Before You Take That Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad For Your Health by Doug Bremner

The most interesting source I’ve found so far is a book entitled Before You Take That Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for Your Health by Dr. Doug Bremner. This book focuses on the risks and side effects people won’t find on the labels of commonly prescribed drugs, vitamins, and supplements. Dr. Doug Bremner is also a blogger on a range of health and drug issues concerning public health.

As you've been researching, has your topic changed? 

Not really, I’m deciding how I would like to stand on the issue. Recently, I’ve thought about focusing on misuse of prescription drugs.  In the past, illegal drug use has been a hot topic, but today popular prescription drugs such as oxycodone (OxyContin), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and meperidine (Demerol) to serve the same purposes as illegal drugs. Prescription drugs can be dangerous and when misused they can be far more dangerous than other drugs. My question: Will it be okay if I decided to focus on prescription drug abuse and how it’s easily prescribed despite the dangerous side effects?

Have you revised your inquiry question?  How will narrowing your scope affect your research -and the eventual writing you'll do about this topic?

My original inquiry questions were: Are prescription drugs overprescribed or overused? Are prescription drugs the healthiest option in curing all health problems? Are there better treatment methods that are more natural?

In addition to my previous inquiry questions, I came up with a question “ Are prescription drugs prescribed to easily and misused because of the frequent prescribing of drugs? When I decide on a specific prescription drug, I want to discuss the misuse of the drugs, the alternative drug ( natural treatments), if available) and overall healthiest of the drug.

What challenges are you facing in your research? How might you address these challenges? What research "tips" do you have for your peers?

My number one challenge is:

-         Deciding on how to narrow down my topic, while still trying to ensure that I have enough information to write a research paper on.

-         Choosing an approach or side on the topic like on the marketing of the drugs, the side effects and risks, other methods of treatment, drug abuse, etc.

I plan to address these issues by continuing to research my sources thoroughly to help discover what I find the most interesting.