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.
579 items
MedicationsMometasone
Well established. The evidence is route-specific.
2026-10-10 · 30 min read
MedicationsMycophenolate mofetil
Well established. Its approved job is preventing rejection after a kidney, heart or liver transplant.
2026-10-10 · 29 min read
MedicationsNabumetone
It relieves the pain and inflammation of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis apparently by inhibiting prostaglandin production, as other NSAIDs do (the label states that its exact mode of action is not known).
2026-10-10 · 19 min read
MedicationsNaphazoline hydrochloride
Limited evidence. The evidence for naphazoline is thin and old.
2026-10-10 · 31 min read
MedicationsOlopatadine
Well established. It blocks histamine at the H1 receptor, which is what stops the itch.
2026-10-10 · 25 min read
MedicationsOxymetazoline hydrochloride
It tightens blood vessels wherever it is put, and the three uses are simply three consequences of that.
2026-10-10 · 40 min read
MedicationsPenicillin V
It kills bacteria that have no penicillinase, chiefly group A, C, G, H, L and M streptococci and pneumococci, by stopping them building a cell wall.
2026-10-10 · 28 min read
MedicationsPhenazopyridine hydrochloride
The trial evidence behind it is thin. The only placebo-controlled randomised trial we could reach enrolled 60 women with acute cystitis and gave a single 200 mg dose.
2026-10-10 · 31 min read
MedicationsPheniramine maleate
Limited evidence. The evidence base is thin and narrow, and it should be reported that way.
2026-10-10 · 32 min read
MedicationsPhenylephrine hydrochloride
For the oral route, this is one of the clearest negative evidence bases in over-the-counter medicine.
2026-10-10 · 29 min read
MedicationsPolyethylene Glycol 3350 With Electrolytes
Well established. The evidence for what it does is strong for one thing and weaker for others.
2026-10-10 · 26 min read
MedicationsPropylhexedrine
Limited evidence. As a nasal decongestant, propylhexedrine has almost no modern outcome evidence.
2026-10-10 · 25 min read
MedicationsPseudoephedrine hydrochloride
Limited evidence. It does open a blocked nose, and the effect is real but small.
2026-10-10 · 39 min read
MedicationsPseudoephedrine sulfate
The evidence for pseudoephedrine is real but modest. Cochrane's review of decongestants used on their own found that repeated doses gave a small improvement in how blocked people said their nose felt.
2026-10-10 · 29 min read
MedicationsPyrilamine maleate
The honest summary is that almost no modern outcome evidence exists for pyrilamine itself.
2026-10-10 · 23 min read
MedicationsRacepinephrine hydrochloride
The hospital evidence is genuinely good and mostly modest. For croup, two systematic reviews agree it improves the croup score about half an hour after a nebulised dose and that the improvement is no longer statistically significant at two hours.
2026-10-10 · 43 min read
MedicationsSodium bicarbonate
Disputed. The picture divides sharply by use.
2026-10-10 · 39 min read
MedicationsSodium salicylate
Sodium salicylate is a weak cyclo-oxygenase inhibitor and, in the respiratory-challenge literature, it is described as hardly active on cyclo-oxygenase at all.
2026-10-10 · 28 min read
MedicationsSulfacetamide; Sulfur
It is labelled for the topical control of acne vulgaris, acne rosacea and seborrheic dermatitis.
2026-10-10 · 28 min read
MedicationsThiamine
Limited evidence. The settled part of the evidence is narrow: thiamine corrects thiamine deficiency.
2026-10-10 · 29 min read
MedicationsTriprolidine hydrochloride
The honest summary is that the evidence for triprolidine on its own is thin. It is an antihistamine, so it blocks H1-receptors and causes drowsiness.
2026-10-10 · 26 min read
MedicationsXylometazoline hydrochloride
Xylometazoline does open a blocked nose, and this is better supported than for the older imidazolines: a placebo-controlled trial in people with a common cold showed a clear objective increase in nasal airflow.
2026-10-10 · 32 min read
MedicationsAcetaminophen, Butalbital and Caffeine
The evidence is thin and old for the one thing it is approved for, and essentially absent for the thing it is most often used for.
2026-10-03 · 28 min read
MedicationsAciclovir
The evidence is strongest for severe herpes infections and weakest for preventing the long-term pain that can follow shingles.
2026-10-03 · 21 min read