|
|
Medications that are definitely not safe to take when breastfeeding include radioactive drugs, antimetabolites, some cancer (chemotherapy) agents, bromocriptine, ergotamine, methotrexate, and cyclosporine.
The first-known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used in Egypt in 2000 BC. Condoms were also reportedly used, made of animal bladders or intestines.
Many medications that are used to treat infertility are injected subcutaneously. This is easy to do using the anterior abdomen as the site of injection but avoiding the area directly around the belly button.
The use of salicylates dates back 2,500 years to Hippocrates’s recommendation of willow bark (from which a salicylate is derived) as an aid to the pains of childbirth. However, overdosage of salicylates can harm body fluids, electrolytes, the CNS, the GI tract, the ears, the lungs, the blood, the liver, and the kidneys and cause coma or death.
The word drug comes from the Dutch word droog (meaning "dry"). For centuries, most drugs came from dried plants, hence the name.
![In most ecosystems, sunlight provides the ultimate source of energy to power all biological activity](https://biology-forums.com/gallery/47/medium_33_17_02_12_6_59_59_20232401.jpeg)
![Timing of teratogens. Vulnerability to teratogens is greatest in the embryonic period. Source: Moore](https://biology-forums.com/gallery/47/medium_351728_31_05_15_9_12_12_219982425.jpeg)
![Lilly Martin Spencer’s Young Husband: First Marketing (1854). Note that passers-by are amused at thi](https://biology-forums.com/gallery/47/medium_375348_18_08_15_9_36_28_222961281.jpeg)