Pain pills

Soaring generic drug prices draw Senate scrutiny

WASHINGTON - Some low-cost generic drugs that have helped restrain health care costs for decades are seeing unexpected price spikes of up to 8,000 percent, prompting a backlash from patients, pharmacists and now Washington lawmakers.

Safe to take after expiration date?

The expiration date on bottles of over-the-counter and prescription medications tells consumers how long the drug contained within will maintain full potency and safety under ideal storage conditions.

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.

Take Aspirin at first signs of heart attack

Those in the early grips of a heart attack may find that chewing an aspirin tablet will help save their lives. Heart attacks are often the result of a blood clot in the coronary artery that blocks blood flow. Aspirin may help overcome these heart events by inhibiting the formation of the blood clots. The most effective way to help restore blood flow in the event of a heart attack is to chew and swallow a regular adult-strength, 325-milligram tablet. Neither a baby-strength (81-milligram) aspirin tablet, which many heart patients take on a daily basis, nor a coated aspirin tablet, which is designed to be absorbed slowly, will suffice in the event of a heart attack.

Are online pharmacies legitimate?

If you think that you'll get a bargain from an online pharmacy, think again. According to a 2012 analysis of nearly 1,000 online pharmacies by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), which accredits online pharmacies and represents state pharmacy boards all over the United States, only around 3 percent appear to be legitimate. The NABP found that 85 percent of the online drugstores it looked into do not require a valid prescription from the consumer's physician, and nearly half provided foreign drugs or medications not approved by the FDA. While there are Canadian online pharmacies that are legitimately regulated, many websites that purport to be Canadian are not. Worse yet, you may not even get the drug you ordered.

No headline

After being asked and not knowing, I decided to do some investigating about why people are panic-buying toilet paper.

Inspectors arrest 15 in prescription drug case

Opiates originated from Tijuana pharmacies

SAN DIEGO - U.S. border inspectors are not only seizing drugs coming into the country from Mexico - they're making arrests for drug smuggling that's going the other way.

Express Scripts cuts payments for customized drugs

OTC medications at wholesale prices

Diabetes is an awful disease.

Medications only work if you take them

One of the more worrisome aspects of keeping patients healthy is the fact that many do not take their medications. At the very worst, this compliance problem begins when patients with chronic conditions do not even pick up their newly prescribed drugs. This failure to comply with their prescribing physicians' recommendations places patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol levels and other potentially life-threatening conditions at particular risk.

Poll: Majority of Americans want government to curb prescription costs

WASHINGTON - Move over, "Obamacare." A new poll finds Americans worried about medication costs and broadly supporting government action to curb drug prescription prices.

Research firm: Amazon sells $199 tablet at a loss

NEW YORK - Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire tablet, which started shipping this week, costs $201.70 to make, a research firm said Friday. That's $2.70 more than Amazon charges for it.

A small victory: Used-car prices slip from dizzy heights

The whole crazy price cycle began with the eruption of the pandemic, when many states issued stay-at-home orders

Do you take OTC medications seriously?

According to one survey, nearly one-third of consumers polled said that they did not consider over-the-counter (OTC) medications to be as "serious" as prescribed medications. Are you among those who think this way?

Apple fans to the core

Fans, entrepreneurs among first buyers of new iPad

At what cost?

Constantly changing online prices stump shoppers

NEW YORK - Online shopping has become as volatile as stock market trading. Wild, minute-by-minute price swings on everything from clothes to TVs have made it difficult for holiday shoppers to "buy low."

Pfizer maneuvers to protect Lipitor from generics

TRENTON, N.J. - Lipitor is so valuable that Pfizer is practically paying people to keep taking its blockbuster cholesterol medicine after generic competition hits the U.S. market this week.

Movers and Shakers January 14, 2011

Frank joins Tomlinson North Idaho Sotheby's International Realty

Auditors: Pharmacist's $358K deal is excessive

BOISE - Every time the pharmacist at the State Veterans Home in Boise dispenses an over-the-counter or prescription medication to one of the residents, he's due $11.

Playing the health insurance shell game

Last Wednesday, we were treated to another nonsensical "My Turn" by Chuck Malloy, where he started off by thanking goodness for insurance. He went on to say that he needed to purchase an insulin pen and the cost of a five pack over the counter without insurance was $500, but thanks to the wonderful insurance world, he only paid $35.