I do not get it. Day in and day out, I ask patients why they take a medicine. Many do not know. “My doctor put me on it,” goes the common response. Take statin drugs, for example. I often ask a person why they are taking the drug? With rare exception, the person says it […]
Tag: Antibiotics
My colleague and friend Dr. Melissa Walton-Shirley wrote a nice review article on antibiotics and cardiac issues over at theHeart.org. It is worth a look. MWS is a heck of writer. Although she is writing to doctors, the issues she raises about antibiotics are relevant to everyone. I recently reviewed a case in which a serious […]
The longer I practice medicine, the more nervous I get about medications, especially when patients are already on other drugs for chronic diseases. I much prefer deprescribing. A recent study on the common antibiotic cotrimoxazole, which is a combination of sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim, and often referred to by its brand name, Bactrim or Septra, lends […]