FDA Warns - Avoid Burning - MRI and Drug Patch Interaction

Updated November 22, 2022

The original links broke.

You can still read about the same topic here:

• FDA advisory: Transdermal drug patches with metallic backings may cause burns during MRI - Healio
• What Patients Should Know Before Having an MRI Exam - FDA.gov

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If you wear drug patches, watch out! You don't want to get burned. If you wear them into an MRI machine, the patch could burn you, warns the FDA in their alert, FDA Warns About Risk of Wearing Medicated Patches During MRIs.

FDA recommends that patients who use medicated patches (including nicotine patches) do the following:

• Tell the doctor referring you for an MRI scan that you are using a patch and why you are using it (such as, for pain, smoking cessation, hormones)
• Ask your doctor for guidance about removing and disposing of the patch before having an MRI scan and replacing it after the procedure.
• Tell the MRI facility that you are using a patch. You should do this when making your appointment and during the health history questions you are asked when you arrive for your appointment.

Additional Info by the FDA & others: FDA Public Health Advisory Risk of Burns during MRI Scans from Transdermal Drug Patches with Metallic Backings Transdermal Drug Patches with Metallic Backings Guidelines for Screening Patients For MR Procedures and Individuals for the MR Environment, Institute for Magnetic Resonance Safety, Education, and Research, www.imrser.org, 2009 

Related Posts: Are You Safe In An MRI Machine? 

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Epidemiological Reasons To Drink Alcohol For Health

As an avid wine drinker, I'm always on the lookout for reasons to justify my habit and hobby. I think most folks accept that a couple of glasses of red wine a day can be good for the heart. This American Journal of Epidemiology abstract says there are additional benefits of drinking alcohol, Light to Moderate Alcohol Consumption and Disability: Variable Benefits by Health Status. Bottomline, Moderate alcohol consumption may help seniors keep disabilities at bay reports that "light to moderate drinkers in good health had a lower risk for developing new disabilities, compared with both abstainers and heavy drinkers."

Related Posts:
Australian Wine Doctor Says Drink His Wine For Health
Wine - For Enjoyment Or Metal Ion Poisoning?!
Treat The Flu With Red Wine?!
Drug and Alcohol Interactions - Have things changed?
Drink Red Wine - Live Longer !?

P.S. I needed a new clean/dirty dishwasher magnet, and found this fun wine lover's dishwasher magnet.

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Check Out iGuard - Esp. If You Take Multiple Meds (free)

Updated April 10, 2024

The original post didn't age well.

The iGuard website is no longer available. It is undergoing several changes of hand.

The iGuard site became MediGuard, and now that site is moving to another location.

You might also be interested in:

MediGuard - on Wikipedia

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No, this isn't an Apple product or accessory. This is a free service (registration & usage are free) for folks taking medications, and offers extra benefit for those taking multiple medications, reports this BusinessWire release, One Million Americans Now Receive Personalized FDA Drug Safety Alerts Through iGuard.org. Read on for the quick highlights . . .

According to the news release, iGuard.org is different from other drug information services, because although patients today have access to an enormous set of tools for getting information about their health, iGuard.org is the only service that:

• helps patients identify which drugs pose the greatest risk using a personalized, color-coded, drug safety rating system
• detects potential interactions between drugs and diseases as well as interactions between drugs – recognizing that drug-disease interactions (e.g., Viagra and heart disease, birth control pills and smoking) are the highest cause of death and disability associated with medication use
• communicates emerging product recalls (which outnumber alerts by four to one) as well as safety notifications and FDA advisories
• avoids bombarding patients with irrelevant communications by ensuring that drug-specific messages are sent only to those users to whom they apply
• ensures that communications are actionable and easy to understand by having a pharmacist review and update FDA / drug company alerts for the consumer audience
• allows patients to have their doctor copied on their communications
• is funded by medical research, not by advertising, which helps improve medicines

If you're taking meds, shouldn't you be taking advantage of iGuard?

Related Posts:
Serious Drug Interaction Risks For Older Adults (video)
MedNotes - A New Online Drug List Mgmt Tool - And More! (free)
Drug and Alcohol Interactions - Have things changed?
Deadly Overdose At Home - Especially alcohol and opioid painkillers

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Serious Drug Interaction Risks For Older Adults (video)

If you are, or know an older adult, taking medications, then you should read this. Researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center report that at least one in 25 older adults, about 2.2 million people in the United States, take multiple drugs in combinations that can produce a harmful drug-drug interaction, and half of these interactions involve a non-prescription medication. This WRAL.com video gives you the major highlights, "Mixing medications poses risks (video)."

For further reading on the subject:

• JAMA Abstract - Use of Prescription and Over-the-counter Medications and Dietary Supplements Among Older Adults in the United States
• Press Release - Older adults at high risk for drug interactions - More attention needed for non-prescription meds - and provides a table listing the most common potentially severe medication interactions found

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Drug and Alcohol Interactions - Have things changed?

How important is the interaction between drugs and alcohol? This US News and World Report article says that alchohol consumption is going down, "Americans Drinking Less Alcohol - Beer consumption is down, while wine consumption is up, study finds." If this is true, you'd think that fewer people would be exposing themselves to drug and alcohol interactions. . . .

Bottomline, "Americans are drinking less alcohol, with middle-aged people consuming about one-third less than 50 years ago, researchers report."

Alcohol can interact with many prescription drugs and cause undesirable adverse effects. It's important to monitor how your medications and alcohol interact.


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Deadly Overdose At Home - Especially alcohol and opioid painkillers

Updated February 14, 2021

Links in the original post broke.

- - -  the original  post follows below  - - -

The biggest risk seems to be mixing alcohol and opioid painkillers (e.g., codeine, morphine). This reflects the growing use of these kinds of painkillers in the home. This Bloomberg article frames the situation nicely, "Drug, Alcohol Mix Increases Medication Error Deaths (Update1). " If you want the research publication information, read this abstract, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, "A Steep Increase in Domestic Fatal Medication Errors With Use of Alcohol and/or Street Drugs." Bottomline, "findings suggest that a shift in the location of medication consumption from clinical to domestic settings is linked to a steep increase in FMEs [fatal medication errors]. It may now be possible to reduce FMEs by focusing not only on clinical settings but also on domestic settings." 

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