Is Your Medicine In the News?

Consumers are always interested to hear or read news about their medicines and it’s not unusual for the media to pick up on possible safety problems with a popular medicine.

When a drug is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, not all is known about its safety. Therefore, it is no surprise that a new safety issue may arise. This is because the drug has not been studied in a large enough population to identify rare side effects. When drugs are newly approved, only side effects found in about 1% or more of patients are known.

A Common Sense Approach to making the right decision about your medication

Don’t panic. Usually a safety debate about a popular drug relates to reports of rare effects.

• Contact your doctor or pharmacist— personally, by telephone, or by e-mail.
• Have a list of things to ask your doctor or pharmacist.
• Tell your doctor or pharmacist exactly how you take your medicines.  Be sure to let them know if you are not following directions,taking more than you should, forgetting dosages etc.
• Ask the following questions:  

• Do you think the benefits of my taking this medicine outweigh the risks?
• What risks might I face in taking this medicine?
• Are there alternative medicines to the one I am taking?
• Are there alternatives to some of my medicines, such as lifestyle changes?
• Should I try these? What do I need to do to be successful with non-drug alternatives?
• If I have to continue to take this medicine,what side effects should I look out for, and when should I call you about them?