The Good

Paxil is the registered trademark of paroxitine, first marketed in 1992 by Glaxo-Smith-Kline for the treatment of major depression, OCD and anxiety disorders (including panic attacks). It belongs to a class of compounds called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). The major advantages of this class over traditional medications are their safety profile. Paxil (and other SSRIs) do not have the addiction potential of Valium or Xanax (anti-anxiety medications) and have fewer side effects than some of the traditional drugs used to treat depression. Paroxetine is also very difficult to overdose with – a risk with depressive patients who may contemplate suicide.

These ‘goods’ have led to a few very troubling ‘bads’. The reason is that the reputation of SSRIs meant that general practice physicians felt much more comfortable prescribing them to their patients without a psychiatric consultation and for more minor cases of depression and anxiety. The older drugs were less likely to be prescribed simply because they were thought to be more dangerous. The safer a drug appears to be, the more freely physicians will administer it. After all, it might not help, but it wouldn’t hurt… or so

Type II diabetes (sometimes called adult onset diabetes) is characterized by a gradual resistance to the effects of insulin in the body. In short, the amount of insulin secreted by the pancreas doesn’t control blood sugar levels. In the earlier stages, patients may take oral medications that change the body’s response to insulin. In the later stages, patients usually have to have insulin injections.

Avandia (generic, rosiglitazone) acts on cells to sensitize them to insulin so that patients who have become resistant to the effects of their own insulin can return to a more normal state. The drug is sold in three different products, all manufactured by Glaxo-Smith-Kline. Avandia is a single ingredient form; Avandamet is a combination with metformin; and Avandaryl is a combination with glimepiride. The combinations are with drugs that increase insulin secretion with the strategy of both increasing production of insulin and increasing the sensitivity to the hormone.

“Eat right, get plenty of sleep, and exercise.” That is the mantra – a recipe for good health. Americans are taking the advice to heart. For example, in Billings, there are more than a dozen commercial gyms (a few down the road in Laurel) that offer services like workouts, exercise machines and even personal trainers. There are also public exercise facilities in community centers, schools and universities. Even some hotels in Montana throw in a workout room as part of an overnight stay. But what about when the way we exercise turns out to be harmful?

It may surprise you that to build muscle, damage to muscle has to occur. This doesn’t mean outright tears or bruising, but damage at the cellular level. Sports physiologists and body builders know that increasing muscle mass involves a cycle of injury and repair – the body responds to minor trauma from exercise by adding more muscle as it heals. This is the reason behind the rule of only strenuously exercising a single muscle group every other day. It takes time to heal.

The current recall of cribs with faulty and dangerous drop-sides was large enough to make it into all the major media outlets (list of manufacturers at the end of this article). But the problem with cribs that cause injury or death has been plaguing the industry for some time. Why aren’t they able to make a safe, functional crib?

The current round of problems comes with the drop-side mechanism – this is the side that folds or slides down so that mothers can easily reach their infants. If this moving side isn’t properly manufactured, infants can get fingers, hands, feet or toes caught between the sections. A crushing injury or amputation is the likely result.

Worse than this, the faulty products have been blamed for 32 deaths.