Back Pain and Painkillers

Approx. million Americans suffer from back pain every year. Continuous pain can disturb your daily routine.

Most of the people (suffering from mild pain) prefer to take over-the-counter painkillers or treat it with home remedies such as using a hot water bottle or ice pack bag on the affected area. If you have more severe pain, you should consult your doctor immediately. Your doctor may prescribe an opioid pain reliever like oxycodone (OxyContin), morphine, hydrocodone (Hysingla ER), or codeine.

“Approx. 1 in 5 people who see a doctor for chronic pain get an opioid prescription.”

Side Effects Of Painkillers

These drugs offer temporary relief and are quite strong. Taking opioids for a long time can lead to potential side effects. Here are some of the problems that you might face with long-term use of opioids.

• Tolerance – It is a stage when your body gets so used to the drug and you need to take more dose of that medicine to get relief from pain.  
• Physical dependence - It is a constant need by your body for the drug, even if you don’t have any pain. Stopping the drug leads to withdrawal symptoms like chills, trouble sleeping, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
• Acetaminophen overdose: Taking too much of an opioid with acetaminophen can damage your liver and lead to organ failure.
• Addiction – Addiction is craving for the drug and not able to stop yourself from taking it. Some people get so addicted that they start trying different-different ways to get opioids such as seeing multiple doctors and lying to doctor about their pain to get painkillers.

Taking too much of these drugs could be deadly. Approx. 90 Americans die due to opioid overdose every day.

How To Avoid Addiction

One of the best ways to avoid drug addiction is to try non-medication pain relief methods. The pain relief methods include yoga, tai chi, exercise, mind-body techniques, heat and ice, and more. You can also prefer taking non-opioid painkillers such as NSAIDs (Motrin, Advil). If you're still in pain, it's better to consult with your doctor. Your doctor can help you get the best relief and avoid complications. Your healthcare provider may prescribe a low dose of painkillers to you. Just make sure that you follow your doctor’s prescription. These painkillers are quite expensive so don’t forget to use free prescription cards to buy painkillers.

Neck Pain Prescription Medications You Need To Know About

Have you been suffering from pain around the shoulders and neck region? Having a hard time figuring out the cause behind your neck pain? Let us help you understand what neck pain better and what kind of prescription medications you can take to treat your neck pain.

The neck is made up of bones, ligaments and muscles that supports movement of your head. The neck vertebrae connects your skull to your upper body. There are cervical discs that helps in absorbing the shocks between the bones. Any inflammation, injury or abnormality in the bones can result in neck pain orstiffness.

Common Causes Of Neck Pain

Most of the people experience neck pain or stiffness due to poor posture or sleeping in an awkward position. Neck pain can also be caused due to an injury such as from a fall, contact sports, or weight lifting etc.

Usually, neck pain due to posture issues isn’t considered as a serious condition and easily be relieved in two to three days. If you feel neck pain that continue even after posture correction and avoiding triggers that causes pain, you need to consult a doctor. A neck pain that prolongs more than a week, along with other symptoms such as headache, temperature, vomiting or nausea, needs immediate medical attention.

Medications That Can Help With Neck Pain

Medications can help relieve neck pain and reduce inflammation of the soft tissues. There are pain relievers, muscle relaxants and OTC medications that are commonly used to treat neck pain. But you must note that these are not well-proven treatments.

Here are some OTC (Nonprescription) pain relievers that you can use:-

• Creams or gels: Bengay – It can be rubbed onto the neck for pain relief. It is easily available over the counter.
• Acetaminophen: Tylenol can help reduce pain.
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: Ibuprofen (Advil) or naproxen (Aleve) are also easily available over the counter that helps in relieving pain and reduce inflammation.

Important Note: Don’t forget to read the medication label carefully before using it. Ensure to follow instructions on the label.

Here are some Prescription pain relievers that you can use:-

• Muscle relaxants: They can be used to treat severe neck pain and muscle spasms. They are generally preferred for localized and acute neck pain.
• Narcotics: These pain relievers are used to treat extreme short-term neck pains.
• Antidepressants: They are mostly prescribed by doctors to treat chronic pain.
• Corticosteroid injections: Although they are not usually used for neck pain but they can be tried if there symptoms of pain and numbness spreading towards arms. It suggests a nerve root issue and corticosteroid injection can help with radiculopathy.

For prescription medication, it is important consult with your doctor. These medicines do cost high and some may find it hard to afford. You can use a Prescription discount card to help you get the medication at discounted prices.

Beware Of Buying Your Medicines Online

The internet enables consumers to buy all sorts of products online, including over the counter medicines and prescription medicines. Some sites are legitimate. However, there are some sites that don’t follow FDA rules, which means if you order from that site, you have the risk of buying fake, poor quality, out-of-date, or unsafe medicines. So if you’re going to buy your medicines online, make sure to consider these factors:

• Talk to your health-care provider to know whether a particular medicine is suitable for you.
• If you want to buy your medicines online, ask your healthcare provider to recommend you some online pharmacies.
• Avoid websites that offer to sell you prescription medicines without a prescription.

Why People Buy Their Medicines Online?

People prefer to buy their medications online as they can buy medicines there at lesser prices. However, some of them receive counterfeit medicines as they’ve ordered medicines from non-legitimate websites. So if you don’t want to be in a trap of these non-legitimate sites, make sure to do proper research about the site from where you’re going to order your website. However, you can also buy medicines at cheap prices from various pharmacies. For this, you just need to show a free prescription discount card to your pharmacist while buying your medicines. These free Rx are free to download.

Free Prescription Discount Cards

Saving on prescription medications has never been easier in the US. But by using free Rx cards, you can save up to 70-85% on your prescription medicines. These cards offer discounts on most of the FDA approved generic as well as brand-name drugs.  The cards are perfect to use for over-the-counter drugs, prescription medicines, and medical supplies if prescribed by a doctor in the form of prescription. You can also use these cards to get a discount on your pet medicines.  The Rx cards are accepted at over 50,000 pharmacies nationwide.

5 Ways To Save Money On Prescription Drugs

Did you know that around half of the Americans are using prescription drug to treat some kind of health disorder. If you are also on prescription drugs, you might have noticed how expensive they are and the price keeps on rising. Here are 6 ways to save money on your prescription drugs.

1. Medication Storage – You should store your medications at a dry and cold place. Keep your prescription medications away from hot and moist areas. It tends to reduce the efficiency of the drug and its shell life. If your prescription medication costs high, you must store them properly. Doing this will help you avoid rebut of the same medicine.
2. Compare Medication Prices – You should visit different pharmacies around your area to compare the medication prices. You can also check the prices online medical stores and see if they offer discounts on ordering a 30- or 90-day supply of medication. Some websites offer prescription discount cards online. Get a free Drug Discount Card Download and take it to a pharmacy next time.
3. Get Sample Medication From Your Physician – Generally doctors keep drug samples in their clinics. You can ask your doctor for 10 - 14 days medication. You can also get sample medication from magazine promotions or online deals. Most medication manufactures offer a free 30-day trial or a coupon for a medication. However, be wary of the prices of these medications. It might cost a lot after the trial period is over.
4. Switch To Generic Medications – You can always switch to generic medications as they are cheap as compared to brand name drugs. You can ask your doctor to prescribe generic drugs so that you can save a lot of money.
5. Contact The Medication Company – If you don’t qualify for state or federal discount programs, get in touch with pharmaceutical companies. They usually run patient-assistance programs for the needy. You can get enrolled to such a program and get medication without paying any money.

7 Facts About Heart Disease In The US

Do you know, heart disease is the leading cause of deaths in the US. To avoid such situation, it’s really important to keep a check on your heart condition regularly. Moreover, make sure to undergo complete body checkup once or twice a year to avoid such situation. Here are more facts about heart disease that you must know.

¹⁾                Every year approx. 610,000 people die of heart disease in the US i.e., 1 in every 4 deaths.

²⁾                Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of heart disease. It kills more than 370,000 people every year.

3)      High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. About half of Americans (47%) have at least one of these three risk factors. The various other medical conditions and lifestyle choices that increases the risk of heart disease are:  

·         Overweight and obesity

·         Physical inactivity

·         Diabetes

·         Poor diet

·         Excessive alcohol use

4)      About 47% of sudden cardiac deaths occur outside a hospital. This means that many people are not able to recognize the early symptoms of heart disease and don’t act on them. .

5)      In a 2005 survey, the major symptom of heart attack was chest pain. Approx. 92% of the experience chest pain before heart attack. Only 27% of the respondents were aware of all major symptoms and knew to call 9-1-1 when someone was having a heart attack.

6)      Between 70% and 89% of sudden cardiac events occur in men.

7)      Heart disease costs the United States about $200 billion each year, including the cost of medications, health care services, and lost productivity.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US. It’s because of the expensive medicines. Most of the people avoid taking heart disease medicines as they’re quite expensive. If any member of your family or any of your friend is suffering from heart disease, tell them to use free prescription discount cards to buy their prescription medications, These Rx cards will help them to get medications at low prices. 

3 Prescription Drugs To Treat Constipation

Most of the people prefer to treat chronic constipation with natural remedies.  Taking a proper ‘fruits and vegetables’ diet, minimum eight cups of water a day c and exercise along with over the counter laxatives can help to treat chronic constipation. If in case over-the-counter laxatives such as Colace, Metamucil, Milk of Magnesia, and Citrucel don't help, make sure to consult with your healthcare provider.

Here are some prescription drugs that you can use to treat your chronic constipation are:

1)   Lactulose – Lactulose is a prescription laxative available with a variety of brand names such as Duphalac, Chronulac, Cephula, and more, used in the treatment of constipation.  Lactulose draws water into the bowel to soften the stool. However, lactulose overdose can lead to various side effects such as diarrhea, gas, stomach cramps, and upset stomach etc.

2)    Linaclotide – Linaclotide is an FDA approved drug with a trade name Linzess. You can take this drug once in a day on an empty stomach, prior 30 minutes your first meal of the day. It helps relieve constipation by helping bowel movements occur more often. This drug is not recommended for children of age 17 years and younger. The most common side effect of Linzess is diarrhea.

3) Lubiprostone – Lubiprostone is an FDA approved drug used to treat chronic constipation. It is marketed in the US with a trade name of Amitiza. Amitiza softens the stool by increasing its water content in the bowel, so the stool can pass easily. You can take this medicine twice in a day with your food. Various side effects that you might experience with Lubiprostone are headache, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.

If you’re suffering from chronic constipation and your doctor has prescribed any of these prescription drugs, you can use free prescription discount cards to buy your medications. These Rx cards will help you buy your medications without burning a hole in your pocket.

Symptoms Of Drug Overdose

Drug overdoses can be accidental or intentional. They occur when an individual takes medicine more than the recommended dose. 

Accidental overdoses result from either a young child or an adult swallows a medication mistakenly, or mistakenly ingest the incorrect medication, or take the wrong dose of a medication. 

Intentional overdoses are for a desired effect, either to get high or to harm oneself.

Drug Overdose Symptoms:

Different medications have different side effects on the body and side effects may vary from person to person. There are chances that large overdoses of some medications cause only minimal effects, while smaller overdoses of other medications can cause severe effects, resulting in death. A single dose of some medications can be lethal an individual. Some overdoses may worsen a person's chronic disease. Here are some drug overdose symptoms that you must need to know:

• Confusion, sleepiness, and coma (when someone cannot be aroused) are the most common symptoms.
• Cool and sweaty skin, or hot and dry skin.
• Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea are possible. Vomiting blood, or blood in bowel movements, can be life threatening.
• Shortness of breath, chest pain due to heart or lung damage. Breathing may get slow, rapid, shallow, or deep.
• Specific drugs can damage specific organs, depending on the drug.

To avoid drug overdose, make sure to take your medicines as prescribed by your doctor. When you fill your prescription at the pharmacy, make sure that your pharmacist must have the same information as your doctor regarding your medications and past reactions you have had. You can also buy your medicines by using free prescription discount cards. This will help you to keep a check on your medicines. Moreover, this free Rx card can help you a lot of money your prescription drugs. You can avail these card easily from your nearest pharmacies.