Medications
GLP-1 Medications: What to Ask Before You Start
How this drug class works, what the common side effects are, and the questions worth raising with a prescriber about duration and monitoring.
Medication Center
Plain-language guides to 32 common medicines, drug classes, and medication-safety topics — what each is generally used for, how it works, what to watch for, and what to ask before you start.
Education, not prescribing advice. Health Captain explains what a medicine is generally used for, how its class works, and what to discuss with your care team. We never publish dosing, and this page cannot account for your medical history, kidney or liver function, pregnancy, or the other medicines you take. This is education, not prescribing advice — follow the instructions on your label and ask your prescriber or pharmacist. If you think a medicine is causing a problem, contact your prescriber or pharmacist. If you believe you are experiencing a medical emergency, call emergency services immediately (911 in the United States).
Medication search
Find any of the 32 medication guides
Search by brand name, generic name, or what the medicine is for — then open the guide for a plain-language explanation of the class, the side effects that come up most, and the questions worth asking.
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Safety and cost
The six things worth understanding about any medicine
These pages apply whatever you have been prescribed: how to take medicines safely, what a side effect actually is, how interactions happen, how to store things properly, what generic really means, and how to bring the cost down.
Brand-Name vs. Generic Medicines
Explains what a generic medicine actually is, what FDA requires before approving one, and the narrow set of situations…
Read the guideMedication Safety at Home
Practical habits that prevent the most common medication errors: keeping an accurate list, avoiding duplicate…
Read the guideUnderstanding Medication Side Effects
Explains why side effects happen, how to read the numbers in a leaflet, which ones typically settle, and how to raise…
Read the guideDrug Interactions
Explains the main ways medicines interact with each other, with food, and with supplements — and the practical habits…
Read the guideStoring and Disposing of Medicines
How heat, humidity, and light degrade medicines, what special handling insulins and inhalers need, how to travel with…
Read the guideLowering Prescription Costs
A practical guide to legitimate ways of reducing what you pay for prescriptions — and how to avoid the unsafe options…
Read the guideFrom the blog
Medication coverage from Health Captain
Pulled live from the blog. If the connection is unavailable, these related guides take their place.
Medications
Metformin: How It Works and What to Expect
One of the most widely prescribed diabetes medicines, explained in plain language — mechanism, common side effects, and monitoring.
Medications
Statins and Muscle Aches: What the Blinded Trials Showed
Muscle pain is the most commonly reported side effect, yet in blinded trials symptom rates were similar on placebo. Genuine intolerance still happens.