patient. Often, the patient keeps these medications because they don't know what to do with them or how to properly dispose of them. But...
Accidents can happen in any room of the house. In fact, household accidents are one of the main reasons children visit emergency rooms. Parental supervision is extremely important, but even that is not enough to prevent some accidents or...
Brand names for major cholesterol-lowering drugs have a poetic-sounding quality: Mevacor, Zocor, Lipitor, Crestor, Pravacol and Lescol. The generic names also have a distinguishing characteristic---they all end with the word "statin." As patent...
Benicar is the brand name for the medication olmesartan medoxomil, a type of angiotensin II receptor antagonist. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved this drug for treating high blood pressure, and doctors also may prescribe it for...
Augmentin is an antibiotics that is indicated for the treatment of bacterial infections. Augmentin is composed of two chemicals, amoxicillin and clavulanate, which work in synergy to treat ear infections, sinus infection, urinary tract infection...
What qualifies as a medication? A complete list is probably longer than you think and includes any prescriptions you take, herbal supplements, vitamins and any over-the-counter drugs you use on a regular basis. Start by making a full list of all...
According to the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, generic medications account for 69 percent of all prescription medications dispensed in the United States, but only 16 percent of all the money spent on medications. Generic medications---the...
Rosuvastatin is the generic name for Crestor, from the company Astra Zeneca. Statins are a very commonly prescribed class of drugs used to lower blood cholesterol by interfering with cholesterol synthesis. The seven statin drugs currently approved...
Prescription drugs are a common part of everyday life. Information bombards consumers, from advertisements on television and in print, to billboards and sports sponsorships. Nearly every person can name at least one prescription pharmaceutical...
A 2010 review in the "Medical Clinics of North America" states that insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. It is often reported during routine medical evaluations as well. Sleeping pills have long been used to treat difficulties initiating...
Storing your vitamins and prescription medicines in the same container can be dangerous and may increase your risk of misuse and noncompliance. Vitamins are nutrients supplemented to the diet and are generally recognized as safe. Prescription and...
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Singulair is the brand name of a medication called montelukast. It is a leukotrine receptor antagonist that blocks leukotrines. These are chemicals that trigger an allergic response in the human...
When a woman believes she's pregnant, it is important to her to be able to trust the results of a pregnancy test. Unfortunately, many women see misleading advertisements that pregnancy tests are over 99 percent effective, which may make her trust...
Some supplements can help replace the vitamins and minerals you need but may not be getting enough of from your diet. However, some supplements fall into the "snake oil" category, meaning they are not effective and may not even be safe. Ordering...
When there is a chance a woman could be pregnant, chances are she wants to know for sure as soon as possible. Early detection home pregnancy tests make it possible to do just that, potentially as soon as five days before her missed period.
Vitamin packages list an expiration date that helps you choose fresh supplements for purchase and alerts you to whether the bottle has been languishing on your medicine cabinet shelf for a long time. Although the word "expiration" implies that the...
Over time, vitamins will lose their potency and effectiveness. For vitamins that don't have an expiration date on them, it's difficult to know how long they've been around. And since supplements aren't regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug...
Generic medications have the same chemical ingredients as those of the brand name drugs. They are typically manufactured by companies other than those that developed the original medicine, and they generally sell at a lower price than the brand...
The way you store your vitamins can affect their shelf life and potency. Stored correctly, they will keep their potency through their expiration dates--and maybe beyond. Purchase packages that are dated well beyond the date you will finish...
Certain surgeries, such as cuts to extract cataracts, can greatly increase the likelihood of developing anisocoria in the future. Similarly, sports injuries, such as head traumas endured in hard contact sports (e.g. football and rugby), can...
For most people, vitamins and minerals come from a healthy, well-balanced diet. If you're one of those people who requires vitamin supplementation due to health conditions or insufficient dietary intake, pay close attention to the...
Cholesterol medicines are informally referred to as statins, as all of the generic drug names end in "-statin." These drugs block cholesterol synthesis in the liver. They may also be referred to as HMG CoA reductase inhibitors, because reductase...
The FDA doesn't require vitamins to have an expiration date. This is in part because there's close to zero risk of the vitamins "going bad" and causing harm. If you buy vitamins without an expiration date, write the date of purchase on the label....
If you have trouble getting the recommended daily amount of nutrients in your diet, vitamins can serve as a way to boost your intake. Because vitamins can be costly, if yours have expired, it can be tempting to continue taking the vitamins beyond...
Safe and effective use of sunblock, or sunscreen, is key to preventing damage from the sun's rays. You will increase your chance of developing skin cancer by leaving your skin unprotected while exposed to the sun. The sun causes more than 1...
When researchers at pharmaceutical companies develop a new medication, they attribute a generic name for the drug. The marketing department then creates a brand name for the same medication under which the drug will sell. During the first 12 years...
