Prescription Medications and Natural Medicines

This section represents a consumer-oriented information about medications and supplement to help you make the right decisions before you spend your money, so that the treatment you start was sucessfull.

Prescription medicine is a drug requiring a doctor's prescription. The word "prescription" (also called Rx) comes from the Latin "praescriptus" and means "to write before" (prae-, a prefix means before, and scribere, a word root means to write).

Antibiotics (anti-bacterials) are "life-savers" and have saved countless lives worldwide. These are powerful medicines that cure bacterial infections. They either kill bacteria or keep them from reproducing.

• Amoxicillin (Amoxil) belongs to a class of penicillin antibiotics. Amoxicillin is often prescribed for the treatment of infections of the middle ear, tonsils, throat, bronchitis, urinary tract, skin, and gonorrhea.
• Azithromycin (Zithromax Z-pack) is a very popular broad-spectrum macrolide antibiotic used most often to treat respiratory tract infections, skin infections, and sexually transmitted disease chlamydia.
• Cefuroxime (Ceftin), a second-generation cephalosporin antibiotic, indicated for the treatment of a wide variety of bacterial infections of the respiratory tract, urinary tract, bone and joint, meningitis, sepsis and gonorrhea.
• Ciprofloxacin (Cipro), a powerful fluoroquinolone, is frequently used to treat urinary tract infections, lower respiratory tract infections, and bones and joints infections.
• Doxycycline (Doryx, Periostat, Vibramycin) is a tetracycline antibiotic, effective against a broad range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. It is often used to treat urinary tract infections, acne and chlamydia.
• Levofloxacin (Levaquin), a potent fluoroquinolone, is used to treat proven serious and life threatening bacterial infections in adults, such as urinary tract iInfections, pyelonephritis, bronchitis, pneumonia, anthrax.
• Metronidazole (Flagyl) is an anti-infective, antiprotozoal medication used mainly in the treatment of infections caused by anaerobic bacteria and parasites like giardia and ameba.
• Minocycline (Dynacin, Minocin) has a broader spectrum than the other tetracyclines. It is a popular treatment for severe acne.
• Penicillin VK (Penicillin V Potassium, Beepen-VK, Pen-Vee K, Veetids) is used to treat infections, including strep throat, dental infections, middle ear infections, rheumatic fever, scarlet fever, skin infections.

Antidepressants help relieve the symptoms of depression. These medicines are also licensed for the treatment of anxiety disorders, panic attacks, neuropathic pain, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD), manic-depressive disorders, neuropathic pain, and other conditions.

There are several classes of antidepressants and each class works differently and causes different side effects.

• Duloxetine (Cymbalta) is a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, used to treat depression, general anxiety disorder, peripheral diabetic neuropathy and fibromyalgia.
• Trazodone (Desyrel) is a tetracyclic antidepressant with anxiolytic and hypnotic properties. It is often prescribed "off-label" as a sedative for sleep problems.
• Wellbutrin XL (Bupropion HCL Extended-Release), a norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI), is an effective and generally well tolerated antidepressant. It is used for the management of depression, seasonal affective disorder, smoking cessation, and sometimed used "off-label" for weight loss.

Medications for pain management enable people with pain to lead productive lives. The effects of pain medicines are different for different people. Specific types of pain may respond better to one kind of drug than to another. Also, the tolerance of pain varies greatly from one person to another.

Nonopioid and opioid pain relievers (analgesics) are the main drugs used to treat pain. Muscle relaxants, antidepressants, and anticonvulsants may also be used for chronic or neuropathic pain.

Skeletal muscle relaxants are used to treat injury or other painful conditions affecting muscles. These drugs are often prescribed for low back pain and fibromyalgia.

• Butalbital with Acetaminophen and Caffeine (Fioricet) is a strong headache medicine, widely prescribed for tension-type headache and migraines.
• Tramadol (Ultram) is a potent pain reliever used to relieve moderate to moderately severe pain. Tramadol is not classified as a narcotic.
• Carisoprodol (Soma) is a centrally-acting skeletal muscle relaxant, commonly prescribed for the management of back pain and fibromyalgia.
• Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) is a muscle relaxant, usually used to improve quality of sleep and to reduce pain. It suppresses muscle spasms by blocking nerve impulses.
• Gabapentin (Neurontin), an anticonvulsant, was originally developed to prevent seizures. This drug is widely used to treat nerve pain such as postherpetic neuralgia.

Antiviral medications are used for the treatment of viral infections.

Acyclovir, valacyclovir (Valtrex) and famcyclovir (Famvir) are antiviral medicines used to treat herpes simplex virus infections. They work by stopping the virus from replication. However, antivirals don't cure herpes infection - the virus remains in the body.

Antivirals for influenza (flu) are used to treat and prevent the flu. These medications may help to get better a few days faster.

• Acyclovir (Zovirax), a nucleoside analog, is currently one of the most commonly used antiviral medications for the treatment of herpes simplex virus infections and herpes zoster (shingles).
• Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) is used for the treatment and prevention of flu in adults and children 1 year of age and older. It is also recommended by CDC for use against the swine flu (H1N1 influenza virus).

• Retin-A (Tretinoin cream), a topical retinoid, is a very effective treatment for many dermatologic disorders such as acne, blackheads, whiteheads, and wrinkles.
• Finasteride (Propecia), a potent 5 alpha reductase type 2 inhibitor, is used for the treatment of men with androgenetic alopecia to stimulate hair growth and prevent further hair loss.

FDA regulates dietary supplements under a different set of regulations than those covering prescription and over-the-counter drugs. In general, the regulations for dietary supplements are less strict.

Herbal supplements are one type of dietary supplement. Herbal remedy may contain a single herb or mixture of herbs. Scientific studies have shown that some herbs and dietary supplements are effective in preventing or treating diseases.

• Neo Healar, available as ointment and suppositoriesis, is a herbal remedy for the relief of hemorrhoids symptoms.
• Eleotin is a herbal medicine with hypoglycemic effects.