From Memios
The Longevity Letter
Practical writing and video on living strong and active into your 90s. No hype, no supplements to sell. Just what the evidence supports and what it looks like on an ordinary Tuesday.
568 items
Clear filters
MedicationsBetamethasone dipropionate with clotrimazole
The antifungal half kills the dermatophyte; the steroid half suppresses the inflammation the fungus causes, which makes the rash look and feel better faster.
2026-10-03 · 35 min read
MedicationsBisoprolol
The strongest evidence for bisoprolol is in chronic heart failure with a reduced ejection fraction.
2026-10-03 · 32 min read
MedicationsBrimonidine
As an eye drop it reduces how much aqueous humour the eye makes and increases drainage, lowering intraocular pressure by about 2 to 6 mmHg.
2026-10-03 · 28 min read
MedicationsBudesonide; Glycopyrrolate; Formoterol
The question this drug was built to answer is whether adding an inhaled steroid to two long-acting bronchodilators cuts flare-ups, and in the large trials it does.
2026-10-03 · 33 min read
MedicationsBudesonide
The evidence is strong for several specific uses and weak or negative for others, and the formulation matters more than the molecule.
2026-10-03 · 34 min read
MedicationsBumetanide
Its established job is to shift fluid off people who are overloaded with it - swelling from heart failure, from kidney disease including the nephrotic syndrome, and from liver disease.
2026-10-03 · 28 min read
MedicationsCalcitriol
It drives calcium absorption from the gut, mobilises calcium from bone with parathyroid hormone, increases calcium reabsorption in the kidney and suppresses parathyroid hormone.
2026-10-03 · 40 min read
MedicationsCalcium
As an antacid it works, briefly: crossover trials show chewable calcium carbonate raises oesophageal and gastric pH and cuts heartburn, but the effect on gastric acidity is short-lasting.
2026-10-03 · 41 min read
MedicationsCalcium Phosphate; Cholecalciferol
Calcium is the raw material of bone and vitamin D3 is what allows it to be absorbed and what suppresses the overactive parathyroid gland that strips calcium out of bone in deficient older people.
2026-10-03 · 34 min read
MedicationsCarbamazepine
For focal (partial) seizures carbamazepine is one of the two drugs that an individual-participant network meta-analysis of 39 trials and 14,789 people places in the best group on treatment failure.
2026-10-03 · 48 min read
MedicationsCefdinir
Cefdinir kills bacteria by blocking cell wall construction. The more interesting question is how much that helps, and the answer depends heavily on which infection. For the conditions cefdinir is approved for.
2026-10-03 · 32 min read
MedicationsChlorthalidone
Chlorthalidone makes the kidney excrete sodium and water, which lowers blood pressure, and that lowering is one of the best-evidenced benefits in medicine.
2026-10-03 · 36 min read
MedicationsCiclopirox
Limited evidence. It is an antifungal applied to skin, scalp or nails.
2026-10-03 · 30 min read
MedicationsCiprofloxacin
Well established. Ciprofloxacin kills bacteria by blocking the enzymes they need to copy their DNA.
2026-10-03 · 26 min read
MedicationsClindamycin
The evidence is strongest for short courses in bacterial skin and soft-tissue infection, where a placebo-controlled randomised trial showed it raised cure after abscess drainage.
2026-10-03 · 25 min read
MedicationsClobetasol propionate
Topical corticosteroids reduce inflammation, itching and redness in the skin, and in a network meta-analysis of 22,028 patients potent and very potent steroids ranked at the top for plaque psoriasis.
2026-10-03 · 27 min read
MedicationsClotrimazole
Well established. Clotrimazole treats infection where it is applied.
2026-10-03 · 26 min read
MedicationsColchicine
Colchicine blunts the inflammatory response rather than killing anything or lowering uric acid.
2026-10-03 · 33 min read
MedicationsCyanocobalamin
Disputed. B12 is needed to make DNA, red blood cells and the myelin sheath around nerves.
2026-10-03 · 23 min read
MedicationsCyclosporine
Cyclosporine suppresses the immune system, and the evidence base is different for each thing it is used for.
2026-10-03 · 36 min read
MedicationsCyproheptadine
It blocks histamine and serotonin at their receptors and has anticholinergic and sedative effects.
2026-10-03 · 37 min read
MedicationsDesvenlafaxine
Well established. For major depressive disorder in adults the evidence supports a modest effect.
2026-10-03 · 28 min read
MedicationsDexamethasone
Well established. What the evidence actually shows depends entirely on which condition is being treated.
2026-10-03 · 41 min read
MedicationsDexlansoprazole
The evidence is strongest for healing and keeping healed the acid-damaged oesophagus (erosive esophagitis) and for reducing heartburn in reflux disease.
2026-10-03 · 29 min read