Mercola highlights a new Archives of Internal Medicine series, 'Less is More,' on overused medical care, and lists drug-free heartburn measures from U.S. News: avoiding trigger foods, smaller meals, staying upright after eating, losing weight and elevating the head of the bed.
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Drug
Prescription drugs, vaccines and their risks and benefits.
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Drug
Medicines and Treatments That Patients Don't Need
The Archives of Internal Medicine is adding a Less Is More feature on treatments whose risks have grown to outweigh their benefits, starting with proton-pump inhibitors now taken for mild heartburn. Mercola argues overused drugs often do more harm than doing nothing.
Drug
2009 H1N1 vaccine linked to elevated risk of Guillain-Barré Syndrome
CDC's Emerging Infections Program found an age-adjusted rate ratio of 1.77 for Guillain-Barre syndrome after 2009 H1N1 vaccination, about 0.8 excess cases per million doses, similar to seasonal flu vaccines. The results are preliminary and no other federal system found an association.
Drug
The "Vaccine Shock" of the Year
Mercola interviews Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center about the May 7 FDA vaccine advisory committee meeting on rotavirus vaccine and the discovery that it was broadly contaminated with two types of pig virus.
Drug
Recalled Tylenol Still Scrutinized
A House Oversight Committee report says federal regulators found no link between the 775 adverse events reported to the FDA and the April 30 recall of Johnson & Johnson's children's liquid medicines. Inspectors found bacterial contamination and dirty equipment at the Fort Washington plant.
Drug
Hepatitis C Drug Promising
In a clinical trial, 75% of patients who took Vertex's telaprivar with interferon and ribavirin for 24 weeks were essentially cured, against 44% on interferon and ribavirin alone. Side effects included fatigue, itching and rash; two more trials are due before an FDA filing.
Drug
FDA: Antacids raise bone fracture risk
The FDA warned that proton pump inhibitors such as Nexium, Prilosec and Prevacid may raise the risk of hip, wrist and spine fractures when used for a year or longer or at high doses, mostly in patients 50 and older, and told patients not to stop without medical advice.
Drug
The Silent Epidemic -- Legal Prescription Drug Abuse
Mercola cites figures that nearly 20 percent of Americans have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons, that prescriptions rose 61 percent from 1992 to 2002 while opiate prescriptions rose almost 400 percent, and that poisoning hospitalizations jumped 65 percent by 2006.
Drug
When $93,000 Only Buys You 4 Months to Live…
Mercola questions the $93,000 price of Provenge, the newly approved prostate cancer vaccine, noting that it neither prevents nor cures cancer and that studies show it helps men with advanced disease live about four months longer, with one in four having a serious side effect.
Drug
Viagra may cause hearing loss, what else can men use?
A study in Archives of Otolaryngology found one in three men taking Viagra-type erectile dysfunction drugs reported hearing loss, against one in ten non-users aged 40 or older. Critics note the data were self-reported, and the researchers say more research is needed.
Drug
Drug Company to Pay Half a Billion Dollar Fine for ILLEGAL Marketing
AstraZeneca agreed to pay about $520 million to settle federal charges that it marketed the antipsychotic Seroquel illegally, spotlighting favorable research while playing down studies tying the drug to diabetes. Mercola notes Seroquel brought in $4.9 billion in sales last year.
Drug
Tainted rotavirus vaccine safe to use, FDA says
The FDA said DNA fragments of porcine circovirus found in GlaxoSmithKline's and Merck's rotavirus vaccines show no evidence of harm and that both vaccines remain safe to use. Some strains cause wasting in piglets, but whether they affect humans is unknown.
Drug
PCP: Medical radiation ups breast cancer risk
The President's Cancer Panel's annual report calls medical radiation an important and controllable cause of breast cancer. The piece recounts John Gofman's calculation that repeated mammograms would leave roughly 5 to 8 women per 1,000 with radiation-induced breast cancer.
Drug
Tylenol linked to autism
Observational work is cited linking Tylenol to autism: a study of 83 children with autism and 80 without found those given acetaminophen after MMR vaccination were about six times as likely to have autism, with no such link for ibuprofen. A 2003 paper proposes an immune mechanism.
Drug
Two Arthritis Powerhouses Even Stronger Together
Osteoarthritis patients took 1,500 mg of glucosamine sulfate, some with 200 mg of omega-3 fats added. Similar numbers in each group reported modest relief, but among those whose pain fell 80 percent, the combination group reported more improvement in morning stiffness and hip and knee pain.
Drug
Tylenol Recall 2010 Lot Numbers
A Johnson & Johnson unit voluntarily recalled 43 children's and infants' medicines, including liquid Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl, after the FDA found manufacturing deficiencies. Some may hold too much active ingredient or contain tiny particles; no injuries have been reported.
Drug
Regular Flu Vaccine Actually INCREASES Risk of Swine Flu
Dr. Mercola cites four Canadian studies covering about 2,700 people: the first found prior seasonal flu vaccination associated with roughly 68 percent higher risk of pandemic H1N1, and three others found 1.4 to 1.5 times the likelihood. He also notes WHO has admitted mistakes in its H1N1 response.
Drug
Vaccine extends life in patients with advanced prostate cancer
FDA approved Provenge, made from a patient's own cells, for advanced prostate cancer. In a 512-man trial it added about four months of life, with 32 percent alive at three years against 23 percent on placebo. One in four had a serious side effect; Dendreon priced three shots at $93,000.
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