Monday, September 16, 2013

Not All Medicines Are Created Equal

When doctors refer to a "class" of medications or drugs, we are referring to a group of drugs that are chemically similar (but not identical), that are used to treat the same conditions, and work the same way (so-called mechanism of action).

Often, medical studies showing some benefit or risk of a single drug are understood to mean that this benefit or risk may or may not accrue to every other drug in its class.

As more study and research occurs, we are coming to realize that in some cases different drugs in the same class can vary significantly in terms of their effectiveness or safety.

For example, Avandia (a diabetes drug) was taken off the market by the FDA several years ago due to heart disease risks with the drug.  Actos (in the same drug class) was not.

Just a few years ago, head-to-head tests showed that two of the SSRI's (serotonin-specific re-uptake inhibitors, commonly used in the treatment of depression and anxiety) were both more effective and lower in side-effects than the others.  Those two are Zoloft/sertraline and Lexapro/escitalopram.

More recently, we find that while the statins are all effective in lowering cholesterol and preventing heart attacks and strokes, two of them are particularly lower in side-effects and drug reactions.  These two are Pravachol/pravastatin and Zocor/simvastatin (in doses of 40 mg a day, or less).

On the positive side, the so-called ACE inhibitors (a class of blood pressure lowering drugs that are particularly beneficial in diabetics) are known to prevent heart attacks and strokes.  Additionally, several are also seen to reduce your risk of memory loss and Alzheimer's dementia due to there ability to positively affect circulation in the brain.  These are Altace/ramapril, Tarka/trandolapril, Capoten/captopril, fosinopril, and Zestril/lisinopril.



Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Immunizations (or, shots)

Retail pharmacies are already providing annual flu shots.  There is no shortage, so no need to hurry.  Getting a flu shot before late November can help to prevent getting the flu, or giving it to others.

Many retailers also offer pneumonia immunizations.  These are covered once in your life under MediCare and prevent the one kind of bacterial pneumonia that is the most common single kind and also the most deadly.  It doesn't keep you from getting colds or every possible kind of pneumonia, but it does protect you against the worst one!

Shingles shots are also once in your lifetime and covered by MediCare.  Shingles comes about from having had chicken pox as a child.  I think ads on TV make shingles out to far more severe than it is for most folks, but on the other hand it's not something you'd like to get if you could avoid it.  If you've never had chicken pox, then you should definitely get the shingles shot since it will act as immunization against getting chicken pox as an adult, which is a very serious and unpleasant problem.