Xylazine has been found to be adulterating pills in America, and doctors will need to understand this new threat. First, xylazine is not “krokodil,” although it produces somewhat similar-looking skin ulcers. Krokodil is a pseudonym for des…
Category: Medications
Can weight loss medication interfere with ADHD meds?
Why bother going to work? If I didn’t work, I wouldn’t get paid, so there was that. But it seemed like a pointless exercise. I would stare at my monitor until it was time to go home. On some level I knew I should be, well, working, but I co…
The hidden dangers of mislabeling pain patients: a medical crisis
I am very concerned about the mislabeling of patients who suffer from pain that is being carried out in a wholesale fashion by some in the American medical community. This mislabeling is the result of the most dangerous combination in the world: good i…
DEA shuts down pharmacy for fulfilling addiction treatment prescriptions
On August 8, 2023, DEA agents shut down the Oak Hill Hometown Pharmacy in the Southern District of West Virginia. Their crime? Having filled more than 2,000 prescriptions for Subutex over more than two years “in the face of obvious red flags of d…
Too many older adults are taking risky sedative medications
A recent investigation in Quebec uncovered a concerning trend: benzodiazepines — medications commonly used for sleep or anxiety — are being overprescribed. This investigation has prompted the Quebec College of Physicians to closely examine …
Polypharmacy and prescribing cascades [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Join us for a discussion on medication awareness and prescribing cascades with Paula Rochon, a geriatrician. As we embark on a new year, many focus on diet and exercise re…
How Enhanced Recovery After Surgery solves our opioid problems
In retrospect, we were an addicted nation waiting to happen. Not from a self-indulgent culture, not from an unwillingness to suffer hardship, nor any of the generational criticisms of lack of grit. Our opioid crisis derives from an impatient culture th…
Topoisomerase inhibitors and chronic pain
Topoisomerase inhibitors emerged in the American medical landscape in 1971, thanks to the discovery by Dr. Jim Wang of the E. coli omega protein. Topoisomerase I, an enzyme identified by Dr. Wang, plays a crucial role in DNA unwrapping from supercoilin…
Off-label prescriptions, side effects, and lawsuits: Navigating ethical and legal dilemmas
A recent TV advertisement attempted to recruit clients for a class action suit against a pharmaceutical manufacturer (PM) for a medication side effect (SE). The “cause of action” was unstated: was it the side effect’s existence or tha…
DEA overreach: a threat to doctors’ freedom in American medicine
Today, doctors’ liberty and property are at risk when they choose to treat a patient. Not because of some new law but because of the misapplication of old ones. The current opioid panic has essentially given the DEA free rein to target any physic…
