Online Pharmacy Medicine Blog

Recently the FDA approved the blood pressure drug Benicar (olmesartan medoxomil) for use in children and adolescents 6 to 16 years of age. Benicar was originally approved in 2002 for the treatment of high blood pressure in adults.

According to stats from MSN,

Some 3.6 million children in the United States have high blood pressure, a number that’s risen in tandem with children’s weight, the company said in a news release. Obese children are three times more likely to have hypertension than non-obese kids, the firm added.

Hypertension is a growing issue in children and adolescence that must not be overlooked, but is throwing medicine at the problem really the answer this early on in life?

I believe that hypertension medication should be left as a last resort to treat high blood pressure in adults, and even more so in children. Parents should put their children on a good diet and exercise regime and remedy the problem/break the bad eating and health habits before they develop into a unhealthy lifestyle.

Hypertension medicine this early on in life will only mask the true problem, and may lead to even worse health later on down the road.

The FDA approved the medicine safe for children and adolescents with respect to how the medicine functions, but will allowing children to use hypertension medication be safe and beneficial for them in the long run?

What do you think?

Depending on what your body needs and the problems you are experiencing will determine what type of cholesterol medication your doctor will prescribe for you. These medications will help by:

• Lowering your LDL (bad) cholesterol
• Decreasing your triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood that also increases the risk of heart disease
• increasing your HDL (good) cholesterol which helps protect against heart disease.

One of the most common classes of cholesterol medication are statins. Statins decrease LDL and triglycerides and slightly increase HDL. Altoprev, Crestor, Lescol, Lipitor, Mevacor, Pravachol, and Zocor can all be found in this class.

Some of the side affects that you should look out for when using any of these statins are constipation, nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, cramps, and muscle soreness.

According to the Mayo clinic

most cholesterol medications are well tolerated, but effectiveness varies from person to person. If you decide to take cholesterol medication, your doctor may recommend periodic liver function tests to monitor the medication’s effect on your liver. Also remember the importance of healthy lifestyle choices. Medication can help control your cholesterol — but lifestyle matters, too.

I think the main thing to remember when taking cholesterol medication is that it is not an end- all cure- all, and should be used in conjunction with a healthy diet. Often times once the user changes his diet, the medication can be decreased or is no longer needed.

The childhood obesity epidemic in the United States continues to worsen, as parents are resorting to greater reliance on prescription drugs for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes than ever before. As CVS Caremark reports in a new study:

…over a two-and-a-half year period ending in June 2007, the use of medications to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes among children increased 15.2%…

“The increasing use of antidiabetic and antihypertensive medications in this younger population likely reflects the rise of pediatric obesity and a failure of lifestyle changes to control cardiovascular risk factors typically associated with adults,” said Josh Liberman, Ph.D., Vice President, Strategic Research CVS Caremark and lead author of the study…

The study was designed to document trends in the use of prescription medications indicated for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol among children and adolescents over a time period that spanned close to three years. Results found that the one-month prevalence of use of these medications increased 15.2%, from 3.3 per 1,000 youths in November 2004 to 3.8 per 1,000 youths in June 2007…

“There is growing recognition that childhood obesity is nearing an epidemic and, as a result, consensus treatment guidelines for the associated cardiovascular conditions and risk factors recommend the introduction of pharmaceutical treatments if life style and behavioral modifications fail to achieve desired results,” said Dr. Liberman…

The study looked at drug usage data for about six million U.S. children aged six to 18, based on CVS Caremark PBM pharmacy insurance claims records.

A new study shows that a combination of Trilipix triglycerides medicine and Crestor cholesterol drug are better than either pill individually at improving heart health. The data was presented this month at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Orlando, Fla., as drugmakers prepare to market a pill that combines both medications.

According to Reuters:

The combination did significantly better at lowering bad LDL cholesterol and other blood fats called triglycerides, as well as raising levels of good HDL cholesterol in patients with complex lipid disorders.

Statins such as Crestor that lower LDL cholesterol are among the most widely used prescription drugs in the world. But many of the patients with high cholesterol also have high triglycerides and low levels of good HDL cholesterol, raising heart risks.

“There is a significant benefit to combining the two treatments together,” said Dr. Eli Roth, professor of clinical medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and an investigator in the study. “You tend to correct the entire atherogenic profile.”

The biggest benefit of the combination pill to consumers will be that it’s easier to take one pill than to juggle multiple prescriptions, physicians said.

If your golf swing isn’t sending the ball as far these days, it could be the Lipitor you’re taking.

Lipitor, along with other statins, can cause weakness in your muscles. While the side effect is not common, it may affect hundreds of thousands of statin drug users worldwide, because the market for these drugs is so large.

According to news reports:

Statin drugs (Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Crestor, Lescol and Mevacor) are the most effective cholesterol-lowering drugs available… (but) they can cause muscle problems.

Myalgia is one of those problems. It is muscle inflammation with tenderness and pain. Myopathy is another problem. It’s muscle achiness and weakness. And the third, and most serious, complication is rhabdomyolysis, muscle disintegration.

This happens very rarely, to about one in 10,000 users. Lowering the dose, switching to another statin or changing to a different medicine is usually all the treatment necessary, except for rhabdomyolysis, or the breakdown of muscle mass.

Statins also cause general fatigue, according to a new study:

People prescribed widely used cholesterol-busting drugs called statins may be more likely to feel fatigued than those who don’t, a new study finds … The research was expected to be presented this week at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Palm Harbor, Fla.

It’s possible that the drugs may cause problems by disrupting the way the body produces energy in cells … Vitamin D supplements may help such patients feel better.

Talk with your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms while using Lipitor or another statin.

Lipitor is the best-selling drug in the United States, and is generally considered safe and effective in treating high cholesterol.

But if you are one of the millions of Americans — especially seniors — who are taking multiple drugs for chronic conditions, you may be unaware of the interaction risks you face by taking Lipitor in combination with other drugs.

Lipitor interacts with more than 600 drugs, including erythromycin, niacin (vitamin B3), simvastatin, and metronidazole. In some cases, the interactions can produce serious complications and side effects.

As the Gloucester Daily Times reports, physicians should be aware of, and should inform you of, such interactions. But if an individual is being treated by a number of specialists, sometimes these warnings can slip through the cracks.

As the paper reports:

Consumers should know the name of every medication the doctor has prescribed, what each medication looks like, and be sure to look at every medication before ingesting it. Patients should not be afraid to ask questions if a medication looks unfamiliar. Sometimes, it’s just that a generic substitution has been made, but it’s always best to be sure before swallowing.

Keeping a written list of all medications taken, including dietary supplements, herbal preparations and non-prescription drugs can help the doctor prescribe more safely. Ask the doctor, as each prescription is written, what the name of the drug is, the correct strength or dosage, what it is being prescribed for, and if there are any interactions or side effects to watch for. Write the information down, as many drug names sound alike. If you are in the hospital, and unable to do this yourself, pre-arrange to have a family member or friend do this for you, if possible.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, medication errors injure more than one million people per year in America, and while there are still far too many medication errors in hospitals, there has been a recent upsurge in home settings, so being one’s own advocate is important in preventing errors, and saving lives.

By becoming a member of ePharmacies.com, you can gain access to Web tools including a pill identifier — which helps you identify medications based on photographs of the drugs — and a drug interaction checker, which allows you to input your current drug regimen and learn the potential interaction risks.

These tools act as an important safety net should your doctor or pharmacist neglect to catch a potential risk. We encourage you to join ePharmacies.com today!

Drugs that affect your metabolism are the top-selling prescription drugs, according to a new report by the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality. This category of medications includes popular drugs to lower cholesterol, control diabetes, and control weight gain.

These drugs accounted for $38 billion of the $208.1 billion spent on prescription medications in the United States — or 18.3 percent of total prescription expenses by adults.

The top-selling drug in the United States, by a wide margin, is the cholesterol medication Lipitor. Lipitor is used along with diet to help lower “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and raise “good” cholesterol (HDL) in the blood. It’s part of a group of medications known as “statins”. Lipitor works by reducing the amount of cholesterol made by the liver.

You can read a summary of the study here.