The People's Pharmacy

6 days ago | peoplespharmacy.com | Joe Graedon

We first heard about the cetirizine – Zyrtec antihistamine withdrawal phenomenon 15 ago from a reader of our syndicated newspaper column:“I have had terrible trouble trying to stop taking Zyrtec (the generic is cetirizine). After using this antihistamine for about three years while having allergy shots, I first attempted to stop taking it in preparation for allergy testing. Within three days, my entire body itched. It was so horrible that I was crying and preparing to go to the hospital for relief.

1 week ago | peoplespharmacy.com | Joe Graedon

The debate on what makes a better breakfast, eggs vs. cereal, has been going on for well over a century, The Kellogg brothers developed corn flakes for patients at their health resort and introduced them to the rest of the world around the turn of the 20th century. In the first half of that century, the cholesterol hypothesis of heart disease gained momentum. By the later part of that century, many people were afraid to eat eggs and turned instead to cereal. Is that the best choice?

1 week ago | peoplespharmacy.com | Joe Graedon

When a brand name drug loses its patent, the company that developed it often stops advertising it. The pharmaceutical industry likes to promote the latest shiny new medicine. That’s where the money is! Older medications that are available generically rarely get much support. Such seems to be the case for a drug called raloxifene (Evista). Evista was approved by the FDA in December 1997 for preventing osteoporosis. In October of 1999 it got FDA’s green light for treating osteoporosis.

1 week ago | peoplespharmacy.com | Joe Graedon

There was a time when you could buy quinine tablets over the counter in the United States. That was so long ago that very few people remember brands such as Legatrin, Quinamm or Q-vel. People took this bitter pill to prevent nighttime (nocturnal) leg cramps. But because of serious quinine side effects, the FDA banned OTC sale in 1994. You can read about quinine dangers and the FDA ban at this link. Doctors can still prescribe quinine, but only for the treatment of symptoms of malaria.

2 weeks ago | peoplespharmacy.com | Joe Graedon |Alzheimer’s disease

There is a growing recognition by neuroscientists that the brain is not a sterile organ. In other words, the brain has a microbiome just like the digestive tract. There are bacteria, fungi and viruses that populate our brain and central nervous system (CNS). For years, some researchers have suggested that viruses might be associated with dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions. Is there any way antiviral drugs might help control Alzheimer disease?