Author: Emma Yasinski

Emma Yasinski

I am a freelance science and medical journalist, fascinated by how the scientific process leads to incredible discoveries, but also can lead to publication bias leaning toward positive findings and minimizing negatives. With a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Lafayette College and a Master’s in Science and Medical Journalism from Boston University, I’ve written about clinical trial transparency, organ donation, and basic molecular biology for publications like The Scientist, The Atlantic, Undark.org, Kaiser Health News, and more. At MedShadow, I research and write about the sometimes unexpected ways that medicines can affect us, and what we can do if and when it does.

When pregnant, chances are you will have a lot of questions. One of them shouldn’t be “can I take this drug while pregnant,” but sadly research is often lacking in this topic. Tylenol While Pregnant In the last week of September 2021, a group of more than 90 doctors and researchers published a call to action, cautioning against the liberal use of Tylenol (acetaminophen) during pregnancy. The studies suggested that exposure to the drug could increase the risk of a baby having neurodevelopmental, reproductive, and urogenital disorders. The authors added, however, that Tylenol has long been considered one of the…

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has repeatedly advised the majority of the population to get vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19. Florida’s surgeon general, on the other hand, rejected that advice in September 2023, and told Floridians that healthy people under the age of 65 didn’t need the vaccine. More experts came out dismissing the Florida surgeon general’s advice, siding with the FDA. Still, the disconnect between the experts caused confusion. The debate about whether or not we should get COVID-19 booster shots may have been more public and passionate than most medical debates, but it is not entirely…

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“When your whole body is a giant toothache, nothing fixes it,” observes Charley Pavlosky, 65, recalling the systemic pain that plagued him 14 years ago. A lifelong athlete, he was familiar with the aches and pains of being active – he’d even had surgery to repair a disc – but this was new to him. His chronic pain was so severe that he was only getting two hours of sleep a night, and during the day he experienced anxiety and panic attacks, he told MedShadow.  Those suffering from chronic pain know the reality and seriousness of this condition. It can…

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Heat Exhaustion & Heatstroke Yet another heat wave is “baking” the U.S. and is expected to last all week. And this is just the first full week of summer. In 2022, thousands of people died from heat-related causes in Spain, Portugal United Kingdom, the United States, and India. Extra-high temperatures are perilous for everyone, but they are even more so for the elderly, people who need electric medical equipment and for those on medications with side effects that can increase their sensitivity to heat. You may need to take extra caution to remain safe when the heat rises. Heat exhaustion is…

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Regular MedShadow readers are likely familiar with the idea of deprescribing—the process of reducing the number or dose of drugs a person is taking. MedShadow has written about the phenomenon before. But, while the idea of taking fewer medications is simple, the real world process of deprescribing while balancing risks versus benefits is complicated. Some medications have withdrawal symptoms, and tapering may take time. The Therapeutics Initiative at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is hosting a series of webinars with healthcare professionals sharing real-life stories about their own patients whose medications they were able to reduce, and what happened…

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Regular MedShadow readers are likely familiar with the idea of deprescribing—the process of reducing the number or dose of drugs a person is taking. MedShadow has written about the phenomenon before. But, while the idea of taking fewer medications is simple, the process of deprescribing while balancing risks versus benefits is complicated. Some medications have withdrawal symptoms, and tapering may take time. The Therapeutics Initiative at the University of British Columbia is hosting a series of webinars with healthcare professionals sharing real-life stories of their own patients whose medications they were able to reduce, and what happened when they did.…

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Antipsychotic side effects may include excessive gambling, impulsive behavior, and even suicidal ideation, according to several black box warnings the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has slapped on the drugs over several years. Still, the drugs haven’t been removed from the market. That’s because they’re a crucial class of drugs despite the risks, as the psychosis they treat can be exceptionally dangerous. Here’s what you need to know. What Are Antipsychotics? Antipsychotic drugs are used to treat psychosis, a situation in which a person loses touch with reality.  “Here in my room, I have a smoke detector,” says Maximilian Huhn,…

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​Early in Dee Mangin’s career as a primary-care physician, she noticed that many people, especially older adults, were prescribed large numbers and doses of drugs, which, in some cases, might actually be detracting from their health rather than improving it. Then, she realized that even when polypharmacy (being prescribed five or more medications simultaneously) was recognized as a problem, there wasn’t any systematic way to help patients and healthcare providers assess which medicines might be most effective in a lower dose or discontinued altogether.  Mangin is an MBChB (the New Zealand equivalent of an MD) and DPH (doctor of public…

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Shalamar suffered from chronic insomnia. She couldn’t fall asleep after her late-night shifts as a server at a New York City bar. To address the insomnia, she sought advice from a psychiatrist who prescribed pills and told her to take them both at night and in the morning. She thought it was odd that she would need to take a pill to help her sleep during the day, but her doctor said that is how the medicine worked. She followed the doctor’s recommendations, though. “It did help me to sleep. I slept like a rock,” she says.  What her doctor…

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