Generic drugs online

How to Use This Site

Principal Uses

A drug may be available as a single drug product or in combination with other drugs. "As a Single Drug Product" tells the primary use(s) of the drug when used alone. The "As a Combination Drug Product [CD]" tells primary use(s) when combined with other drugs in the same "pill." The uses are a consensus in the medical community and current research. Where appropriate, the logic for combining certain drugs is explained.

How This Drug Works

This section tells what a drug does to work. If a specific method of action has not been established, I tell you about the current theory.

Available Dosage Forms and Strengths

This gives you available manufacturers' dosage forms (tablets, capsules, elixirs, etc.) and strengths, without company identification. Dosage forms limited to hospital use are often not included. The entry on dosage forms and strengths in the Glossary can help with those few abbreviations used to describe strengths of each dosage form.

Usual Adult Dosage Range

Dosing information represents a consensus by appropriate authorities and is the currently recommended standard. It is a guide showing how much of the drug can reasonably be expected to be both effective and safe. Under certain circumstances, your doctor may decide to modify the "standard" dose. Some dosage forms are not covered (for example, extemporaneously made suppositories) and may require different doses than those listed.

Conditions Requiring Dosing Adjustments

Medical conditions can actually change the effect a medicine has on your body. This is a fact that is often missed in selecting a dose or dosing interval and can lead to Bad Med Syndrome. For example, people over 60 often have a decline in kidney function. This can mean that drugs stay in their bodies longer than younger patients. It is critical to ask your doctor if any prescribed medicine dose has been adjusted for this agerelated decline in how well your kidneys work.

Dosing Instructions

Food and medicines can fight. Food can actually change how much medicine gets into your body, and this section tells you about them. Sometimes, when medicine is urgently needed, you may have to crush the tablet or open the capsule and mix the contents with a food or beverage. Some medicines should NEVER be crushed or altered in order to give them. This information category identifies those forms of each drug that may and those that should not be changed. Your pharmacist can once again be a great resource.