Drug Side Effects: A Top-10 List

"Top 10 Weirdest Prescription Drug Side Effects"
Shanna Freeman, Medications, Medicine, Guides, Discovery Health

"Most of us take prescription drugs -- drugs that, by law, must be prescribed by a doctor -- at some point in our lives. If all goes well, the drug works for you as it's supposed to. But there's no 'magic bullet,' or drug that works the same for everyone without any risks or side effects. A side effect is basically an unintended occurrence that results from taking a drug. Side effects can be good or bad, depending on how you use the drug. For example, antihistamines, used to help with allergy symptoms like itchy eyes and sneezing, have the side effect of making you feel very sleepy. If you're having trouble sleeping, this side effect is great. If you need to deal with your allergies as well as drive your car or function at your job, however, it's bad...."

Don't let the long paragraphs scare you away. There's some interesting stuff here: from "Weird Side Effect 10: Amnesia" through "Weird Side Effect 7: Colored Urine" and "Weird Side Effect 6: Hallucinations," to "Weird Side Effect 1: Birth Defects." Remember thalidomide?

The Lemming thinks that some of the "weird" side effects are not so much weird as destructive. Like "Weird Side Effect 2: Suicidal Ideation" and "Weird Side Effect 3: Compulsive Behavior."

Which is not to say that these are "bad" drugs. Sometimes a there's a medical condition that's worse than the possible side effect - in which case the patient and doctor should do a benefit/risk assessment and make a decision. An informed decision.

Only Persons of Inferior Breeding Need Drugs?

The Lemming wasn't at all sure about claims that some drugs could induce compulsive behavior or 'make someone commit suicide.'

Until I started reading up on the matter.

We think with our brain: a few pounds of neurons and glial cells, blood vessels and support structures. It's a complicated mass of bio-electrical circuitry that depends on a rather fine-tuned set of chemicals.

When the chemical mix isn't quite right - the circuits don't work quite right.

The Lemming Gets Personal

We're able to work around malfunctioning or damaged circuits - but it takes effort. It helps if we're aware that it's a problem in the circuits.

I haven't experienced drug-induced compulsive behavior, but I do take the chemical component of human behavior seriously: for fairly personal reasons.

Several years ago I discovered that I had major depression. My guess is that I've been dealing with it ever since I hit my teens. Working with a psychiatrist, I'm taking a set of drugs that keeps the chemical balance in my brain closer to spec than its been in decades.

I could deal with that reality in several ways, including:

1. Thumping my manly chest and saying that I don't need no help
   • No how
   • No way
2. Rolling my eyes up and saying that I'll rely on no man's aid
   • And 'trusting God'
3. Taking my medicine

All things considered, option #3 seemed like the most sensible. It's not that I don't 'trust God:' but I figure I've got some responsibility for maintaining my health. (A Catholic Citizen in America (February 25, 2010)

Don't Need Drugs? Great!

The use of medications came up in an online community the Lemming's in. One of the folks there stated that he didn't need some crutch to stay mentally fit and all that. He's probably right. Good for him.

Not everybody is like that. Given a choice, I wouldn't have spent most of my adult life dragging myself through most days, chugging a dozen cups of strong coffee to stay moderately alert.

I'm glad that there are folks who don't need 'crutches.' But, for those who do: I'm glad that there are ways to deal with the ills we experience.

The Lemming is not going to accuse someone with a physical malady of having insufficient moral virtue. And that's another topic.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "They Saved Einstein's Brain"
  (June 2, 2010)
• "Medication for Depression? Yeah: The Catholic Church is Okay With That"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (February 25, 2010)
• "Bong Water and an Un-Groovy Minnesota Court"
  (October 23, 2009)
• "The Brain: Things We Know That Just Aren't So"
  (September 29, 2009)
• " 'You Will Forget' - The Doctor Will Fix You Now?"
  (April 13, 2009)

Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs and Military Research

"Pentagon to Troop-Killing Superbugs: Resistance is Futile"
Danger Room, Wired (May 24, 2010)

"A super-germ that's become a lethal threat to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may have met its match in a novel technique that kills entire bacterial colonies within hours.

"Today's troops have a 9 in 10 chance of surviving their battle injuries. But wounds and amputation sites leave them vulnerable to infection, especially by Acinetobacter — an opportunistic pathogen (somewhat-misleadingly) nicknamed 'Iraqibacter' for its prevalence in war-zone medical facilities. As Wired Magazine reported in 2007, the bacteria has infected at least 700 American troops since 2003, and killed at least 7 people exposed to it in military clinics.

"Iraqibacter was once treated with common, easy-to-access antibiotic drugs. But in the last few years, the bacteria have developed a powerful resistance to all but one medication, called Colistin, that's got a bit of a nasty side effect: potentially fatal kidney damage.

"And since the illness afflicts relatively few people, Big Pharma companies aren't exactly lining up to develop new drugs...."

So far, nothing remarkable: This article looked like it was going to be another one of those hand-wringing specials about heartless big corporations, and all that.

Here's the next paragraph. Get ready for a surprise:

"...But a Pentagon-funded research team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, along with small biotech firm PolyMedix, are making rapid strides toward a new line of Iraqibacter treatments — and the medications could spur the development of antibiotics that can fend off other drug-resistant ailments.

" 'We didn't set out to create a mechanism that could be applied to other illnesses,' Dr. Gregory Tew, the UMass scientist behind the project, told Danger Room. 'But it's an impressive and exciting bonus that's come of our work.'

"The scientists have already used the new type of antibiotics to effectively treat Staph infections, which kill thousands of Americans each year. Common antibiotics work by attaching to a specific molecule (like an enzyme) inside bacterial cells. With some minor adaptive changes, bacteria can alter their cell structure to prevent antibiotic binding, thereby becoming resistant to the drugs. Some infections even develop 'persister cells,' which stop growing when the antibiotics are administered, and then turn back on once a round of meds is completed.

"But Tew and co. have developed antibiotics that work from the outside to quickly destroy bacterial cells...."

Essentially, the new drugs don't make small-scale changes in the bacteria: they poke holes in the cell membranes, killing them instantly. And, short of growing the microbial equivalent of chain mail, there doesn't seem to be much the germs can do about it.

Given the resilient nature of disease organisms, I suspect that eventually there may be a super-duper-superbug that'll have that 'chain mail.' But that's another issue.

Right now, it looks like a whole lot of people will be living, who would have died otherwise. And, incredible as it may seem for someone immersed in America's dominant culture, we have the American military to thank.

Whaddaya know.

A slightly longer version of this post appeared in another of my blogs:

• "Antibiotic-Resistant Superbug: The American Military Did Something Right?!"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (May 24, 2010)

Bong Water and an Un-Groovy Minnesota Court

"Minn. court: Bong water can count as illegal drug"
The Associated Press (October 22, 2009)

"In Minnesota, bong water can count as an illegal drug...."

Like, how un-groovy! This isn't the, like, sixties, any more, is it?

There was a dissenting opinion in the court, and I haven't made up my own mind about the decision. This has made national news, though, one way or another:

• "Minn.: Bong Water Can Get You in Hot Water"
  The Associated Press, via CBS News (October 22, 2009)
• "Bong Water Can Be Illegal Drug, Minnesota Court Rules"
  The Associated Press, via FOXNews (October 23, 2009)
  • With quite a bit more than the snippet AP had under its own flag

FOXNews's AP article ends with "...'They're treating Ms. Peck, who had two tablespoons of bong water, as if she were a major drug wholesaler,' he said.

"Delapena said Peck's case now goes back to the trial court, where he said prosecutors could use the ruling to try to extract a guilty plea to a more serious offense with a stiffer sentence than a $300 fine on a petty misdemeanor. He laughed at the suggestion that it means dope smokers should empty their bongs promptly.

" 'I wouldn't presume to draw that lesson,' he said. 'I would just stick with the legal lessons.'..."

Like I said, I haven't made up my mind about this decision - not that my opinion would make a whit of difference.

On the one hand, although bong water can be used to get a secondary high - water is a marvelous solvent - considering the water-to-dope ratio, counting bong water as a controlled substance - and using the weight of the water to determine amount - seems a trifle extreme.

On the other hand, I don't - in general - approve of people using chemicals to mess with their brains. That includes alcohol. I'm not a teetotaler, but I don't think that drinking to get drunk is a good idea.

Which makes me hopelessly un-hip, grossly un-groovy, and definitely not on Professor Leary's cheering squad.

The Lemming Needs Drugs - But It's Not What You May Think

I recently ran into some folks who announced that they would never have a problem with alcoholism, because they were happy, sensible, self-controlled people with no need for something to buffer them from the world.

I'm happy for them.

Me? Like I say, I'm not a teetotaler, but I did have a very real problem with alcohol abuse a few decades back. Not diagnosable alcoholism, but close enough to get my attention.

About those magic mushrooms and other magic carpet rides? I never felt a need to "turn on, tune in, drop out" - no great virtue on my part. The way my brain is wired, all I have to do is take my foot off the brake: and I get all the trips I need.

Have Kids? Don't Want Them to Do Drugs? Time To Talk Can Help

"Time To Talk the conversation starts here"

"Talking to your kids about the risks of drugs and alcohol is important and it isn’t as hard as you think. By having regular conversations with your children, they are up to 50% less likely to use. We’re here to help make talking even easier. We’ve got free, easy-to-use, research-based tools and tips to help you have ongoing conversations with your kids to keep them healthy and drug-free."

Sounds like a good idea.

Bonds, Bones, Byrd - What's the Big Deal?

I tie this debacle into the Internet and technology, but mostly this post is a rant.

"Mitchell Report List" is one of dozens of headlines with the same news.

Sixty Major League baseball players have either used or possessed steroids, twenty four were cited for "Alleged Internet Purchases of Performance Enhancing Substances By Players in Major League Baseball."

There was surprisingly little overlap between the two lists.

Fox News ("Bonds, Clemens, Tejada Named in Mitchell Report") gave a link to
"REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER OF BASEBALL
OF AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO
THE ILLEGAL USE OF STEROIDS AND OTHER
PERFORMANCE ENHANCING SUBSTANCES
BY PLAYERS IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL"

Why All This Fuss?

Why focus on steroids? Today's athlete and role model has a impressive menu of performance-enhancing drugs to choose from.

• Human Growth Hormones
  • Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG)
  • Luteinizing Hormone (LH)
  • Human Growth Hormone (hGH)
  • Insulin-Like Growth Factor (IGF-1)
  • Insulin
• Drugs to Increasing Oxygen in Tissues
  • Protein Hormones
  • Artificial Oxygen Carriers
  • Blood Doping (A charming process of pumping whole blood into a fully-loaded "athlete"
• Masking Pain
  • Narcotics (like morphine, methadone and heroin - groovy!)
  • Protein Hormones
  • Cortisone
  • Local Anesthetics

With athletes flying high and feeling no pain, it seems to me that steroid abuse may not be the sports world's top drug problem.

Is anyone really surprised?

Records get broken: but the spectacular performance - and physiques - of contemporary athletes makes more sense, when you realize that many of them were conditioned, pumped up, and bombed out of their gourd when they did their superman routines.

It seems that it takes more than Gatorade and better bats to live up to today's athletic standards.

This isn't a drug problem: It's a culture problem First, there's an 'ethics-be-damned,' 'win at any cost,' attitude that's unhealthy on the field, and off.

Remember, about two years ago, when a half-dozen football players whizzed on someone's lawn in an eastern suburb of Minneapolis? Probably not.

In a way, the Vikings party wasn't such a big deal. Seventeen football players rented two charter boats on Lake Minnetonka and shipped prostitutes up from Florida, but not all of the sports figures performed sex acts in front of the boats' crews. And, presumably, not all were involved in spreading condoms, sex toys, and urine on the lawns of people living near the lake.

Hey, "boys will be boys," right? Wrong, but it's going to take an enormous change in many people's attitudes to hold "stars" to the same standards that we follow.

I think the big question is:

Why are these doped-up doofuses still regarded as "roll models?"

---

Back to something interesting.

Thanks to the Internet, we can read the Mitchell Report ourselves, instead of depending on what some sequence of reporters and editors decided to publish.

And, you think high-flying/high-living athletes are something? You ain't seen nuthin' yet. Ten years or so from now, some report may "reveal" that the top-performing athletes in some sport had a little help:

• Remote-control injectors inside their chests, that shoot game-appropriate drugs directly into their bloodstream when the coach thinks they need a little boost
• Little, tiny, boxes in their heads, connected to their limbic system, dentate gyrus, nucleus accumbens, and anything else it takes to make them enjoy the sensation of getting bones broken.
• Titanium splints, or something of that sort, strung along their bones so that, even if a bone breaks, they can stay in the game

Far fetched? Considering what these sports dudes and their handlers are willing to do today, I'm not so sure.

Okay. The rant is over now.