I didn't know anything about this...but my dad was telling me how I can get prescriptions filled generically for $4 at Walmart -- 90-day prescriptions are just $10. Target also offers the same inexpensive prescriptions, too.

I thought he read something wrong somewhere, but he didn't.

Did you know this or am I the last to know?

I never get flu shots -- but I'm five months pregnant and we are about to enter flu season. Plus, I'm nervous about swine flu or H1N1 (whatever you prefer to call it) and it's not just about me...it's about my twins growing inside me.

For the last three years, Plan B has enjoyed an FDA-approved exclusivity window in which no other pharmaceutical product was allowed to compete with it. Any woman who wanted emergency contraception had to purchase the brand name Plan B.

As of Monday, other pharmaceutical companies are allowed to market generic emergency contraception. But if you're over 17, don't go to your corner drugstore expecting to find any.

Just because generic versions of emergency contraception are allowed to be sold doesn't mean that they are actually yet available to all women.

Confused? That's exactly the point.

Photo by Dannie-Blue

Here's one I haven't heard before, and I come from a family full of redheads!

Redheads may be more scared of dental procedures and twice as likely to avoid going to the dentist as people with other hair colors.

So how are hair color and oral health related exactly?

Photo from Tylenol

Last week, a federal advisory committee raised concerns about acetaminophen and liver damage, and recommended that the FDA ban Vicodin and Percocet. So does this mean you've got to stop taking Tylenol or other painkillers that contain acetaminophen?

Photo from Drugstore.com

The drug found in Tylenol, Nyquil, and Excedrin -- acetaminophen -- is being carefully reviewed by the FDA and their advisory panel announced that the maximum daily dose should be reduced to avoid liver damage.

The current maximum dose is eight pills (or 4,000 milligrams). The FDA would like to reduce it to 2,600 milligrams as reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The FDA notes that there are many over-the-counter drugs that contain acetaminophen and when combined or the dosage is high the results can be harmful over time.

I'm writing this story about carpal tunnel syndrome because as I type this sentence my wrists are killing me and it seemed appropriate.

Now, I don't technically have carpal tunnel, which is when overworked muscles, tendons and ligaments compress nerves.

My problem is that my tendons and ligaments are too flexible, so my arms and hands have to work extra hard to keep in the typing pose. None of my nerves are involved. But the symptoms are the same, horrible pain and tingling in my elbows, wrists and fingers.

There's no cure, or treatment, or surgery that will work 100 percent to take away my pain. So I'm curious about a strange new carpal tunnel treatment called cupping.

Photo from Zicam

Stop using this product!

Last week, the FDA reported that the popular over-the-counter drug Zicam could cause permanent damage to your sense of smell and warned Matrixx, the company that makes it to stop selling it.

The homeopathic cold medicine contains zinc, an ingredient which scientists say can cause severe damage to nerves in the nose. The FDA has been notified of one hundred cases in which people have lost their ability to smell as a result of using the product.

Matrixx has now decided to conduct a voluntary recall of the drug.

Last week I posted about how the recession may be causing some women to switch to less expensive, less reliable methods of birth control—thereby increasing the number of unintended pregnancies. After reading some of your "pull and pray" comments suggesting that this info was, in fact, true, I decided to do a bit of detective work to determine how you might be able to save some money on birth control.

I recently went to see my doctor for a quick and easy procedure. She gave me multiple prescriptions that included Vicodin and Xanax. I wondered to myself, "Are these drugs necessary?" because, that's a lot of money if it's not necessary, so I opted that it wasn't. And, turns out, it wasn't.