Gear up to Think Big

Festival will be here Aug. 20-22

COEUR d'ALENE - Big names and big minds in robotics, artificial intelligence and technology will visit Coeur d'Alene next month when the Think Big Festival comes to town.

On eve of nonessential closures, Spokane small business owners look warily to the future

Travis Johnson had been bracing for a potential temporary shutdown of his store, Johnson’s Custom Jewelry, because of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Justices signal deep trouble for health-care law

WASHINGTON - The fate of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul was cast into deeper jeopardy Tuesday as the Supreme Court's conservative justices sharply and repeatedly questioned its core requirement that virtually every American carry insurance. The court will now take up whether any remnant of the historic law can survive if that linchpin fails.

The Front Row with TIM DAHLBERG September 27, 2010

The Boss still lives on in monument

As debates go, this one is monumental.

Education is so much more than just training

A father said to his son, "I'm worried about your being at the bottom of the class."

LEGION BASEBALL: Lums fall to Spokane Expos

COEUR d’ALENE — Liam Paddack scored on an error to give Coeur d’Alene a 6-5 lead in the fourth inning, but the visiting Spokane Expos scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning to beat the Lumbermen 11-6 in a Legion baseball game on Friday at Thorco Field.

Treating sinus inflammation

When sinus inflammation (sinusitis) strikes, most people probably think that the best thing to do is get a prescription for antibiotics from their doctors. However, antibiotics are ineffective in 90 percent to 98 percent of all sinusitis case because nearly all sinus infections are viral in nature, and antibiotics don't kill viruses.

On the record about off-label drugs

A medication is said to be used "off-label" when it is prescribed to treat a condition which has yet to be approved by the FDA. An example of off-label drug use may be an anti-depressant that is prescribed to treat insomnia or a pain condition. Anti-seizure drugs are also sometimes prescribed off-label to treat neuropathic pain.

Hacking away at pneumonia

Angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitor drugs prescribed to treat hypertension are known to produce a dry, hacking cough as a side effect in some cases, which leads many to switch to another medication. As it turns out, however, this drug-induced, persistent cough may provide a benefit that may have some patients thinking twice about switching to other blood-pressure-lowering medications.

Cholesterol screening for children?

High cholesterol may be a problem largely associated with middle-age and beyond, but it may warrant attention much sooner. An expert panel has therefore recently issued a recommendation endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics that urges that all children undergo cholesterol screening at least once between the ages of 9 and 11, and again between 17 and 21, regardless of family history.

State population growth slows

By BOB FICK

Turn in old medications at CHS Fair April 30

Rathdrum and Post Falls PD, KCSD also open for turn-in

COEUR d'ALENE -Prescription Drug Turn-In Day will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 30 at Coeur d'Alene High School.

Turn in old medications at Cd'A Library on Saturday

The Coeur d'Alene Police Department and the city's Enough is Enough Committee are sponsoring a "Prescription Drug Turn-in Day" as part of the Drug Enforcement Agency's third National Pharmaceutical Drug Take Back Day, this Saturday.

Time to turn in old medications

The Coeur d'Alene Police Department, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department, the Idaho State Police, and the city's Enough is Enough Committee, in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration, are holding a "National Pharmaceutical Drug Take-Back Day" at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library, Saturday, Sept. 25, from noon to 4 p.m. The event will be held just outside the library's front entrance.

Calling attention to medical orphans

Aside from being associated with Mother's Day and Memorial Day, the month of May has also increasingly come to be known as Awareness of Medical Orphans Month.

At your disposal

If you have expired or unwanted medications lingering inside the medicine cabinet, do not automatically throw them down the toilet. Instead, get in touch with a local drug disposal program to keep drugs safely out of the environment. If there is no disposal program, you are urged to throw unwanted drugs in the trash after mixing them with coffee grounds and sealing them in a plastic bag. Doing so will render the medications unpalatable to anyone who may later somehow come into their possession. The FDA does recommend that powerful painkillers, controlled substances and other potentially dangerous drugs be flushed because they can be harmful to children, pets and others for whom they are not intended.

First-line diabetes medications

Those diagnosed with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes are likely to be prescribed at least one medication to get their blood glucose levels under control. Classes of drugs such as meglitinides and sulfonylureas stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin (the hormone that moves glucose from the blood into the cells). Another class of drugs, biguanides, works to inhibit the production and release of glucose by the liver, thereby reducing the amount of glucose that enters the blood. Metformin (Glucophage, Riomet) is in this latter category and also works to make cells more sensitive to the effects of insulin, which encourages more glucose to leave the blood and enter the cells. Metformin is effective and inexpensive, and it poses few side effects.

Will a common drug lower Parkinson's risk?

Parkinson's disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that causes noticeable shaking and slowing of movement. While there is no cure, the condition may be managed with drugs such as levodopa, dopamine agonists, MAO B inhibitors, and others.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs are working

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cholesterol levels among U.S. adults have been decreasing since the late 1980s. While some of the improvement can be attributed to dietary improvements such as switching from unhealthy trans fats to vegetable oils, cholesterol-lowering medications are also thought to play an important role.

How do you take your medication?

While most medications are taken in tablet or caplet (oblong tablet) form, both are composed of compressed powder that needs to dissolve in the stomach before the active ingredient is released. For faster relief, chewable tablets are absorbed as soon as they reach the stomach, and dissolvable tablets act like ground-up chewables once dissolved in the mouth. Liquid medications are absorbed as soon as they reach the digestive system. Gel caps contain liquid medication encased in a gelatin exterior. Once the stomach dissolves the outer coating, the medication is quickly absorbed. There are also tongue strips, which melt before they are absorbed in the stomach, which is just about as quick as dissolvable tablets.