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Prescription Meds Can Put on Unwanted Pounds
Posted 2 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, March 2 – Medications taken by millions of Americans for mood disorders, high blood pressure, diabetes and other chronic conditions can have an unhealthy side effect: weight gain. While other choices exist for some types of drugs, adjusting medications is not simply a matter of switching, said Ryan Roux, chief pharmacy officer with the Harris County Hospital District, in Houston. In the late 1990s, Dr. Lawrence Cheskin conducted early research on prescription medicines and obesity. "Some medicines make an early, noticeable difference, causing patients to become ravenously hungry, while changes are subtle for others. A few months taking them and you've gained 10 pounds," said Cheskin, now director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, in Baltimore. To help increase awareness, Roux and his pharmacist group have compiled a list of "weight-promoting" and "weight-neutral or ... Read more
Related support groups: Bipolar Disorder, High Blood Pressure, Zoloft, Diabetes, Type 2, Wellbutrin, Seroquel, Prednisone, Prozac, Hypertension, Metformin, Paxil, Gabapentin, Lamictal, Sprintec, Mirena
Epilepsy Drugs Don't Raise Suicide Risk, Study Shows
Posted 5 Aug 2010 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 4 – In 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required epilepsy medications to bear a warning label about an increased risk of suicidal behaviors. The move came after an agency review of 199 studies that found patients taking the drugs showed about twice the risk of suicidal behavior. But now a study of more than 5 million patients contradicts the FDA's findings. It suggests that the increased risk of suicide has more to do with the conditions for which these drugs are prescribed than the medications themselves. For the study, researchers in Spain and the United States evaluated the health records of primary care patients in England. They found that people with epilepsy who currently use an antiepileptic drug are at no greater risk of suicide-related events than those who aren't taking the medications. "In our opinion, in the long term, it is not the drugs ... Read more
Related support groups: Lyrica, Gabapentin, Lamictal, Neurontin, Topamax, Depakote, Tegretol, Keppra, Lamotrigine, Trileptal, Depakote ER, Topiramate, Carbamazepine, Pregabalin, Tegretol XR
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