There are approximately 67,000 pharmacies located in the United States, and nearly 70 percent of all Americans take at least one prescription medication on a daily basis. Prescription drugs are a billion dollar industry and can cause serious side effects including addiction. The process of obtaining a prescription medication is not difficult; people can pick […]

The Federal Drug Administration approval for a chewable amphetamine – in what The Fix calls “a tasty, convenient package” – for ADHD children six and older is “a recipe for people to request it and then sell it,” warns Mukund Gnanadesikan, a youth psychiatrist in California. “I’m not a big fan of controlled substances that […]

New research reveals an unexpected danger of chronic pain treatment for those with spinal cord injuries: According to a study published just this year, the combination of an injury and opioid medication to treat the pain can damage the cells of the spinal cord and result in increased pain. Related research has further suggested that […]

Pain is one of the most common reasons individuals seek medical attention. The pain pathway in the brain is complex, and as a result, pain can manifest in multiple ways — such as musculoskeletal pain, visceral pain (lining in the gut) and neuralgia (nerve pain). Treating pain is difficult, and many believe the publicized opioid […]

Last year, major depressive disorders affected roughly 700,000 children between the ages of six and 12, and about 1.5 million teenagers from 13 to 18. Population stats from year 2015 estimate; using percentages thru 2015 seen here: “The researchers conducted a systematic review of all published and unpublished trials looking at the effects of 14 antidepressants in […]

Opioids bind to receptors in the brain. In effect, they trick the brain into thinking the body feels no pain. One of the side effects of this trickery is a feeling of euphoria; therein lies the problem. Individuals become addicted as they try to recapture these euphoric effects. But the brain’s pleasure center becomes desensitized […]

People of a certain age remember thalidomide. Thalidomide was a sedative that was often prescribed to pregnant women during the 1950s. However, doctors soon noticed it had a terrible side effect: Babies born to mothers who had taken the drug were often born with deformities, including phocomelia, a syndrome causing deformed limbs. By some counts, […]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) deem prescription drug abuse in the U.S. an epidemic. In 2014, over 18,000 people fatally overdosed on prescription painkillers. As this article will show, individuals who abuse prescription drugs are at greater risk for having co-occurring mental health issues. Substance use disorders and moods The numbers don’t […]

The worst thing about chronic pain is that it’s private. Outwardly, a person looks fine: There’s no blood, no exposed bones, so what are they complaining about? Pain associated with injury or painful conditions like toothaches is acute pain. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), acute pain acts as a […]