Editor's Note: This is a web-only sidebar accompanying "Secrets and Ghosties and Hype: How Pfizer and the rest of Big Pharma lure us off label," a print-only feature written by Jeannette Cooperman and published as part of our ongoing Healthy Living series.
Drs. Nimita Varga and Jill Sailors, assistant professors of pharmacy practice at St. Louis College of Pharmacy, give this advice for navigating the world of prescription drugs:
- Seek a second physician’s opinion if possible. Ask your pharmacist or call the St. Louis College of Pharmacy at 800-278-5267.
- Find out how long this drug’s been on the market and how often it’s prescribed for this particular off-label purpose. What are the most common side effects? The most dangerous? What should you watch for as you begin taking it? How long should it take to show an effect? Have there been any related deaths? How much data exists? How many participants were in the studies? Who was excluded? Who conducted the studies? Were the findings published in reputable journals?
- Get a simple blood test to check on your liver and kidney function—then ask how this drug’s metabolized. If you have weak kidney function, ask if this drug passes through the kidneys.
- Consider your family history. Are there any genetic predispositions toward the conditions you might be risking? If your history’s riddled with heart problems and strokes, for example, hormone-replacement therapy might not be worth the risk.
- Don’t trust information off the Internet. You’ll probably Google anyway, so trust .edu (college and university) sites, and as a general rule, avoid .com (commercial) sites. Know where the information’s coming from: DrugDigest is an Express Scripts site, for example, but it’s independently staffed by faculty from St. Louis College of Pharmacy. For off-label information, try the National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health site.
