The People's Pharmacy

Dr. Ralph Baric has been studying coronaviruses for 35 years and is one of the world’s leading experts on these pathogens. In this interview, you will learn how the virus jumped from bats to people and how it replicates. Moreover, Dr. Baric was already studying remdesivir , a medication being utilized against this infection. He will explain how it works and why another drug may be even better. Is...

Are you drinking too much coffee? Is coffee actually bad for you anyway, or might a few cups have health benefits? Have you heard about the health benefits of tea? Dr. Tieraona Low Dog delves into the plant compounds contained in our favorite beverages. How do they affect our physiology? Green, Black and White Tea: Tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world. Like coffee, it contains caf...

When hospitals are overstressed and understaffed, as they have been during the COVID-19 pandemic, medical errors are hardly surprising. Back in 2016, a group of doctors published an analysis in the BMJ claiming that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the US. Could this really be true? Learn how a thoughtful doctor confronts medical error. Dr. Danielle Ofri Confronts Medical Err...

Schools are closed and kids are home so that they don’t catch COVID-19 and spread it to family members. Of course, parents don’t want their children to get sick, either. How are we keeping kids healthy in the age of coronavirus? Why Are Children Less Likely to Become Very Ill? Most infectious diseases, especially respiratory viruses such as influenza, are particularly dangerous to the very young a...

With nearly six million Americans living with Alzheimer disease, this condition is a serious public health problem. It robs people of their memories, their ability to function independently and even their very identities. When Alois Alzheimer published the first report on the brain disease that was later named for him, he described distinctive plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. That...

Staying at home and maintaining safe physical distance means that some primary care practices are not functioning normally during the pandemic. However, you may still want to connect with your doctor. In fact, you may have urgent questions about how to stay healthy or what to do if you become ill. Do you have a way to get answers? In many cases, you can use the patient portal for your electronic m...

Information on the coronavirus pandemic is changing hourly. The US now has more COVID-19 cases than any other country. For this live coronavirus update on March 28, 2020, we have asked infectious disease expert and epidemiologist Dr. David Weber to answer your questions about COVID-19. Learn how you can protect yourself and your family. To maximize safety and minimize the number of people in the s...

How do doctors figure out what is wrong with a person and how they can be treated effectively? Traditionally, medicine has put great emphasis on the patient’s history, which usually means the patient has to tell a story. What hurts? When did it start? What happened next? One drawback of the way medicine is currently practiced is that doctors don’t feel they have the time to listen to patients&#821...

Mental health problems cause widespread disability in today’s world. Large numbers of people suffer with depression or severe anxiety. While these ailments are real, we may not be considering their causes carefully enough. Our guest, Dr. Daniel Amen, suggests that the trouble underlying most mental illness is disrupted brain function–poor brain health. SPECT Scans of the Brain: Dr. Amen has been u...

Stress is nearly ubiquitous in modern life. We all know it isn’t healthy, but we may not have a lot of tools for escaping or alleviating it. People under stress may feel they don’t have enough time for yoga. Just trying to meditate may send their minds spinning into overdrive about everything waiting to be done. Can we use mindfulness and yoga to help us age gracefully? Yoga for Pain Relief: Carol...

In our modern world, many people have become disconnected from the source of their food. Unlike our distant ancestors, who hunted and foraged for their meals, or even our great-grandparents who raised their food on farms, most folks now eat out of the supermarket. Following a diet full of highly processed foods can result poor health due to chronic disease. But that is not the only consequence of...

Diagnosis is a crucial first step for medical treatment. In some situations, recognizing the condition as soon as possible makes a big difference in the outcome. However, doctors may have difficulty with certain diagnoses. If patients can help recognize when they are in trouble and ask questions, certain hard-to-diagnose conditions may be identified more quickly. The Challenge of Hard-to-Diagnose...

Why is nutrition advice so controversial? Often, it seems as if food fights are the fiercest disagreements in medicine. Have you had trouble making sense of changing nutritional guidelines? Changing Nutritional Guidelines: For years, nutrition scientists have been telling us that people who eat red meat are putting their health in danger. Then a few months ago, researchers published a handful of a...

Have your pharmacy bills been going up? When Consumer Reports surveyed its readers, 30 percent of them reported that their cost for a drug they take on a regular basis rose during 2019. About 12 percent of readers said their costs had soared by at least $100. What is going on here, and how can you save money on medicines that you need? No Caps on Drug Prices: An article in the January issue of Con...

Low thyroid function is a very common problem, affecting an estimated 20 million Americans. That is nearly 12 percent of the population. Most doctors are convinced that all they need is one lab test–TSH–and one medication–levothyroxine–to treat hypothyroidism. Why don’t all patients agree? The Problem with Thyroid Treatment: The thyroid gland produces at least two essential hormones that your body...

People who have suffered with back pain for a long time may be told that spine surgery is their last resort. But far too often, spine surgery does not relieve back pain. Sometimes, people even feel worse afterwards. How can you tell if spine surgery would be right for you? Mark Owens’s Story: Mark Owens lived a life of adventure as a wildlife scientist in remote regions of Africa. But when he retu...

Angiogenesis–the growth and development of blood vessels in the body–may seem like an obscure topic. However, angiogenesis is a critical phase in the development of tumors. If it can be blocked when it is inappropriate, we don’t get cancer. If not, we may need all the resources of modern oncology to help us recover. Is there a way we can use food as medicine to regulate angiogenesis? Oncologists h...

You may have heard about antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They can greatly complicate the treatment of infections. But have you ever heard of antifungal-resistant fungus? Infectious disease experts knew nothing about a scary fungus, Candida auris, less than two decades ago. It has acquired resistance to a number of potent antifungal medications. Consequently, it now poses threats of hard-to-treat in...

For centuries, people have been using home remedies as their first treatment for common ailments. With easy access to over-the-counter drugs, though, people have turned away from home remedies in the last several decades. There are still plenty of inexpensive options that work well, however. Which are your favorite home remedies? Apple Cider Vinegar: One ever-popular remedy, apple cider vinegar, s...

A national survey just a few years ago showed that Americans fear losing their vision more than they fear losing a limb, their hearing, their ability to speak or even their memory ( Scott et al, JAMA Ophthalmology, October 2016 ). What do you know about how to take good care of your eyesight? What Can You Do About Dry Eyes? Dry eye is a very common condition with multiple possible causes. Tears ha...

If you like to cook, you are no doubt aware that favorite recipes change with the times, just like fashions in clothing. But a lot of Americans don’t like to cook. They may not have tried acquiring the skills or even more likely, they don’t have the time to do anything very complicated in the kitchen. Relying on processed foods may be convenient, but it isn’t very healthy. Is there a way for famil...

Last summer, a major review of research on supplements to improve heart health concluded that most do nothing to prevent heart attacks, strokes or premature death from cardiovascular causes ( Annals of Internal Medicine , Aug. 6, 2019 ). In other words, they are a waste of time and money. (The possible exceptions include omega-3 fats and folate.) This meta-analysis got an enormous amount of attent...

The People’s Pharmacy radio show and podcast appreciates support from its sponsors. One of our sponsors is KayaBiotics , a German company that makes high-quality probiotics from all-organic ingredients. Germany exercises rigorous oversight of supplement manufacturing, and we are pleased that our listeners can purchase such products. The pandemic interrupted supply chains and manufacturing fo...

When you get sick, you need a diagnosis. If the diagnosis is wrong, the treatment won’t be appropriate. What happens when doctors make diagnostic errors? We talk with a leader in the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine about his recent research. What Diagnostic Errors Are Most Serious? Clinicians make an estimated 12 million diagnostic errors every year, although the number might be even high...

Every day, an average of 750 senior Americans are hospitalized as a result of medication reactions and interactions. Part of the problem is that as we grow older and accumulate more health conditions, we also end up with longer lists of prescription drugs for them. In addition, many of us also take medicines to prevent problems, such as statins to lower our cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart...