8
votes
Accepted
What abbreviations for pill types are there, and what do they mean?
Since I am assuming that you are obtaining generic drugs, the word after tab or cap is the brand that made the drug. Auro is Aurobindo, Shir is Shire, Sand is Sandoz, and Solc is Solco. Sunp/Sun is ...
8
votes
Accepted
After a dog bite, why are vaccines given in multiple injections rather than a single injection containing multiple vaccines?
Brief background
There are 2 major types of vaccines, passive and active vaccines. Passive vaccines are simply "antibodies" to fight off disease and active vaccines are "dead/weakened/...
- 828
7
votes
Accepted
Top medications to treat symptoms of Lupus?
Your question is difficult to answer (but still interesting) because lupus is a highly heterogeneous condition which can present various symptoms and organ involvement. Choice of therapy will be ...
- 3,194
7
votes
What can the variability of strength be between different brands of supposedly identical medications?
The range where the content of the active substance varies by 60% is way to wide in every country.
In most of the world's pharmacopoeias, both national and international, the allowed variability in ...
- 2,833
6
votes
Accepted
Why is hydrocortisone mixed with clotrimazole in anti-fungal medication?
Hydrocortisone is a steroid anti-inflammatory used by itself to treat dermatitis and other inflammatory symptoms.
The combined treatment gives symptom relief at the same time as treating the ...
- 13.8k
6
votes
Accepted
What does B.D means in a Doctor's Prescription?
As @LangLangC pointed out, bis in die is Latin for twice a day.
However, usually drugs come with a prescription information a bit more elaborate, and twice a day is more commonly abbreviated as B.I....
- 6,772
6
votes
Accepted
Are drugs not approved by the FDA allowed to be prescribed?
The FDA regulates manufacturers of drugs, not physicians, with respect to the drug approval process.
US law does not prevent physicians from prescribing unapproved substances (presuming they aren't ...
- 13.8k
5
votes
What can the variability of strength be between different brands of supposedly identical medications?
Generic drugs do not need to conduct the same phase-3 clinical trials as the initial registration studies, instead they have to meet a few requirements (same active ingredient, same drug concentration ...
- 6,772
5
votes
What can the variability of strength be between different brands of supposedly identical medications?
Country - United States
While theoretically possible, a consistent variance of 30% is highly unlikely and it is probable that the actual variance will vary from brand to brand, as well as from ...
- 141
5
votes
Splitting pills in half
Yes, it's true, or at least it might be true for any given pill. In the US, the FDA specifically approves splitting of pills only when the manufacturer plans for it by including it in their drug ...
- 9,753
5
votes
Accepted
Gastrointestinal effect of EC/DR vs. plain naproxen
Summary: There are studies showing a difference in gastrointestinal problems and studies where no difference was observed. At least some of the effect it has on the stomach is not related to whether ...
- 6,982
5
votes
Are drugs not approved by the FDA allowed to be prescribed?
@BryanKrause's answer is correct. To add a little more, rules and regulations for physicians are primarily set by the state medical board and state legislature. States are different in the particulars,...
- 3,188
5
votes
Accepted
Does "400 mg orally twice daily" mean "800 mg of drug per day"?
Yes, and that the recommended interval for dosage is twice daily.
The convention for BID (twice daily) dosing is to write "400 mg twice daily" to indicate the dosage at each administration. ...
- 5,784
4
votes
Accepted
Loperamide POM Medication
As Don_S mentioned in comments:
Probably the overall mass of Loperamide in the package. The POM has 60 mg total of Loperamide, while the OTC has 36 mg at most (18 capsules being the largest package ...
- 6,887
3
votes
Is there a significant difference between Xhance vs generic (fluticasone propionate) nasal spray?
I do not recommend constructing your own device to administer fluticasone propionate. Although it is true that there are common mistakes in administration of fluticasone nasal spray, there are some ...
- 5,784
3
votes
Accepted
Why are there different perscriptions for glasses and contacts? Help me see eye to eye on this
Partly the additional sizing information required for contacts (Diameter and curvature of the cornea are needed for contact lenses but not for glasses) and the power also changes because the physical ...
- 1,272
2
votes
Accepted
Help reading an eyeglass prescription: What does "PL" or "PC" mean?
I finally found this:
Plano - PL - This indicates there is no spherical correction in this
eye. A plano lens would have no focusing power or correction to it.
So it's 0.
Source: How to Read and ...
- 151
2
votes
Has something changed making it harder to get 90 day supplies of routine meds?
There are many factors that play a role in not allowing you to fill all the refills at once.
1- a typical insurance will pay for your medication and will not pay again until 2-3 days before you run ...
- 176
2
votes
Accepted
Can a medical doctor write a prescription which has not gone through a formal diagnosis to identify as needed?
Writing a script for someone so you can "get physical" with them is, of course, an ethical problem. As far as prescribing off the cuff for family and close friends, that depends.
It may be quite ...
- 3,188
1
vote
Accepted
Difference between Salt Tablets and Table Salt
Salt that is meant for human consumption refers to sodium chloride. Both table salt and salt tablets contain sodium chloride and not just sodium. They can both contain other naturally present or added ...
- 15.8k
1
vote
Difference between Salt Tablets and Table Salt
According to Thought.co, table salt is 97-99% sodium chloride:
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-table-salt-604008
with common additives being potassium iodide and sodium fluoride, and anti-caking ...
- 1,513
1
vote
Why does anybody still prescribe Citalopram with Escitalopram available (apart from price)?
Edited
From the therapeutic point of view escitalopram and citalopram are the same; the difference between them resides on the isomers, pharmacologically citalopram is named as R,S-citalopram and ...
- 473
1
vote
How do doctors decide on the duration of an antibiotic regimen?
Aside from relying on their extensive training, physicians have therapeutic guidelines based on scientific studies at their disposal. These guidelines are usually issued by a national medical ...
- 2,833
1
vote
Accepted
What is difference between loprox and antifungal cream?
Lets start with the concept of what is Anti-fungal medication "Antifungal medicines are used to treat fungal infections, which are most commonly found on the skin, hair and nails."NHS
As you see ...
- 415
1
vote
Do I need to communicate with my doctor if I don't want to take prescribed MRI?
This is a specific instance of where a physician has ordered a diagnostic test, and after agreeing to do the same, the patient decides for whatever reason not to adhere to their original commitment. ...
- 13.2k
1
vote
Has something changed making it harder to get 90 day supplies of routine meds?
90-day supplies are dominated by mail order pharmacies.
According to the PBMI’s 2014-2015 Prescription Drug Benefit Cost and Plan Design Report, 61% of employers allowed community pharmacies to fill ...
- 117
1
vote
What to do about throat ulcers?
Although no one can diagnose your problem over the internet, this is not uncommon in a number of viral infections, for one example, Herpes Simplex virus (HSV.)
Usually people are exposed to HSV - the ...
- 9,472
1
vote
Are these eyeglass prescriptions the same?
One of those prescriptions is written in plus cylinder form, the other in minus cylinder form. This website describes how to convert between the two
Add the sphere and cylinder powers together; ...
- 6,982
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible