Author: Beth Levine

Often used in conjunction with radiation or surgery, chemotherapy is drug therapy tailored to each individual cancer patient with the aim of preventing cancer spread, slowing cancer growth and killing cancer cells. Unfortunately, it can bring a host of debilitating side effects.

In May 2014, Robert P. Blankfield, MD, MS, a clinical professor of family medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, published an editorial in an online edition of the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics that charged the FDA to be more vigilant about approvals of medications that can affect blood pressure, even a small amount. Dr. Blankfield, who is also a physician at University Hospitals Medical Practices, Berea, Ohio, recently spoke with MedShadow about his concerns: MS: What prompted you to write this editorial? I’ve been trying for a while to get some attention to this issue. Several medications…

When Beverly Wilkerson, 58, Sherman Oaks, CA, woke up with a pounding headache and jaw pain last summer, she popped two Aleve. (The recommended dosage is one at a time.) She forgot to take water and food with the pills. Later on, she took two more, again forgetting the water and food. Suffering abdominal distress during the night, she went to the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer. “It was undoubtedly caused by taking the pills without enough food in my stomach, or water to follow. I ended up with hours in the ER, several hundred…

Here’s an alarming headline: One-fifth of older Americans receive medications that may adversely affect coexisting conditions, according to a new study conducted by researchers from Oregon State University and the Yale University School of Medicine. In fact, Jonathan Lorgunpai, a medical student at the Yale School of Medicine and co-author of the study, warned, “More than 9 million older adults in the U.S. are being prescribed medications that may be causing them more harm than benefit.” Senior Care Pharmacy Facts Adverse drug reactions are among the top five greatest threats to the health of seniors. Seniors have more chronic diseases…