Understanding Prescription Drugs For Canadians For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyles Paperback))

546 Pages·2007·5.08 MB·English

by  Ian Blumer

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Understanding
Prescription Drugs
For Canadians
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Ian Blumer,MD,FRCPC
and Heather McDonald-Blumer,MD,FRCPC
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Understanding Prescription Drugs For Canadians For Dummies®
Published by
John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd
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Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this book, including
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Blumer, Ian
Understanding prescription drugs for Canadians for dummies/Ian Blumer, Heather McDonald-Blumer.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-83835-8
1. Drugs—Canada—Popular works. I. McDonald-Blumer, Heather II. Title.
RM301.15.B58 2007 615.1 C2007-901302-3
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About the Authors
Ian Blumer, MD, FRCPC, is an internal medicine specialist in
Durham Region, Ontario. He is a graduate of Queen’s University
Medical School and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
and Surgeons of Canada. Ian is the medical adviser to the adult
program of the Charles H. Best Diabetes Centre and is a member of
the executive of the Clinical and Scientific Section of the Canadian
Diabetes Association. His previous books are What Your Doctor
ReallyThinksand Diabetes For Canadians For Dummies(co-written
with Alan L. Rubin).
Heather McDonald-Blumer, MD, FRCPC,is a rheumatologist at
Mount Sinai Hospital and University Health Network in Toronto,
Ontario, and an assistant professor with the University of Toronto,
where she also serves as Program Director for Rheumatology.
Heather is a graduate of McMaster University School of Medicine.
She has recently taken on the position of Chair, Specialty Committee
in Rheumatology with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons
of Canada.
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Dedication
This book is dedicated, with all our love, to our children: Leslie,
Brian, and Michael. It is also dedicated to their grandparents, Curt
and Mary McDonald and Jack and Rhoda Blumer, without whose
love, guidance, and DNA none of this would have been possible.
Authors’ Acknowledgements
We would like to express our great thanks to Robert Hickey, our
unflappable Wiley mentor and pillar of support. We consider our-
selves lucky, indeed, to have had the opportunity to work with him.
We also wish to express our appreciation to our editors Lisa
Berland and Kelli Howey for their expert assistance. Lisa’s ability to
take an overwhelming breadth of information, toss it into the air
and have it come out organized, synthesized, and readable can only
be considered astonishing. Thanks also to our meticulous project
coordinator, Pam Vokey.
Dr. Jean Gray, an esteemed physician and medical educator, can’t
be thanked enough for her insights and helpful tips.
We want to both thank and acknowledge Carolyn White (Heritage
Market Pharmacy, Ajax, Ontario), a wonderful pharmacist and role
model, for her invaluable advice. How lucky her patients are to
have such a thoughtful and skilled pharmacist working with them.
The following people are to be thanked for their immensely helpful
suggestions: Saied Asgarali, Tom Ashton, Natalie Baziuk, Stephen
Betschel, Kelvin Chan, Hak Chiu, Shelley Diamond, Suha Eltayeb,
Elaine Goldenberg, Michael Gordon, Jack Grainge, Bob Hyland,
Richard Jay, Ralph Kern, Emad Khalil, Peter Lee, Joel Raskin,
Mathew Sermer, Michael Silverman, Steve Smith, Jeff Stal, Sloane
Waitzer, and Charles Wei. Thanks also to Sue Cavallucci of IMS
Health Canada for the invaluable information she was able to share.
We have worked with hundreds upon hundreds of pharmacists and
pharmacy technicians over the years and we never fail to be
impressed by the care with which they dispense medication.
Wewish to publicly acknowledge their skills. Hear, hear!
We wouldn’t pretend for one second that pharmaceutical compa-
nies create and sell drugs for purely magnanimous reasons. But we
also wouldn’t want to imagine for that same one second nothaving
the fruits of their labours available to us. The thought of having no
diuretic to help the elderly person with heart failure, no puffer to
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help the child with asthma, no insulin for the young adult with dia-
betes, no morphine for the dying person suffering from the pain of
metastatic cancer; it’s simply too horrific to consider. Yet sometimes,
we think, perhaps it’s all taken for granted. So without apology we
take this opportunity to thank those people in the pharmaceutical
industry who work to develop the important prescription medi-
cines that we (doctors and patients alike) rely on.
Last, but not least, we would like to thank the patients with whom
we have worked over the years. We can think of no greater honour
than having the trust of those people who look to us to help them.
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Publisher’s Acknowledgements
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at [email protected]. Some of
the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition
Media Development
Publishing Services Director: Karen Bryan
Editor: Robert Hickey Publishing Services Manager: Ian Koo
Developmental Editor: Lisa Berland Project Manager: Elizabeth McCurdy
Copy Editor: Kelli Howey Project Coordinators: Pamela Vokey,
Cover Photos:© Phanie/First Light Adrienne Martinez
Cartoons: Rich Tennant, Layout and Graphics: Wiley Indianapolis
www.the5thwave.com Composition Services
Wiley Bicentennial Logo:Richard J. Pacifico Proofreaders: Aptara, John Greenough,
Dwight Ramsey
Indexers: Belle Wong, Liisa Kelly,
Colborne Communications
John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd
Bill Zerter, Chief Operating Officer
Jennifer Smith, Publisher, Professional and Trade Division
Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies
Joyce Pepple,Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies
Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies
Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel
Suzanne Jannetta,Editorial Director, Travel
Publishing for Technology Dummies
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Composition Services
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Debbie Stailey,Director of Composition Services
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction.......................................................1
Part I: A Healthy Look at Prescription Drugs........7
Chapter 1: Prescription Drugs and You...................................................9
Chapter 2: Prescribing Knowledge.........................................................15
Chapter 3: Your Doctor, Your Pharmacist, and You.............................31
Chapter 4: Making Sure Your Prescription Works for You..................59
Part II: Ailments A to Z ....................................93
Chapter 5: Ailments and Their Treatment............................................95
Part III: Medications A to Z ............................169
Chapter 6: All in the (Drug) Family......................................................171
Part IV: Common Concerns..............................429
Chapter 7: Side-Effects and Drug Interactions....................................431
Chapter 8:Prescription Drugs for Moms-to-Be,
Kids, and Seniors.............................................................................445
Chapter 9: Dealing with Emergencies and Hospitalizations.............459
Chapter 10: Coping with the Costs of Prescription Drugs................471
Part V: The Part of Tens..................................477
Chapter 11: Ten Changes We Hope to See in the
World of Prescription Drug Therapy.............................................479
Chapter 12: Ten Not-So-Trivial Facts about Prescription Drugs......485
Drug Index.....................................................491
General Index ................................................518
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