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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.
As the western states of America were settled, pioneers often had to drink rancid water from ponds and other sources. This often resulted in chronic diarrhea, causing many cases of dehydration and death that could have been avoided if clean water had been available.
Urine turns bright yellow if larger than normal amounts of certain substances are consumed; one of these substances is asparagus.
More than 34,000 trademarked medication names and more than 10,000 generic medication names are in use in the United States.
For pediatric patients, intravenous fluids are the most commonly cited products involved in medication errors that are reported to the USP.