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The FDA has approved Spravato (esketamine), the first new kind of antidepressant in decades, for treatment-resistant depression. The approval follows an FDA advisory committee meeting last month in which members overwhelmingly recommended Spravato’s approval. The approval of Spravato, which is administered as a nasal spray, is somewhat controversial as the drug is considered a chemical cousin of ketamine, an anesthetic that some abuse as a party drug due to its hallucinogenic effects. The prescribing label for Spravato contains a “black box warning” about the possibility of abuse and misuse while taking the drug. There is also a question of how…

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Some people who use medications to quit smoking experience psychiatric side effects. Now researchers say they have identified characteristics in individuals that can help predict whether they will experience these effects while taking a smoking cessation drug. Researchers conducted a secondary analysis of a 2016 study known as EAGLES, which examined psychiatric side effects associated with smoking cessation drugs and nicotine patches. The two most commonly prescribed such medications are Chantix (varenicline) and Zyban (bupropion). The EAGLES study was funded by Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, the respective manufacturers of the two drugs. Earlier results found that about 6% of those with…

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Pregnant women who take an antifungal medication used to treat vaginal yeast infections are at a higher risk of having a miscarriage compared to women not taking the drug. Although the increased risk was only slightly higher, a new study is the second one to show a link between oral fluconazole and miscarriage. In a 2016 study, women who used the oral version of fluconazole had a slightly higher risk of miscarriage than those who used the topical version. Researchers looked at the medical records of 320,000 pregnant women in Quebec. Women who took oral fluconazole had a miscarriage rate…

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Ask your pharmacist:  Nearly half of all people with a chronic disease such as diabetes, high blood pressure, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) or heart disease do not take their medications correctly or adhere to their medication schedule as prescribed. This can lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of their medications, treatment failure and a worsening of their condition. Unfortunately, I see this all too often working in the pharmacy setting. Some of the signs and clues I pick up on are patients who are: Not filling or picking up a new prescription or not refilling an existing prescription…

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Adverse Events of Supplements Under-Reported An analysis of supplement adverse events found that less than 1% of them were serious in nature. The research, which was sponsored by an industry trade group, comes despite a 2015 study that found more than 20,000 emergency visits each year are due to supplement adverse events and indications the true number of events are under-reported. 41,000 Supplement Side effects Reports Examined Researchers examined 41,000 adverse event reports related to supplements made by two manufacturers. The study was conducted by Supplement Safety Solutions, a safety consulting firm to the supplement industry, and the Council for…

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OTC Cold Medicine | High Blood Pressure & Heart Disease With cold and flu season in full swing, people with high blood pressure that is not controlled well or who have heart disease need to be careful with over-the-counter cold medicines, as they may cause a spike in blood pressure. Many cold medicines contain decongestants and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), both of which can raise blood pressure. Examples of decongestants are pseudoephedrine and phenylephrine. Some NSAIDs are Advil (ibuprofen) and Aleve (naproxen). “People with uncontrolled high blood pressure or heart disease should avoid taking oral decongestants,” Sondra DePalma, a physician…

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Taking a commonly used antiepileptic drug while pregnant may increase the risk of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in offspring. Danish researchers conducted an observational study of 913,000 children. The study looked at prenatal exposure to Depakote/Depakene (valproate), as well as other antiepileptic drugs. A total of 580 children were determined to have been exposed to Depakote, and of that number, 8.4% were eventually diagnosed with ADHD. Among children not exposed to the drug, only 3.2% eventually received an ADHD diagnosis, according to results published in JAMA Network Open. There was no relationship found between other antiepileptic drugs and a significantly…

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Radiation, or radiotherapy, for breast cancer patients is one of the most common forms of treatment, and comes with some uncomfortable and harmful side effects. A recent study from the University of Leicester in England has demonstrated that side effects can be minimized by changing the time of day that the treatment is provided. Researchers “personalized” the treatment for the more than 1,000 patients in the study by adjusting the timing of radiation to the patients’ circadian rhythms. This process seems to both increase radiation’s effectiveness and minimize some of its side effects. Side effects of radiation are referred to…

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Older people who start on antidepressant medications are more than twice as likely to experience a hip fracture compared to peers who don’t use the drugs. Researchers in Sweden looked at a registry of 408,000 patients aged 65 and older, with an average age of 80. Half were prescribed an antidepressant and the other half were not. The patients were followed for two years. The medical records discover antidepressant  and hip fracture link were examined for one year before and after filling their prescription. Results, entitled Association Between Antidepressant Drug Use and Hip Fracture in Older People Before and After…

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If you have hypertension, getting regular exercise can be just as effective at lowering your blood pressure as taking medication, according to a new meta-analysis. Researchers analyzed data from 194 trials that looked at how drugs lowered high blood pressure, as well as 197 trials that looked at exercise in reducing hypertension. These trials included more than 40,000 people, though none of them compared medication against exercise (such as walking, jogging, cycling, swimming and strength/weight training) head to head. They also included people both with and without hypertension. Overall, those treated with medication had lower blood pressure than those who…

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