drugs

Caregivers: Be on the Alert for Medication Side Effects

Posted on 10/18/2012 by | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Caregiving | Personal Health | Your LifeHer hands shaking uncontrollably, suddenly one day my Mom’s food was falling off the fork before she could get it to her mouth. In a nursing facility for rehabilitation after spinal surgery and a heart attack, Mom had been moved from the independent to the “feeding” dining room (without a word to me). The doctor in the nursing facility dismissed my concern, saying it’s common and it was just “a little bit of Parkinsonism and people get it when they …

The Takeaway: Performing Helped Bruce Springsteen Cope With Severe Depression

Posted on 07/25/2012 by | Brooklyn, NY | Comments

Entertainment | News RoundupsBy now, you may have heard about the New Yorker profile of Bruce Springsteen in which the now 62-year-old rocker talks about — gasp! — suffering from depression. The admission has swiftly been making the media rounds, because I guess it’s not every day that a symbol of good old-fashioned American working-class masculinity admits to something as unmanly as mental illness. And depression at that! Oh my. Generally when our rock stars have psychiatric problems, we like it to be something sexy, like drug addiction.

Wine. Beer. Spirits. Yeah!

Posted on 04/3/2012 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

Personal HealthBooze. One of humanity’s earliest culinary inventions and possibly one of the things that started agricultural civilization in the first place, alcohol has been with us for a long time. But we are still learning much about how it affects the body and about our consumption habits. In other words, there’s good points and there’s bad points. A recent study suggests that moderate and constant consumption (two beers a day) gave men a 42% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease. The …

How high are your prescription drug costs?

Posted on 03/13/2012 by | AARP Blog Author | Comments

Personal HealthDo you get the feeling your prescription drugs are more expensive than they were just a few years ago? It sort of goes with out saying that everyone always feels that way. But here are some numbers: A new prescription drug report out from the AARP Public Policy Institute show that the cost of drugs most commonly used by Medicare recipients rose nearly double the rate of inflation between 2005 to 2009. So the average cost of such a therapy …

Drug Take Back Day

Posted on 10/17/2011 by | Health | Comments

Personal HealthIt’s that time of year again; here on the East Coast, we’re unpacking our sweaters, and doing a quick inventory of summer, a sort of fall cleaning. Do you do do a seasonal survey of your closet? Maybe, in addition to that home cleaning, you should take a peek in that medicine cabinet of yours. October 29th is Drug Take Back Day. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency will be collecting unneeded and expired medicines. Do you hold on to prescriptions …

The Takeaway: Workers Upping 401(k) Savings; Anti-Alzheimer’s Drug Shows Promise

Posted on 10/11/2011 by | Brooklyn, NY | Comments

News RoundupsSavings Up, Market Down: Workers are putting more money into 401(k) retirement savings accounts, the stagnant economy notwithstanding. A recent survey from Mercer Workplace found 41 percent of 401(k) holders had increased contributions to their plans in the previous year (up from 31 percent in 2010). Participants also took a more active role in managing their plans’ stock portfolios, with 40 percent having reallocated their existing portfolios that year. And a greater number said they plan to contribute the maximum …

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