The Essential Guide To Prescription Drugs 1999 (Serial)

The Essential Guide to Prescription Drugs has been used for 20 years by informed consumers interested in obtaining full information about the drugs they take. Revised annually to help consumers stay abreast of continual innovations in drug therapy, each edition continues to provide the detailed profiles of prescription drug information readers have come to expect, and to rely on.

The organization of the entries offers great depth of information in the drug profiles provided. Different medical conditions as well as other drugs taken concurrently often require dosing adjustments, a factor addressed in all of the drug profiles. If you or a family member suffers liver or kidney compromise, for instance, you'll learn how medication dose or frequency may need to be adjusted to help avoid dangerous and unnecessary toxic drug reactions.

Ongoing research helps expand and shape our understanding of how medications work. In "The Leading Edge" Dr. Rybacki makes readers aware of promising new medications awaiting FDA approval, and in "True Breakthroughs" he describes drugs recently approved by the FDA as well as new uses that have been discovered.

Each of the more than 300 drug profiles opens with an informational box outlining the benefits and risks of the drug, followed by information on available dosage forms and strengths, the principal use of the drug when prescribed as a single ingredient and as a component of a combination drug, the advisability of use during pregnancy or when nursing, adverse effects and common side effects, and much more.

Also included in The Essential Guide is a 16-page insert showing color photographs of many of the profiled prescription drugs at their actual size.

While no book can be substituted for the professional judgment of a doctor, The Essential Guide to Prescription Drugs does offer the information consumers need to take today's complex and potent drugs intelligently, safely, and effectively.

The Essential Guide to Prescription Drugs provides more detailed and comprehensive information on the most important drugs in current use than any other reference source available to the general public. It includes suggestions for how consumers can lower their prescription costs and other medical expenses as well as tips for how pharmacists and physicians can control medical costs, making it a resource doctors, pharmacists and other health care professionals will want to consult as well. Within each drug profile, you'll find:

The benefits versus the risks of the drug highlighted in an easy-to-read, quick reference box

The genetic and brand names of the drugs, including whether the drug is available generically

The principle uses of the drug

How the drug works

How safe it is to take, including the possible risks of taking it

Possible effects of the drugs on sexual function

Whether it's safe to use if you're pregnant or breastfeeding

Precautions to take if you're over 60

James J. Rybacki, Pharm.D., President of the Clearwater Group, an international therapeutic research and management concern, is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, serves on the steering committee of the Society for Clinical Densitometry helping define the role of bone measurement and use of new medicines in osteoporosis, is an editor for the Drugdex Drug Information System and is a member of Bristol-Myers Squibb's Distinguished Faculty in HIV. In addition, Dr. Rybacki is the original host of "The Pharmacist Minute," a radio program heard in more than 140 countries around the world.