diff --git a/.assets-revision b/.assets-revision
index 5c22104e..a33a3091 100644
--- a/.assets-revision
+++ b/.assets-revision
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@
# is a git revision (branch name like `main`, a tag, or a specific commit
# sha). Override at runtime with the ASSETS_REVISION env var.
repo: ChilleD/WebHarbor
-revision: 54882a6a66a17a3e43455057e7c9e0d103cd8b81
+revision: refs/pr/42
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 1e86b1d0..43088ffb 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
# WebHarbor — slim, self-contained image.
-# 16 Flask mirror sites + control plane on :8101.
+# 17 Flask mirror sites + control plane on :8101.
FROM python:3.12-slim-bookworm
@@ -33,6 +33,6 @@ COPY control_server.py /opt/control_server.py
COPY site_runner.py /opt/site_runner.py
RUN chmod +x /opt/websyn_start.sh
-EXPOSE 8101 40000-40015
+EXPOSE 8101 40000-40016
CMD ["/opt/websyn_start.sh"]
diff --git a/control_server.py b/control_server.py
index 4b6b995e..54e93b27 100644
--- a/control_server.py
+++ b/control_server.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
'allrecipes', 'amazon', 'apple', 'arxiv', 'bbc_news', 'booking',
'github', 'google_flights', 'google_map', 'google_search',
'huggingface', 'wolfram_alpha', 'cambridge_dictionary',
- 'coursera', 'espn', 'merriam_webster',
+ 'coursera', 'espn', 'merriam_webster', 'webmd',
]
BASE_PORT = 40000
WEBSYN_DIR = '/opt/WebSyn'
diff --git a/sites/webmd/_health.py b/sites/webmd/_health.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..19b96666
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/_health.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+"""Per-site health probe (optional, called by control_server)."""
+def health():
+ return {"ok": True, "site": "webmd"}
diff --git a/sites/webmd/_seed_articles_a.py b/sites/webmd/_seed_articles_a.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fe6ef87b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/_seed_articles_a.py
@@ -0,0 +1,305 @@
+"""Article catalog, part A: Health Conditions and Drugs & Supplements
+sections. All prose is original; medical facts follow public-domain
+NIH/MedlinePlus and openFDA sources.
+
+Fields: section = section slug; author/reviewer = author slugs;
+published/reviewed = ISO dates (site clock is pinned to 2025-01-10).
+"""
+
+ARTICLES_A = [
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ # Section: conditions (Health A-Z)
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ {
+ "title": "High Blood Pressure: Why the 'Silent Killer' Deserves a Home Monitor",
+ "slug": "high-blood-pressure-home-monitoring", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Heart Health",
+ "summary": "Nearly half of U.S. adults have hypertension, and most cases produce no symptoms at all. Here's how home monitoring changes the game.",
+ "body_html": "
Blood pressure is the rare vital sign you can track from your couch, yet most people with hypertension still rely on a single reading taken once a year in a clinic. That's a problem, because pressure measured in a doctor's office can run high from nerves — so-called white-coat hypertension — or, more dangerously, look normal while running high the other 8,760 hours of the year.
Current guidelines define high blood pressure as a sustained reading of 130/80 mm Hg or above. A validated upper-arm cuff, used twice a day for a week, gives your clinician a far truer picture than any office visit. Sit quietly for five minutes first, feet flat, arm supported at heart level, and skip caffeine for a half hour beforehand.
If your averages run high, the playbook is well established: cut sodium toward 1,500 mg a day, move your body most days, moderate alcohol, and work with your doctor on medication if lifestyle changes aren't enough. First-line options — thiazide diuretics like hydrochlorothiazide, ACE inhibitors like lisinopril, ARBs like losartan, and calcium channel blockers like amlodipine — are inexpensive, effective, and often combined at low doses to limit side effects.
",
+ "author": "rachel-whitmore", "reviewer": "anil-bhatt-md",
+ "published": "2024-09-16", "reviewed": "2024-09-20",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Atrial Fibrillation Basics: When a Fluttering Heart Means More Than Nerves",
+ "slug": "atrial-fibrillation-basics", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Heart Health",
+ "summary": "AFib is the most common serious heart rhythm problem — and its biggest danger isn't the palpitations. It's stroke.",
+ "body_html": "
Atrial fibrillation happens when the heart's upper chambers stop beating in an organized way and instead quiver chaotically. Some people feel a racing or flopping sensation in the chest; others feel nothing and learn about their AFib from a smartwatch alert or a routine exam.
The rhythm itself is rarely an emergency. The real threat is that blood pooling in a quivering atrium can form clots, and a clot that travels to the brain causes a stroke — AFib raises stroke risk roughly fivefold. That's why the cornerstone of AFib care is a frank conversation about anticoagulation with drugs such as apixaban or warfarin, guided by a stroke-risk score your doctor can calculate in under a minute.
Beyond blood thinners, treatment aims to control the heart's speed or restore its rhythm: beta-blockers like metoprolol slow the rate, while cardioversion and catheter ablation can reset or prevent the arrhythmia. Just as important are the fixables that fuel AFib in the first place — untreated sleep apnea, alcohol, high blood pressure, and excess weight.
",
+ "author": "rachel-whitmore", "reviewer": "anil-bhatt-md",
+ "published": "2024-10-07", "reviewed": "2024-10-11",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year After Diagnosis, Step by Step",
+ "slug": "type-2-diabetes-first-year", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Diabetes",
+ "summary": "A new type 2 diabetes diagnosis comes with a flood of numbers, medicines, and advice. Here's a realistic map of year one.",
+ "body_html": "
The first thing to know about a new type 2 diabetes diagnosis is that the trajectory is more in your hands than for almost any other chronic disease. Blood sugar responds within days to changes in what you eat and how you move, and within weeks to medication — most people start with metformin, which lowers the liver's glucose output and has decades of safety data behind it.
Expect a busy first year of baselines: an A1C test every three months until you're at goal (usually under 7 percent), a dilated eye exam, a urine test for early kidney protein, a foot check, and a hard look at blood pressure and cholesterol — because heart disease, not sugar itself, is what shortens lives in diabetes. If metformin isn't enough, your clinician may add options such as sitagliptin, glipizide, or a basal insulin like insulin glargine.
The habits that move the needle are unglamorous and powerful: a consistent eating pattern built around vegetables, protein, and unrefined carbohydrates; 150 minutes a week of movement you'll actually do; and enough sleep, since sleep deprivation measurably worsens insulin resistance. Small sustained losses — even 5 to 7 percent of body weight — can drop A1C dramatically.
",
+ "author": "priya-raman", "reviewer": "robert-yuen-md",
+ "published": "2024-08-12", "reviewed": "2024-08-15",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Asthma Action Plans: The One-Page Document That Prevents ER Visits",
+ "slug": "asthma-action-plans", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Respiratory",
+ "summary": "If you use a rescue inhaler more than twice a week, your asthma isn't controlled — and a written action plan is the fix most people skip.",
+ "body_html": "
Asthma care has a simple traffic-light logic that too few patients ever see written down. A green zone (breathing well, using your controller inhaler daily), a yellow zone (symptoms creeping in — time for the pre-agreed step-up), and a red zone (rescue inhaler not lasting four hours — take oral steroids and seek care). Putting those thresholds on one page, with your actual medication names and doses, is what an asthma action plan is.
The most common failure pattern in asthma is treating it as an occasional event rather than a chronic disease. Reaching for albuterol more than two days a week signals uncontrolled airway inflammation, which a rescue inhaler does nothing to treat. Daily inhaled corticosteroids — not more albuterol — are what shrink that inflammation and cut attack risk.
Review the plan with your clinician yearly and after any flare that required prednisone. Bring your inhaler technique too: studies consistently find that most people use inhalers incorrectly, and a 90-second demonstration fixes more asthma than a new prescription.
",
+ "author": "marcus-delgado", "reviewer": "miguel-santana-md",
+ "published": "2024-07-22", "reviewed": "2024-07-29",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "GERD or Just Heartburn? How to Tell — and When Reflux Needs a Doctor",
+ "slug": "gerd-or-heartburn", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Digestive Health",
+ "summary": "Occasional heartburn after pizza is normal. Burning twice a week or more is GERD, and it deserves a plan, not just a pack of antacids.",
+ "body_html": "
Everyone refluxes a little. The diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease turns on frequency and consequence: heartburn or regurgitation at least weekly, symptoms that wake you at night, or acid that's already irritating your throat and voice. The distinction matters because chronic acid exposure can inflame and, over years, remodel the esophagus lining.
Self-care fixes more GERD than people expect. Eat dinner at least three hours before bed, raise the head of the bed six inches, lose even modest weight if you carry it centrally, and learn your personal triggers — the usual suspects are fatty meals, chocolate, mint, coffee, and alcohol. For medication, famotidine works fast for occasional symptoms, while proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole or pantoprazole are the workhorses for frequent GERD, taken 30 to 60 minutes before breakfast for a defined course.
See a doctor promptly for the alarm features that mean this is no longer routine reflux: trouble or pain with swallowing, food sticking, unintended weight loss, vomiting blood or coffee-ground material, or black stools. And if you've needed a PPI for years, ask whether an endoscopy or a taper is due — long-term acid suppression should be a decision, not a default.
",
+ "author": "owen-mcallister", "reviewer": "lucia-ferreira-md",
+ "published": "2024-06-10", "reviewed": "2024-06-14",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Migraine Is Not 'Just a Headache': A Guide to Getting Real Treatment",
+ "slug": "migraine-getting-real-treatment", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Brain & Nerves",
+ "summary": "Thirty-nine million Americans have migraine, and most have never been offered a preventive plan. Here's what modern migraine care looks like.",
+ "body_html": "
Migraine is a neurological disease with a genetic backbone, not a stress response or a character flaw. The attacks — throbbing, often one-sided pain with nausea and sensitivity to light and sound, lasting hours to days — are driven by waves of abnormal brain activity and pain-signaling molecules such as CGRP. Knowing that changes the goal: this is a disease you manage, not a series of bad days you endure.
Acute treatment works best early and matched to severity. Milder attacks may yield to ibuprofen or naproxen; moderate-to-severe attacks usually need a triptan such as sumatriptan taken at first sign of pain. The trap to avoid is medication-overuse headache: using acute medicines ten or more days a month can convert episodic migraine into a daily grind.
If you're reaching for acute treatment more than four days a month, ask about prevention — beta-blockers like metoprolol, certain antidepressants and anticonvulsants, and the newer CGRP-blocking drugs each cut attack frequency substantially. Pair medicine with the boring but potent basics: regular sleep, regular meals, hydration, and a diary to find your triggers.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-09-02", "reviewed": "2024-09-06",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Depression Screening: What a PHQ-9 Score Actually Means",
+ "slug": "depression-screening-phq9", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Mental Health",
+ "summary": "That nine-question survey at your checkup is one of medicine's most useful tools — if you know what happens after the score.",
+ "body_html": "
Major depression affects about 8 percent of U.S. adults in a given year, and half of cases go undetected in routine care. The PHQ-9 — nine questions scoring how often you've been bothered by low mood, lost interest, sleep and appetite changes, fatigue, guilt, concentration problems, slowed movement, and thoughts of self-harm — exists to close that gap in under three minutes.
Scores of 5, 10, 15, and 20 mark mild, moderate, moderately severe, and severe ranges. A moderate score doesn't hand you a diagnosis; it starts a conversation in which your clinician rules out mimics like hypothyroidism, medication effects, and grief, and asks about the two-week persistence that defines a depressive episode.
Treatment is genuinely effective: psychotherapy such as CBT, antidepressants such as sertraline or escitalopram, and ideally both for moderate-to-severe depression. Expect four to six weeks for medication benefits and don't quit at the first side effect — dose adjustments and switches are normal parts of finding the right fit. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any hour, any day.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "grace-okonkwo-md",
+ "published": "2024-10-14", "reviewed": "2024-10-18",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Osteoarthritis of the Knee: Why Exercise Is Medicine, Not Menace",
+ "slug": "knee-osteoarthritis-exercise", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Bones & Joints",
+ "summary": "The instinct to rest an arthritic knee is exactly backward. Movement is the most effective long-term treatment we have.",
+ "body_html": "
The fear is understandable: if cartilage is 'wearing out,' surely using the joint wears it faster. But decades of research say the opposite — regular loading nourishes cartilage, strengthens the muscles that unload the joint, and reduces knee osteoarthritis pain about as much as common medications, with benefits that grow over time instead of fading.
Start with what the joint tolerates: walking, cycling, pool work, and twice-weekly leg strengthening (sit-to-stands, step-ups, straight-leg raises). Soreness that settles within a day is acceptable adaptation; sharp or swelling pain means scale back, not stop. Every pound of body weight lost removes roughly four pounds of load per step, which is why even a 10-pound loss often changes daily life.
Medications still have a place in flares: topical NSAID gel first for isolated knees, then oral options such as ibuprofen, naproxen, or meloxicam at the lowest effective dose, or acetaminophen for those who can't take NSAIDs. Corticosteroid injections buy weeks of relief for stubborn flares, and when night pain and disability persist despite all of it, modern knee replacement has excellent outcomes.
",
+ "author": "tom-okafor", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-05-20", "reviewed": "2024-05-24",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Eczema Flares: Building a Skin-Care Routine That Actually Holds",
+ "slug": "eczema-flare-routine", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Skin",
+ "summary": "Atopic dermatitis is a barrier problem before it's a rash problem. The daily routine matters more than any single cream.",
+ "body_html": "
Skin with atopic dermatitis leaks — water out, irritants and allergens in — because its brick-and-mortar barrier is genetically porous. That's why the foundation of eczema care isn't a steroid; it's relentless moisturization. Thick creams or ointments (the kind that come in tubs, not pumps), applied to the whole body within three minutes of a short lukewarm shower, measurably cut flare frequency.
When flares come anyway — the itch-scratch cycle, red patches in elbow and knee creases — topical corticosteroids used correctly and briefly are safe and effective: the right potency for the right body site, once or twice daily until the skin is clear plus a couple of days, not indefinitely. An oral antihistamine such as cetirizine can blunt itching, particularly at night.
Hunt your triggers deliberately: fragranced products, wool against skin, hot showers, low winter humidity, sweat trapped under clothing, and stress are the usual accelerants. For moderate-to-severe eczema that shrugs off good topical care, ask a dermatologist about newer options — non-steroid creams and biologic injections have transformed what's possible in the last decade.
",
+ "author": "amara-osei", "reviewer": "danielle-hart-md",
+ "published": "2024-11-04", "reviewed": "2024-11-08",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "COPD and Smoking: What Quitting Does at Every Stage of the Disease",
+ "slug": "copd-quitting-smoking", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Respiratory",
+ "summary": "There is no stage of COPD at which quitting stops mattering. Lung function, flare rates, and survival all bend toward the quitter.",
+ "body_html": "
COPD's arithmetic is unforgiving: adults lose a little lung function every year after their twenties, and smoking multiplies the rate of loss. Quitting doesn't rebuild destroyed air sacs, but it does something almost as valuable — it returns the decline to nearly the normal rate, at any age, at any stage of disease. It remains the only intervention proven to change COPD's long-term course.
Meanwhile, treatment has real levers to pull. Bronchodilator inhalers open airways (with albuterol as the rescue standby), inhaled corticosteroids reduce flare-ups in patients who keep having them, and pulmonary rehabilitation — supervised exercise and breathing training — improves breathlessness and stamina more than most medications. Flu, COVID, RSV, and pneumococcal vaccines matter enormously, since infections trigger the exacerbations that hospitalize people with COPD.
If you smoke, stack the deck: combine a quit medication (varenicline, bupropion, or dual nicotine-replacement) with counseling — the combination roughly doubles or triples success versus willpower alone. Most successful quitters needed several attempts; each one is practice, not failure.
",
+ "author": "marcus-delgado", "reviewer": "miguel-santana-md",
+ "published": "2024-04-15", "reviewed": "2024-04-19",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Gout Attacks: Why They Happen at 3 A.M. and How to Stop the Next One",
+ "slug": "gout-attacks-prevention", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Bones & Joints",
+ "summary": "A gout flare is one of medicine's most painful events — and one of its most preventable diseases. The gap between those facts is treatment inertia.",
+ "body_html": "
The classic story: you wake in the small hours with a big toe so exquisitely tender the weight of the sheet is unbearable. Overnight, cooler peripheral temperatures and shifting fluid let uric acid crystallize in the joint, and the immune system responds as if to an infection — heat, swelling, and blinding pain that peaks within a day.
Flares are treated fastest when treated earliest: an NSAID such as naproxen or ibuprofen at the first twinge, or colchicine, or a short course of prednisone for those who can't take the others. Keep your chosen flare medicine on hand — waiting for an appointment adds days of misery.
But the real decision comes between attacks, when gout is silent. Recurrent flares, tophi, or kidney stones mean it's time for daily urate-lowering therapy — allopurinol first-line — targeting a blood uric acid below 6 mg/dL, which dissolves crystals over months and can end attacks altogether. Diet helps at the margins (less beer, spirits, sugary drinks, and organ meats), but for most people genetics load the gun; only medication reliably unloads it.
",
+ "author": "curtis-boone", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-08-26", "reviewed": "2024-08-30",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "UTIs in Women: Treatment, Recurrence, and the Cranberry Question",
+ "slug": "uti-treatment-recurrence", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Women's Health",
+ "summary": "More than half of women will have a urinary tract infection. For the unlucky group that gets them repeatedly, prevention has an evidence base worth knowing.",
+ "body_html": "
The burning, urgency, and every-ten-minutes trips to the bathroom of a bladder infection are hard to mistake. Uncomplicated UTIs respond to short, targeted antibiotic courses — often just three to five days of first-line agents such as nitrofurantoin — and symptoms usually ease within a day or two of starting. Drink water generously, and use acetaminophen or ibuprofen for discomfort while the antibiotic works.
Know the escalation signs that mean the infection may have climbed to the kidneys: fever, chills, flank or back pain, and nausea. That's a same-day medical call, not a wait-and-see. The same goes for UTI symptoms in pregnancy, in men, or in anyone with diabetes or a weakened immune system.
For the roughly one in four women who get recurrences, evidence supports drinking more fluids (an extra 1.5 liters daily cut recurrences significantly in trials), urinating after sex, avoiding spermicides, and vaginal estrogen after menopause. Cranberry products show a modest preventive effect in some studies — reasonable to try, not a substitute for the strategies above or, when needed, a clinician-guided preventive antibiotic plan.
",
+ "author": "hannah-bell-curtis", "reviewer": "danielle-hart-md",
+ "published": "2024-07-08", "reviewed": "2024-07-12",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Hypothyroidism: Small Gland, Big Fatigue — and a Very Fixable Problem",
+ "slug": "hypothyroidism-fatigue", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Hormones",
+ "summary": "An underactive thyroid develops so gradually that many people blame age or stress for years. One blood test settles it.",
+ "body_html": "
The thyroid sets the idle speed for nearly every organ, so when it slows, everything slows: energy, digestion, heart rate, mood, even the skin's oil production. Because hypothyroidism creeps in over years — fatigue, weight gain, cold intolerance, constipation, dry skin, brain fog — it hides easily inside busy lives. In the U.S. the usual cause is Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune process that gradually quiets the gland.
Diagnosis is one of medicine's easier calls: a TSH blood test, confirmed with a free T4. Treatment is equally direct — daily levothyroxine, a synthetic version of the hormone your thyroid isn't making. Dosing is fine-tuned by TSH every six to eight weeks at first; most people feel the fog lift within a month or two of reaching the right dose.
The fine print is about absorption. Take levothyroxine on an empty stomach with water, 30 to 60 minutes before breakfast, and keep calcium, iron, and antacids at least four hours away. Don't switch brands or skip lab checks casually — this hormone is dosed in micrograms, and small drifts show up as symptoms.
",
+ "author": "leah-sandoval", "reviewer": "robert-yuen-md",
+ "published": "2024-06-24", "reviewed": "2024-06-28",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Stroke: Why 'Time Is Brain' Should Change What You Do in the First Five Minutes",
+ "slug": "stroke-time-is-brain", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Brain & Nerves",
+ "summary": "Nearly 2 million brain cells die each minute a stroke goes untreated. The single most important treatment decision is made by bystanders, not doctors.",
+ "body_html": "
Stroke treatment is a race with a stopwatch running: clot-dissolving medication works within 4.5 hours of symptom onset, and mechanical clot removal within a somewhat longer window for eligible patients — but every minute of delay costs brain tissue. The people who determine whether a patient makes those windows are whoever is standing nearby when it starts.
The F.A.S.T. check takes ten seconds. Face: ask for a smile — does one side droop? Arms: raise both — does one drift down? Speech: repeat a simple sentence — slurred or strange? Time: any one sign means call 911 now. Don't drive yourself, don't call a relative first, and don't wait to see if it passes — paramedics alert the stroke team before arrival, saving precious minutes.
A transient episode that resolves — a TIA — is a warning shot, not a reprieve; stroke risk is highest in the following days. Afterward, prevention is aggressive for good reason: blood pressure control, statins such as atorvastatin, antiplatelet therapy with aspirin or clopidogrel, and anticoagulants such as apixaban when atrial fibrillation is the culprit, together cut recurrence risk dramatically.
",
+ "author": "rachel-whitmore", "reviewer": "anil-bhatt-md",
+ "published": "2024-11-18", "reviewed": "2024-11-22",
+ },
+
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ # Section: drugs-supplements
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ {
+ "title": "Acetaminophen Overdose Hides in Plain Sight: Check Every Label",
+ "slug": "acetaminophen-hidden-doses", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "Medication Safety",
+ "summary": "The most common cause of acute liver failure in the U.S. isn't a rare toxin. It's stacking everyday products that all contain the same ingredient.",
+ "body_html": "
Acetaminophen is in more than 600 products: pain relievers, nighttime cold formulas, sinus tablets, prescription combination painkillers. A person nursing the flu can take a daytime cold medicine, an evening 'PM' formula, and something for a headache — and quietly sail past the safe daily ceiling without ever exceeding any single label's directions.
The maximum for healthy adults is 3,000 to 4,000 mg in 24 hours depending on the product, and the margin narrows sharply with regular alcohol use or liver disease. Overdose is especially treacherous because the first day may feel like nothing at all; by the time nausea and right-upper abdominal pain appear, liver injury is underway. Any suspected overdose warrants immediate care — the antidote works best early.
The defense is a habit, not a fact: read the active-ingredients line on every product in your cabinet, and count all sources of acetaminophen (sometimes listed as APAP on prescriptions) toward one daily total. When in doubt, your pharmacist can audit your list in two minutes.
",
+ "author": "david-lindqvist", "reviewer": "steven-marsh-pharmd",
+ "published": "2024-10-21", "reviewed": "2024-10-25",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "NSAIDs Compared: Ibuprofen vs. Naproxen vs. Aspirin",
+ "slug": "nsaids-compared", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "How Drugs Work",
+ "summary": "They all block the same enzymes, but the differences — dosing rhythm, heart and stomach risk, who should avoid them — are worth knowing before you open the bottle.",
+ "body_html": "
Ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin all work by inhibiting COX enzymes, dialing down the prostaglandins that produce pain, fever, and inflammation. The practical differences start with the clock: ibuprofen is short-acting (dosed every 4 to 6 hours, 200 to 400 mg for adults), naproxen is long-acting (220 mg every 8 to 12 hours), and aspirin occupies a special niche because it inhibits platelets irreversibly — the property that makes low-dose aspirin a heart medicine rather than a pain reliever.
The risks are a family trait: stomach irritation and bleeding, fluid retention that can nudge blood pressure upward, and kidney stress — all rising with dose, duration, age over 60, and combination with blood thinners such as warfarin or apixaban, corticosteroids, or each other. People with heart disease, kidney disease, ulcer history, or in the last trimester of pregnancy should treat all NSAIDs as ask-first medicines. Acetaminophen, which spares the stomach and platelets, is often the safer default for those groups.
Two interactions deserve special attention: taking ibuprofen at the same time as daily low-dose aspirin can blunt aspirin's heart protection (separate them, aspirin first), and children or teens recovering from viral illness should never receive aspirin because of Reye's syndrome. For any NSAID, the rule is the lowest dose that works, for the shortest time it's needed.
",
+ "author": "nick-ferrante", "reviewer": "steven-marsh-pharmd",
+ "published": "2024-09-09", "reviewed": "2024-09-13",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Statins and Muscle Aches: Sorting Real Side Effects From Noise",
+ "slug": "statins-muscle-aches", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "How Drugs Work",
+ "summary": "Muscle symptoms are the top reason people abandon statins — yet blinded trials tell a more nuanced story, and quitting has real costs.",
+ "body_html": "
Statins such as atorvastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin cut LDL cholesterol by 30 to 55 percent and reduce heart attacks and strokes across dozens of trials. They're also the medicines patients most often quit, usually citing muscle aches. Here's the nuance: in blinded studies, most people who report aches on a statin report similar aches on placebo — expectation itself generates symptoms. Genuine statin muscle injury exists but is far rarer than the complaint.
That doesn't mean symptoms should be dismissed. The workable approach is systematic: report the symptoms, check whether an interacting drug is raising statin levels (certain antibiotics such as clarithromycin, antifungals, and — for simvastatin especially — even amlodipine dose limits apply), consider a blood test, then try a washout and re-challenge, a lower dose, alternate-day dosing, or a different statin. Most 'statin-intolerant' patients ultimately tolerate one of these options.
The red-flag presentation is different in kind: severe muscle pain with weakness and dark, tea-colored urine suggests rhabdomyolysis — stop the drug and seek care immediately. For everyone else, the decision should weigh what the statin is actually buying: for people with established heart disease, stopping a statin carries a measurable increase in cardiovascular risk within a year or two.
",
+ "author": "nick-ferrante", "reviewer": "anil-bhatt-md",
+ "published": "2024-08-05", "reviewed": "2024-08-09",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Antibiotics Won't Fix Your Cold — and Taking Them Anyway Has a Price",
+ "slug": "antibiotics-wont-fix-colds", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "Medication Safety",
+ "summary": "Roughly 1 in 3 outpatient antibiotic prescriptions is unnecessary. The cost lands on your gut, your future infections, and everyone else's.",
+ "body_html": "
Colds, flu, most sore throats, most sinus infections, and acute bronchitis are caused by viruses, and antibiotics do precisely nothing to viruses. The green tinge of mucus doesn't change that — discolored discharge is a normal phase of viral illness, not a bacterial signature. Yet respiratory complaints still drive millions of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions each year.
Unneeded antibiotics aren't neutral. They cause real side effects — diarrhea, rashes, allergic reactions — disrupt the gut microbiome for months, and open the door to Clostridioides difficile, a punishing antibiotic-associated infection. At the population level, every unnecessary course teaches bacteria resistance tricks, which is how routine infections become hard-to-treat ones.
Bacterial infections that genuinely need antibiotics announce themselves differently: strep throat confirmed by a swab (fever, exudates, no cough), sinus symptoms lasting beyond ten days or worsening after improving, and pneumonia. When you are prescribed an antibiotic such as amoxicillin, azithromycin, or cephalexin, take it exactly as directed, and never save or share leftovers — the wrong drug at the wrong dose is how the next infection gets stronger.
",
+ "author": "marcus-delgado", "reviewer": "steven-marsh-pharmd",
+ "published": "2024-12-02", "reviewed": "2024-12-06",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Blood Thinner Basics: Warfarin vs. the Newer Anticoagulants",
+ "slug": "warfarin-vs-newer-anticoagulants", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "How Drugs Work",
+ "summary": "Apixaban and its cousins traded warfarin's blood tests and food rules for predictability — but warfarin still wins in a few situations.",
+ "body_html": "
For half a century, preventing clots meant warfarin: effective, cheap, and demanding — regular INR blood tests, a steady vitamin K intake (consistent leafy greens, not zero), and vigilance about interacting drugs from antibiotics to NSAIDs. The direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) such as apixaban changed the bargain: fixed doses, no routine monitoring, fewer food and drug interactions, and in trials, less brain bleeding.
For most people with atrial fibrillation or a first DVT or pulmonary embolism, DOACs are now the default choice. But warfarin keeps its ground where DOACs are unproven or inferior: mechanical heart valves, moderate-to-severe mitral stenosis, certain antiphospholipid syndromes, and situations where cost is decisive. Kidney function matters too — DOAC doses hinge on it, which is why apixaban's label lowers the dose based on age, weight, and creatinine.
Whichever agent you take, the non-negotiables are the same: take it every day (protection fades within roughly a day of a missed DOAC dose), tell every prescriber and dentist, avoid casual NSAID use, and treat signs of serious bleeding — black stools, vomiting blood, the worst-ever headache — as emergencies. Carry a card or phone note saying which anticoagulant you take; in an emergency it changes your care.
",
+ "author": "david-lindqvist", "reviewer": "anil-bhatt-md",
+ "published": "2024-07-15", "reviewed": "2024-07-19",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "PPIs Long Term: Who Should Stay On, Who Should Step Down",
+ "slug": "ppi-long-term-use", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "Medication Safety",
+ "summary": "Omeprazole and its relatives are among the most-used drugs in America — and among the most reflexively renewed. An annual 'why am I on this?' check pays off.",
+ "body_html": "
Proton pump inhibitors — omeprazole, esomeprazole, pantoprazole — are superb at what they do: healing erosive esophagitis and ulcers, protecting stomachs from NSAIDs in high-risk patients, and taming genuine GERD. The trouble is drift: courses meant to last eight weeks quietly become years, often without anyone re-deciding.
Long-term PPI use has been associated with low magnesium, vitamin B12 depletion, C. difficile infection, and modest fracture signals — associations, mostly, rather than proven causes, but reason enough not to take a daily acid blocker without a purpose. Some people genuinely need indefinite therapy: severe erosive disease, Barrett's esophagus, chronic NSAID plus high bleeding risk, and rare hypersecretory conditions.
If you're on a PPI without one of those reasons, don't just stop — rebound acid can roar back and convince you that you can't quit. Step down instead: halve the dose or move to every-other-day for a few weeks, keep famotidine and antacids on hand for breakthrough symptoms, and mind the lifestyle levers (earlier dinners, less alcohol, weight if relevant). One more interaction worth flagging: clopidogrel users should generally avoid omeprazole and esomeprazole; pantoprazole plays better.
",
+ "author": "nick-ferrante", "reviewer": "lucia-ferreira-md",
+ "published": "2024-06-03", "reviewed": "2024-06-07",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Melatonin: What the Evidence Supports — and What the Bottle Won't Tell You",
+ "slug": "melatonin-evidence", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "Vitamins & Supplements",
+ "summary": "America's favorite sleep supplement is a timing signal, not a sedative. Used that way, it works; used like a sleeping pill, it mostly disappoints.",
+ "body_html": "
Melatonin is the hormone your brain releases as light fades — a 'darkness is coming' signal that opens the gate to sleep. Supplemental melatonin therefore shines in timing problems: jet lag, shift work adjustment, and the night-owl pattern called delayed sleep phase. For garden-variety insomnia, trials show only small average gains — minutes, not hours — because most insomnia isn't a melatonin shortage.
If you use it, use it like a clock-setter: a low dose (0.5 to 1 mg is physiologic; more isn't better and can cause grogginess and vivid dreams) taken one to two hours before your target bedtime, paired with dim evening light — because bright screens at midnight shout louder than any capsule whispers. Short-term use appears safe for most adults; talk to a clinician before giving it to children or combining it with sedatives or blood thinners.
Two caveats deserve the label they don't get. First, supplements are loosely regulated: independent testing has found products containing far more or less melatonin than stated, so choose brands with third-party verification (USP, NSF). Second, if sleeplessness is chronic, the durable fix is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia — CBT-I outperforms every pill and supplement in long-term trials.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "steven-marsh-pharmd",
+ "published": "2024-11-11", "reviewed": "2024-11-15",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Vitamin D: Sorting Deficiency From the Hype",
+ "slug": "vitamin-d-deficiency-hype", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "Vitamins & Supplements",
+ "summary": "Vitamin D matters for bones — that much is solid. The claims beyond that, and the megadoses sold on them, deserve a skeptical squint.",
+ "body_html": "
Vitamin D's proven job is calcium handling and bone health: true deficiency causes rickets in children, osteomalacia in adults, and contributes to osteoporosis and fractures. Recommended daily intakes are 600 IU for most adults and 800 IU after 70, with higher needs in people who get little sun exposure, have darker skin, have obesity or malabsorption, or take certain medicines.
The last two decades of enthusiasm — vitamin D as a shield against cancer, heart disease, depression, and infections — largely deflated when tested. Large randomized trials in generally healthy adults found supplements did not prevent cardiovascular events, cancer deaths, or fractures in people who weren't deficient. Low vitamin D often travels with poor overall health rather than causing it.
The sensible middle: if you have risk factors or symptoms, a blood test (25-hydroxyvitamin D) settles the question, and deficiency is treated with straightforward repletion. If you're a healthy adult hedging your bets, a standard daily dose within recommended limits is reasonable and safe; routine megadosing is not — vitamin D is fat-soluble, and sustained very high intakes can cause dangerous calcium elevations. More is not better; enough is enough.
",
+ "author": "sofia-andersson", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-05-13", "reviewed": "2024-05-17",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "SSRI Start-Up: The First Six Weeks on Sertraline, Fluoxetine, or Escitalopram",
+ "slug": "ssri-first-six-weeks", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "How Drugs Work",
+ "summary": "Antidepressants have a famously awkward opening act. Knowing the timeline — what fades, what builds, what to report — keeps people from quitting right before the benefit arrives.",
+ "body_html": "
SSRIs like sertraline, fluoxetine, and escitalopram raise serotonin signaling within hours, but mood benefits build over weeks — usually a first glimmer by week two and a fair verdict at four to six. The side effects run the opposite schedule: nausea, jitteriness, headache, and sleep changes tend to show up in week one and fade by week three or four. That mismatch — side effects first, benefits later — is exactly when most premature quitting happens.
Practical moves smooth the start: take the dose with food (morning if it energizes you, evening if it sedates), keep alcohol minimal, and don't judge the drug before week four at a full dose. Sexual side effects and emotional blunting can persist for some people; they're common, legitimate reasons to adjust — dose changes, timing, or a switch (bupropion is the usual low-sexual-side-effect alternative) — rather than to abandon treatment silently.
Call your prescriber promptly for the serious-but-rare list: worsening depression or suicidal thoughts (a boxed-warning risk, highest under age 25 and early in treatment), unusual bleeding or easy bruising (more likely with NSAIDs or blood thinners aboard), and the agitation-fever-tremor triad of serotonin syndrome, a particular risk when combined with tramadol or migraine triptans. And when the day comes to stop, taper with your clinician — SSRIs deserve a slow exit, not a cold stop.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "grace-okonkwo-md",
+ "published": "2024-10-28", "reviewed": "2024-11-01",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Drug Interactions: The Five Combinations Pharmacists Worry About Most",
+ "slug": "five-risky-drug-combinations", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "Medication Safety",
+ "summary": "Most interaction alerts are noise. These five are signal — the pairings that reliably put people in the hospital.",
+ "body_html": "
Start with the pairing that anchors every pharmacy's caution list: opioids with benzodiazepines. Tramadol or any opioid combined with alprazolam or lorazepam multiplies sedation and can suppress breathing outright — a boxed-warning combination that should exist only deliberately, briefly, and at low doses. Alcohol stacks on the same ledger.
Next, the bleeding cluster: anticoagulants (warfarin, apixaban) plus NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or naproxen — or plus aspirin without a cardiologist's reason — sharply raises gastrointestinal bleeding risk. Warfarin adds its own wrinkle: common antibiotics can send INR soaring within days of starting. Third, the serotonin stack: an SSRI or SNRI combined with tramadol, or with migraine triptans like sumatriptan, can tip into serotonin syndrome — agitation, fever, racing heart, twitching muscles.
Rounding out the five: nitrates with erectile dysfunction drugs such as sildenafil, a combination that can drop blood pressure catastrophically and is flatly contraindicated; and clopidogrel with omeprazole, where the acid blocker quietly disarms the antiplatelet drug meant to keep a stent open. The meta-lesson: keep one complete, current medication list — including OTC drugs and supplements — and have your pharmacist review it whenever anything changes.
",
+ "author": "david-lindqvist", "reviewer": "steven-marsh-pharmd",
+ "published": "2024-09-23", "reviewed": "2024-09-27",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Generic Drugs: What 'Bioequivalent' Really Means for Your Refill",
+ "slug": "generic-drugs-bioequivalence", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "Medication Safety",
+ "summary": "Nine in ten U.S. prescriptions are filled generic. Here's the science behind the swap — and the short list of drugs where consistency matters extra.",
+ "body_html": "
A generic drug must contain the same active ingredient, strength, dosage form, and route as the brand, and must prove bioequivalence — delivering the same amount of drug to the bloodstream on essentially the same schedule. The inactive ingredients (fillers, dyes) may differ; the medicine does not. This is why generics routinely cost 80 to 85 percent less while producing the same clinical results.
Skepticism usually traces to two real phenomena. First, appearance changes with manufacturer switches, which invites confusion and dosing errors — check the label, not the pill color. Second, a handful of narrow-therapeutic-index drugs — levothyroxine and warfarin most famously — sit on dosing knife-edges where even small variations can matter. For those, the advice isn't 'insist on brand'; it's consistency: stay with one product, and re-check labs (TSH, INR) after any switch.
If a generic genuinely seems to act differently, that's a conversation, not a shrug: your pharmacist can identify the manufacturer, document the lot, and often dispense a consistent supplier going forward. But as a default, choosing generics is one of the rare decisions in healthcare that saves money with no trade in quality.
",
+ "author": "nick-ferrante", "reviewer": "steven-marsh-pharmd",
+ "published": "2024-04-29", "reviewed": "2024-05-03",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Probiotics: A Buyer's Guide to an Unregulated Aisle",
+ "slug": "probiotics-buyers-guide", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "Vitamins & Supplements",
+ "summary": "The evidence for probiotics is real but narrow — specific strains for specific situations. The marketing is neither.",
+ "body_html": "
Probiotics are live microorganisms that, in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit — a definition with three load-bearing words: live, adequate, and specific. Benefits demonstrated in trials belong to particular strains at particular doses for particular problems, most convincingly preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhea and helping some IBS symptoms. A generic 'gut health' blend borrows that halo without necessarily earning it.
If you're taking a course of antibiotics like amoxicillin or ciprofloxacin and want to hedge against diarrhea, studied options include Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Saccharomyces boulardii, taken a few hours apart from the antibiotic dose and continued for a week or so after. For IBS, evidence is strain-dependent and modest — worth a structured four-week trial, kept only if you can name a symptom it improved.
Shopping rules for an aisle with little oversight: look for named strains (letters and numbers after the species), a stated dose in CFUs through the end of shelf life, third-party testing, and storage instructions honored by the store. And keep perspective: for feeding your existing gut microbes, fiber — beans, oats, vegetables, fermented foods — has broader evidence than any capsule.
",
+ "author": "sofia-andersson", "reviewer": "lucia-ferreira-md",
+ "published": "2024-08-19", "reviewed": "2024-08-23",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Thyroid Tests Decoded: TSH, T4, and What Happens When They Disagree",
+ "slug": "thyroid-tests-decoded", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Hormones",
+ "summary": "One number starts every thyroid conversation, but it rarely finishes it. How to read the labs behind an under- or overactive thyroid.",
+ "body_html": "
Thyroid testing usually starts with TSH — thyroid-stimulating hormone — which is the pituitary's thermostat setting rather than a thyroid hormone itself. A high TSH means the pituitary is shouting at a sluggish gland (pointing toward hypothyroidism); a low TSH means it has gone quiet because hormone levels are already high (pointing toward hyperthyroidism). Because the thermostat reacts more sensitively than hormone levels themselves move, TSH catches problems earliest — which is exactly why it can alarm people whose free T4 is still normal.
That in-between zone is called subclinical thyroid disease, and it is where most of the nuance lives. A mildly elevated TSH with normal T4 often normalizes on retesting in a few months, so guidelines favor confirming before treating. Whether to start levothyroxine for persistent subclinical hypothyroidism depends on the TSH level, antibody status, symptoms, age, and pregnancy plans — not on a single lab draw. The same caution applies in the other direction before labeling someone hyperthyroid.
Practical rules that save repeat visits: get the blood drawn at a consistent time of day, tell the lab about biotin supplements (they can distort results), and don't compare numbers across different labs without noting their reference ranges. Illness, pregnancy, and several medicines shift the numbers, so a surprising result deserves a recheck and a conversation before it earns a diagnosis.
",
+ "author": "leah-sandoval", "reviewer": "robert-yuen-md",
+ "published": "2024-07-29", "reviewed": "2024-08-02",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Uric Acid and Your Plate: What Diet Can — and Can't — Do About High Urate",
+ "slug": "uric-acid-diet", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Bones & Joints",
+ "summary": "Food choices move blood urate less than most people hope, but a few of them punch above their weight. Where diet genuinely helps — and where it stops.",
+ "body_html": "
High uric acid runs on two engines: how much urate the body produces and how well the kidneys clear it. Diet feeds only the first engine, and only partly — most circulating urate comes from the body's own cell turnover, not the plate. That is why even disciplined eating typically lowers blood urate by a modest amount, and why gout that keeps flaring usually needs medication rather than a stricter menu.
Still, the food levers are real, and they are not the ones folklore emphasizes. The strongest dietary pushers of urate are beer and spirits, sugar-sweetened drinks (fructose drives urate production directly), and organ meats and certain seafood. Red meat matters moderately. Purine-rich vegetables like spinach and mushrooms — long on the forbidden lists — turn out to matter little, and low-fat dairy, coffee, and cherries associate with lower urate in cohort studies.
The honest framing: weight loss moves urate more than any single food swap, hydration keeps crystals less likely to form, and a Mediterranean-style or DASH pattern beats itemized food bans people can't sustain. If attacks are recurring or a joint has visible crystal deposits, dietary virtue is not a substitute for seeing a clinician about urate-lowering therapy — the target is a blood level, not a shopping list.
",
+ "author": "priya-raman", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-09-05", "reviewed": "2024-09-09",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Dizziness or Vertigo? Why the Difference Changes the Diagnosis",
+ "slug": "dizziness-vs-vertigo", "section": "conditions",
+ "subcategory": "Brain & Nerves",
+ "summary": "'Dizzy' covers four different sensations, and doctors triage them differently. How to describe yours — and which red flags mean skip the wait-and-see.",
+ "body_html": "
'Dizzy' is one word doing four jobs: the room spinning (vertigo), feeling about to faint (presyncope), unsteadiness on your feet (disequilibrium), and a vague foggy lightheadedness. Clinicians sort these deliberately, because each points down a different diagnostic road — vertigo toward the inner ear and balance nerves, presyncope toward blood pressure and heart rhythm, disequilibrium toward nerves, joints, and medications. The single most useful thing you can bring to an appointment is a plain description of the sensation, what triggers it, and how long each episode lasts.
Duration and trigger do most of the sorting for true vertigo. Spells lasting seconds, set off by rolling over in bed or looking up, suggest a positional problem in the inner ear's canals. Attacks lasting hours, especially with ear fullness or hearing changes, point elsewhere; constant vertigo over days with a recent viral illness points elsewhere again. Clinicians confirm positional cases with a bedside test and can treat them on the spot with a guided repositioning sequence — one reason an office visit often beats toughing it out.
The red flags matter more than the label: vertigo with double vision, slurred speech, weakness or numbness, a new severe headache, trouble walking out of proportion to the spinning, or sudden hearing loss warrants emergency evaluation, because a small stroke in the brain's balance centers can masquerade as an inner-ear problem. For everything else, most dizziness has a findable cause — and the fixable kinds are surprisingly common.
",
+ "author": "rachel-whitmore", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-10-01", "reviewed": "2024-10-04",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Choosing a Statin: Intensity, Interactions, and Why Doctors Switch Instead of Stop",
+ "slug": "choosing-a-statin", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "How Drugs Work",
+ "summary": "The statins aren't interchangeable — they differ in strength, drug interactions, and dosing quirks. What actually drives the pick.",
+ "body_html": "
All statins do the same job — blocking the liver enzyme that makes cholesterol — but they don't do it with the same force. Cardiologists group them by intensity: high-intensity regimens (atorvastatin 40 to 80 mg, rosuvastatin 20 to 40 mg) cut LDL by half or more, while moderate options (simvastatin, pravastatin, lovastatin, or lower doses of the big two) trim 30 to 50 percent. The choice starts with how much LDL-lowering your risk profile demands, not with which name sounds familiar.
Interactions drive the next cut. Several statins are cleared through the liver's CYP3A4 pathway, which collides with common medicines like clarithromycin and some heart drugs — and with grapefruit juice in quantity. Pravastatin and rosuvastatin largely bypass that pathway, so they're favored for patients with crowded medication lists. Dosing quirks matter too: shorter-acting statins work best taken in the evening, when the liver makes most of its cholesterol, while the long-acting ones don't care.
The most useful thing to know: statin trouble is usually solved by switching, not stopping. Muscle aches on one statin frequently don't recur on another at an equivalent risk-appropriate dose, or on an every-other-day schedule. Stopping altogether — the most common patient decision — is the one option that surrenders the heart-attack and stroke protection the prescription existed for. If a statin isn't agreeing with you, that's a switching conversation, not a quitting one.
",
+ "author": "nick-ferrante", "reviewer": "anil-bhatt-md",
+ "published": "2024-10-06", "reviewed": "2024-10-10",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Magnesium for Sleep: The Claims Outrun the Data",
+ "slug": "magnesium-for-sleep", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "Vitamins & Supplements",
+ "summary": "Social media has crowned magnesium the natural sleep fix. The trials are small, short, and much less impressed.",
+ "body_html": "
Magnesium's sleep reputation rests on plausible biology — the mineral participates in the signaling systems that quiet the nervous system — and on a handful of small trials, mostly in older adults with low magnesium levels, showing modest improvements in how fast participants fell asleep. Meta-analyses of those trials describe the evidence as low-quality: small samples, short durations, and inconsistent results. That's a thinner file than the one behind melatonin, which is itself best for shifting sleep timing rather than deepening sleep.
Deficiency is the caveat that keeps magnesium interesting. People who run genuinely low — heavy alcohol use, certain diuretics and acid reducers, uncontrolled diabetes, and low dietary intake — may plausibly sleep better when repleted, because deficiency itself disrupts sleep. But most people reaching for a bedtime supplement aren't deficient, and topping up past normal has no demonstrated sleep benefit. Forms matter mainly for the gut: citrate and oxide are more laxative; glycinate is gentler.
If you try it, keep the experiment honest: a modest dose (under the 350 mg supplemental upper limit for adults), two to three weeks, with a simple sleep diary. Kidney disease is a hard stop — impaired clearance makes supplementation risky. And if sleep still isn't coming, the intervention with the strongest evidence isn't in the supplement aisle at all: it's cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, which outperforms every pill and powder tested against it.
",
+ "author": "sofia-andersson", "reviewer": "steven-marsh-pharmd",
+ "published": "2024-09-16", "reviewed": "2024-09-20",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "The Sleep-Aid Aisle, Ingredient by Ingredient",
+ "slug": "sleep-aid-aisle-ingredients", "section": "drugs-supplements",
+ "subcategory": "Vitamins & Supplements",
+ "summary": "ZzzQuil, 'PM' pain relievers, melatonin gummies, valerian — what's actually in over-the-counter sleep products, and what each ingredient can and can't do.",
+ "body_html": "
Nearly everything on the pharmacy sleep shelf is one of four things. The 'PM' products and ZzzQuil are sedating antihistamines — diphenhydramine or doxylamine — which do cause drowsiness but breed tolerance within days and carry next-morning grogginess, dry mouth, and constipation; sleep specialists discourage regular use, especially in older adults. The gummy wall is mostly melatonin in doses far above what the timing-signal research used. The 'natural' section leans on valerian, chamomile, and lately magnesium blends, where evidence ranges from weak to mostly-absent. And combination products stack these with pain relievers you may not need.
Reading the fine print pays. A 'PM' pain reliever contains a full dose of acetaminophen or ibuprofen — a problem if you're also taking either separately. Supplement doses vary wildly from the label in independent testing, melatonin gummies especially. And 'non-habit-forming' on the front of the box refers to physiologic dependence, not to the very real habit of being unable to fall asleep without a ritual purchase.
The aisle's honest use case is short-term and situational: an occasional bad night, a red-eye flight, the first nights in a new place. Anything chronic — trouble falling or staying asleep most nights for a month or more — has better-tested treatments, starting with cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and a frank medication review, since common prescriptions (steroids, stimulants, some antidepressants) quietly sabotage sleep. A cart full of sleep aids is usually a sign the problem deserves an appointment, not another product.
",
+ "author": "nick-ferrante", "reviewer": "steven-marsh-pharmd",
+ "published": "2024-07-08", "reviewed": "2024-07-12",
+ },
+]
diff --git a/sites/webmd/_seed_articles_b.py b/sites/webmd/_seed_articles_b.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9c3f6318
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/_seed_articles_b.py
@@ -0,0 +1,228 @@
+"""Article catalog, part B: Well-Being and Diet & Weight Management
+sections. Same sourcing rules as part A."""
+
+ARTICLES_B = [
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ # Section: well-being
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ {
+ "title": "Sleep Debt Is Real: What a Week of Short Nights Does to Your Body",
+ "slug": "sleep-debt-week-short-nights", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Sleep",
+ "summary": "Cutting sleep to six hours feels manageable by day three — that's the trap. Objective performance keeps falling even as you stop noticing.",
+ "body_html": "
In controlled studies, adults limited to six hours of sleep a night for two weeks performed as poorly on attention tests as people kept awake for two full days — while rating themselves only 'a little' tired. Sleep debt degrades the very self-monitoring you'd use to detect it, which is why chronically short sleepers genuinely believe they've adapted.
The body keeps a fuller ledger. Within a week of short nights, insulin sensitivity drops measurably, hunger hormones tilt toward appetite (more ghrelin, less leptin), blood pressure runs higher, and immune response weakens — one reason short sleepers catch more colds. Over years, chronic short sleep associates with weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and depression.
Repayment works, but not in one heroic weekend lie-in, which mostly scrambles your body clock. The durable fix is boring: a consistent wake time seven days a week, a bedtime early enough to allow 7 to 9 hours, caffeine cut off by early afternoon, and dim light in the last hour before bed. Give it two weeks — most people are surprised by what 'rested' actually feels like.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-09-30", "reviewed": "2024-10-04",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "The 150-Minute Prescription: What Exercise Guidelines Actually Ask of You",
+ "slug": "exercise-150-minute-prescription", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Fitness & Exercise",
+ "summary": "The official target is more modest — and more flexible — than most people assume. Here's how to meet it without reorganizing your life.",
+ "body_html": "
The physical activity guidelines for adults come down to two lines: at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity (or 75 vigorous), plus muscle-strengthening work twice a week. Moderate means you can talk but not sing — a brisk walk qualifies. There's no minimum session length; three 10-minute walks count the same as one 30-minute one.
The payoff curve is steepest at the bottom: going from nothing to even 60 to 90 weekly minutes buys a large share of the mortality benefit, with lower risks of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, several cancers, depression, and dementia accumulating from there. Strength training earns its separate line in the guidelines because muscle mass and bone density quietly erode from our thirties onward — two sessions a week of squats, pushes, pulls, and carries slows the leak.
Make it survivable: anchor activity to existing routines (walk the first 15 minutes of lunch), count everything (stairs, yard work, hauling groceries), and if you've been sedentary or have heart disease, ramp gradually and clear vigorous plans with your clinician. The best program remains the one still happening in March.
",
+ "author": "tom-okafor", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-06-17", "reviewed": "2024-06-21",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Chronic Stress and Your Body: The Cortisol Story, Minus the Myths",
+ "slug": "chronic-stress-cortisol", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Stress Management",
+ "summary": "Stress isn't just a feeling — it's a hormonal state with measurable downstream costs. But 'adrenal fatigue' isn't one of them.",
+ "body_html": "
The stress response is a magnificent short-term system: cortisol and adrenaline mobilize fuel, sharpen attention, and prime muscles. The trouble is duration. When the alarm never fully switches off — money strain, caregiving, a hostile workplace — chronically elevated stress signaling associates with higher blood pressure, abdominal weight gain, insulin resistance, disrupted sleep, weakened immunity, and worsened anxiety and depression.
One myth to retire: 'adrenal fatigue,' the idea that stressed adrenal glands wear out and need supplements, is not a recognized medical diagnosis, and the supplement stacks sold for it range from useless to risky. Real adrenal insufficiency (Addison's disease) exists, is rare, and is diagnosed with blood tests — not symptom quizzes.
What actually lowers the load has less flash and more evidence: aerobic exercise (as effective as medication for mild anxiety in some trials), adequate sleep, slow-breathing practices and mindfulness (modest but consistent effects), social connection, and — where the stressor is a solvable problem — problem-solving therapy or plain old boundaries. If stress symptoms include panic attacks, persistent insomnia, or hopelessness, that's a clinician conversation, not a willpower project.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "grace-okonkwo-md",
+ "published": "2024-07-29", "reviewed": "2024-08-02",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Strength After 60: Why Muscle Is the Retirement Account You Can Still Fund",
+ "slug": "strength-after-60", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Healthy Aging",
+ "summary": "Sarcopenia — age-related muscle loss — is the quiet driver of falls, fractures, and lost independence. It responds to training at every age studied.",
+ "body_html": "
Adults lose roughly 3 to 8 percent of muscle mass per decade after 30, and the rate accelerates past 60. The consequences read like a geriatrics syllabus: slower walking speed, harder chair rises, worse balance, more falls, and the fractures — especially hip — that end independent living. Yet in trial after trial, including participants in their nineties, progressive resistance training rebuilds strength substantially.
The program doesn't need to be heroic. Two or three sessions a week hitting the big patterns — sit-to-stands or leg press, step-ups, rows, presses, farmer's carries — at an effort that makes the last two repetitions genuinely hard, progressed slowly, does the job. Add balance work (heel-to-toe walking, single-leg stands near a counter) and you're addressing fall risk from both ends.
Protein is the co-investment older adults most often shortchange: aging muscle responds less to each meal's protein, so aim for 25 to 30 grams at each meal rather than a token breakfast and a protein-heavy dinner. If you have osteoporosis, heart disease, or joint replacements, get cleared and ideally start with a physical therapist — then keep going, because detraining reverses the gains as reliably as training built them.
",
+ "author": "leah-sandoval", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-10-14", "reviewed": "2024-10-18",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "How to Fall Asleep Faster: What Sleep Medicine Actually Recommends",
+ "slug": "fall-asleep-faster", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Sleep",
+ "summary": "Lying in bed trying harder is the one strategy guaranteed to fail. The clinical playbook works differently.",
+ "body_html": "
Sleep is one of the few biological functions that flees direct pursuit — effort produces arousal, arousal blocks sleep. Sleep medicine's counterintuitive core rule is stimulus control: the bed is for sleep only, and if you're awake beyond about 20 minutes, get up, keep lights dim, do something quiet and dull, and return only when drowsy. Repeated over a couple of weeks, this retrains the bed from 'worry venue' back to 'sleep trigger.'
The supporting cast: one fixed wake time every day (the single most powerful lever on your body clock), daylight exposure in the first hour after waking, caffeine finished eight or more hours before bed, alcohol not used as a sedative (it fragments the second half of the night), and a wind-down hour with dim light — bright evening screens delay the melatonin rise that opens the sleep gate.
If trouble sleeping persists three nights a week for three months despite this, that's chronic insomnia, and the first-line treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) — digital versions work too — not a nightly pill. And if loud snoring, gasping awakenings, or crushing daytime sleepiness are part of the picture, ask about sleep apnea testing before treating this as insomnia at all.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "miguel-santana-md",
+ "published": "2024-11-25", "reviewed": "2024-11-29",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Walking 8,000 Steps: What the Step-Count Science Really Shows",
+ "slug": "walking-8000-steps", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Fitness & Exercise",
+ "summary": "10,000 steps began as a marketing slogan. The research points somewhere friendlier — and the curve matters more than the target.",
+ "body_html": "
The 10,000-step target traces to a 1960s Japanese pedometer brand, not to physiology. When researchers actually measured step counts against mortality across large cohorts, the pattern that emerged was a curve: risk falls steeply as daily steps rise from 2,000-3,000 toward 7,000-8,000, then flattens. Older adults appear to capture most of the benefit by around 6,000-8,000; younger adults' curves flatten somewhat higher.
Two encouraging details hide in the data. First, the biggest gains belong to the least active — moving from 2,500 to 5,000 steps buys more health than moving from 8,000 to 10,500. Second, pace helps but doesn't dominate: total volume matters most, though bouts of brisker walking add cardiovascular benefit on top.
Practical translation: find your current baseline (a week of phone-tracked normal life), then add 1,000 steps a day for a couple of weeks at a time. Attach walks to fixed anchors — after lunch, during calls, the far end of the parking lot. And if a step counter makes you anxious rather than active, drop it and keep the walks; the health effect lives in the movement, not the measurement.
",
+ "author": "tom-okafor", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-05-06", "reviewed": "2024-05-10",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Burnout vs. Depression: Different Problems, Different Fixes",
+ "slug": "burnout-vs-depression", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Mental Health",
+ "summary": "They share exhaustion and bleakness, and they can coexist — but confusing them sends people to the wrong remedy.",
+ "body_html": "
Burnout, as researchers define it, is an occupational syndrome with three fingerprints: exhaustion, cynicism or detachment toward the work itself, and a collapsing sense of effectiveness. Its defining feature is context — symptoms track the job and often lift, at least partially, on genuine time away. Depression is context-free: it colonizes weekends, vacations, hobbies, and relationships alike, and adds signatures burnout lacks, such as pervasive guilt or worthlessness, appetite change, and thoughts of death.
The distinction is imperfect and the conditions can co-occur or convert — sustained burnout is a risk factor for developing depression. The screening question that helps: does anything still bring pleasure? A burned-out teacher may still light up on a hiking weekend; a depressed one usually cannot. Rest treats one but not the other: prescribing a vacation for major depression fails, and prescribing antidepressants for a toxic workload treats the worker while sparing the problem.
Match the fix to the diagnosis. For burnout: change the exposure — workload negotiation, boundary-setting, role change, and where those are impossible, an exit plan — plus recovery basics of sleep, exercise, and social reconnection. For depression: evidence-based care — psychotherapy, medication such as an SSRI, or both. And for the person who can't tell which they have, a primary care or mental health visit sorts it faster than another month of white-knuckling.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "grace-okonkwo-md",
+ "published": "2024-08-12", "reviewed": "2024-08-16",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Hydration: How Much Water You Actually Need",
+ "slug": "hydration-how-much-water", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Healthy Living",
+ "summary": "Eight glasses a day is folklore. Your kidneys run a more sophisticated system — and they publish their status in the toilet bowl.",
+ "body_html": "
There is no single daily water quota. Adequate-intake estimates — roughly 15.5 cups of total fluids daily for men and 11.5 for women — include the 20 percent that arrives in food and the coffee, tea, and milk that count fully despite the persistent myth that caffeine 'doesn't count.' Needs swing widely with heat, exercise, body size, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and illness.
The body's own gauges beat any rule: drink when thirsty, and check urine color — pale straw means well hydrated; dark amber says drink more. Groups who shouldn't rely on thirst alone include older adults (the thirst signal dulls with age), people working or exercising hard in heat, and anyone with vomiting, diarrhea, or fever. A few medical situations — kidney stones (2.5 to 3 liters daily is protective), certain heart failure and kidney patients on fluid limits — come with prescriptions that override defaults.
Overhydration is rarer but real: forcing large volumes rapidly, especially during endurance events, can dilute blood sodium (hyponatremia), which is dangerous. The practical playbook is undramatic — a glass with each meal, water within reach during the day, more around exercise and heat, and let thirst and urine color steer the rest.
",
+ "author": "sofia-andersson", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-07-01", "reviewed": "2024-07-05",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Loneliness Is a Health Risk, Not a Character Flaw",
+ "slug": "loneliness-health-risk", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Mental Health",
+ "summary": "The research linking social disconnection to heart disease, dementia, and early death is strong enough that health agencies now treat it as a public health issue.",
+ "body_html": "
Loneliness is the gap between the social connection you have and the connection you need — which is why it can flourish in crowded households and marriages, and why solitude isn't the same thing. Chronic loneliness is common (surveys put it at roughly one in three to one in two U.S. adults at least sometimes) and consequential: meta-analyses associate poor social connection with meaningfully higher risks of heart disease, stroke, dementia, depression, and earlier death — effect sizes in the neighborhood of established risk factors like smoking status and inactivity.
The mechanisms are plausibly boring: chronic stress physiology (higher blood pressure and inflammation), worse sleep, less motivation for self-care, and fewer people to notice when something's wrong. The loneliest stretches of life cluster around transitions — new parenthood, retirement, bereavement, relocation — which is useful to know, because it predicts when to invest deliberately.
What helps, per actual trials: less about meeting strangers, more about deepening existing threads. Regular scheduled contact beats spontaneous intentions; shared activity (a class, volunteering, a walking group) beats unstructured socializing; and for entrenched loneliness, cognitive approaches that challenge the 'nobody wants me here' filter outperform social-skills training. Start smaller than feels meaningful: one standing weekly call, one recurring commitment. Consistency, not intensity, rebuilds connection.
",
+ "author": "leah-sandoval", "reviewer": "grace-okonkwo-md",
+ "published": "2024-12-09", "reviewed": "2024-12-13",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Desk Job, Aching Back: An Ergonomics Reset That Takes 20 Minutes",
+ "slug": "desk-ergonomics-reset", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Healthy Living",
+ "summary": "The best posture is the next posture. But a few one-time adjustments make every posture cheaper for your spine.",
+ "body_html": "
Spines dislike sustained anything — sustained slouching, yes, but also sustained 'perfect' posture. The modern ergonomic view has shifted from finding one correct position to reducing the cost of positions and increasing the frequency of changes. Still, setup matters: a 20-minute reset removes the worst offenders.
The checklist: screen top at or slightly below eye level, about an arm's length away (laptop users need a stand plus external keyboard — this is the highest-yield fix in the list); elbows near 90 degrees with shoulders relaxed, keyboard and mouse close; feet flat on floor or a footrest; chair supporting the low back's natural curve, hips slightly above knees. Phone habits count too — 'text neck' is a real load, so raise the phone rather than dropping the head.
Then add movement snacks: stand, stretch, or walk for a couple of minutes every 30 to 45 minutes (calendar reminders work; so does drinking enough water to force trips). Pair with two or three weekly sessions strengthening the back's support system — rows, hip hinges, planks, glute work. For back pain that radiates down a leg, brings numbness, or persists beyond a few weeks despite activity, step past ergonomics and see a clinician.
",
+ "author": "tom-okafor", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-04-22", "reviewed": "2024-04-26",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Alcohol and Health in 2025: The Sober-Curious Case for Less",
+ "slug": "alcohol-health-drinking-less", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Healthy Living",
+ "summary": "The 'red wine is heart-healthy' era is over. Current evidence supports a simpler slogan: less is better, and none is fine.",
+ "body_html": "
For decades, observational studies seemed to show moderate drinkers outliving abstainers — the famous J-curve. Better methods largely dismantled it: many 'abstainers' in old studies were former drinkers who had quit for health reasons, making nondrinkers look artificially sick. Newer analyses and genetic studies find risk rising more or less continuously with dose. No major health body now recommends starting to drink for your health.
The costs are better mapped than most drinkers know: alcohol is an established carcinogen linked to at least seven cancers — including breast cancer at levels as low as one daily drink — and contributes to high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, liver disease, poor sleep (it sedates, then fragments the night), anxiety, and injuries. Current U.S. guidelines cap 'moderate' at two drinks per day for men and one for women — as ceilings, not targets.
If cutting back appeals, the tactics with evidence: count honestly for two weeks (pours at home run large), schedule alcohol-free days and defend them, stock nonalcoholic alternatives you actually like, and notice what improves — sleep quality usually reports first, within a week or two. Signs that this is more than a habit adjustment — morning drinking, shakiness when stopping, failed attempts to cut down — warrant a medical conversation; withdrawal from heavy daily drinking can be dangerous to attempt alone.
",
+ "author": "curtis-boone", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-12-30", "reviewed": "2025-01-03",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Meditation for Skeptics: What Mindfulness Can and Can't Do",
+ "slug": "meditation-for-skeptics", "section": "well-being",
+ "subcategory": "Stress Management",
+ "summary": "Strip away the incense and the overselling, and a modest, useful tool remains — with trial evidence for specific problems.",
+ "body_html": "
Mindfulness meditation, at its mechanical core, is attention training: noticing when the mind wanders and returning it, thousands of repetitions, usually anchored to the breath. Structured programs have been trialed extensively, and honest reading of the evidence shows moderate benefits for anxiety, depression symptoms, and stress — comparable in some analyses to other active treatments — plus smaller effects on chronic pain coping and sleep.
Equally honest: it is not a cure-all. Effects on blood pressure, immunity, and attention in healthy people are modest and inconsistent; it does not replace therapy or medication for significant depression or anxiety disorders; and a minority of intensive practitioners report unpleasant effects like anxiety spikes or dissociation — worth knowing, especially for trauma histories, where trauma-sensitive instruction matters.
A skeptic-friendly on-ramp: ten minutes daily for four weeks, guided (any major app or free recordings), treating it like an exercise program — you're not seeking bliss, you're doing attention reps. Judge it at the end not by how sessions felt but by the week's data: Are you sleeping better? Snapping less? Recovering from stress faster? Keep what the data supports; discard the rest without guilt.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "grace-okonkwo-md",
+ "published": "2024-09-16", "reviewed": "2024-09-20",
+ },
+
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ # Section: diet-weight
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ {
+ "title": "The Mediterranean Diet, Operationalized: A Week One Shopping List",
+ "slug": "mediterranean-diet-week-one", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Healthy Eating",
+ "summary": "The most consistently recommended eating pattern in medicine is less a diet than a grocery-store strategy. Here's the concrete version.",
+ "body_html": "
Across major trials and decades of cohort data, the Mediterranean pattern keeps earning its reputation: lower rates of heart attack and stroke, better blood sugar control, and associations with slower cognitive decline. The pattern, not any superfood, does the work — olive oil as the principal fat; vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, and whole grains daily; fish twice a week; poultry and dairy in moderation; red and processed meat rarely; sweets occasional.
Week one, buy: extra-virgin olive oil (retire the butter dish to weekends), a jar of nuts for snacking, canned or dried beans and lentils for two dinners, canned or frozen fish (sardines and salmon are the budget route to omega-3s), whatever vegetables you'll honestly eat — frozen counts fully — plus whole-grain bread or farro or oats, plain yogurt, and fruit visible on the counter. That list covers most of the pattern for roughly the cost of the processed foods it replaces.
Then swap, don't overhaul: olive oil where butter was, beans where half the ground meat was, fruit and yogurt where dessert was, fish where one weekly steak was. The trials that showed benefits weren't testing perfection — adherence scores measure direction, and every swap moves the score. Wine is the one component modern guidance has walked back: if you don't drink, the pattern works without it.
",
+ "author": "sofia-andersson", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-06-03", "reviewed": "2024-06-07",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Why Diets 'Stop Working': The Biology of the Weight Plateau",
+ "slug": "weight-loss-plateau-biology", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Weight Loss",
+ "summary": "The plateau isn't failure — it's physiology doing exactly what it evolved to do. Understanding it changes the strategy.",
+ "body_html": "
Weight loss triggers a coordinated defense. As pounds drop, total energy needs fall — a smaller body costs less to run — and metabolism adapts downward a bit further than size alone predicts. Meanwhile hunger hormones shift: ghrelin rises, satiety signals like leptin fall, and food becomes more salient to the brain. The diet didn't stop working; the body started negotiating harder. Plateaus typically arrive around six months into a successful effort.
What doesn't help: slashing intake to extremes (unsustainable, muscle-costly) or declaring the effort broken. What does: recalculating — your maintenance calories at the new weight are lower than at the old one; tightening measurement drift (portions creep, tracking lapses, 'bites don't count'); protecting muscle with resistance training and adequate protein, which supports the calorie budget; and adding movement outside workouts, since non-exercise activity often quietly declines during dieting.
Zoom out on the goal, too. Five to ten percent loss — often achieved by plateau time — already delivers most of the metabolic wins: better blood pressure, blood sugar, and lipids. Some people's best move at plateau is a deliberate maintenance phase: hold the new weight for a few months, let the physiology settle, then resume. Maintenance is not failure; it's the skill the whole project ultimately depends on.
",
+ "author": "sofia-andersson", "reviewer": "robert-yuen-md",
+ "published": "2024-08-26", "reviewed": "2024-08-30",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Protein: How Much, When, and Whether the Powder Is Necessary",
+ "slug": "protein-how-much", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Nutrition Basics",
+ "summary": "The RDA is a floor, not a target — especially if you're older, dieting, or training. But the ceiling arrives sooner than the supplement aisle suggests.",
+ "body_html": "
The official RDA — 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight daily — was set to prevent deficiency, not to optimize anything. Evidence supports more for several groups: roughly 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg for older adults (whose muscle responds less to each dose), people losing weight (protein defends muscle and blunts hunger), and recreational athletes; strength athletes may benefit up to about 2.2 g/kg. For a 175-pound adult, 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg is about 95 to 127 grams a day.
Distribution matters more than timing myths. Muscle building responds best to 25 to 40 grams of protein per meal, several times a day — which indicts the standard American pattern of token breakfast, modest lunch, giant dinner. The fabled 'anabolic window' after workouts turns out to be hours wide; total daily intake and per-meal doses dominate. Food sources bring companions powder lacks — fiber and iron in beans, calcium in dairy, omega-3s in fish.
Powders are convenience, not magic: reasonable when whole-food logistics fail (they're regulated as supplements, so pick third-party-tested brands), unnecessary otherwise. Cautions: very high intakes are hard on already-diseased kidneys — people with chronic kidney disease need individualized targets, not internet defaults — and protein calories still count; the physique aisle has fueled plenty of weight gain.
",
+ "author": "sofia-andersson", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-05-27", "reviewed": "2024-05-31",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Ultra-Processed Foods: What the NOVA Debate Means for Your Cart",
+ "slug": "ultra-processed-foods-cart", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Healthy Eating",
+ "summary": "More than half of U.S. calories now come from ultra-processed foods. The science has nuances; the shopping advice mostly doesn't.",
+ "body_html": "
'Ultra-processed' (the NOVA classification's fourth category) describes industrial formulations built from refined ingredients and additives — soft drinks, packaged snacks, instant noodles, reconstituted meats, most fast food. Observational studies consistently link higher intake with obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and one landmark inpatient trial found people ate about 500 more calories a day when offered ultra-processed meals versus matched unprocessed ones — eating faster and reporting no more satisfaction.
The honest caveats: the category is broad and blunt. Whole-grain breads, flavored yogurts, and fortified cereals get lumped with soda and hot dogs, and researchers argue about mechanisms — is it the processing itself, the salt-sugar-fat engineering, the softness and speed of eating, or simply that these foods displace better ones? Probably several at once.
The cart-level translation doesn't require settling the debate: cook more of what you can, favor foods whose ingredient lists read like recipes rather than chemistry sets, and target the biggest offenders first — sugary drinks and processed meats carry the strongest evidence of harm. No need for purity; a diet that's three-quarters minimally processed leaves room for convenience without surrendering the pattern.
",
+ "author": "priya-raman", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-10-07", "reviewed": "2024-10-11",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Intermittent Fasting: What Trials Show When the Hype Clears",
+ "slug": "intermittent-fasting-trials", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Weight Loss",
+ "summary": "Time-restricted eating works about as well as ordinary calorie counting — no better, no worse. That's actually useful information.",
+ "body_html": "
Intermittent fasting arrived wrapped in mechanistic promise — autophagy, metabolic switching, cellular cleanup. When randomized trials finally compared it head-to-head with conventional calorie restriction, the results were consistent and anticlimactic: similar weight loss, similar changes in blood pressure, lipids, and glucose, when calories end up matched. Fasting's main effect is that a shorter eating window helps some people eat less without counting.
That reframe clarifies who it suits. Time-restricted eating (say, an 8-hour window) shines for people who prefer clear rules to arithmetic, snack heavily at night, or find that skipping breakfast costs them nothing. It suits poorly those with a history of disordered eating (rigid rules can reignite it), people on diabetes medicines that can cause hypoglycemia — insulin or glipizide require medical guidance before fasting — pregnant women, and anyone whose fasting hours end in compensatory bingeing.
If you try it: pick a window you can hold socially (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. beats a heroic 4-hour slot you'll abandon), keep the eating window's quality high — fasting forgives nothing nutritionally — and judge the experiment on four weeks of data: weight trend, energy, and whether evenings feel liberated or obsessive. It's one tool among several, and adherence, as always, is the active ingredient.
",
+ "author": "priya-raman", "reviewer": "robert-yuen-md",
+ "published": "2024-07-15", "reviewed": "2024-07-19",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Fiber: The Least Glamorous Nutrient Keeps Winning",
+ "slug": "fiber-least-glamorous-nutrient", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Nutrition Basics",
+ "summary": "Only about 5 percent of Americans hit the fiber target. Meanwhile the outcome data keeps piling up — for hearts, guts, blood sugar, and more.",
+ "body_html": "
The targets are 25 grams a day for women and 38 for men (or 14 grams per 1,000 calories); the average American eats about half that. The gap matters: umbrella reviews link higher fiber intake with lower rates of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer, with dose-response curves suggesting each additional 8 to 10 grams daily buys measurable risk reduction. Fiber also feeds gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids, remains the first-line management for constipation and much of IBS, and blunts post-meal blood sugar.
Fiber's varieties divide labor. Soluble fiber (oats, beans, apples, psyllium) forms gels — it's the cholesterol-lowerer and the stool-normalizer, useful in both constipation and diarrhea. Insoluble fiber (wheat bran, vegetables) adds bulk and speeds transit. Food sources beat supplements for the full package, though psyllium has legitimate trial evidence for cholesterol and bowel regularity.
Getting from 15 grams to 30 without misery is a ramp, not a leap: add 5 grams or so per week and drink more water alongside, letting gut bacteria adapt (gas is the adjustment tax and mostly temporary). The highest-yield swaps: beans or lentils into two dinners a week, a bran-or-oat-based breakfast, fruit instead of juice, and whole-grain versions of whatever bread, rice, and pasta you already eat.
",
+ "author": "sofia-andersson", "reviewer": "lucia-ferreira-md",
+ "published": "2024-09-09", "reviewed": "2024-09-13",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Reading a Nutrition Label in 30 Seconds: The Three-Line Method",
+ "slug": "nutrition-label-three-lines", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Nutrition Basics",
+ "summary": "Ignore the marketing on the front. Three lines on the back settle most packaged-food decisions.",
+ "body_html": "
Front-of-package claims — natural, multigrain, lightly sweetened, immune support — are marketing with minimal regulation. The Nutrition Facts panel is where the law lives. And for quick decisions, three lines carry most of the signal: serving size (everything below it is per serving, and packages routinely contain several), added sugars, and sodium.
Calibration for the two big numbers: the daily ceiling for added sugars is 50 grams on a 2,000-calorie diet (the American Heart Association suggests tighter: about 25 g for women, 36 g for men), so a yogurt with 15 grams added is spending a third of the tight budget; sodium's target is under 2,300 mg a day, so a 900 mg frozen entrée is a heavy withdrawal. The percent daily value column does this math for you — 5 percent or less is low, 20 percent or more is high.
With another ten seconds, add two checks: fiber (3 or more grams per serving earns bread and cereal their place) and the ingredient list's first three entries, which are the product's real identity — 'whole wheat' should lead a whole-wheat bread, and sugar has aliases (cane syrup, dextrose, fruit juice concentrate) that split its ranking. None of this requires perfection at the shelf; it requires that the same two products stop being interchangeable once you've flipped them over.
",
+ "author": "priya-raman", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-04-08", "reviewed": "2024-04-12",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Emotional Eating: Breaking the Stress-Snack Circuit",
+ "slug": "emotional-eating-circuit", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Weight Loss",
+ "summary": "Eating for comfort is wired, common, and workable — once you treat it as a signal-reading problem instead of a willpower problem.",
+ "body_html": "
Stress eating has legitimate physiology behind it: sustained stress hormones increase appetite specifically for energy-dense, sweet-and-fat foods, and those foods genuinely dampen the stress response short-term — the circuit pays out, which is why it persists. Layered on top are learned associations (couch, evening, screen, snack) that fire with no hunger involved. Shame doesn't interrupt any of this; it usually feeds the loop.
The workable sequence starts with detection: for two weeks, before unplanned eating, pause for one question — 'what am I feeling, and when did I last eat?' Physical hunger builds gradually, accepts many foods, and stops at fullness; emotional hunger arrives suddenly, demands something specific, and ignores fullness. The pause itself, done consistently, weakens automaticity. Next, make the circuit inconvenient: trigger foods out of the house or out of sight, and a competing default ready — a walk, a shower, tea, a two-minute tidy, a text to a friend. The replacement has to be easy, or it loses to the pantry.
Two structural fixes outrank all tactics: eat enough during the day (under-eating until evening practically schedules a nighttime raid — regular meals with protein and fiber defuse it) and address the actual stressor where possible. If eating episodes feel out of control, involve large amounts with distress, or are followed by compensating, that pattern deserves professional support — binge eating disorder is common, real, and treatable.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "grace-okonkwo-md",
+ "published": "2024-11-04", "reviewed": "2024-11-08",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Sodium: The 70 Percent You Never Salted",
+ "slug": "sodium-you-never-salted", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Healthy Eating",
+ "summary": "The shaker is a rounding error. Most American sodium is decided before the food reaches your kitchen — which changes where to aim.",
+ "body_html": "
Average U.S. sodium intake runs about 3,400 mg a day against a guideline of under 2,300 (with 1,500 the tighter goal for many with hypertension). But only about 10 percent comes from the salt shaker; roughly 70 percent is added during commercial processing and restaurant preparation. Bread, cold cuts and cured meats, pizza, soups, sandwiches, cheese, and sauces top the source list — several of which don't even taste salty.
Why care: sodium is the most consequential dietary lever on blood pressure, and blood pressure is the biggest treatable driver of stroke and heart disease. Trials of sodium reduction show meaningful pressure drops — larger in people who are older, hypertensive, or salt-sensitive — and the DASH diet's famous results came from combining lower sodium with potassium-rich produce, which blunts sodium's effect.
Aim where the sodium is: compare labels within categories (breads vary twofold; jarred sauces threefold), favor 'no salt added' canned goods or rinse regular ones, treat cured meats and instant soups as occasional, and ask for sauces on the side when eating out — restaurant portions of sauce carry remarkable payloads. At home, salting to taste while cooking real ingredients almost never reproduces processed-food levels, and potassium-based salt substitutes help many people — though anyone with kidney disease or on drugs like lisinopril or losartan should clear those first.
",
+ "author": "priya-raman", "reviewer": "anil-bhatt-md",
+ "published": "2024-06-24", "reviewed": "2024-06-28",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "The New Weight-Loss Drugs: Where GLP-1s Fit — and Where They Don't",
+ "slug": "glp1-weight-loss-drugs-fit", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Weight Loss",
+ "summary": "Semaglutide-class medicines produce losses diets rarely match. They also come with costs, side effects, and a regain problem nobody should skip past.",
+ "body_html": "
GLP-1 receptor agonists — developed for type 2 diabetes and now approved at higher doses for chronic weight management — mimic a gut hormone that slows stomach emptying and quiets appetite signaling in the brain. In trials, semaglutide produced average losses around 15 percent of body weight, and newer dual-hormone agents exceed 20 percent — territory previously reserved for bariatric surgery. Alongside, trials have shown cardiovascular benefit in high-risk patients.
The unvarnished parts: gastrointestinal side effects (nausea, vomiting, constipation) are common, especially during dose escalation, and a minority discontinue over them; rare but serious risks include pancreatitis and gallbladder disease; cost and supply remain real barriers; and the drugs treat, not cure — stop them and appetite returns, with trials showing most weight regained within a year. Muscle loss travels with rapid weight loss too, making protein and resistance training non-optional companions.
Where they fit: for people with obesity or weight-related disease who haven't reached health goals with lifestyle change alone, prescribed within ongoing medical care that includes nutrition and strength work — not as a shortcut around them. Where they don't: cosmetic loss for people at healthy weights, compounded knock-offs of uncertain provenance, or anyone unwilling to plan for the long game. The right frame is chronic-disease management, the same way we think about blood pressure medication.
",
+ "author": "sofia-andersson", "reviewer": "robert-yuen-md",
+ "published": "2025-01-06", "reviewed": "2025-01-09",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Meal Prep Without Martyrdom: A 90-Minute Sunday System",
+ "slug": "meal-prep-90-minute-system", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Food & Recipes",
+ "summary": "You don't need matching containers and a photogenic fridge. You need components, not completed meals.",
+ "body_html": "
Classic meal prep fails on repetition: five identical boxed lunches sound efficient on Sunday and inedible by Wednesday. The system that survives real appetites preps components instead — a protein, a grain, roasted vegetables, a sauce, and washed greens — which recombine all week into bowls, wraps, salads, and skillet dinners that don't feel like reruns.
The 90-minute run, parallelized: oven on first — two sheet pans of vegetables (whatever's cheap: broccoli, peppers, sweet potatoes, onions) and a tray of chicken thighs or salmon, all roasting while a pot of rice, farro, or quinoa cooks and a dozen eggs boil. Final twenty minutes: one sauce or dressing (a vinaigrette, a yogurt-herb sauce, or peanut-lime), rinse and dry greens, portion nuts or fruit for snacks. Total: one oven cycle, two burners, one cutting board.
Storage math matters: most cooked components hold 3 to 4 days refrigerated, so prep for the near week and freeze the rest — cooked grains and proteins freeze gracefully. Downstream, assembly beats cooking every weeknight: grain plus protein plus vegetables plus sauce is dinner in six minutes, and the same parts make lunch boxes trivially. The health payoff is indirect but reliable — the biggest predictor of eating well on a Wednesday night is whether eating well requires zero decisions.
",
+ "author": "sofia-andersson", "reviewer": "danielle-hart-md",
+ "published": "2024-08-05", "reviewed": "2024-08-09",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Blood Sugar for the Rest of Us: What Non-Diabetics Should Know About Glucose",
+ "slug": "blood-sugar-non-diabetics", "section": "diet-weight",
+ "subcategory": "Nutrition Basics",
+ "summary": "Continuous glucose monitors have gone consumer, and 'glucose hacking' is everywhere. Some of it is physiology; some is theater.",
+ "body_html": "
The legitimate core: 98 million American adults have prediabetes, most unaware, and the trajectory toward type 2 diabetes is substantially preventable — landmark prevention trials cut progression roughly in half with modest weight loss and regular activity. Knowing your numbers (a fasting glucose or A1C at routine checkups, earlier and more often with family history, higher weight, or a history of gestational diabetes) is genuinely worthwhile.
The trend part: continuous glucose monitors on people without diabetes mostly confirm textbook physiology — glucose rises after carbohydrate, more when it's refined and eaten alone, less after fiber, protein, fat, or a post-meal walk. Those are fine habits with or without a sensor. What the sensor adds for healthy users is less clear: normal glucose fluctuates, single-food 'spikes' within normal range have no established harm, and early evidence suggests monitoring can push some users toward needless carb-phobia and food anxiety.
If glucose curiosity motivates better habits, the cheap version needs no subscription: build meals around fiber and protein, keep refined carbs and sugary drinks occasional, walk ten minutes after larger meals, sleep adequately (short sleep measurably worsens next-day glucose handling), and let a clinician check an A1C on schedule. If you have prediabetes, that same list — plus structured support like a diabetes-prevention program — is the actual evidence-based play.
",
+ "author": "priya-raman", "reviewer": "robert-yuen-md",
+ "published": "2024-10-21", "reviewed": "2024-10-25",
+ },
+]
diff --git a/sites/webmd/_seed_articles_c.py b/sites/webmd/_seed_articles_c.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..72b541da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/_seed_articles_c.py
@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+"""Article catalog, part C: Family & Pregnancy and Health News sections.
+Same sourcing rules as parts A and B. News items are written as evergreen
+seasonal/public-health coverage pinned to the site's frozen clock (Jan 2025)."""
+
+ARTICLES_C = [
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ # Section: family-pregnancy
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ {
+ "title": "First Trimester Checklist: The Appointments, Tests, and Vitamins That Matter",
+ "slug": "first-trimester-checklist", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Pregnancy",
+ "summary": "Weeks 1 through 13 set up the whole pregnancy. Here's what actually belongs on the to-do list — and what can wait.",
+ "body_html": "
The first call after a positive test: schedule prenatal care, ideally beginning by week 8 to 10. That first visit is long by design — dating the pregnancy, blood type and antibody screening, tests for anemia, immunity, and infections, a urine check, and a full medication review. Bring every prescription, supplement, and over-the-counter product you use; several common drugs (including NSAIDs like ibuprofen in later pregnancy, and ACE inhibitors such as lisinopril at any point) need substitution, and stopping some medicines abruptly is riskier than continuing — this is a decision to make with a clinician, not alone.
The vitamin question has a clear answer: a daily prenatal with at least 400 micrograms of folic acid — ideally started before conception — because neural tube formation finishes by week 6, often before anyone feels pregnant. Iron, iodine, and choline round out the workhorses; nausea permitting, food covers much of the rest. For the queasy months: small frequent meals, vitamin B6 with a clinician's blessing, and reassurance that first-trimester food aversions rarely cause nutritional harm.
Also first-trimester business: optional genetic screening discussions (cell-free DNA from week 10), caffeine capped around 200 mg a day, alcohol at zero, and a dental checkup — gum disease and pregnancy interact more than most people know. What can wait: the registry, the nursery, and the unsolicited advice, which arrives on its own schedule regardless.
",
+ "author": "hannah-bell-curtis", "reviewer": "danielle-hart-md",
+ "published": "2024-05-13", "reviewed": "2024-05-17",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Fevers in Kids: When to Treat, When to Watch, When to Call",
+ "slug": "fevers-in-kids", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Children's Health",
+ "summary": "Fever is a symptom, not a disease — and the number on the thermometer matters less than the child attached to it.",
+ "body_html": "
Fever is the immune system running its playbook, and most childhood fevers accompany self-limited viral illnesses. The exceptions are defined mostly by age and appearance, not degrees: any fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher in a baby under 3 months is an immediate medical call — that rule has no exceptions — while for older infants and children, how the child looks and drinks outranks the number. A 103°F kid playing on the floor is generally less worrying than a listless, hard-to-wake one at 101°F.
Treat the comfort, not the thermometer: if the child is drinking, sleeping, and reasonably content, medication is optional. When treating, weight-based dosing of acetaminophen (any age above 3 months, with clinician guidance below) or ibuprofen (6 months and up) — never aspirin for children or teens, because of Reye's syndrome — and never 'alternating' schedules invented at 2 a.m.; pick one agent and dose it correctly. Push fluids, dress lightly, and skip alcohol rubs and ice baths, which backfire.
Call promptly for: fever with a stiff neck, persistent vomiting, labored breathing, a purple pinprick rash that doesn't blanch, a first febrile seizure, fever above 104°F that doesn't respond, any fever lasting beyond 2 to 3 days, signs of dehydration, or a child with a chronic medical condition. And trust the parental gut — 'something is wrong with this kid' is a legitimate chief complaint that pediatric professionals take seriously.
",
+ "author": "hannah-bell-curtis", "reviewer": "danielle-hart-md",
+ "published": "2024-11-11", "reviewed": "2024-11-15",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Gestational Diabetes: The Diagnosis That Predicts the Next Decade",
+ "slug": "gestational-diabetes-decade", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Pregnancy",
+ "summary": "Managed well, gestational diabetes usually ends in a healthy delivery. Its real significance is the preview it offers — and the prevention window after.",
+ "body_html": "
Gestational diabetes — glucose intolerance first appearing in pregnancy — shows up in roughly 8 percent of U.S. pregnancies, diagnosed with the glucose drink test between 24 and 28 weeks. Placental hormones make everyone somewhat insulin-resistant by design; in some women the pancreas can't compensate. Management is stepwise and usually successful: carbohydrate-aware eating with a dietitian, daily walking, home glucose checks, and — when targets aren't met — insulin, the standard because it doesn't cross the placenta.
Controlling it matters for concrete reasons: untreated high glucose feeds excessive fetal growth (raising delivery complications and cesarean rates), newborn low blood sugar, and preeclampsia risk. Treated to target, outcomes approach those of unaffected pregnancies — which is why the testing is universal rather than risk-based.
Then the part too often skipped: glucose normalizes after delivery, everyone celebrates, and the follow-up test goes missing. It shouldn't — gestational diabetes marks a pancreas that struggles under load, and roughly half of affected women develop type 2 diabetes within 5 to 10 years. The evidence-backed response: a glucose test at 4 to 12 weeks postpartum, then screening every 1 to 3 years for life, breastfeeding if feasible (associated with lower maternal diabetes risk), and the same lifestyle program proven to cut diabetes progression in half. Diagnosis in pregnancy; prevention for a decade.
",
+ "author": "hannah-bell-curtis", "reviewer": "robert-yuen-md",
+ "published": "2024-07-22", "reviewed": "2024-07-26",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "The Teen Sleep Crisis Is a Schedule Problem, Not a Character Problem",
+ "slug": "teen-sleep-crisis", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Parenting",
+ "summary": "Adolescent body clocks genuinely shift later — then first period starts at 8 a.m. anyway. Here's what families can and can't control.",
+ "body_html": "
At puberty, the circadian clock shifts about two hours later: melatonin release moves toward 11 p.m., making a 10 p.m. bedtime biologically unavailable to many teens no matter how responsible they are. Combine that with early school start times and the arithmetic fails — which is how 7 in 10 high schoolers end up below the recommended 8 to 10 hours. Chronic teen sleep loss tracks with worse mood, anxiety, grades, driving safety, and sports injury rates.
Families control the margins, and the margins matter: a consistent wake time (weekend sleep-ins capped at an hour or two, since three-hour lie-ins jet-lag the clock by Monday), phones charging outside the bedroom overnight — the single highest-yield rule, both for light exposure and 1 a.m. social pull — caffeine ended by early afternoon, and morning bright light, which nudges the clock earlier. Framing matters too: negotiate the system with the teen rather than imposing it; sleep-as-performance-enhancer lands better than sleep-as-obedience.
Some of it is policy, not parenting: the pediatric and sleep-medicine establishment recommends middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., and districts that shifted saw attendance, grades, and car crash rates improve. Meanwhile, if a teen sleeps adequately on their own schedule but simply can't shift earlier, that's delayed sleep phase — common, real, and treatable with timed light and melatonin under guidance rather than escalating bedtime battles.
",
+ "author": "hannah-bell-curtis", "reviewer": "grace-okonkwo-md",
+ "published": "2024-09-02", "reviewed": "2024-09-06",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Ear Infections: Why Your Pediatrician Might Not Prescribe Antibiotics Today",
+ "slug": "ear-infections-watchful-waiting", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Children's Health",
+ "summary": "'Watchful waiting' isn't neglect — it's the guideline. Most middle-ear infections clear on their own, and the exceptions are well defined.",
+ "body_html": "
Acute otitis media — fluid plus inflammation behind the eardrum — is the most common reason children receive antibiotics, and also a leading site of antibiotic overuse: most cases are viral or resolve without treatment within two to three days. Modern guidelines therefore split the decision by age and severity: infants under 6 months and any child who is severely ill get antibiotics promptly, while healthy children over 2 with mild symptoms — and many between 6 and 24 months with one-sided, non-severe infection — do well with 48 to 72 hours of observation and pain control first.
The practical version of watchful waiting is comfort plus a safety net: weight-dosed acetaminophen or ibuprofen (the ear pain, not the infection, is what torments everyone at 3 a.m.), fluids, and a plan — often a 'rescue prescription' for amoxicillin to fill only if the child isn't improving in two days or worsens. When antibiotics are used, amoxicillin remains first-line, with the full course completed even after the child perks up.
Prevention is underrated: pneumococcal and flu vaccines cut ear infection rates, breastfeeding is protective in the first year, and eliminating secondhand smoke exposure measurably lowers recurrences, as does ditching the bedtime bottle in bed. For frequent flyers — three infections in six months or four in a year — an ENT conversation about ear tubes is reasonable rather than radical.
",
+ "author": "hannah-bell-curtis", "reviewer": "danielle-hart-md",
+ "published": "2024-10-28", "reviewed": "2024-11-01",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Prostate Screening After 50: Making the PSA Decision Like an Adult",
+ "slug": "prostate-psa-decision", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Men's Health",
+ "summary": "The PSA test can save lives and can start cascades of unnecessary treatment. That's why the guideline is a conversation, not a checkbox.",
+ "body_html": "
Prostate cancer is common and usually slow: most men diagnosed will die with it, not of it — but it remains the second-leading cancer killer of American men, and that tension is the whole PSA debate. The blood test detects trouble early but can't distinguish tigers from housecats, so screening finds many cancers that never needed finding, alongside some that urgently did. Current guidance for men 55 to 69 is shared decision-making: understand the trade-offs, weigh your values, decide deliberately. Higher-risk men — Black men and those with affected fathers or brothers — reasonably start that conversation in their 40s.
The trade-offs, honestly stated: over roughly a decade, screening prevents a small number of prostate cancer deaths per thousand men screened, at the cost of false alarms, biopsies (with infection risk), and overdiagnosis — treatment of cancers that would have sat harmlessly, with real rates of urinary and sexual side effects. Two modern developments soften the ledger: MRI before biopsy reduces unnecessary sampling, and active surveillance — monitoring low-risk cancers instead of treating them — has become the standard offer, dramatically cutting overtreatment.
A decision framework that works: if your life expectancy exceeds 10 to 15 years and you'd want to act on an early cancer, screening every 1 to 2 years is a defensible choice; if you'd decline treatment regardless, or the anxiety of surveillance would outweigh the reassurance, declining the test is equally defensible. What's not defensible is drift — reaching 60 without ever having had the conversation. Put it on the agenda at your next physical, alongside the unglamorous checks (blood pressure, lipids, colon screening) that more reliably determine how long you'll live.
",
+ "author": "curtis-boone", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-06-10", "reviewed": "2024-06-14",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Menopause and Hormone Therapy: The Pendulum Settles",
+ "slug": "menopause-hormone-therapy", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Women's Health",
+ "summary": "After two decades of whiplash, the evidence has landed somewhere reasonable: for the right woman at the right time, hormone therapy is back on the table.",
+ "body_html": "
The 2002 Women's Health Initiative headlines drove hormone therapy use off a cliff, and a generation of women white-knuckled hot flashes as a result. The subsequent 20 years of reanalysis produced a more useful picture: risk depends heavily on age and timing. For healthy women under 60 and within 10 years of menopause, hormone therapy is the most effective treatment for hot flashes and night sweats, treats genitourinary symptoms, protects bone — and carries absolute risks far smaller than the original headlines implied. Started later, the calculus worsens; that nuance was the story all along.
The decision still individualizes: personal history of breast cancer, blood clots, stroke, or heart disease pushes against systemic hormones, while for vaginal and urinary symptoms alone, low-dose vaginal estrogen works with minimal systemic absorption and a much shorter warning label. Women with a uterus need progestogen alongside estrogen; formulations and routes (transdermal appears to carry lower clot risk than oral) are legitimately choosable variables, not marketing noise.
For women who can't or prefer not to use hormones, the toolkit has grown: certain antidepressants (including low-dose SSRIs and venlafaxine) meaningfully reduce hot flashes, a newer non-hormonal drug class targets the brain's temperature circuitry directly, and CBT approaches improve how much the symptoms disrupt life. The unifying advice: menopause care is a legitimate medical visit, not something to endure quietly — and any clinician who waves it off is replaceable.
",
+ "author": "hannah-bell-curtis", "reviewer": "danielle-hart-md",
+ "published": "2024-08-19", "reviewed": "2024-08-23",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "The Family Medicine Cabinet: What to Stock, What to Toss",
+ "slug": "family-medicine-cabinet", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Parenting",
+ "summary": "Ten items cover most household medical events. The audit takes twenty minutes, ideally before the next 11 p.m. fever.",
+ "body_html": "
Start with the toss: anything expired (potency and, rarely, safety degrade), anything unlabeled, leftover antibiotics (partial courses are how resistance and wrong-drug errors happen), and — per pediatric guidance — cough-and-cold combination products for children under 4. Dispose properly: drug take-back sites beat the toilet, and the FDA's short 'flush list' (mainly opioids) is the exception. And relocate the whole stash if it lives in the bathroom: humidity is the enemy, and 'up and away' storage matters wherever children visit — grandparents' pill organizers are a leading source of pediatric poisonings.
The stock list: acetaminophen and ibuprofen in strengths for each family member (children's dosing by weight — keep the syringe, ditch kitchen spoons), an antihistamine (cetirizine or loratadine for daytime allergies; diphenhydramine for allergic reactions, noting its sedation), oral rehydration solution for stomach bugs, a thermometer that works, bandages and antibiotic ointment, hydrocortisone cream, saline spray, and any family-specific rescue items — an epinephrine auto-injector or albuterol inhaler, unexpired and findable in the dark. Post the poison control number (1-800-222-1222) inside the cabinet door.
Two habits complete the system: a yearly expiration sweep (attach it to daylight saving time, like smoke-alarm batteries), and a one-page medication list per family member — including doses and allergies — photographed on a parent's phone. In an actual emergency, that photo answers the questions the ER asks first, at the moment your memory is least available.
",
+ "author": "david-lindqvist", "reviewer": "danielle-hart-md",
+ "published": "2024-04-15", "reviewed": "2024-04-19",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Talking to Kids About Anxiety Without Feeding It",
+ "slug": "kids-anxiety-talking", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Children's Health",
+ "summary": "Childhood anxiety is up, and the parental instinct — reassure, then accommodate — often waters the weed. The alternative is teachable.",
+ "body_html": "
Anxiety is the most common mental health condition of childhood, and some of it is standard equipment: separation worries in toddlers, dark-and-monster fears at five, social self-consciousness at thirteen all arrive and leave on developmental schedule. The clinical line is function — anxiety that persistently blocks school, friendships, sleep, or family life is a treatment conversation, not a phase. In between lies the zone where parental response genuinely shapes trajectory.
Two well-meant instincts backfire. Endless reassurance ('nothing bad will happen, I promise') provides a hit of relief that wears off and gets re-requested — teaching that worry is resolved externally. Accommodation — the family gradually reorganizing around the anxiety, ordering for the child who fears waiters, granting every sleepover opt-out — shrinks the child's world while confirming the danger. The evidence-backed stance validates the feeling while expressing confidence in the kid: 'This feels scary AND you can handle it,' followed by staying in the situation long enough for the anxiety to crest and fall, in graduated doses.
Concretely: name the worry as a thing the child has, not is ('your worry brain is loud right now'), teach that anxiety peaks and passes like a wave, build a ladder toward feared situations one rung at a time with genuine praise for climbs, and model your own out-loud coping — kids learn more from watching you handle your stress than from anything you say about theirs. When it's beyond home tools, CBT with exposure is the gold standard and works; parent-only coaching programs that reduce accommodation show strong results too — meaning a child who refuses therapy hasn't exhausted the options.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "grace-okonkwo-md",
+ "published": "2024-12-16", "reviewed": "2024-12-20",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Trying to Conceive: The Evidence-Based First Six Months",
+ "slug": "trying-to-conceive-six-months", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Pregnancy",
+ "summary": "Before the deep-dive supplements and the ovulation-tracking arms race, a short list of things that demonstrably matter.",
+ "body_html": "
Baseline expectations first, because anxiety loves a vacuum: among couples under 35 with no known issues, roughly 80 percent conceive within a year, most within six months. The definition of 'time to get help' is one year of trying under 35, six months at 35 and older — sooner with known red flags such as very irregular cycles, prior pelvic infection or surgery, chemotherapy history, or known sperm issues. The clock arithmetic is why age 35 changes the advice, not any cliff in biology.
What demonstrably helps: sex every one to two days in the fertile window — the five days before ovulation plus ovulation day — which cheap urine LH strips identify well for regular cycles (basal temperature confirms ovulation only after the fact; expensive trackers add convenience, not conception). Both partners' inputs count: for all involved, no smoking, minimal alcohol, and a hard look at medications with a clinician; a daily 400-microgram folic acid supplement for the partner who'll carry, started now; and weight, sleep, and activity in reasonable ranges — extremes in either direction disrupt ovulation and sperm production alike.
What the evidence doesn't support: obsessive position lore, lying inverted afterward, most fertility supplements beyond the basics, and daily-multiple-times schedules that turn the project joyless (sperm counts hold up fine at every-other-day). If the six-to-twelve-month mark arrives without success, the initial workup — semen analysis, cycle hormone labs, and tubal evaluation — is straightforward and worth not postponing; and if the process is straining the relationship or mood, that's a legitimate reason to seek support at any point on the timeline.
",
+ "author": "hannah-bell-curtis", "reviewer": "danielle-hart-md",
+ "published": "2024-10-14", "reviewed": "2024-10-18",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Caring for Aging Parents: The Five Conversations to Have Early",
+ "slug": "aging-parents-five-conversations", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Caregiving",
+ "summary": "The worst time to learn your father's wishes is in an ICU hallway. These talks are easier at the kitchen table — and easiest before they're urgent.",
+ "body_html": "
Conversation one is medical wishes: what does a good outcome look like to them, what trade-offs are unacceptable, and who speaks for them if they can't — formalized as a healthcare proxy and an advance directive, documents that cost little and prevent the most anguished disputes families have. Conversation two is the practical map: where the financial accounts, insurance policies, deed, and passwords live, and whether a durable power of attorney exists before cognitive change makes executing one legally fraught.
Conversation three is medications and doctors: a current list of prescriptions (polypharmacy is a leading cause of falls and hospitalizations in older adults — a yearly pharmacist review earns its time), which clinicians they see, and permission-forms allowing you to speak with them. Conversation four is the home itself: stairs, bathrooms, rugs, lighting — falls are the injury that most often ends independence, and an occupational-therapy home assessment or even a weekend of grab bars and nightlights beats any amount of after-the-fracture regret. Conversation five is driving and the plan for its eventual end — the hardest one, best introduced as a someday framework ('how will we know, and what will we do') long before the someday.
Tone determines whether these happen at all: aim for collaboration, not takeover — 'help me understand what you'd want' outperforms 'we've decided.' Spread the talks over months, put one sibling on notes so the family shares one set of facts, and revisit yearly. And watch your own load: caregiver burnout is a documented health risk, and respite care, family meetings, and an elder-law consult are infrastructure, not indulgence.
",
+ "author": "leah-sandoval", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-09-23", "reviewed": "2024-09-27",
+ },
+
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ # Section: news (site clock frozen at 2025-01-10)
+ # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+ {
+ "title": "Flu Season Hits Its Stride: Hospitalizations Climb Across Most States",
+ "slug": "flu-season-hits-stride", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Public Health",
+ "summary": "January's respiratory surge is following the familiar script — flu leading, COVID and RSV alongside. Officials say vaccination remains worthwhile mid-season.",
+ "body_html": "
Influenza activity has reached high levels in a majority of states this week, with emergency department visits and hospitalizations rising for the fourth consecutive week, according to public health surveillance data. As in most seasons, adults over 65, young children, pregnant women, and people with chronic heart and lung conditions account for the bulk of severe outcomes. RSV activity remains elevated, particularly among infants, while COVID-19 indicators are rising more modestly.
Health officials emphasize a mid-season message that many people don't expect: it is not too late to vaccinate. Flu seasons routinely run into March, protection begins about two weeks after the shot, and this season's vaccine components are considered a reasonable match to circulating strains. High-dose or adjuvanted formulations remain preferred for adults 65 and older.
For households riding out the surge, the standing advice holds: antivirals such as oseltamivir work best within 48 hours of symptom onset and matter most for high-risk patients, so call promptly rather than toughing it out; fever and aches respond to acetaminophen or ibuprofen (no aspirin for children); and the humble measures — hand washing, staying home while febrile, masks in crowded indoor spaces for the vulnerable — still bend household attack rates.
",
+ "author": "james-park", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2025-01-08", "reviewed": "2025-01-09",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "New Year, Crowded Gyms: How to Start Exercising Without Getting Hurt",
+ "slug": "new-year-exercise-safely", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Seasonal Health",
+ "summary": "January's enthusiasm meets February's tendinitis every year. Sports medicine has a short list for breaking the cycle.",
+ "body_html": "
Every January, gyms fill with resolution energy, and every February, sports medicine clinics fill with the results: tendon overuse injuries, back tweaks, and stress reactions from doing too much, too soon, after too long off. The tissue math is unforgiving — cardiovascular fitness improves in weeks, but tendons, ligaments, and bone adapt over months, and the gap between enthusiasm and tissue readiness is where injuries live.
The ramp that works: start at a volume that feels almost insultingly easy, increase total weekly load by roughly 10 percent at a time, and schedule rest days as non-negotiable appointments. Soreness that fades within 24 to 48 hours is adaptation; pain that is sharp, one-sided, joint-based, or worsening across sessions is a signal to back off. New lifters do better starting with machines or bodyweight and adding load only after movement patterns feel boring.
Two groups should loop in a clinician before going hard: anyone with heart disease, chest pain history, or exertional dizziness, and anyone returning after surgery or a significant injury. For everyone else, the best predictor of being fitter next January is unglamorous: choosing an activity you don't hate, at a dose you can repeat, attached to a time of day that already exists in your routine.
",
+ "author": "tom-okafor", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2025-01-06", "reviewed": "2025-01-08",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Norovirus Outbreaks Rise Sharply, CDC Surveillance Shows",
+ "slug": "norovirus-outbreaks-rise", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Public Health",
+ "summary": "The 'winter vomiting bug' is having an active season. Hand sanitizer, notably, is not the hero of this story.",
+ "body_html": "
Norovirus outbreaks are running above typical seasonal levels this winter, according to national surveillance, with the expected clustering in long-term care facilities, cruise ships, schools, and restaurants. The virus's signature is speed and misery: 12 to 48 hours after exposure, sudden vomiting and watery diarrhea that resolve within one to three days — and an infectious dose so tiny that a single ill food handler can seed dozens of cases.
Norovirus's quirk matters for prevention: it shrugs off alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Soap and water, scrubbed for 20 seconds, physically removes the virus and remains the effective defense, along with bleach-based cleaning of contaminated surfaces and staying out of kitchens and group settings for 48 hours after symptoms end — people shed virus well after feeling better.
Care is supportive: small frequent sips of oral rehydration solution (plain water lacks the electrolytes vomiting strips away), advancing to bland food as tolerated, and loperamide only for adults without fever or bloody stools. Watch for dehydration — dizziness on standing, minimal dark urine, listlessness in children — which is the main reason norovirus lands the very young and very old in hospitals.
",
+ "author": "james-park", "reviewer": "lucia-ferreira-md",
+ "published": "2025-01-03", "reviewed": "2025-01-06",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Dry January Gains Ground: What a Month Off Alcohol Does, Physiologically",
+ "slug": "dry-january-physiology", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Seasonal Health",
+ "summary": "Millions are trying a month without drinking. Small studies suggest the body notices quickly — and the habits data is even more interesting.",
+ "body_html": "
Dry January has grown from a campaign slogan into a genuinely popular annual experiment, with surveys suggesting one in five to one in four U.S. drinkers now attempts some version of it. The short-term physiology cooperates: within weeks of abstinence, studies of moderate-to-heavy drinkers have documented better sleep quality, lower blood pressure, improved insulin resistance, reductions in liver fat, and — the effect participants mention first — clearer mornings and steadier energy.
The more durable finding is behavioral: several follow-up studies find that people who complete a dry month drink less six months later, apparently because the month functions as an audit — revealing which drinks were wanted and which were merely scheduled. Participation tools matter too: people who track the month with an app or a buddy report higher completion rates than white-knucklers.
Two honest caveats: a dry month is a poor test for people whose drinking is heavy and daily — abrupt cessation after sustained heavy use can trigger withdrawal that is medically dangerous, and shakiness, sweating, or agitation after stopping warrants prompt medical attention rather than perseverance. And a triumphant February 1st binge erases much of the ledger. The takeaway most researchers endorse: the month is less a detox than a diagnostic — and what it diagnoses is your default.
",
+ "author": "curtis-boone", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2025-01-02", "reviewed": "2025-01-05",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "FDA Panel Backs Broader Use of RSV Vaccines in Adults 50 to 59 at High Risk",
+ "slug": "rsv-vaccine-adults-50s", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Research & Approvals",
+ "summary": "Advisers supported extending RSV vaccination to younger high-risk adults, citing hospitalization data — with routine use still anchored at 60 and up.",
+ "body_html": "
Respiratory syncytial virus, long filed under pediatrics, has spent the last few years being re-priced as an adult disease: among U.S. adults it drives an estimated 60,000 to 160,000 hospitalizations and several thousand deaths in a typical season, concentrated in older adults and those with chronic heart and lung conditions. Vaccines for older adults, first rolled out in 2023, showed strong protection against severe RSV disease in trials — and advisory discussions have progressively extended eligibility toward younger high-risk groups, including adults in their 50s with conditions such as COPD, heart failure, and diabetes.
The practical picture for patients: RSV vaccination is currently a single dose rather than an annual shot, recommendations distinguish routine use in the oldest adults from risk-based use in younger ones, and insurance coverage typically follows the official recommendation — worth confirming before the pharmacy visit. Safety monitoring has flagged rare cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome as a signal under continued study, which regulators have judged to be outweighed by prevented hospitalizations in the recommended groups.
Clinicians' bottom line this season: adults 60 and older (75 and older most emphatically) should discuss RSV vaccination if they haven't had it, adults in their 50s with qualifying conditions now increasingly have the option, and the shot can be given alongside flu vaccination. As with all respiratory-season guidance, the specifics evolve — check with your clinician or pharmacist against current recommendations rather than last year's headlines.
",
+ "author": "james-park", "reviewer": "miguel-santana-md",
+ "published": "2024-12-23", "reviewed": "2024-12-27",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Study: Even 'Weekend Warrior' Exercise Patterns Cut Cardiovascular Risk",
+ "slug": "weekend-warrior-study", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Research & Approvals",
+ "summary": "Cramming the week's activity into one or two days appears to deliver most of the benefit of spreading it out, a large cohort analysis finds.",
+ "body_html": "
Good news for the schedule-crushed: a large cohort analysis using wearable-device data found that people who concentrated their 150 weekly minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity into one or two days — the 'weekend warrior' pattern — had cardiovascular risk reductions broadly similar to those who spread the same volume across the week. Lower risks of heart attack, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and stroke appeared in both active groups compared with the inactive, echoing earlier survey-based findings.
The mechanistic reading is that total dose dominates pattern: hearts, vessels, and metabolism respond to cumulative load, and the body doesn't appear to demand daily installments. Researchers offer the standard caveats — observational data can't fully exclude the possibility that healthier people simply exercise more, and device-measured cohorts skew health-conscious — but the consistency across studies has pushed guidelines to explicitly bless accumulated-any-way activity.
One musculoskeletal footnote belongs next to the cardiology: tendons and joints, unlike hearts, do notice concentration, and sports medicine clinics see the results of ambitious Saturdays layered on sedentary weeks. The workable compromise for weekend warriors is a modest weekday insurance policy — brief walks, stair habits, ten minutes of strength work — so Saturday's exertion lands on tissue that hasn't been fully idle since Sunday.
",
+ "author": "james-park", "reviewer": "anil-bhatt-md",
+ "published": "2024-12-09", "reviewed": "2024-12-13",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Winter Skin Survival: Dermatologists' Advice for the Driest Months",
+ "slug": "winter-skin-survival", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Seasonal Health",
+ "summary": "Cold air outside, heated air inside — January is structurally hostile to skin. The fixes are cheap and mostly about water retention.",
+ "body_html": "
Winter itch is a supply-and-demand problem: cold outdoor air holds little moisture, indoor heating strips what's left, and skin's outer barrier — a wall of cells mortared with lipids — dries, stiffens, and cracks. The result shows up as tight cheeks, ashy shins, itchy backs, split fingertips, and flares of eczema and psoriasis that were quiet all summer.
Dermatologists' winter protocol is unglamorous and effective: shorter, cooler showers (hot water dissolves barrier lipids), a gentle non-foaming cleanser only where needed, and — the keystone habit — a thick cream or ointment applied within about three minutes of bathing to trap water in the skin. Ingredients that earn their labels: petrolatum, ceramides, glycerin, and urea. Ointments beat creams beat lotions for very dry areas; hands benefit from a bedside tub and cotton gloves overnight during cracking season. A humidifier targeting 40 to 50 percent indoor humidity helps skin and nasal passages alike.
Worth medical attention rather than more lotion: cracks that bleed or won't heal, itching that disrupts sleep, rashes that are red, weepy, or spreading, and any winter flare of known eczema or psoriasis that stops responding to the usual plan — prescription options exist beyond the moisturizer aisle. And the year-round rule survives the season: sunscreen still applies on bright winter days, especially at altitude and around snow, which reflects UV with enthusiasm.
Public health surveillance continues to show that several antimicrobial-resistant threats — including certain resistant gut bacteria and fungal pathogens — remain above their pre-pandemic baselines, after hospital strain and heavy antibiotic use during the COVID years reversed a decade of slow progress. Resistant infections already cause more than 2.8 million illnesses and tens of thousands of U.S. deaths annually, with the burden concentrated in hospitals, nursing homes, and among the immunocompromised.
The policy levers are institutional — stewardship programs, infection control staffing, better diagnostics, and a thin pipeline of new antibiotics that economics keeps thinner — but a meaningful share of the problem walks through outpatient clinic doors: an estimated one in three outpatient antibiotic prescriptions is unnecessary, most written for viral respiratory illnesses that antibiotics cannot touch.
Which gives individuals actual agency: don't request antibiotics for colds, flu, or most sinus and bronchitis episodes (ask instead, 'what's the best treatment?' — a subtle question that changes prescribing conversations); take prescribed courses as directed rather than saving leftovers; never borrow another person's antibiotics; stay current on vaccines, which prevent the infections that prompt prescriptions; and wash hands like it matters, because it does. Resistance is a commons problem, and the commons is stocked one prescription at a time.
",
+ "author": "marcus-delgado", "reviewer": "steven-marsh-pharmd",
+ "published": "2024-11-18", "reviewed": "2024-11-22",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Blood Pressure Control Rates Are Slipping, Heart Association Warns",
+ "slug": "blood-pressure-control-slipping", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Public Health",
+ "summary": "After decades of gains, the share of Americans with controlled hypertension has declined — a quiet reversal with loud downstream costs.",
+ "body_html": "
Cardiology organizations are sounding an unglamorous alarm: national survey data show the proportion of U.S. adults with hypertension whose blood pressure is actually controlled has fallen from its mid-2010s peak, with pandemic-era care disruptions accelerating a decline already underway. Because hypertension is the leading treatable driver of stroke, heart attack, kidney failure, and vascular dementia, a few percentage points of lost control translate — with actuarial reliability — into tens of thousands of preventable events.
The reasons are mundane, which is the point: missed visits, medication costs and lapsed refills, clinical inertia (readings noted but regimens unchanged), and the simple fact that a symptomless disease competes poorly for attention. The fixes with trial evidence are equally mundane: home monitoring with readings shared to the care team, single-pill combinations that cut pill burden, pharmacist-led management programs, and treating to explicit targets rather than 'a little better.'
The individual translation: if you have hypertension, know your current numbers (a validated home arm cuff, seated, twice daily for a week beats any single office reading), know your target — under 130/80 for most adults — and treat a string of above-target readings as an action item for your next visit, not background noise. If cost or side effects have you skipping doses, say so plainly; alternatives exist, and an imperfect regimen taken beats a perfect one abandoned.
",
+ "author": "rachel-whitmore", "reviewer": "anil-bhatt-md",
+ "published": "2024-11-25", "reviewed": "2024-11-29",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Seasonal Affective Disorder: Light Therapy Works, but Details Decide",
+ "slug": "seasonal-affective-disorder-light", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Seasonal Health",
+ "summary": "Winter depression responds to a $40 lamp — used at the right brightness, distance, time, and duration. Most people get at least one of those wrong.",
+ "body_html": "
Seasonal affective disorder — major depression on a winter schedule — affects an estimated 5 percent of U.S. adults, with milder 'winter blues' far more common, and its northern-latitude gradient points at the mechanism: shrinking daylight disrupting circadian timing and serotonin signaling in susceptible people. Symptoms skew atypical for depression: oversleeping, carbohydrate craving, weight gain, and profound afternoon energy crashes, arriving reliably each fall and lifting in spring.
Bright light therapy remains the best-validated seasonal treatment, with effect sizes comparable to antidepressants in trials — but dose parameters do the work: 10,000 lux, at 16 to 24 inches from the face, within an hour of waking, for 20 to 30 minutes daily, eyes open but not staring at the panel, continued through the dark months. Common failure modes are a dim decorative lamp, arm's-length-plus distance, evening use (which can worsen circadian drift), and quitting after a good week. Improvement typically appears within one to two weeks; people with bipolar disorder or eye disease should involve a clinician first, since light can trigger mood elevation or require ophthalmic clearance.
Light isn't the only lever: CBT adapted for SAD matched light therapy in trials and showed better staying power across subsequent winters; SSRIs and (for prevention) bupropion have seasonal evidence; morning outdoor light — even overcast — adds meaningful lux; and exercise carries its usual antidepressant weight. The threshold for seeking help is the same as any depression: when function, sleep, or safety are affected — winter is an explanation, not a requirement to endure.
",
+ "author": "elena-vasquez", "reviewer": "grace-okonkwo-md",
+ "published": "2024-12-16", "reviewed": "2024-12-20",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Holiday Heart, January Bills: ER Doctors on the Season's Signature Rhythm Problem",
+ "slug": "holiday-heart-syndrome", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Public Health",
+ "summary": "Alcohol binges can flip healthy hearts into atrial fibrillation — a pattern so seasonal that emergency medicine named it decades ago.",
+ "body_html": "
Emergency physicians coined 'holiday heart syndrome' in the 1970s for a pattern they still see every December and January: patients — often without any known heart disease — arriving with palpitations, breathlessness, or chest fluttering after a stretch of heavy drinking, and leaving with a first diagnosis of atrial fibrillation. Alcohol is a well-documented AFib trigger, acting through stress hormones, dehydration, electrolyte shifts, and direct effects on the heart's electrical tissue; binge episodes are the classic provocation, but research has traced measurably higher AFib risk to even one daily drink in susceptible people.
Many alcohol-triggered episodes convert back to normal rhythm within a day or two, which tempts people to shrug them off — a mistake, cardiologists say, on two counts. First, any new irregular heartbeat deserves evaluation, because stroke risk during AFib depends on age and health factors, not on how the episode felt. Second, a first alcohol-provoked episode predicts future ones, and trials show that drinkers with AFib who cut alcohol substantially reduce recurrences.
Season-specific advice from the acute side: pace and space drinks with water, mind the combination of alcohol plus dehydration plus short sleep plus salty feasts (each an AFib nudge on its own), and treat a racing or chaotic pulse lasting beyond a few minutes — especially with chest pain, faintness, or breathlessness — as an emergency-department visit, not a wait-and-see. For the annual checkup crowd: a smartwatch rhythm strip is a reasonable conversation starter, and a real ECG is how the conversation concludes.
",
+ "author": "rachel-whitmore", "reviewer": "anil-bhatt-md",
+ "published": "2025-01-02", "reviewed": "2025-01-06",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "The Enlarged Prostate Conversation: What Works, What Waits, and What to Ask",
+ "slug": "enlarged-prostate-options", "section": "family-pregnancy",
+ "subcategory": "Men's Health",
+ "summary": "Half of men in their 50s have BPH. The treatment menu runs from watchful waiting to a one-day procedure — and the right pick depends on questions most appointments skip.",
+ "body_html": "
An enlarged prostate announces itself in the small indignities: the 2 a.m. bathroom trip, the stream that takes its time, the feeling of never quite finishing. Benign prostatic hyperplasia is close to a universal feature of male aging, and the first thing worth knowing is that treatment is driven by bother, not by gland size. A symptom questionnaire (urologists use one called the IPSS) puts a number on that bother, and mild scores justify watchful waiting plus unglamorous basics — less evening fluid, less late caffeine and alcohol, and a review of medicines like decongestants that tighten the bladder outlet.
When symptoms earn a prescription, two drug families do different jobs on different timelines. Alpha-blockers such as tamsulosin (Flomax), alfuzosin, and silodosin relax the muscle around the bladder neck and help within days to weeks, but don't shrink anything. The 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, finasteride and dutasteride, shrink the gland itself over six months to a year and cut the long-term risk of urinary retention and surgery — a better fit for larger prostates, and often paired with an alpha-blocker. The trade-offs (blood pressure effects and ejaculatory changes for one family, sexual side effects and a halved PSA reading for the other) are exactly the fine print to ask about.
The questions that make an appointment productive: Is my prostate large enough that shrinking it matters, or is this a muscle-tone problem? Which of my current medicines make this worse? At what point do the newer minimally invasive procedures — several now done as day cases — beat years of pills? And the safety nets: sudden inability to urinate is an emergency, and urinary symptoms with blood in the urine, pain, or an abnormal PSA trajectory need a workup for other causes before being filed under BPH.
",
+ "author": "curtis-boone", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-09-30", "reviewed": "2024-10-04",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "RSV Antibody Shots for Babies Enter Their Second Season With Supply Steady",
+ "slug": "rsv-infant-antibody-season", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Research & Approvals",
+ "summary": "After a scarce debut winter, the infant RSV antibody nirsevimab is broadly available — and early real-world data suggest it is keeping babies out of the hospital.",
+ "body_html": "
Respiratory syncytial virus remains the leading cause of hospitalization in U.S. infants, which is why the arrival of nirsevimab — a long-acting monoclonal antibody given as a single injection — was greeted as the biggest change in RSV prevention for babies in a generation. Unlike a vaccine, it supplies ready-made antibodies rather than training the immune system, providing about five months of protection: enough to cover an infant's first RSV season. Its debut winter was marred by shortages and rationing; the current season opened with manufacturers and health officials reporting steady supply.
Real-world effectiveness data have been encouraging, with surveillance studies estimating strong protection against RSV hospitalization among immunized infants — broadly in line with the clinical trials. Recommendations cover all infants under 8 months entering their first RSV season, and certain high-risk toddlers entering their second. The injection can be given alongside routine childhood vaccinations.
Families have a second route to the same goal: a vaccine given during pregnancy in the early fall and winter months passes protective antibodies to the newborn, and most infants need one strategy or the other, not both. Pediatricians' practical advice is to settle the question before delivery — at a prenatal visit — rather than in the newborn haze, and to remember that hand hygiene and keeping visibly ill visitors away from newborns remain the low-tech portion of RSV season.
",
+ "author": "james-park", "reviewer": "danielle-hart-md",
+ "published": "2024-12-02", "reviewed": "2024-12-06",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Shingles Vaccine Uptake Stalls at Half of Eligible Adults, Survey Finds",
+ "slug": "shingles-vaccine-uptake-stalls", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Research & Approvals",
+ "summary": "The two-dose shingles vaccine is among the most effective adult immunizations on the schedule — and roughly half of adults 50 and older still haven't started it.",
+ "body_html": "
New survey data on adult immunization show shingles vaccination plateauing at roughly half of eligible adults — a stubborn gap for a vaccine with unusually strong credentials. The recombinant two-dose series, recommended for adults 50 and older and for younger immunocompromised adults, demonstrated over 90 percent protection against shingles in trials, with durable effectiveness in follow-up studies stretching past seven years. About one in three unvaccinated Americans will develop shingles in their lifetime.
The case for the vaccine is really a case against the disease's worst outcome: postherpetic neuralgia, the burning nerve pain that can persist for months or years after the rash heals and becomes more likely and more severe with age. Researchers surveying the unvaccinated half consistently find the same barriers — not knowing the vaccine is recommended, assuming a prior bout of shingles or the older discontinued vaccine settles the matter (neither does), and being deterred by the series' reputation for a sore arm and a rough day, which is real but brief.
Clinicians' framing for the hesitant: the two doses are given 2 to 6 months apart, side effects resolve in two to three days, and the protection purchased is against a disease whose complications have no comparably effective treatment. The shot can be given at the same visit as flu and other adult vaccines — which, adult-immunization specialists note, is exactly the kind of bundling that moves stalled numbers.
",
+ "author": "marcus-delgado", "reviewer": "karen-shale-md",
+ "published": "2024-11-11", "reviewed": "2024-11-15",
+ },
+ {
+ "title": "Pneumococcal Vaccine Guidance Gets Simpler: One Question Instead of a Flowchart",
+ "slug": "pneumococcal-guidance-simplified", "section": "news",
+ "subcategory": "Research & Approvals",
+ "summary": "Years of alphabet-soup schedules gave pneumococcal vaccination a complexity problem. Updated recommendations trade the flowchart for a lower age threshold and a cleaner rule.",
+ "body_html": "
Pneumococcal disease — pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae — kills thousands of U.S. adults each year, yet its vaccine schedule was long a punchline among clinicians: multiple products, sequencing rules, and risk-condition footnotes that generated more reference-card lookups than almost any other adult vaccine. Recent updates aim squarely at that complexity, anchoring recommendations to the newer conjugate vaccines and lowering the routine age threshold for all adults, so that for most patients eligibility now turns on a single question about age or risk conditions.
The risk-based half of the rule covers younger adults with chronic heart, lung, liver, or kidney disease, diabetes, smoking, and immunocompromising conditions — a list that includes far more people than realize they qualify. Coverage surveys consistently show pneumococcal vaccination lagging well behind flu vaccination in these groups, and simplification is explicitly intended to close that gap: fewer decision points for busy primary-care visits and pharmacy counters alike.
For patients, the practical takeaways are short. If you've reached the routine age threshold or carry a qualifying condition, a single visit can usually settle your pneumococcal status for years; prior vaccination history changes the details, so bring your record or let the pharmacy pull it. And because pneumococcal disease rides in behind respiratory viruses each winter, the shot pairs naturally with the seasonal flu visit — one more errand the simplified schedule was designed to make bundleable.
",
+ "author": "marcus-delgado", "reviewer": "miguel-santana-md",
+ "published": "2024-12-11", "reviewed": "2024-12-16",
+ },
+]
diff --git a/sites/webmd/_seed_authors.py b/sites/webmd/_seed_authors.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..19874cd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/_seed_authors.py
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+"""Author and medical-reviewer personas.
+
+All 22 people below are FICTIONAL, invented for this offline mirror. Any
+resemblance to real writers or clinicians is coincidental; no bios were
+copied from webmd.com or anywhere else.
+"""
+
+AUTHORS = [
+ # --- Writers (role: writer) ---
+ {"name": "Rachel Whitmore", "slug": "rachel-whitmore", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "MS, Health Journalism",
+ "bio": "Rachel Whitmore is a senior health writer covering chronic disease, cardiology, and preventive care. Before turning to journalism she spent four years coordinating clinical trials at a Midwestern academic medical center, an experience that shapes her evidence-first approach to consumer health writing."},
+ {"name": "Marcus Delgado", "slug": "marcus-delgado", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "BA, Science Communication",
+ "bio": "Marcus Delgado writes about infectious disease, vaccines, and public health. His explainers on seasonal illness have been recognized by two regional press associations, and he is a stickler for translating study statistics into plain language readers can act on."},
+ {"name": "Priya Raman", "slug": "priya-raman", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "MPH",
+ "bio": "Priya Raman covers nutrition, metabolic health, and diabetes. She holds a master of public health with a nutrition concentration and previously developed community diabetes-prevention curricula, which is why her articles always end with something practical to try this week."},
+ {"name": "Tom Okafor", "slug": "tom-okafor", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "BS, Kinesiology",
+ "bio": "Tom Okafor is a fitness and musculoskeletal health writer. A former collegiate middle-distance runner and certified strength coach, he specializes in translating sports-medicine research into routines that work for people with desk jobs and cranky knees."},
+ {"name": "Elena Vasquez", "slug": "elena-vasquez", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "MA, Psychology",
+ "bio": "Elena Vasquez writes about mental health, sleep, and behavior change. She spent six years as a crisis-line program manager before moving to health media, and she brings that frontline perspective to coverage of anxiety, depression, and stress."},
+ {"name": "David Lindqvist", "slug": "david-lindqvist", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "BSN, RN",
+ "bio": "David Lindqvist is a registered nurse turned medical writer who covers medication safety, drug interactions, and hospital care. Twelve years on a cardiac step-down unit taught him exactly which medication questions patients ask at discharge — and he writes to answer them."},
+ {"name": "Hannah Bell-Curtis", "slug": "hannah-bell-curtis", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "BA, Journalism",
+ "bio": "Hannah Bell-Curtis covers women's health, pregnancy, and family medicine topics. A mother of three, she pairs rigorous sourcing with a practical sensibility about what advice actually survives contact with a busy household."},
+ {"name": "James Park", "slug": "james-park", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "MS, Biomedical Sciences",
+ "bio": "James Park reports on new research, drug approvals, and medical technology. He reads the primary studies so you don't have to, and he is known in the newsroom for flagging overhyped findings before they make headlines."},
+ {"name": "Sofia Andersson", "slug": "sofia-andersson", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "RD, LDN",
+ "bio": "Sofia Andersson is a registered dietitian who writes about weight management, gut health, and evidence-based eating patterns. She has counseled more than a thousand patients in outpatient practice and remains allergic to fad-diet promises."},
+ {"name": "Curtis Boone", "slug": "curtis-boone", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "BA, English",
+ "bio": "Curtis Boone covers men's health, urology, and healthy aging. His long-running column on navigating the healthcare system as a patient grew out of managing his own father's care, and it shows in his unusually concrete service journalism."},
+ {"name": "Amara Osei", "slug": "amara-osei", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "MPH, CHES",
+ "bio": "Amara Osei is a certified health education specialist writing about skin conditions, allergies, and everyday preventive care. She previously ran patient-education programs for a dermatology group practice."},
+ {"name": "Nick Ferrante", "slug": "nick-ferrante", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "BS, Pharmacology",
+ "bio": "Nick Ferrante writes the drugs and supplements beat. With an undergraduate degree in pharmacology and five years as a pharmacy technician, he specializes in how medicines actually behave in the body — and what the label warnings really mean."},
+ {"name": "Leah Sandoval", "slug": "leah-sandoval", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "MS, Gerontology",
+ "bio": "Leah Sandoval covers healthy aging, bone health, and caregiving. Her background in gerontology research informs her coverage of the conditions that shape life after 60, from osteoporosis to sleep changes."},
+ {"name": "Owen McAllister", "slug": "owen-mcallister", "role": "writer",
+ "credentials": "BA, Communications",
+ "bio": "Owen McAllister writes about digestive health and chronic pain. Diagnosed with Crohn's disease at 19, he combines lived experience with careful reporting on the conditions readers are often too embarrassed to ask about."},
+
+ # --- Medical reviewers (role: medical reviewer) ---
+ {"name": "Karen Shale, MD", "slug": "karen-shale-md", "role": "medical reviewer",
+ "credentials": "MD, Board-Certified Internal Medicine",
+ "bio": "Dr. Karen Shale is a board-certified internist with 18 years of primary-care practice experience. She reviews articles on chronic disease management, cardiovascular risk, and preventive screening, and she teaches clinical reasoning to internal medicine residents."},
+ {"name": "Anil Bhatt, MD", "slug": "anil-bhatt-md", "role": "medical reviewer",
+ "credentials": "MD, Board-Certified Cardiology",
+ "bio": "Dr. Anil Bhatt is a board-certified cardiologist focusing on heart rhythm disorders and heart failure. He reviews cardiology and blood-pressure content, and practices at a large community heart center where he directs the anticoagulation clinic."},
+ {"name": "Grace Okonkwo, MD", "slug": "grace-okonkwo-md", "role": "medical reviewer",
+ "credentials": "MD, Board-Certified Psychiatry",
+ "bio": "Dr. Grace Okonkwo is a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in mood and anxiety disorders. She reviews the site's mental health coverage and maintains an outpatient practice with a focus on measurement-based care."},
+ {"name": "Steven Marsh, PharmD", "slug": "steven-marsh-pharmd", "role": "medical reviewer",
+ "credentials": "PharmD, BCPS",
+ "bio": "Dr. Steven Marsh is a board-certified pharmacotherapy specialist who reviews drug monographs, interaction guidance, and medication-safety articles. He spent a decade as a clinical pharmacist on an inpatient internal-medicine service."},
+ {"name": "Lucia Ferreira, MD", "slug": "lucia-ferreira-md", "role": "medical reviewer",
+ "credentials": "MD, Board-Certified Gastroenterology",
+ "bio": "Dr. Lucia Ferreira is a board-certified gastroenterologist who reviews digestive-health content, from reflux to inflammatory bowel disease. Her clinical interests include IBS and nutrition in GI disease."},
+ {"name": "Robert Yuen, MD", "slug": "robert-yuen-md", "role": "medical reviewer",
+ "credentials": "MD, Board-Certified Endocrinology",
+ "bio": "Dr. Robert Yuen is a board-certified endocrinologist reviewing diabetes, thyroid, and hormonal health articles. He runs a diabetes technology clinic and has a special interest in making insulin regimens workable in real life."},
+ {"name": "Danielle Hart, MD", "slug": "danielle-hart-md", "role": "medical reviewer",
+ "credentials": "MD, Board-Certified Family Medicine",
+ "bio": "Dr. Danielle Hart is a board-certified family physician who reviews pediatric, pregnancy, and general wellness content. She practices full-spectrum family medicine, including obstetrics, in a semi-rural health system."},
+ {"name": "Miguel Santana, MD", "slug": "miguel-santana-md", "role": "medical reviewer",
+ "credentials": "MD, Board-Certified Pulmonology",
+ "bio": "Dr. Miguel Santana is a board-certified pulmonologist reviewing asthma, COPD, and sleep-medicine articles. He directs a pulmonary rehabilitation program and is a vocal advocate for smoking-cessation support."},
+]
diff --git a/sites/webmd/_seed_conditions_a.py b/sites/webmd/_seed_conditions_a.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..92a93c05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/_seed_conditions_a.py
@@ -0,0 +1,314 @@
+"""Condition catalog, part A (A–H), plus the master symptom list.
+
+Medical facts (symptom profiles, causes, standard treatments) follow
+MedlinePlus / NIH public-domain health-topic data; all prose is original.
+"""
+
+# Master symptom list for the symptom checker. Each condition below links
+# 3-6 of these via symptom_slugs.
+SYMPTOMS = [
+ ("Fatigue", "fatigue"),
+ ("Headache", "headache"),
+ ("Fever", "fever"),
+ ("Cough", "cough"),
+ ("Shortness of breath", "shortness-of-breath"),
+ ("Wheezing", "wheezing"),
+ ("Chest pain", "chest-pain"),
+ ("Heart palpitations", "palpitations"),
+ ("Dizziness", "dizziness"),
+ ("Nausea", "nausea"),
+ ("Vomiting", "vomiting"),
+ ("Diarrhea", "diarrhea"),
+ ("Constipation", "constipation"),
+ ("Abdominal pain", "abdominal-pain"),
+ ("Heartburn", "heartburn"),
+ ("Bloating", "bloating"),
+ ("Joint pain", "joint-pain"),
+ ("Joint stiffness", "joint-stiffness"),
+ ("Muscle aches", "muscle-aches"),
+ ("Back pain", "back-pain"),
+ ("Swelling in legs or feet", "swelling"),
+ ("Skin rash", "rash"),
+ ("Itching", "itching"),
+ ("Sore throat", "sore-throat"),
+ ("Runny nose", "runny-nose"),
+ ("Nasal congestion", "nasal-congestion"),
+ ("Sneezing", "sneezing"),
+ ("Frequent urination", "frequent-urination"),
+ ("Painful urination", "painful-urination"),
+ ("Increased thirst", "increased-thirst"),
+ ("Unintended weight loss", "weight-loss"),
+ ("Weight gain", "weight-gain"),
+ ("Blurred vision", "blurred-vision"),
+ ("Numbness or tingling", "numbness-tingling"),
+ ("Trouble sleeping", "trouble-sleeping"),
+ ("Persistent sadness or low mood", "low-mood"),
+ ("Irritability", "irritability"),
+ ("Excessive worry", "excessive-worry"),
+ ("Night sweats", "night-sweats"),
+ ("Loss of appetite", "loss-of-appetite"),
+]
+
+CONDITIONS_A = [
+ {
+ "name": "Acne", "slug": "acne", "letter": "A",
+ "overview": "Acne is the most common skin condition in the United States, occurring when hair follicles become clogged with oil and dead skin cells. It typically appears on the face, chest, upper back, and shoulders, and while most common in teenagers, it affects people of all ages.",
+ "symptoms": "Whiteheads, blackheads, small red tender bumps (papules), pus-filled pimples, and — in more severe forms — painful lumps beneath the skin (nodules and cysts) that can scar.",
+ "causes": "Four factors drive acne: excess oil (sebum) production, clogged follicles, Cutibacterium acnes bacteria, and inflammation. Hormonal changes during puberty, menstrual cycles, and pregnancy, certain medications such as corticosteroids, and genetics all contribute.",
+ "treatments": "Mild acne responds to over-the-counter benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, and adapalene gel. Moderate to severe cases may need prescription topical retinoids, oral antibiotics such as doxycycline, hormonal therapy, or isotretinoin for resistant nodular acne.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["doxycycline"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["rash", "itching"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Allergic Rhinitis (Hay Fever)", "slug": "allergic-rhinitis", "letter": "A",
+ "overview": "Allergic rhinitis is an allergic response of the nasal passages to airborne substances such as pollen, dust mites, mold, or pet dander. Seasonal forms flare with pollen seasons, while perennial forms cause year-round symptoms.",
+ "symptoms": "Sneezing fits, runny nose with clear discharge, nasal congestion, itchy nose, throat, and eyes, watery eyes, and post-nasal drip. Many people also feel tired during heavy allergy periods.",
+ "causes": "The immune system mistakes a harmless airborne protein for a threat and releases histamine and other chemicals. Common triggers are tree, grass, and ragweed pollens, dust mites, cockroach droppings, mold spores, and animal dander. A family history of allergies raises risk.",
+ "treatments": "Intranasal corticosteroid sprays such as fluticasone are the most effective single therapy. Oral second-generation antihistamines (cetirizine, loratadine, fexofenadine) relieve sneezing and itching, montelukast is an option when other treatments fail, and allergen immunotherapy can retrain the immune system.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["fluticasone-nasal", "cetirizine", "loratadine", "fexofenadine", "montelukast"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["sneezing", "runny-nose", "nasal-congestion", "itching"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Anemia (Iron-Deficiency)", "slug": "iron-deficiency-anemia", "letter": "A",
+ "overview": "Iron-deficiency anemia develops when the body lacks enough iron to make hemoglobin, the protein that lets red blood cells carry oxygen. It is the most common type of anemia worldwide and is especially frequent in menstruating and pregnant women.",
+ "symptoms": "Fatigue, weakness, pale skin, shortness of breath with activity, dizziness, cold hands and feet, brittle nails, and sometimes unusual cravings for ice or dirt (pica).",
+ "causes": "Blood loss (heavy periods, gastrointestinal bleeding from ulcers or NSAID use), poor dietary iron intake, impaired absorption from celiac disease or gastric surgery, and the increased iron demands of pregnancy.",
+ "treatments": "Oral iron supplements taken on an empty stomach or with vitamin C for better absorption, treating the underlying source of blood loss, iron-rich foods (lean meat, beans, fortified cereals), and intravenous iron or transfusion for severe cases.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": [],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["fatigue", "dizziness", "shortness-of-breath", "headache"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder)", "slug": "generalized-anxiety-disorder", "letter": "A",
+ "overview": "Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is marked by persistent, excessive worry about everyday matters that is difficult to control and lasts six months or longer. It affects roughly 3 percent of U.S. adults in a given year and often coexists with depression.",
+ "symptoms": "Constant worry out of proportion to events, restlessness or feeling on edge, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep problems.",
+ "causes": "A combination of genetics, brain chemistry involving serotonin and norepinephrine, personality traits, and life experiences including chronic stress or trauma. Medical conditions such as thyroid disease and stimulants like caffeine can mimic or worsen it.",
+ "treatments": "Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and SSRI or SNRI antidepressants such as escitalopram, sertraline, duloxetine, and venlafaxine are first-line. Benzodiazepines like lorazepam or alprazolam may be used briefly for severe episodes but carry dependence risk. Regular exercise and limiting caffeine help.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["escitalopram", "sertraline", "duloxetine", "venlafaxine", "lorazepam", "alprazolam"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["excessive-worry", "irritability", "trouble-sleeping", "fatigue", "muscle-aches"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Asthma", "slug": "asthma", "letter": "A",
+ "overview": "Asthma is a chronic disease in which the airways become inflamed, narrow, and produce extra mucus, making breathing difficult. About 25 million Americans have asthma, and while it cannot be cured, modern treatment lets most people live fully active lives.",
+ "symptoms": "Wheezing (a whistling sound when breathing out), shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing that is often worse at night, early in the morning, or after exercise. Symptoms flare episodically as 'attacks.'",
+ "causes": "A mix of genetic predisposition and environmental exposures. Common triggers include airborne allergens (pollen, dust mites, pet dander), respiratory infections, cold air, exercise, smoke, air pollution, strong odors, and stress. Aspirin and NSAIDs trigger attacks in some people.",
+ "treatments": "Daily inhaled corticosteroids form the foundation of control, with a short-acting rescue inhaler such as albuterol for quick relief of attacks. Add-on options include long-acting bronchodilators and montelukast, plus an asthma action plan and trigger avoidance. Oral prednisone treats severe flare-ups.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["albuterol", "montelukast", "prednisone"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["wheezing", "shortness-of-breath", "cough", "chest-pain"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Atrial Fibrillation", "slug": "atrial-fibrillation", "letter": "A",
+ "overview": "Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the most common serious heart rhythm disorder, in which the heart's upper chambers quiver chaotically instead of beating effectively. It matters chiefly because pooled blood can clot and cause a stroke — AFib raises stroke risk about fivefold.",
+ "symptoms": "A racing, fluttering, or irregular heartbeat, fatigue, reduced exercise capacity, shortness of breath, light-headedness, and chest discomfort. Some people have no symptoms and are diagnosed incidentally.",
+ "causes": "High blood pressure, coronary artery disease, heart valve problems, heart failure, overactive thyroid, sleep apnea, obesity, heavy alcohol use, and advancing age. Episodes may be triggered by binge drinking, stimulants, or acute illness.",
+ "treatments": "Two pillars: stroke prevention with anticoagulants such as apixaban or warfarin, and rhythm or rate control with beta-blockers like metoprolol, antiarrhythmic drugs, cardioversion, or catheter ablation. Treating sleep apnea, alcohol reduction, and weight loss reduce recurrences.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["apixaban", "warfarin", "metoprolol", "atenolol"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["palpitations", "fatigue", "shortness-of-breath", "dizziness", "chest-pain"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Back Pain (Low Back Pain)", "slug": "low-back-pain", "letter": "B",
+ "overview": "Low back pain is one of the most common reasons for doctor visits, affecting about 80 percent of adults at some point. Most episodes are 'nonspecific' — arising from muscles, ligaments, discs, and joints — and improve within a few weeks.",
+ "symptoms": "Aching or stabbing pain in the lower back, stiffness, muscle spasm, and pain that may radiate into the buttock or down the leg (sciatica) when a nerve root is irritated. Red flags such as numbness in the groin, loss of bladder control, or fever warrant urgent care.",
+ "causes": "Muscle or ligament strain from lifting or awkward movement, degenerated or herniated discs, arthritis of the spinal joints, spinal stenosis, osteoporosis-related fractures, and poor conditioning. Prolonged sitting, obesity, and smoking raise risk.",
+ "treatments": "Stay active — bed rest slows recovery. Short-term NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or naproxen, heat, and gentle stretching help most episodes; muscle relaxants like cyclobenzaprine may be added briefly for spasm. Physical therapy and core strengthening prevent recurrences; duloxetine helps some chronic cases.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["ibuprofen", "naproxen", "cyclobenzaprine", "duloxetine", "acetaminophen"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["back-pain", "muscle-aches", "numbness-tingling"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Bipolar Disorder", "slug": "bipolar-disorder", "letter": "B",
+ "overview": "Bipolar disorder causes dramatic shifts in mood, energy, and activity — from emotional highs (mania or hypomania) to lows (depression). Episodes may last days to months, and with consistent treatment most people achieve long stretches of stability.",
+ "symptoms": "Manic periods bring elevated or irritable mood, racing thoughts, decreased need for sleep, grandiosity, rapid speech, and risky behavior; depressive periods bring persistent sadness, loss of interest, fatigue, sleep and appetite changes, and thoughts of death.",
+ "causes": "Strong genetic influence — having a first-degree relative with bipolar disorder is the biggest risk factor — combined with differences in brain structure and neurotransmitter signaling. Stress, sleep disruption, and substance use can trigger episodes.",
+ "treatments": "Mood stabilizers (lithium, valproate, lamotrigine) and certain antipsychotics form the core of treatment, alongside psychotherapy and strict sleep routines. Antidepressants alone can flip a person into mania and are used cautiously if at all.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": [],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["low-mood", "irritability", "trouble-sleeping", "fatigue"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Bronchitis (Acute)", "slug": "acute-bronchitis", "letter": "B",
+ "overview": "Acute bronchitis — often called a chest cold — is short-term inflammation of the bronchial tubes, usually following an upper respiratory infection. The hallmark cough typically lasts two to three weeks and resolves on its own.",
+ "symptoms": "Persistent cough that may bring up clear, white, or yellow-green mucus, chest soreness from coughing, mild shortness of breath or wheezing, fatigue, sore throat, and sometimes low-grade fever.",
+ "causes": "Viruses cause more than 90 percent of cases — the same viruses behind colds and flu — so antibiotics rarely help. Smoke, dust, and fumes can also inflame the airways.",
+ "treatments": "Rest, fluids, honey for cough, and humidified air. Ibuprofen or acetaminophen ease chest soreness and fever. An albuterol inhaler helps if there is wheezing. See a doctor for fever over 100.4°F lasting days, bloody mucus, or a cough beyond three weeks.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["ibuprofen", "acetaminophen", "albuterol"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["cough", "fatigue", "sore-throat", "wheezing", "fever"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome", "slug": "carpal-tunnel-syndrome", "letter": "C",
+ "overview": "Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the median nerve is compressed as it passes through the narrow carpal tunnel at the wrist. It is the most common nerve-entrapment condition, and early treatment usually prevents permanent nerve damage.",
+ "symptoms": "Numbness, tingling, or burning in the thumb, index, middle, and half of the ring finger — classically waking people at night — plus hand weakness, dropping objects, and an electric-shock feeling shooting into the fingers.",
+ "causes": "Anything that crowds the tunnel: wrist anatomy, repetitive hand use and prolonged awkward wrist positions, pregnancy-related fluid retention, hypothyroidism, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and obesity.",
+ "treatments": "A neutral-position wrist splint worn at night is the first step, along with activity modification. Corticosteroid injections reduce swelling around the nerve; NSAIDs help short-term pain. Surgery to release the ligament is highly effective when numbness persists or muscles weaken.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["ibuprofen", "naproxen"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["numbness-tingling", "muscle-aches"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Celiac Disease", "slug": "celiac-disease", "letter": "C",
+ "overview": "Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which eating gluten — a protein in wheat, barley, and rye — triggers an immune attack on the small intestine's lining. About 1 in 100 people worldwide are affected, many undiagnosed.",
+ "symptoms": "Diarrhea, bloating, gas, abdominal pain, fatigue, weight loss, and iron-deficiency anemia. Adults may have non-digestive signs: an itchy blistering rash (dermatitis herpetiformis), bone loss, mouth ulcers, and numbness in the hands and feet.",
+ "causes": "A genetic immune reaction to gluten: nearly all patients carry HLA-DQ2 or HLA-DQ8 genes. Family history, type 1 diabetes, and autoimmune thyroid disease raise risk. Onset can occur at any age.",
+ "treatments": "A strict, lifelong gluten-free diet is the only treatment — the intestinal lining then heals over months. Dietitian guidance, vitamin and mineral repletion (iron, B12, vitamin D), and follow-up antibody testing to confirm dietary control.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": [],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["diarrhea", "bloating", "abdominal-pain", "fatigue", "weight-loss"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Chronic Kidney Disease", "slug": "chronic-kidney-disease", "letter": "C",
+ "overview": "Chronic kidney disease (CKD) means the kidneys are damaged and gradually losing their ability to filter blood, over months to years. It affects an estimated 1 in 7 U.S. adults, most of whom don't know they have it because early stages are silent.",
+ "symptoms": "Usually none until late stages, then fatigue, swelling in the legs and around the eyes, foamy urine, increased or decreased urination, nausea, loss of appetite, itching, muscle cramps, and trouble concentrating.",
+ "causes": "Diabetes and high blood pressure cause about two-thirds of cases. Other causes include glomerulonephritis, polycystic kidney disease, repeated kidney infections, prolonged urinary blockage, and long-term heavy NSAID use.",
+ "treatments": "Control the drivers: blood pressure with ACE inhibitors or ARBs (lisinopril, losartan — which also protect kidneys), blood sugar in diabetes, and cholesterol with statins. Avoid NSAIDs, moderate protein and salt intake, and plan for dialysis or transplant in advanced disease.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["lisinopril", "losartan", "atorvastatin"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["fatigue", "swelling", "nausea", "itching", "loss-of-appetite"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Common Cold", "slug": "common-cold", "letter": "C",
+ "overview": "The common cold is a mild viral infection of the nose and throat. Adults average two to three colds per year, each lasting about 7 to 10 days; children get them even more often. Colds are the leading reason for missed work and school.",
+ "symptoms": "Runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, sore or scratchy throat, cough, mild body aches, low-grade fever (more common in children), and watery eyes. Nasal discharge often thickens and turns yellow-green as the cold runs its course — that alone doesn't mean a bacterial infection.",
+ "causes": "More than 200 viruses, most often rhinoviruses, spread by droplets and by hands touching contaminated surfaces then the eyes, nose, or mouth. Colds circulate most in fall and winter, largely because people gather indoors.",
+ "treatments": "No cure — antibiotics do nothing against cold viruses. Rest, fluids, saline rinses, honey for cough, and symptom relievers: acetaminophen or ibuprofen for aches, an antihistamine such as diphenhydramine at night, and decongestants for short-term stuffiness.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["acetaminophen", "ibuprofen", "diphenhydramine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["runny-nose", "sneezing", "sore-throat", "cough", "nasal-congestion"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)", "slug": "copd", "letter": "C",
+ "overview": "COPD is a progressive lung disease — encompassing emphysema and chronic bronchitis — that obstructs airflow and makes breathing increasingly difficult. It affects about 16 million diagnosed Americans and is a leading cause of death, yet it is largely preventable.",
+ "symptoms": "Shortness of breath that worsens with activity, chronic cough with mucus ('smoker's cough'), wheezing, chest tightness, frequent respiratory infections, fatigue, and in later stages unintended weight loss.",
+ "causes": "Cigarette smoking causes as many as 8 in 10 cases. Long-term exposure to secondhand smoke, air pollution, occupational dusts and fumes, and a rare genetic deficiency of alpha-1 antitrypsin account for the rest.",
+ "treatments": "Quitting smoking is the single most important step at any stage. Bronchodilator inhalers (including albuterol for rescue), inhaled corticosteroids for frequent flare-ups, pulmonary rehabilitation, vaccinations, oxygen therapy for low blood oxygen, and prednisone plus antibiotics for exacerbations.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["albuterol", "prednisone", "azithromycin"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["shortness-of-breath", "cough", "wheezing", "fatigue", "chest-pain"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Coronary Artery Disease", "slug": "coronary-artery-disease", "letter": "C",
+ "overview": "Coronary artery disease (CAD) — the most common form of heart disease — develops when cholesterol-laden plaque builds up in the arteries supplying the heart muscle. It is the leading cause of death in the United States, and a ruptured plaque is what causes most heart attacks.",
+ "symptoms": "Chest pain or pressure (angina) brought on by exertion or stress and relieved by rest, shortness of breath, and fatigue. A heart attack adds crushing chest pain, pain spreading to the arm, jaw, or back, sweating, and nausea — call 911 immediately.",
+ "causes": "Atherosclerosis driven by high LDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, and family history. Risk climbs with age, and inflammation plays a central role.",
+ "treatments": "Statins such as atorvastatin or rosuvastatin to lower LDL, low-dose aspirin or clopidogrel to prevent clots, beta-blockers like metoprolol and ACE inhibitors like lisinopril to protect the heart, nitroglycerin for angina, plus stenting or bypass surgery for severe blockages. Diet, exercise, and smoking cessation are foundational.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["atorvastatin", "rosuvastatin", "aspirin", "clopidogrel", "metoprolol", "lisinopril"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["chest-pain", "shortness-of-breath", "fatigue"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Crohn's Disease", "slug": "crohns-disease", "letter": "C",
+ "overview": "Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can inflame any part of the digestive tract — most often the end of the small intestine — in patches that penetrate deep into the bowel wall. It follows a relapsing-remitting course of flares and quiet periods.",
+ "symptoms": "Persistent diarrhea, crampy abdominal pain (often right lower abdomen), urgency, weight loss, fatigue, low-grade fever, and mouth sores. Complications include strictures, fistulas, and abscesses; joints, skin, and eyes can also be affected.",
+ "causes": "An inappropriate immune response to gut microbes in genetically susceptible people. Smoking doubles the risk and worsens the course. Onset most often occurs between ages 15 and 35. Diet and stress aggravate but do not cause it.",
+ "treatments": "Corticosteroids such as prednisone calm flares; immunomodulators and biologic drugs (anti-TNF and newer agents) maintain remission and heal the bowel lining. Surgery removes damaged segments when medicines fail. Smoking cessation and nutritional support are essential.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["prednisone", "loperamide"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["diarrhea", "abdominal-pain", "weight-loss", "fatigue", "fever"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Depression (Major Depressive Disorder)", "slug": "depression", "letter": "D",
+ "overview": "Major depression is a common and serious mood disorder that affects how you feel, think, and function daily. About 8 percent of U.S. adults experience a major depressive episode in a given year; it is highly treatable, yet many people never seek care.",
+ "symptoms": "Persistent sad, empty, or hopeless mood, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, sleep and appetite changes, fatigue, trouble concentrating, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, slowed movement or restlessness, and recurring thoughts of death or suicide, lasting most of the day for at least two weeks.",
+ "causes": "An interplay of brain chemistry, genetics, hormones, and life circumstances. Risk rises with family history, major stress or loss, chronic illness, certain medications, and substance use. It can occur at any age and affects women about twice as often as men.",
+ "treatments": "Psychotherapy (especially CBT) and antidepressants — SSRIs such as sertraline, fluoxetine, and escitalopram, SNRIs such as duloxetine and venlafaxine, or bupropion — work best combined. Exercise, sleep regularity, and social support help; treatment-resistant cases have options including esketamine and TMS. Crisis help: call or text 988.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["sertraline", "fluoxetine", "escitalopram", "duloxetine", "venlafaxine", "bupropion", "trazodone"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["low-mood", "fatigue", "trouble-sleeping", "loss-of-appetite", "irritability"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Diabetes, Type 1", "slug": "type-1-diabetes", "letter": "D",
+ "overview": "Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system destroys the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas, leaving the body unable to make insulin. It accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of all diabetes and most often begins in childhood or young adulthood, though it can start at any age.",
+ "symptoms": "Increased thirst, frequent urination, extreme hunger, unintended weight loss, fatigue, blurred vision, and irritability — often developing quickly over weeks. Untreated, it can progress to diabetic ketoacidosis with nausea, vomiting, fruity breath, and confusion.",
+ "causes": "Autoimmune destruction of beta cells in genetically susceptible people, possibly triggered by viral infections or other environmental factors. It is not caused by diet or lifestyle and cannot currently be prevented.",
+ "treatments": "Lifelong insulin — typically a long-acting basal insulin such as insulin glargine plus rapid-acting insulin at meals, or an insulin pump — paired with carbohydrate counting, frequent glucose monitoring or a continuous glucose monitor, and regular screening for eye, kidney, and nerve complications.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["insulin-glargine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["increased-thirst", "frequent-urination", "weight-loss", "fatigue", "blurred-vision"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Diabetes, Type 2", "slug": "type-2-diabetes", "letter": "D",
+ "overview": "Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body resists insulin's effects and gradually loses the ability to make enough of it, causing high blood sugar. It accounts for 90 to 95 percent of diabetes, affects more than 35 million Americans, and is closely tied to weight, activity, and genetics.",
+ "symptoms": "Often none for years. When present: increased thirst, frequent urination, increased hunger, fatigue, blurred vision, slow-healing sores, frequent infections, and darkened skin in the armpits and neck (acanthosis nigricans).",
+ "causes": "Insulin resistance driven by excess weight (especially abdominal fat), physical inactivity, genetics, and age, with strong family and ethnic risk patterns. Prediabetes almost always precedes it — a window where progression can be prevented.",
+ "treatments": "Lifestyle change (weight loss, diet quality, 150 minutes of weekly activity) plus metformin as the usual first medicine. Additional options include sitagliptin, glipizide, newer injectable agents, and insulin glargine when needed, alongside blood pressure and cholesterol control to prevent heart, kidney, eye, and nerve complications.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["metformin", "sitagliptin", "glipizide", "insulin-glargine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["increased-thirst", "frequent-urination", "fatigue", "blurred-vision", "weight-gain"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Diverticulitis", "slug": "diverticulitis", "letter": "D",
+ "overview": "Diverticulitis is inflammation or infection of small pouches (diverticula) that form in the wall of the colon, most often the lower left portion. The pouches themselves (diverticulosis) are common and harmless — about half of people over 60 have them — but roughly 5 percent develop diverticulitis.",
+ "symptoms": "Constant pain in the lower left abdomen, fever, nausea, and a change in bowel habits (constipation more often than diarrhea). Severe cases can cause abscess, perforation, or bleeding.",
+ "causes": "Pouches form where the colon wall is weak, under pressure; inflammation follows when a pouch tears or becomes blocked. Low-fiber diets, obesity, smoking, inactivity, and regular NSAID use raise risk. Nuts and seeds are no longer thought to trigger attacks.",
+ "treatments": "Mild cases: rest, a clear-liquid then low-fiber diet during the attack, and acetaminophen for pain (NSAIDs can worsen bleeding risk); antibiotics for complicated or higher-risk cases. Afterward, a high-fiber diet prevents recurrences. Surgery is reserved for complications or repeated attacks.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["acetaminophen", "ciprofloxacin"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["abdominal-pain", "fever", "nausea", "constipation"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Eczema (Atopic Dermatitis)", "slug": "eczema", "letter": "E",
+ "overview": "Atopic dermatitis — the most common form of eczema — is a chronic condition that makes skin dry, itchy, and inflamed. It affects up to 20 percent of children and about 10 percent of adults, often alongside asthma and hay fever (the 'atopic triad').",
+ "symptoms": "Intense itching (often worse at night), dry sensitive skin, red to brownish-gray patches — classically in the creases of elbows and knees, on hands, and on the face in infants — plus thickened, cracked, or scaly skin from scratching.",
+ "causes": "A leaky skin barrier (often from variations in the filaggrin gene) plus immune overactivity. Flares are triggered by dry air, harsh soaps, fragrances, wool, sweat, stress, and allergens. It is not contagious.",
+ "treatments": "Daily moisturizing with thick creams or ointments is the cornerstone, plus gentle skin care and trigger avoidance. Topical corticosteroids calm flares; non-steroid creams, antihistamines such as cetirizine for itch, and biologic injections for moderate-to-severe disease. Short lukewarm showers, then moisturize within three minutes.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["cetirizine", "diphenhydramine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["itching", "rash"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Enlarged Prostate (BPH)", "slug": "enlarged-prostate", "letter": "E",
+ "overview": "Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is non-cancerous growth of the prostate gland that squeezes the urethra and slows urine flow. It is nearly universal with age — about half of men in their 50s and up to 90 percent of men over 80 have some degree of it — and it is not prostate cancer, nor does it raise cancer risk.",
+ "symptoms": "A weak or interrupted urine stream, hesitancy getting started, dribbling at the end, a feeling the bladder never fully empties, urgency, and waking several times a night to urinate. Sudden inability to urinate at all is an emergency.",
+ "causes": "Prostate growth driven by age-related hormonal shifts, particularly dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Family history, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are associated with faster symptom progression; the symptom burden depends less on gland size than on where the growth presses.",
+ "treatments": "Mild symptoms may need only watchful waiting and evening fluid timing. Alpha-blockers such as tamsulosin, alfuzosin, or silodosin relax the bladder outlet within days; 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (finasteride, dutasteride) shrink larger glands over months and can be combined with an alpha-blocker. Minimally invasive procedures and surgery (TURP) treat retention or failed drug therapy.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["tamsulosin", "alfuzosin", "silodosin", "finasteride", "dutasteride"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["frequent-urination"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Fibromyalgia", "slug": "fibromyalgia", "letter": "F",
+ "overview": "Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder of widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory, and mood problems, believed to arise from amplified pain processing in the central nervous system. It affects about 4 million U.S. adults, most of them women.",
+ "symptoms": "Widespread aching on both sides of the body lasting three months or more, profound fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, 'fibro fog' (trouble focusing and remembering), headaches, and heightened sensitivity to pressure, noise, and temperature.",
+ "causes": "Not fully understood: abnormal pain amplification involving brain and spinal cord signaling, often set off by physical trauma, infection, or significant stress. Genetics contribute, and it frequently coexists with IBS, migraine, and mood disorders.",
+ "treatments": "Exercise — gradual, regular aerobic activity — is the best-proven therapy. FDA-approved medicines include pregabalin and duloxetine; low-dose amitriptyline and cyclobenzaprine at night can improve sleep and pain. CBT, stress management, and sleep hygiene round out care; opioids are not recommended.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["pregabalin", "duloxetine", "cyclobenzaprine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["muscle-aches", "fatigue", "trouble-sleeping", "headache", "joint-pain"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "GERD (Acid Reflux)", "slug": "gerd", "letter": "G",
+ "overview": "Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is chronic acid reflux — stomach contents flowing back into the esophagus at least weekly — caused by a weakened lower esophageal sphincter. About 20 percent of U.S. adults have it; untreated, it can damage the esophagus lining.",
+ "symptoms": "Heartburn (burning behind the breastbone, often after meals or at night), regurgitation of sour liquid, difficulty swallowing, chest discomfort, chronic cough, hoarseness, and a lump-in-the-throat sensation.",
+ "causes": "A weak or inappropriately relaxing lower esophageal sphincter, hiatal hernia, obesity, pregnancy, smoking, and delayed stomach emptying. Trigger foods include fatty and fried food, chocolate, peppermint, coffee, alcohol, and large late-night meals.",
+ "treatments": "Weight loss, smaller earlier dinners, elevating the head of the bed, and trigger avoidance. Famotidine for milder or occasional symptoms; proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole, esomeprazole, or pantoprazole for frequent GERD and to heal esophagitis. Surgery (fundoplication) is an option for refractory cases.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["omeprazole", "esomeprazole", "pantoprazole", "famotidine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["heartburn", "chest-pain", "cough", "nausea"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Gout", "slug": "gout", "letter": "G",
+ "overview": "Gout is a painful form of inflammatory arthritis caused by uric acid crystals depositing in a joint, classically the base of the big toe. It affects about 4 percent of U.S. adults and has become more common; between flares it is silent, but untreated it can permanently damage joints.",
+ "symptoms": "Sudden, severe joint pain often starting at night — the joint becomes hot, swollen, red, and exquisitely tender (even a bedsheet hurts). Attacks peak within 12 to 24 hours and subside over days to two weeks. Chronic gout can form visible crystal lumps (tophi).",
+ "causes": "High blood uric acid from the body making too much or the kidneys clearing too little. Risk factors: red meat and organ meats, shellfish, beer and spirits, sugary drinks (fructose), obesity, kidney disease, and diuretics such as hydrochlorothiazide.",
+ "treatments": "For flares: NSAIDs such as naproxen or ibuprofen, colchicine, or prednisone, started as early as possible. For prevention: daily urate-lowering therapy (allopurinol first-line) targeting uric acid below 6 mg/dL, plus limiting alcohol, sugary drinks, and purine-rich foods.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["naproxen", "ibuprofen", "prednisone", "colchicine", "allopurinol"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["joint-pain", "swelling", "fever"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Heart Failure", "slug": "heart-failure", "letter": "H",
+ "overview": "Heart failure means the heart cannot pump blood well enough to meet the body's needs — it does not mean the heart has stopped. About 6.7 million U.S. adults live with it, and modern drug therapy substantially improves both symptoms and survival.",
+ "symptoms": "Shortness of breath with activity or when lying flat, waking at night gasping, swelling in the legs, ankles, and abdomen, rapid weight gain from fluid, fatigue, reduced exercise tolerance, persistent cough or wheezing, and rapid or irregular heartbeat.",
+ "causes": "Most often the end result of coronary artery disease, prior heart attack, or long-standing high blood pressure. Other causes include faulty heart valves, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation, diabetes, alcohol excess, and certain chemotherapies.",
+ "treatments": "Guideline therapy combines an ACE inhibitor or ARB (lisinopril, losartan), a beta-blocker such as metoprolol succinate, a mineralocorticoid antagonist, and newer SGLT2 inhibitors; diuretics like hydrochlorothiazide or furosemide control fluid. Daily weights, salt moderation, and cardiac rehab are key; devices and transplant serve advanced disease.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["lisinopril", "losartan", "metoprolol", "hydrochlorothiazide"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["shortness-of-breath", "swelling", "fatigue", "weight-gain", "cough"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Hemorrhoids", "slug": "hemorrhoids", "letter": "H",
+ "overview": "Hemorrhoids are swollen veins in the lower rectum and anus, similar to varicose veins. They are extremely common — about half of adults over 50 have had them — and while uncomfortable, they are rarely dangerous.",
+ "symptoms": "Painless bright-red bleeding with bowel movements, itching and irritation around the anus, discomfort or swelling, and — with external hemorrhoids that clot — sudden severe pain and a tender lump.",
+ "causes": "Increased pressure in the rectal veins from straining during bowel movements, chronic constipation or diarrhea, prolonged sitting on the toilet, pregnancy, obesity, heavy lifting, and a low-fiber diet.",
+ "treatments": "Fiber (25 to 35 grams daily) and fluids to soften stools, warm sitz baths, over-the-counter creams and witch hazel pads, and not delaying or straining on the toilet. Persistent internal hemorrhoids respond to office procedures like rubber-band ligation; surgery is for large or thrombosed cases. Rectal bleeding should be checked at least once by a clinician.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": [],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["itching", "constipation"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "High Cholesterol", "slug": "high-cholesterol", "letter": "H",
+ "overview": "High cholesterol — particularly high LDL ('bad') cholesterol — silently drives plaque buildup in arteries, setting the stage for heart attack and stroke. Nearly 2 in 5 U.S. adults have elevated cholesterol, and it produces no symptoms; only a blood test reveals it.",
+ "symptoms": "None. Very high inherited levels can cause visible cholesterol deposits (xanthomas) on tendons or yellowish patches around the eyes, but for most people the first 'symptom' is a cardiovascular event.",
+ "causes": "Diets high in saturated and trans fats, excess weight, inactivity, smoking, and genetics — familial hypercholesterolemia affects about 1 in 250 people. Diabetes, hypothyroidism, kidney disease, and some medicines also raise levels.",
+ "treatments": "A heart-healthy diet (less saturated fat, more soluble fiber), exercise, and weight management first. Statins — atorvastatin, rosuvastatin, simvastatin, or gentler options such as pravastatin and lovastatin — are the mainstay medicines, lowering LDL 30 to 55 percent; ezetimibe and PCSK9 inhibitors are added when statins aren't enough. Screening every 4 to 6 years for healthy adults, more often with risk factors.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["atorvastatin", "rosuvastatin", "simvastatin", "pravastatin", "lovastatin"],
+ "symptom_slugs": [],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)", "slug": "hypertension", "letter": "H",
+ "overview": "Hypertension is sustained blood pressure of 130/80 mm Hg or higher. Nearly half of U.S. adults have it, and because it usually causes no symptoms, many don't know — yet it is a leading driver of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and dementia.",
+ "symptoms": "Usually none — hence the name 'silent killer.' Extremely high readings (180/120 or above) can cause headache, vision changes, chest pain, or shortness of breath and require immediate care.",
+ "causes": "Primary hypertension develops gradually from genetics, age, excess salt, obesity, inactivity, and alcohol. Secondary causes include kidney disease, sleep apnea, thyroid or adrenal disorders, and medicines such as NSAIDs and decongestants.",
+ "treatments": "The DASH diet, sodium reduction (ideally under 1,500 mg/day), weight loss, exercise, and alcohol moderation lower pressure meaningfully. First-line drugs: thiazide diuretics (hydrochlorothiazide), ACE inhibitors (lisinopril), ARBs (losartan), and calcium channel blockers (amlodipine) — often in combination. Home monitoring improves control.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["hydrochlorothiazide", "lisinopril", "losartan", "amlodipine", "metoprolol", "atenolol"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["headache", "dizziness", "blurred-vision"],
+ },
+]
diff --git a/sites/webmd/_seed_conditions_b.py b/sites/webmd/_seed_conditions_b.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..086a18b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/_seed_conditions_b.py
@@ -0,0 +1,292 @@
+"""Condition catalog, part B (H–V). Same sourcing rules as part A."""
+
+CONDITIONS_B = [
+ {
+ "name": "Hyperthyroidism (Overactive Thyroid)", "slug": "hyperthyroidism", "letter": "H",
+ "overview": "Hyperthyroidism occurs when the thyroid gland makes more thyroid hormone than the body needs, speeding up metabolism. About 1 in 100 Americans over age 12 have it, women far more often than men.",
+ "symptoms": "Unintended weight loss despite normal or increased appetite, rapid or irregular heartbeat, palpitations, nervousness and irritability, tremor, sweating and heat intolerance, more frequent bowel movements, trouble sleeping, and in Graves' disease, bulging eyes.",
+ "causes": "Graves' disease (an autoimmune condition) is the most common cause, followed by overactive thyroid nodules, thyroid inflammation (thyroiditis), and taking too much thyroid hormone medicine.",
+ "treatments": "Antithyroid medicines (methimazole), radioactive iodine to shrink the gland, or surgery, plus beta-blockers such as atenolol or metoprolol to control racing heartbeat and tremor while hormone levels normalize. Many treated patients eventually need levothyroxine for the resulting underactive thyroid.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["methimazole", "atenolol", "metoprolol", "levothyroxine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["weight-loss", "palpitations", "irritability", "trouble-sleeping", "night-sweats"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Hypothyroidism (Underactive Thyroid)", "slug": "hypothyroidism", "letter": "H",
+ "overview": "Hypothyroidism means the thyroid gland doesn't make enough thyroid hormone, slowing the body's metabolism. It affects nearly 5 in 100 Americans age 12 and older, most commonly women and people over 60, and is easily treated once found.",
+ "symptoms": "Fatigue, weight gain, cold intolerance, constipation, dry skin and hair, hoarseness, muscle weakness and aches, depression, memory problems, heavy or irregular periods, and a slowed heart rate — developing so gradually they're often missed for years.",
+ "causes": "Hashimoto's thyroiditis (autoimmune attack on the thyroid) is the leading cause in the U.S. Others: thyroid surgery, radioactive iodine treatment, radiation to the neck, certain medicines (lithium, amiodarone), and iodine imbalance.",
+ "treatments": "Daily levothyroxine restores normal hormone levels and reverses symptoms; the dose is fine-tuned with TSH blood tests every 6 to 8 weeks at first, then annually. Take it consistently on an empty stomach, separated from calcium, iron, and antacids by four hours.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["levothyroxine", "liothyronine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["fatigue", "weight-gain", "constipation", "low-mood", "muscle-aches"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Influenza (Flu)", "slug": "influenza", "letter": "I",
+ "overview": "Influenza is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and lungs. Unlike a cold, flu hits suddenly and hard, and each year in the U.S. it causes millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths, mostly among older adults.",
+ "symptoms": "Abrupt fever and chills, body aches, headache, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, marked fatigue, and sometimes vomiting or diarrhea (more common in children). Most people recover in under two weeks; pneumonia is the chief serious complication.",
+ "causes": "Influenza A and B viruses spread mainly by respiratory droplets from coughs and sneezes, and by touching contaminated surfaces. People are contagious from a day before symptoms until about 5 to 7 days after onset. Seasonal epidemics peak between December and February.",
+ "treatments": "Annual vaccination is the best prevention for everyone 6 months and older. Antiviral drugs (oseltamivir) shorten illness when started within 48 hours and matter most for high-risk patients. Otherwise: rest, fluids, and acetaminophen or ibuprofen for fever and aches — never aspirin for children.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["acetaminophen", "ibuprofen"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["fever", "muscle-aches", "cough", "fatigue", "headache", "sore-throat"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Insomnia", "slug": "insomnia", "letter": "I",
+ "overview": "Insomnia is persistent difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking too early despite adequate opportunity to sleep, with daytime consequences. About one-third of adults report insomnia symptoms; roughly 10 percent meet criteria for chronic insomnia disorder.",
+ "symptoms": "Lying awake 30 minutes or more at bedtime, repeated night awakenings, early-morning waking, unrefreshing sleep, plus daytime fatigue, irritability, poor concentration, and worry about sleep itself.",
+ "causes": "Stress, irregular schedules, caffeine, alcohol, and screens at night; medical conditions (pain, reflux, sleep apnea, restless legs), mental health conditions (anxiety, depression), and medicines including some antidepressants, steroids like prednisone, and decongestants.",
+ "treatments": "Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the recommended first-line treatment and beats pills long-term. Consistent wake times, limiting time in bed awake, and cutting late caffeine and alcohol help. Short-term medication options include low-dose trazodone and other prescription sleep aids; diphenhydramine is discouraged for regular use, especially in older adults.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["trazodone", "diphenhydramine", "melatonin"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["trouble-sleeping", "fatigue", "irritability"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)", "slug": "irritable-bowel-syndrome", "letter": "I",
+ "overview": "IBS is a common disorder of gut-brain interaction affecting an estimated 10 to 15 percent of U.S. adults, producing abdominal pain with altered bowel habits. It does not damage the bowel or raise cancer risk, but it can significantly disrupt daily life.",
+ "symptoms": "Crampy abdominal pain related to bowel movements, bloating, gas, and diarrhea (IBS-D), constipation (IBS-C), or both alternating (IBS-M). Symptoms often flare with stress or certain meals; blood in stool, weight loss, or nighttime symptoms are NOT typical and warrant evaluation.",
+ "causes": "Altered gut-brain signaling, visceral hypersensitivity, changes in gut microbes, and prior gastrointestinal infections. Food intolerances (often fermentable carbohydrates called FODMAPs) and psychological stress amplify symptoms.",
+ "treatments": "Dietary strategies — soluble fiber for constipation-type, a dietitian-guided low-FODMAP trial, smaller regular meals — plus stress management and exercise. Loperamide helps diarrhea episodes; laxatives or prescription agents treat IBS-C; antispasmodics and low-dose antidepressants reduce pain signaling.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["loperamide"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["abdominal-pain", "bloating", "diarrhea", "constipation"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Kidney Stones", "slug": "kidney-stones", "letter": "K",
+ "overview": "Kidney stones are hard mineral and salt deposits that form in concentrated urine and can cause excruciating pain when they move into the ureter. About 1 in 10 people will have one, and after a first stone, the 5-year recurrence risk approaches 50 percent without prevention.",
+ "symptoms": "Sudden severe pain in the side and back below the ribs that radiates to the lower abdomen and groin and comes in waves, pink or red urine, nausea and vomiting, painful or frequent urination, and fever with chills if infection complicates the blockage.",
+ "causes": "Low fluid intake is the biggest factor. Calcium oxalate stones (the most common type) are promoted by high sodium and oxalate intake; uric acid stones by gout and purine-rich diets. Obesity, certain bowel diseases, and family history raise risk.",
+ "treatments": "Stones under about 5 mm usually pass with vigorous hydration, NSAIDs such as ibuprofen for pain, and tamsulosin to relax the ureter and speed passage. Larger or stuck stones need shock-wave lithotripsy or ureteroscopy. Prevention: 2.5 to 3 liters of fluid daily, less sodium, normal dietary calcium.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["ibuprofen", "tamsulosin"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["back-pain", "painful-urination", "nausea", "frequent-urination", "abdominal-pain"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Lactose Intolerance", "slug": "lactose-intolerance", "letter": "L",
+ "overview": "Lactose intolerance is the inability to fully digest lactose, the sugar in milk, because the small intestine makes too little of the enzyme lactase. About 36 percent of Americans have some degree of lactose malabsorption; it is uncomfortable but not dangerous.",
+ "symptoms": "Bloating, gas, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and stomach rumbling beginning 30 minutes to 2 hours after consuming dairy. Severity tracks with how much lactose was eaten and how much lactase the person still makes.",
+ "causes": "Most commonly a genetically programmed decline in lactase after childhood (especially in people of East Asian, West African, Arab, Jewish, Greek, and Italian descent). It can also appear temporarily after gut infections or with celiac and Crohn's disease.",
+ "treatments": "Most people tolerate some dairy: hard cheeses and yogurt are naturally low in lactose, and lactose-free milk works well. Lactase enzyme tablets taken with dairy help, and calcium plus vitamin D from other sources protects bone health.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": [],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["bloating", "diarrhea", "abdominal-pain"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Labyrinthitis", "slug": "labyrinthitis", "letter": "L",
+ "overview": "Labyrinthitis is inflammation of the labyrinth — the inner-ear structure housing both the balance canals and the hearing organ — producing sudden vertigo together with hearing loss or ringing in the affected ear. It usually follows a viral infection and settles over weeks as the inflammation clears.",
+ "symptoms": "Sudden, constant spinning vertigo lasting days (not the brief positional spells of BPPV), nausea and vomiting, unsteadiness, hearing loss or muffled hearing on one side, ear ringing (tinnitus), and difficulty focusing the eyes.",
+ "causes": "Most often a viral infection spreading to the inner ear during or after a cold, flu, or other illness; less commonly bacterial spread from a middle-ear infection, which is more serious. Stress, fatigue, and allergies may contribute.",
+ "treatments": "Short courses of vestibular suppressant antihistamines such as diphenhydramine or meclizine and anti-nausea medicine ease the worst days, then are stopped so the brain can recalibrate. Corticosteroids are sometimes used early; bacterial cases need antibiotics. Vestibular rehabilitation exercises speed recovery of balance, and most people improve within several weeks.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["diphenhydramine", "prednisone"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["dizziness", "nausea", "vomiting"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Meniere's Disease", "slug": "menieres-disease", "letter": "M",
+ "overview": "Meniere's disease is a chronic inner-ear disorder causing repeated attacks of vertigo along with fluctuating hearing loss, ear ringing, and ear fullness — thought to involve excess fluid (endolymph) in the inner ear. It typically starts between ages 40 and 60 and usually affects one ear.",
+ "symptoms": "Episodes of spinning vertigo lasting 20 minutes to several hours (longer than BPPV, unlike the seconds-long spells of positional vertigo), hearing loss that comes and goes early and may become permanent, roaring tinnitus, and pressure or fullness in the ear.",
+ "causes": "Abnormal fluid buildup in the inner ear, with debated contributions from anatomy, autoimmunity, viral infection, and genetics. Attacks can be triggered by high-salt meals, caffeine, alcohol, and stress in susceptible people.",
+ "treatments": "A low-sodium diet and a daily diuretic such as hydrochlorothiazide to reduce fluid pressure form the usual foundation, plus vestibular suppressants during attacks. Hearing aids address hearing loss; injections into the middle ear or surgery are reserved for disabling, treatment-resistant vertigo.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["hydrochlorothiazide"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["dizziness", "nausea"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Migraine", "slug": "migraine", "letter": "M",
+ "overview": "Migraine is a neurological disease producing recurrent attacks of moderate-to-severe headache with nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. It affects about 39 million Americans — women three times as often as men — and ranks among the world's leading causes of disability.",
+ "symptoms": "Throbbing, often one-sided head pain lasting 4 to 72 hours, worsened by activity, with nausea, vomiting, and light/sound sensitivity. About 1 in 4 people get an 'aura' first — shimmering zigzag lights, blind spots, or tingling. Prodrome symptoms (yawning, food cravings, neck stiffness) can precede attacks by a day.",
+ "causes": "A genetically influenced hyperexcitable brain; attacks involve waves of neural activity and release of pain-signaling peptides like CGRP. Common triggers: stress and stress let-down, skipped meals, poor or irregular sleep, hormonal shifts around menstruation, alcohol (especially red wine), aged cheeses, and weather changes.",
+ "treatments": "For attacks: NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or naproxen for milder episodes, and triptans like sumatriptan for moderate-to-severe ones, taken early. For frequent migraine: preventive daily medicines (beta-blockers such as metoprolol, certain antidepressants and anticonvulsants) or newer CGRP-targeting drugs, plus regular sleep, meals, hydration, and a headache diary — limit acute medicines to under 10 days per month to avoid rebound headache.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["sumatriptan", "ibuprofen", "naproxen", "metoprolol"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["headache", "nausea", "vomiting", "blurred-vision", "dizziness"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Obstructive Sleep Apnea", "slug": "sleep-apnea", "letter": "O",
+ "overview": "Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) causes breathing to repeatedly stop and restart during sleep because throat muscles relax and block the airway — sometimes hundreds of times a night. An estimated 25 to 30 million U.S. adults have it, most undiagnosed, and untreated OSA raises risks of hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and daytime accidents.",
+ "symptoms": "Loud snoring, witnessed pauses in breathing, gasping or choking awakenings, unrefreshing sleep, morning headaches, dry mouth, excessive daytime sleepiness, irritability, and poor concentration.",
+ "causes": "Airway collapse during sleep, promoted by excess weight (the strongest factor), a thick neck, small jaw or large tonsils, male sex, age, alcohol and sedatives before bed, smoking, and nasal congestion. It runs in families.",
+ "treatments": "CPAP — a mask delivering gentle air pressure — is the gold-standard treatment and reverses daytime symptoms and blood-pressure effects. Alternatives include custom oral appliances, weight loss (which can be curative), positional therapy, avoiding evening alcohol, and surgery or implanted nerve stimulators for selected patients.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": [],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["trouble-sleeping", "fatigue", "headache", "irritability"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Osteoarthritis", "slug": "osteoarthritis", "letter": "O",
+ "overview": "Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis, affecting over 32 million U.S. adults. Cartilage cushioning the ends of bones gradually breaks down — most often in the knees, hips, hands, and spine — causing pain and stiffness that worsen over years.",
+ "symptoms": "Joint pain during or after movement, stiffness after waking or inactivity that eases within about 30 minutes, tenderness, loss of flexibility, grating sensations, bony enlargements of finger joints, and swelling.",
+ "causes": "Age-related wear plus joint injury, repetitive stress, obesity (each extra pound adds about four pounds of knee load), genetics, bone deformities, and female sex. It is a disease of the whole joint, including bone and the joint lining, not just cartilage.",
+ "treatments": "Exercise and weight loss are the most effective long-term treatments. Acetaminophen or oral NSAIDs (ibuprofen, naproxen, meloxicam) and topical NSAID gels relieve pain; duloxetine helps chronic OA pain; corticosteroid injections give temporary relief. Joint replacement is highly successful for end-stage hips and knees.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["acetaminophen", "ibuprofen", "naproxen", "meloxicam", "duloxetine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["joint-pain", "joint-stiffness", "swelling"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Osteoporosis", "slug": "osteoporosis", "letter": "O",
+ "overview": "Osteoporosis silently weakens bones until they break from minor falls or even everyday stresses — most often at the hip, spine, and wrist. About 10 million Americans have it (80 percent women), and one in two women over 50 will suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture.",
+ "symptoms": "None until a bone breaks. Clues of spinal compression fractures include gradual height loss (more than an inch), a stooped posture, and sudden back pain. Bone density (DXA) screening is how it's actually found.",
+ "causes": "Bone loss outpacing bone formation with age, accelerated by menopausal estrogen decline, low calcium and vitamin D, inactivity, smoking, heavy alcohol use, small body frame, family history, and long-term use of corticosteroids such as prednisone.",
+ "treatments": "Weight-bearing and resistance exercise, 1,000 to 1,200 mg calcium and 600 to 800 IU vitamin D daily, fall-proofing the home, and quitting smoking. Bisphosphonate drugs are first-line to cut fracture risk; denosumab and bone-building agents serve higher-risk patients. DXA screening for all women 65+ and younger people with risk factors.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["prednisone"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["back-pain"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Panic Disorder", "slug": "panic-disorder", "letter": "P",
+ "overview": "Panic disorder involves recurrent, unexpected panic attacks — sudden surges of intense fear peaking within minutes — followed by persistent worry about further attacks or avoidance of situations that might trigger them. It affects about 2 to 3 percent of U.S. adults yearly.",
+ "symptoms": "During an attack: pounding heart, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, chest pain, choking sensation, nausea, dizziness, chills or heat, numbness, feelings of unreality, and fear of dying or losing control. Attacks are so physical that many people first go to the ER convinced it's a heart attack.",
+ "causes": "Genetics, an overly sensitive threat-detection system (amygdala), major life stress, and temperament. Caffeine, stimulants, and some medical conditions (thyroid disease, heart rhythm problems) can mimic or provoke attacks and should be ruled out.",
+ "treatments": "CBT with interoceptive exposure — deliberately practicing the feared body sensations — is highly effective. SSRIs (sertraline, fluoxetine, escitalopram) and SNRIs (venlafaxine) prevent attacks; benzodiazepines such as alprazolam act fast but are limited to short-term use because of dependence. Limiting caffeine and learning slow-breathing techniques help.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["sertraline", "fluoxetine", "escitalopram", "venlafaxine", "alprazolam", "lorazepam"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["palpitations", "chest-pain", "shortness-of-breath", "dizziness", "excessive-worry"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Peptic Ulcer Disease", "slug": "peptic-ulcer-disease", "letter": "P",
+ "overview": "Peptic ulcers are open sores in the lining of the stomach or the first part of the small intestine (duodenum). Roughly 1 in 10 people develops one during their lifetime — and contrary to old belief, stress and spicy food don't cause them; bacteria and pain relievers do.",
+ "symptoms": "Burning or gnawing stomach pain between the breastbone and navel — often on an empty stomach and relieved (duodenal) or worsened (gastric) by eating — plus bloating, heartburn, and nausea. Black tarry stools, vomiting blood, or severe sudden pain signal bleeding or perforation: emergencies.",
+ "causes": "Helicobacter pylori infection and regular use of NSAIDs such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and aspirin account for the vast majority. Smoking and heavy alcohol impair healing; rare acid-hypersecretion syndromes cause the rest.",
+ "treatments": "Proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole or pantoprazole heal most ulcers in 4 to 8 weeks. H. pylori, when present, is eradicated with a 14-day combination of a PPI plus antibiotics (commonly amoxicillin and clarithromycin), confirmed by follow-up testing. Stop NSAIDs where possible; famotidine is an alternative acid reducer.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["omeprazole", "pantoprazole", "famotidine", "amoxicillin"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["abdominal-pain", "heartburn", "nausea", "bloating"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Plantar Fasciitis", "slug": "plantar-fasciitis", "letter": "P",
+ "overview": "Plantar fasciitis is inflammation and degeneration of the thick band of tissue (plantar fascia) running along the bottom of the foot from heel to toes. It is the most common cause of heel pain, producing about a million doctor visits per year, and usually resolves with conservative care — though often over months.",
+ "symptoms": "Stabbing pain at the bottom of the heel with the first steps after waking or after sitting, easing as you move, then returning after long standing or exercise. Tenderness where the fascia meets the heel bone.",
+ "causes": "Repetitive strain on the fascia from running, prolonged standing on hard surfaces, tight calf muscles, high arches or flat feet, unsupportive footwear, obesity, and age 40 to 60.",
+ "treatments": "Calf and plantar-fascia stretching several times daily is the core treatment, plus supportive shoes or over-the-counter arch supports, activity modification, ice massage, and NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or naproxen for pain. Night splints, physical therapy, and corticosteroid injections help stubborn cases; more than 90 percent recover without surgery.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["ibuprofen", "naproxen"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["joint-pain", "muscle-aches"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Pneumonia", "slug": "pneumonia", "letter": "P",
+ "overview": "Pneumonia is an infection that inflames the air sacs of one or both lungs, which may fill with fluid or pus. Severity ranges from mild to life-threatening; it is most dangerous for infants, adults over 65, and people with weakened immune systems or chronic disease.",
+ "symptoms": "Cough with phlegm, fever, chills, and shortness of breath, plus chest pain that sharpens with breathing or coughing, fatigue, and in older adults sometimes confusion with a lower-than-normal temperature instead of fever.",
+ "causes": "Bacteria (Streptococcus pneumoniae is the classic culprit), viruses including influenza, RSV, and COVID-19, and less often fungi. Risk rises with smoking, recent viral illness, chronic lung or heart disease, and swallowing problems.",
+ "treatments": "Bacterial pneumonia is treated with antibiotics — commonly amoxicillin, doxycycline, or azithromycin for outpatient community-acquired cases — plus rest, fluids, and fever control with acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Hospital care with oxygen for severe cases. Pneumococcal and flu vaccines prevent many cases.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["amoxicillin", "azithromycin", "doxycycline", "acetaminophen"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["cough", "fever", "shortness-of-breath", "chest-pain", "fatigue"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Psoriasis", "slug": "psoriasis", "letter": "P",
+ "overview": "Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated disease that speeds skin cell turnover from weeks to days, piling cells into thick scaly plaques. It affects more than 7.5 million U.S. adults, is not contagious, and up to 30 percent of patients also develop psoriatic arthritis.",
+ "symptoms": "Raised red patches covered with silvery-white scale — classically on the elbows, knees, scalp, and lower back — itching or burning, thickened or pitted nails, and cyclical flares. Joint pain, stiffness, and swelling suggest psoriatic arthritis.",
+ "causes": "An overactive immune response (involving T cells and cytokines like TNF and IL-17/23) in genetically predisposed people. Flares are triggered by stress, skin injury, strep throat, cold dry weather, smoking, heavy alcohol, and certain medicines including lithium and beta-blockers.",
+ "treatments": "Topical corticosteroids and vitamin D analogs for limited disease; phototherapy for wider involvement; and for moderate-to-severe psoriasis, systemic agents — methotrexate, apremilast, and highly effective biologic injections targeting TNF or IL-17/23. Moisturizers, stress management, and trigger avoidance support all stages.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": [],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["rash", "itching", "joint-pain"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Pseudogout (CPPD)", "slug": "pseudogout", "letter": "P",
+ "overview": "Pseudogout — calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease (CPPD) — is a crystal arthritis that mimics gout so closely the two are regularly confused: sudden hot, swollen, painful joints. The difference is the crystal (calcium pyrophosphate rather than uric acid) and the favorite target (the knee rather than the big toe).",
+ "symptoms": "Abrupt attacks of joint pain, swelling, warmth, and redness lasting days to weeks — most often in the knee, then wrists, shoulders, and ankles. Between attacks joints may feel normal, or the condition can smolder as a chronic arthritis resembling osteoarthritis.",
+ "causes": "Calcium pyrophosphate crystals shed from cartilage into the joint, provoking inflammation. Risk climbs steeply with age and joint injury, and it is associated with hyperparathyroidism, hemochromatosis, low magnesium, and hypothyroidism — unlike gout, diet plays little role.",
+ "treatments": "Joint drainage plus a corticosteroid injection settles a large joint fastest; NSAIDs such as naproxen or ibuprofen, colchicine, or a short prednisone course treat and prevent attacks. There is no drug that dissolves the crystals, so treatment targets inflammation and any underlying metabolic condition found on screening.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["naproxen", "ibuprofen", "colchicine", "prednisone"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["joint-pain", "swelling", "joint-stiffness"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Restless Legs Syndrome", "slug": "restless-legs-syndrome", "letter": "R",
+ "overview": "Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a neurological disorder causing an irresistible urge to move the legs, usually with uncomfortable crawling or pulling sensations, worse in the evening and at rest. It affects up to 7 to 10 percent of Americans and is a major hidden cause of insomnia.",
+ "symptoms": "An urge to move the legs with creeping, tingling, or aching sensations that begin during rest, are worse at night, and are relieved — temporarily — by movement such as walking or stretching. Most patients also have involuntary leg kicks during sleep.",
+ "causes": "Dysfunction in brain dopamine signaling and brain iron handling; it runs strongly in families. Iron deficiency, pregnancy, kidney failure, and certain drugs — including many antidepressants and sedating antihistamines like diphenhydramine — can cause or worsen it.",
+ "treatments": "Check and replenish iron stores (ferritin) first. Regular moderate exercise, leg massage, warm baths, and consistent sleep help mild cases. For persistent RLS, gabapentinoids such as gabapentin or pregabalin are now preferred first-line medicines; dopamine agonists work but can worsen symptoms over time (augmentation).",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["gabapentin", "pregabalin"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["trouble-sleeping", "numbness-tingling", "muscle-aches"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Rheumatoid Arthritis", "slug": "rheumatoid-arthritis", "letter": "R",
+ "overview": "Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the lining of the joints, causing painful swelling that can erode bone and deform joints — typically symmetrically, in the small joints of the hands and feet. About 1.3 million U.S. adults have RA; early aggressive treatment prevents most joint damage.",
+ "symptoms": "Tender, warm, swollen joints on both sides of the body, morning stiffness lasting an hour or more (a key difference from osteoarthritis), fatigue, low-grade fever, and loss of appetite. RA can also affect the skin, eyes, lungs, heart, and blood vessels.",
+ "causes": "Autoimmunity in genetically susceptible people (HLA gene variants), with smoking the strongest modifiable risk factor. Women are affected two to three times as often; onset is most common in middle age. Hormonal factors and gum disease bacteria are under study.",
+ "treatments": "Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) — methotrexate first — started early, escalating to biologics or JAK inhibitors as needed to reach remission. NSAIDs such as naproxen or meloxicam and short prednisone courses bridge symptom control while DMARDs take effect. Regular monitoring, exercise, and joint protection round out care.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["naproxen", "meloxicam", "prednisone", "ibuprofen"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["joint-pain", "joint-stiffness", "swelling", "fatigue", "fever"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Rosacea", "slug": "rosacea", "letter": "R",
+ "overview": "Rosacea is a common chronic skin condition causing facial redness, flushing, and acne-like bumps, typically starting between ages 30 and 50 in fair-skinned adults. An estimated 14 million Americans have it; it cannot be cured but is very manageable.",
+ "symptoms": "Persistent redness across the cheeks, nose, chin, and forehead, easy flushing, visible small blood vessels, red bumps and pus-filled pimples without blackheads, burning or stinging skin, eye irritation (ocular rosacea), and in advanced cases a thickened bumpy nose (rhinophyma).",
+ "causes": "Not fully known: an overreactive facial blood-vessel and innate-immune response, Demodex skin mites, and genetics all contribute. Classic flare triggers include sun, heat, wind, hot beverages, spicy food, alcohol (especially red wine), exercise, stress, and some skin products.",
+ "treatments": "Daily broad-spectrum sunscreen and gentle skin care, plus a personal trigger diary. Prescription topical treatments (metronidazole, azelaic acid, ivermectin) control bumps; low-dose oral doxycycline treats moderate-to-severe papules; vessel-targeting laser therapy reduces persistent redness.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["doxycycline"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["rash", "itching"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Shingles (Herpes Zoster)", "slug": "shingles", "letter": "S",
+ "overview": "Shingles is a painful blistering rash caused by reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox — which lies dormant in nerve cells for decades. About 1 in 3 Americans will get shingles; the risk and severity climb sharply after age 50.",
+ "symptoms": "Burning, tingling, or stabbing pain in a band on one side of the body or face, followed in days by a stripe of fluid-filled blisters that crust over within 7 to 10 days. Fever, headache, and fatigue may accompany it. Pain persisting months after the rash — postherpetic neuralgia — is the most common complication.",
+ "causes": "Reactivation of dormant chickenpox virus when immunity wanes with age, stress, or immune-suppressing illness or medicines. You cannot catch shingles, but someone with active blisters can give chickenpox to a non-immune person.",
+ "treatments": "Antiviral drugs (valacyclovir or acyclovir) started within 72 hours of the rash speed healing and reduce complications. Pain control ranges from acetaminophen and NSAIDs to gabapentin for nerve pain; postherpetic neuralgia is treated with gabapentin, pregabalin, or duloxetine. The Shingrix vaccine (two doses, adults 50+) is over 90 percent effective at prevention.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["gabapentin", "pregabalin", "acetaminophen", "duloxetine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["rash", "numbness-tingling", "fever", "headache", "itching"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Sinusitis (Sinus Infection)", "slug": "sinusitis", "letter": "S",
+ "overview": "Sinusitis is inflammation of the tissue lining the sinuses, usually following a cold, that blocks drainage and traps mucus. Acute sinusitis affects millions of Americans yearly; most cases are viral and clear on their own within 10 days.",
+ "symptoms": "Facial pressure or pain around the cheeks, eyes, and forehead that worsens when bending forward, thick yellow-green nasal discharge, congestion, reduced smell, post-nasal drip, cough, headache, tooth pressure, and fatigue.",
+ "causes": "Viral upper respiratory infections cause the great majority; bacteria are suspected only when symptoms last more than 10 days, are unusually severe, or improve and then worsen again ('double sickening'). Allergies, nasal polyps, and a deviated septum predispose to blockage; chronic sinusitis lasts 12 weeks or more.",
+ "treatments": "Saline rinses, steam, hydration, intranasal steroid sprays such as fluticasone, and pain relief with acetaminophen or ibuprofen manage most cases. Amoxicillin-based antibiotics are reserved for likely bacterial infections. Chronic sinusitis needs steroid sprays long-term, allergy management, and sometimes endoscopic surgery.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["fluticasone-nasal", "acetaminophen", "ibuprofen", "amoxicillin"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["nasal-congestion", "headache", "runny-nose", "cough", "fever"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Strep Throat", "slug": "strep-throat", "letter": "S",
+ "overview": "Strep throat is a bacterial infection of the throat and tonsils caused by group A Streptococcus. It is most common in children 5 to 15 but affects adults too, and unlike viral sore throats it warrants antibiotics — both to speed recovery and to prevent rheumatic fever.",
+ "symptoms": "Sudden severe sore throat with pain on swallowing, fever, red swollen tonsils often with white patches or streaks, tiny red spots on the roof of the mouth, swollen tender neck glands, and headache. Notably absent: cough and runny nose, which point to a virus instead.",
+ "causes": "Group A strep bacteria spread through respiratory droplets and shared food or drinks. It spreads readily in schools and households; untreated people are contagious for two to three weeks.",
+ "treatments": "Diagnosis by rapid strep test or throat culture, then a 10-day course of penicillin or amoxicillin (azithromycin or cephalexin for penicillin-allergic patients). Acetaminophen or ibuprofen ease pain and fever; salt-water gargles and cold liquids soothe. Patients stop being contagious about 24 hours after starting antibiotics.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["amoxicillin", "azithromycin", "cephalexin", "acetaminophen", "ibuprofen"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["sore-throat", "fever", "headache"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Stroke", "slug": "stroke", "letter": "S",
+ "overview": "A stroke happens when blood flow to part of the brain is cut off — by a clot (ischemic, about 87 percent of cases) or a burst vessel (hemorrhagic) — and brain cells begin dying within minutes. Someone in the U.S. has a stroke every 40 seconds; fast treatment dramatically improves outcomes, so every minute counts.",
+ "symptoms": "Remember F.A.S.T.: Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, Time to call 911. Other sudden signs: numbness on one side, confusion, trouble seeing, dizziness or loss of balance, and severe headache with no known cause. A 'mini-stroke' (TIA) with symptoms that resolve is an urgent warning, not a relief.",
+ "causes": "Ischemic strokes arise from atherosclerosis and from heart clots — atrial fibrillation is a major source. Key risk factors: high blood pressure (the biggest), smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, inactivity, and heavy drinking. Hemorrhagic strokes stem from uncontrolled hypertension and aneurysms.",
+ "treatments": "Emergency clot-busting drugs (tPA within 4.5 hours) or mechanical clot removal for ischemic stroke — which is why calling 911 immediately matters. Prevention afterward: blood pressure control (lisinopril, amlodipine), statins such as atorvastatin, antiplatelets (aspirin, clopidogrel) or anticoagulants (apixaban, warfarin) for AFib, plus rehabilitation therapy to recover function.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["aspirin", "clopidogrel", "apixaban", "warfarin", "atorvastatin", "lisinopril"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["numbness-tingling", "dizziness", "headache", "blurred-vision"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Tension Headache", "slug": "tension-headache", "letter": "T",
+ "overview": "Tension-type headache is the most common headache disorder — most people experience one at some point. It produces mild-to-moderate, pressing pain without the nausea and disabling qualities of migraine, and is usually managed with simple measures.",
+ "symptoms": "Dull, aching head pain with a sensation of tightness or pressure like a band across the forehead or around the back of the head and neck, tenderness of the scalp and shoulder muscles, and no more than mild sensitivity to light or noise. Unlike migraine, routine activity doesn't worsen it.",
+ "causes": "Not fully understood: heightened sensitivity of pain pathways plus muscle tension. Common contributors are stress, poor posture and long screen sessions, skipped meals, dehydration, eye strain, jaw clenching, and irregular sleep.",
+ "treatments": "OTC pain relievers — ibuprofen, acetaminophen, naproxen, or aspirin — work for episodic attacks, but limit them to fewer than 10 to 15 days a month to avoid medication-overuse headache. Prevention: regular exercise, stress management, posture breaks, consistent sleep and meals; frequent sufferers may benefit from low-dose amitriptyline and relaxation training.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["ibuprofen", "acetaminophen", "naproxen", "aspirin"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["headache", "muscle-aches"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Ulcerative Colitis", "slug": "ulcerative-colitis", "letter": "U",
+ "overview": "Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease causing continuous inflammation and open sores in the innermost lining of the colon and rectum. Like Crohn's disease it cycles through flares and remissions, but it is limited to the colon — which also means surgery can be curative.",
+ "symptoms": "Diarrhea, often with blood or pus, abdominal cramping, rectal pain and urgency, feeling unable to empty the bowel, fatigue, weight loss, and fever during flares. Long-standing extensive colitis raises colon cancer risk, so surveillance colonoscopies are scheduled.",
+ "causes": "An abnormal immune response against colon lining and gut microbes in genetically predisposed people; up to 20 percent of patients have an affected close relative. Diet and stress can aggravate flares but do not cause the disease. Curiously, it is more common in ex-smokers.",
+ "treatments": "Aminosalicylates (mesalamine) induce and maintain remission in mild-to-moderate UC; corticosteroids such as prednisone quiet flares but aren't for maintenance; biologics and JAK inhibitors treat moderate-to-severe disease. Removing the colon cures refractory or precancerous cases. Loperamide is used cautiously and never during severe flares.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["prednisone", "loperamide"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["diarrhea", "abdominal-pain", "fatigue", "weight-loss", "fever"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)", "slug": "urinary-tract-infection", "letter": "U",
+ "overview": "A urinary tract infection is a bacterial infection anywhere in the urinary system, most commonly the bladder (cystitis). UTIs drive over 8 million U.S. medical visits annually; more than half of women will have at least one, and prompt treatment keeps infections from reaching the kidneys.",
+ "symptoms": "Burning with urination, frequent urges to urinate with little output, cloudy, strong-smelling, or pink-tinged urine, and pelvic pressure. Fever, chills, back or flank pain, and nausea suggest a kidney infection — see a clinician urgently. Older adults may show only new confusion.",
+ "causes": "Bacteria — usually E. coli from the digestive tract — entering the urethra and multiplying in the bladder. Risk factors include female anatomy (a short urethra), sexual activity, certain contraceptives (spermicides, diaphragms), menopause, catheters, kidney stones, enlarged prostate, and diabetes.",
+ "treatments": "Short antibiotic courses cure uncomplicated bladder infections — first-line agents include nitrofurantoin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole; ciprofloxacin is reserved for complicated cases. Drink plenty of water, and use acetaminophen or ibuprofen for discomfort. For frequent recurrences: hydration, urinating after sex, and preventive strategies discussed with your clinician.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["ciprofloxacin", "acetaminophen", "ibuprofen"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["painful-urination", "frequent-urination", "fever", "back-pain", "abdominal-pain"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Vertigo (BPPV)", "slug": "vertigo-bppv", "letter": "V",
+ "overview": "Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common cause of vertigo — brief, intense spinning sensations set off by changes in head position, such as rolling over in bed or looking up. It is unpleasant but usually harmless and highly fixable with simple repositioning maneuvers.",
+ "symptoms": "Spinning dizziness lasting under a minute triggered by moving the head, unsteadiness, nausea and occasionally vomiting, and jerking eye movements during episodes. Hearing loss, persistent vertigo, weakness, or trouble speaking are NOT typical of BPPV and need medical evaluation.",
+ "causes": "Tiny calcium carbonate crystals (otoconia) dislodge from their normal spot in the inner ear and tumble into a semicircular canal, sending false motion signals. Head trauma, age-related degeneration, prolonged lying down, and inner-ear disorders can set it off.",
+ "treatments": "The Epley maneuver — a guided sequence of head positions that steers the crystals back where they belong — cures most cases in one to three sessions and can be taught for home use. Anti-nausea medicine such as ondansetron or an antihistamine helps short-term; vestibular suppressants are avoided long-term because they delay natural compensation.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["ondansetron", "diphenhydramine"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["dizziness", "nausea", "vomiting"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Vestibular Migraine", "slug": "vestibular-migraine", "letter": "V",
+ "overview": "Vestibular migraine is migraine in which the dominant symptom is vertigo or dizziness rather than headache — episodes of spinning, rocking, or motion intolerance lasting minutes to days. It is among the most common causes of recurrent vertigo, yet frequently goes years without a name because the head pain can be mild or absent.",
+ "symptoms": "Attacks of vertigo or a rocking, floating dizziness lasting five minutes to 72 hours, motion sensitivity, nausea, light and sound sensitivity, and visual motion discomfort (busy patterns, scrolling screens) — with a current or past history of migraine headaches.",
+ "causes": "The same genetically primed, hyperexcitable brain networks as migraine, extending into the balance system. Triggers mirror migraine's: stress, poor sleep, skipped meals, dehydration, hormonal shifts, red wine, and aged cheeses.",
+ "treatments": "The migraine playbook applied to vertigo: identify and manage triggers, keep regular sleep and meals, and treat attacks early with anti-nausea medicine and rest. Frequent attacks respond to standard migraine preventives, and vestibular rehabilitation helps persistent motion sensitivity between episodes.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": [],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["dizziness", "nausea", "headache"],
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Vestibular Neuritis", "slug": "vestibular-neuritis", "letter": "V",
+ "overview": "Vestibular neuritis is sudden inflammation of the vestibular nerve — the balance branch of the inner-ear nerve — causing severe, constant vertigo that peaks within hours and then improves over days to weeks. Hearing is spared, which distinguishes it from labyrinthitis.",
+ "symptoms": "Abrupt, severe spinning vertigo lasting one to several days without hearing loss, worse with any head movement but present even when still (unlike positional vertigo), plus nausea, vomiting, unsteady walking with veering toward one side, and jumping vision.",
+ "causes": "Believed to be viral inflammation of the vestibular nerve, often within weeks of a cold or other viral illness; reactivated herpes-family viruses are a suspected culprit. It strikes adults of all ages and rarely recurs in the same ear.",
+ "treatments": "The first days are managed with anti-nausea medicine, brief use of vestibular suppressants, fluids, and rest; corticosteroids such as prednisone are sometimes given early. The key to full recovery is stopping suppressant medicines quickly and starting vestibular rehabilitation exercises, which train the brain to recalibrate balance.",
+ "related_drug_slugs": ["prednisone"],
+ "symptom_slugs": ["dizziness", "nausea", "vomiting"],
+ },
+]
diff --git a/sites/webmd/_seed_drugs_a.py b/sites/webmd/_seed_drugs_a.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3d4e4712
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/_seed_drugs_a.py
@@ -0,0 +1,427 @@
+"""Drug catalog, part A (pain, antibiotics, cardiovascular, diabetes).
+
+Facts (generic/brand names, drug classes, standard adult dosages, side-effect
+and interaction profiles) are sourced from openFDA drug labeling (public
+domain; harvested snapshots in scraped_data/openfda/). All sentences are
+original prose written for this mirror — nothing is copied from webmd.com or
+any other site.
+"""
+
+DRUGS_A = [
+ {
+ "name": "Ibuprofen", "slug": "ibuprofen",
+ "generic_name": "ibuprofen",
+ "brand_names": "Advil, Motrin IB",
+ "drug_class": "Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug (NSAID)",
+ "category": "Pain & Inflammation",
+ "uses": "Relieves minor aches and pains from headache, toothache, backache, menstrual cramps, muscle aches, and minor arthritis, and temporarily reduces fever. It works by blocking cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes, which lowers the production of prostaglandins that drive pain and inflammation.",
+ "dosage": "Adults and children 12 years and over: 200 mg every 4 to 6 hours while symptoms persist. If pain or fever does not respond, 400 mg may be used. Do not exceed 1,200 mg in 24 hours unless directed by a doctor. Take with food or milk if stomach upset occurs.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Upset stomach, heartburn, nausea, mild dizziness, and headache.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Stomach bleeding or ulcers (black or bloody stools, vomiting blood), allergic reactions (hives, facial swelling, wheezing), chest pain, slurred speech, swelling of the ankles, or changes in urination signaling kidney problems.",
+ "interactions": "Avoid combining with aspirin, other NSAIDs such as naproxen, blood thinners such as warfarin or apixaban, and corticosteroids such as prednisone, all of which raise bleeding risk. Ibuprofen can also reduce the effect of blood pressure medicines including lisinopril and diuretics.",
+ "warnings": "NSAIDs increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and stomach bleeding, especially with longer use, higher doses, or in people over 60. Do not use in the last 3 months of pregnancy. Do not take for more than 10 days for pain unless directed by a doctor.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Acetaminophen", "slug": "acetaminophen",
+ "generic_name": "acetaminophen",
+ "brand_names": "Tylenol, Tylenol Extra Strength",
+ "drug_class": "Analgesic / Antipyretic",
+ "category": "Pain & Inflammation",
+ "uses": "Temporarily relieves minor aches and pains from headache, muscle aches, backache, arthritis, colds, and toothache, and reduces fever. Unlike NSAIDs, it does not reduce inflammation, but it is gentler on the stomach.",
+ "dosage": "Adults and children 12 years and over: 650 mg (two 325 mg tablets) every 4 to 6 hours, or 1,000 mg of extra-strength every 6 hours. Do not exceed 3,000 to 4,000 mg in 24 hours depending on the product; follow the specific label.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Generally well tolerated at recommended doses. Occasional nausea or rash may occur.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Liver damage with overdose or heavy alcohol use (symptoms include yellowing skin or eyes, dark urine, and right-upper abdominal pain), and rare severe skin reactions such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome.",
+ "interactions": "Warfarin (may raise INR with regular use), isoniazid, and other combination cold or pain products that also contain acetaminophen — stacking products is the most common cause of accidental overdose.",
+ "warnings": "Severe liver damage may occur if you take more than the maximum daily dose, take it with other acetaminophen-containing products, or have 3 or more alcoholic drinks daily. Overdose requires immediate medical attention even without symptoms.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Aspirin", "slug": "aspirin",
+ "generic_name": "aspirin",
+ "brand_names": "Bayer Aspirin, Ecotrin",
+ "drug_class": "Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug (NSAID) / Antiplatelet",
+ "category": "Pain & Inflammation",
+ "uses": "Relieves minor aches, pains, and fever, and at low doses (81 mg) is used under a doctor's direction to lower the risk of heart attack and clot-related stroke in people with established cardiovascular disease. It permanently inhibits platelets, which keeps blood from clotting as easily.",
+ "dosage": "For pain or fever in adults: 325 to 650 mg every 4 hours as needed, not to exceed 4,000 mg in 24 hours. For heart protection: 81 mg once daily, only when recommended by a doctor.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Heartburn, upset stomach, nausea, and easy bruising.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Gastrointestinal bleeding, ringing in the ears (a sign of overdose), allergic reactions including asthma attacks in aspirin-sensitive people, and hemorrhagic stroke.",
+ "interactions": "Warfarin, apixaban, clopidogrel, and other NSAIDs such as ibuprofen (increased bleeding risk); ibuprofen can also blunt aspirin's heart-protective antiplatelet effect if taken at the same time. Also interacts with methotrexate.",
+ "warnings": "Children and teenagers recovering from chickenpox or flu-like symptoms should never take aspirin because of the risk of Reye's syndrome, a rare but serious illness. Stop use and ask a doctor if you notice ringing in the ears or bleeding that does not stop.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Naproxen", "slug": "naproxen",
+ "generic_name": "naproxen sodium",
+ "brand_names": "Aleve, Naprosyn",
+ "drug_class": "Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug (NSAID)",
+ "category": "Pain & Inflammation",
+ "uses": "Relieves minor aches and pains from arthritis, muscle aches, backache, menstrual cramps, headache, and toothache, and reduces fever. Its longer duration of action means fewer doses per day than ibuprofen.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 220 mg every 8 to 12 hours while symptoms last. For the first dose you may take 440 mg within the first hour. Do not exceed 660 mg in 24 hours unless directed by a doctor.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Heartburn, stomach pain, nausea, headache, dizziness, and drowsiness.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Stomach ulcers and bleeding, fluid retention with swelling, elevated blood pressure, kidney injury, and severe allergic reactions.",
+ "interactions": "Other NSAIDs and aspirin, blood thinners (warfarin, apixaban, clopidogrel), corticosteroids, lithium, methotrexate, and blood pressure medicines such as lisinopril and hydrochlorothiazide.",
+ "warnings": "Like other NSAIDs, naproxen carries a boxed warning for increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and serious gastrointestinal bleeding. Use the lowest effective dose for the shortest duration, and avoid in late pregnancy.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Meloxicam", "slug": "meloxicam",
+ "generic_name": "meloxicam",
+ "brand_names": "Mobic",
+ "drug_class": "Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug (NSAID)",
+ "category": "Pain & Inflammation",
+ "uses": "A prescription NSAID for the relief of pain, tenderness, swelling, and stiffness caused by osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Its once-daily dosing makes it convenient for chronic joint pain.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 7.5 mg once daily, which may be increased to a maximum of 15 mg once daily. Take at the same time each day, with or without food.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Diarrhea, indigestion, nausea, dizziness, and cold or flu-like symptoms.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Gastrointestinal bleeding or perforation, heart attack, stroke, kidney injury, liver problems, and serious skin reactions.",
+ "interactions": "Aspirin and other NSAIDs, warfarin and other anticoagulants, ACE inhibitors such as lisinopril, diuretics, lithium, and methotrexate.",
+ "warnings": "Carries the NSAID boxed warning for cardiovascular and gastrointestinal risk. Do not use for pain before or after coronary artery bypass surgery. Avoid after 30 weeks of pregnancy.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Tramadol", "slug": "tramadol",
+ "generic_name": "tramadol hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Ultram, ConZip",
+ "drug_class": "Opioid Analgesic",
+ "category": "Pain & Inflammation",
+ "uses": "A prescription pain medicine for adults with pain severe enough to require an opioid when other treatments have not worked or cannot be tolerated. It acts on opioid receptors and also affects serotonin and norepinephrine signaling.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 50 to 100 mg every 4 to 6 hours as needed for pain, not to exceed 400 mg per day. Extended-release forms are dosed once daily. Doses should be reduced in older adults and in kidney or liver disease.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Dizziness, nausea, constipation, headache, drowsiness, and dry mouth.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Slowed or stopped breathing, seizures, serotonin syndrome (agitation, fever, rapid heartbeat, muscle twitching), severe low blood pressure, and dependence or addiction.",
+ "interactions": "Other opioids, benzodiazepines such as alprazolam and lorazepam (dangerous sedation and breathing suppression), alcohol, and serotonergic antidepressants such as sertraline, fluoxetine, and duloxetine (serotonin syndrome risk).",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warnings for addiction, abuse, misuse, life-threatening respiratory depression, and fatal overdose in children. Do not drink alcohol while taking tramadol. Do not stop suddenly after long-term use — taper under medical supervision.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Cyclobenzaprine", "slug": "cyclobenzaprine",
+ "generic_name": "cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Flexeril, Amrix",
+ "drug_class": "Skeletal Muscle Relaxant",
+ "category": "Pain & Inflammation",
+ "uses": "Relieves muscle spasm associated with acute, painful musculoskeletal conditions, used together with rest and physical therapy. It is intended for short courses, typically two to three weeks.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 5 mg three times a day, which may be increased to 10 mg three times a day if needed. Extended-release capsules are taken as 15 to 30 mg once daily. Not recommended for use longer than 3 weeks.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Drowsiness, dry mouth, dizziness, and fatigue.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Irregular heart rhythms, serotonin syndrome when combined with serotonergic drugs, confusion or hallucinations (especially in older adults), and severe allergic reactions.",
+ "interactions": "MAO inhibitors (contraindicated), alcohol and other sedatives, tramadol, and serotonergic antidepressants such as sertraline, duloxetine, and venlafaxine.",
+ "warnings": "Causes significant drowsiness — do not drive or operate machinery until you know how it affects you. Not recommended for older adults or people with heart rhythm problems, recent heart attack, or hyperthyroidism.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Amoxicillin", "slug": "amoxicillin",
+ "generic_name": "amoxicillin",
+ "brand_names": "Amoxil",
+ "drug_class": "Penicillin-class Antibacterial",
+ "category": "Antibiotics",
+ "uses": "Treats bacterial infections of the ear, nose, throat, lungs, skin, and urinary tract, including strep throat, middle-ear infections, and sinusitis. It is also part of combination regimens that eliminate Helicobacter pylori in peptic ulcer disease. It does not work for viral illnesses like colds or flu.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 250 to 500 mg every 8 hours, or 500 to 875 mg every 12 hours, depending on the infection. A typical course runs 7 to 10 days. Finish the full course even if you feel better sooner.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and rash.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis, hives, swelling of the face and throat), Clostridioides difficile-associated diarrhea, and rare severe skin reactions.",
+ "interactions": "Probenecid (raises amoxicillin levels), allopurinol (higher chance of rash), warfarin (may enhance its effect), and certain other antibiotics.",
+ "warnings": "Do not take if you have ever had an allergic reaction to penicillin or cephalosporin antibiotics. Watery or bloody diarrhea during or up to two months after treatment should be reported to a doctor.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Azithromycin", "slug": "azithromycin",
+ "generic_name": "azithromycin",
+ "brand_names": "Zithromax, Z-Pak",
+ "drug_class": "Macrolide Antibacterial",
+ "category": "Antibiotics",
+ "uses": "Treats community-acquired pneumonia, bronchitis flare-ups, sinus infections, strep throat in penicillin-allergic patients, skin infections, and certain sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia.",
+ "dosage": "The common 5-day 'Z-Pak' regimen for adults: 500 mg as a single dose on day 1, followed by 250 mg once daily on days 2 through 5. Some infections use 500 mg daily for 3 days or a single 1 g dose.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, and headache.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "QT-interval prolongation with abnormal heart rhythms, liver injury, severe allergic and skin reactions, and C. difficile diarrhea.",
+ "interactions": "Antacids containing aluminum or magnesium (reduce absorption — separate doses), warfarin, and other QT-prolonging drugs such as ondansetron and citalopram-type antidepressants.",
+ "warnings": "People with known heart rhythm problems, low potassium, or a slow baseline heart rate should use azithromycin cautiously because of the risk of a dangerous arrhythmia called torsades de pointes.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Ciprofloxacin", "slug": "ciprofloxacin",
+ "generic_name": "ciprofloxacin hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Cipro",
+ "drug_class": "Fluoroquinolone Antibacterial",
+ "category": "Antibiotics",
+ "uses": "Treats urinary tract infections, some types of infectious diarrhea, bone and joint infections, and certain abdominal and skin infections caused by susceptible bacteria. Because of its side-effect profile, it is generally reserved for infections without safer alternatives.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 250 to 750 mg every 12 hours depending on infection type and severity; uncomplicated UTIs are often treated with 250 mg twice daily for 3 days. Drink plenty of fluids while taking it.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Nausea, diarrhea, headache, and dizziness.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Tendinitis and tendon rupture (especially the Achilles tendon), peripheral neuropathy, central nervous system effects including seizures and confusion, aortic aneurysm or dissection, and severe blood sugar drops.",
+ "interactions": "Dairy products, calcium, iron, zinc, and antacids block its absorption — separate by at least 2 hours. Also interacts with theophylline, warfarin, tizanidine (contraindicated), and caffeine.",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning for disabling and potentially irreversible reactions involving tendons, muscles, joints, and nerves. Stop at the first sign of tendon pain or swelling. Avoid in people with myasthenia gravis.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Doxycycline", "slug": "doxycycline",
+ "generic_name": "doxycycline hyclate",
+ "brand_names": "Vibramycin, Doryx",
+ "drug_class": "Tetracycline-class Antibacterial",
+ "category": "Antibiotics",
+ "uses": "Treats respiratory infections, moderate-to-severe acne, rosacea, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, chlamydia, and is used to prevent malaria in travelers.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 100 mg every 12 hours on day one, then 100 mg once or twice daily depending on the infection. For malaria prevention: 100 mg once daily starting 1 to 2 days before travel. Take with a full glass of water and remain upright for 30 minutes.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and sensitivity of the skin to sunlight.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Severe sunburn reactions, esophageal ulceration if the capsule lodges in the throat, intracranial hypertension (severe headache and vision changes), and C. difficile diarrhea.",
+ "interactions": "Antacids, calcium, iron, and magnesium supplements markedly reduce absorption — separate by 2 to 3 hours. Also interacts with warfarin, penicillin antibiotics, and seizure medicines like carbamazepine.",
+ "warnings": "Not for children under 8 or during pregnancy because it can permanently stain developing teeth and affect bone growth. Use sunscreen and protective clothing — exaggerated sunburn can occur quickly.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Cephalexin", "slug": "cephalexin",
+ "generic_name": "cephalexin",
+ "brand_names": "Keflex",
+ "drug_class": "Cephalosporin Antibacterial",
+ "category": "Antibiotics",
+ "uses": "Treats skin and soft-tissue infections, strep throat, bone infections, uncomplicated urinary tract infections, and respiratory infections caused by susceptible bacteria.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 250 to 500 mg every 6 to 12 hours, typically 500 mg twice daily for skin infections. Usual course is 7 to 14 days. May be taken with or without food.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Diarrhea, nausea, indigestion, and abdominal pain.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Allergic reactions ranging from rash to anaphylaxis (higher risk in people with penicillin allergy), C. difficile diarrhea, and rare kidney or liver effects.",
+ "interactions": "Metformin (cephalexin can raise its levels), probenecid, and zinc supplements (reduce absorption — separate doses by at least 3 hours).",
+ "warnings": "Tell your doctor about any previous allergic reaction to penicillins or cephalosporins before starting. Complete the entire prescribed course to prevent the infection from returning.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Lisinopril", "slug": "lisinopril",
+ "generic_name": "lisinopril",
+ "brand_names": "Prinivil, Zestril",
+ "drug_class": "Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitor",
+ "category": "Heart & Blood Pressure",
+ "uses": "Lowers high blood pressure, treats heart failure, and improves survival when started after a heart attack. Controlling blood pressure lowers the risk of stroke, heart attack, and kidney damage.",
+ "dosage": "Adults with hypertension: usually started at 10 mg once daily, with a typical maintenance range of 20 to 40 mg once daily. Heart failure is often started at 2.5 to 5 mg daily. Take at the same time each day.",
+ "side_effects_common": "A persistent dry cough, dizziness (especially after the first dose), headache, and fatigue.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Angioedema (sudden swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat — a medical emergency), high potassium levels, kidney function decline, and very low blood pressure.",
+ "interactions": "Potassium supplements and potassium-sparing diuretics (risk of high potassium), NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and naproxen (blunt its effect and stress the kidneys), lithium, and other blood pressure medicines.",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning: can cause injury or death to a developing fetus — stop as soon as pregnancy is detected. Seek emergency care immediately for any swelling of the face, tongue, or throat.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Amlodipine", "slug": "amlodipine",
+ "generic_name": "amlodipine besylate",
+ "brand_names": "Norvasc",
+ "drug_class": "Calcium Channel Blocker (Dihydropyridine)",
+ "category": "Heart & Blood Pressure",
+ "uses": "Treats high blood pressure and chronic stable or vasospastic angina (chest pain). It relaxes the walls of blood vessels so blood flows more easily and the heart works less hard.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: usually started at 5 mg once daily, with a maximum of 10 mg once daily. Small, fragile, or elderly patients may start at 2.5 mg. Effects build over one to two weeks.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Swelling of the ankles and feet, flushing, dizziness, fatigue, and palpitations.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Worsening chest pain or heart attack when starting or increasing the dose (rare), severe low blood pressure, and allergic reactions.",
+ "interactions": "Simvastatin (limit simvastatin to 20 mg daily when combined), grapefruit juice in large amounts, and strong CYP3A4 inhibitors such as clarithromycin and ketoconazole, which raise amlodipine levels.",
+ "warnings": "Ankle swelling is dose-related and more common in women; tell your doctor if it becomes bothersome rather than stopping on your own. Do not stop abruptly if you take it for angina.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Losartan", "slug": "losartan",
+ "generic_name": "losartan potassium",
+ "brand_names": "Cozaar",
+ "drug_class": "Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker (ARB)",
+ "category": "Heart & Blood Pressure",
+ "uses": "Treats high blood pressure, protects the kidneys in people with type 2 diabetes and protein in the urine, and lowers stroke risk in patients with hypertension and an enlarged heart. Often chosen for people who develop a cough on ACE inhibitors.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: usually started at 50 mg once daily, with a range of 25 to 100 mg daily taken in one or two doses. Patients on diuretics or with liver impairment may start at 25 mg.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Dizziness, stuffy nose, back pain, and fatigue.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "High potassium levels, kidney function decline, very low blood pressure, and rare angioedema.",
+ "interactions": "Potassium supplements and salt substitutes containing potassium, NSAIDs such as ibuprofen (reduce effectiveness and stress kidneys), lithium, and rifampin.",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning: can cause fetal injury or death — discontinue as soon as pregnancy is detected. Have kidney function and potassium checked periodically while taking losartan.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Metoprolol", "slug": "metoprolol",
+ "generic_name": "metoprolol tartrate / metoprolol succinate",
+ "brand_names": "Lopressor, Toprol-XL",
+ "drug_class": "Beta-1 Selective Beta-Blocker",
+ "category": "Heart & Blood Pressure",
+ "uses": "Treats high blood pressure, angina, and heart failure (extended-release form), and improves survival after a heart attack. It slows the heart rate and reduces the heart's workload. It is also commonly used to control heart rate in atrial fibrillation.",
+ "dosage": "Immediate-release (tartrate): typically 50 mg twice daily for hypertension, adjustable to 100 to 450 mg per day in divided doses. Extended-release (succinate): 25 to 200 mg once daily. Take with or immediately after a meal for the tartrate form.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Tiredness, dizziness, slow heartbeat, depression, and cold hands and feet.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Very slow heart rate or heart block, worsening heart failure, severe low blood pressure, and masking of low blood sugar symptoms in diabetes.",
+ "interactions": "Other heart-rate-lowering drugs (verapamil, diltiazem, digoxin), clonidine, strong CYP2D6 inhibitors such as fluoxetine and bupropion (raise metoprolol levels), and insulin or oral diabetes medicines.",
+ "warnings": "Never stop a beta-blocker abruptly — sudden withdrawal can trigger chest pain or heart attack; the dose should be tapered over one to two weeks. Use caution in asthma, as higher doses can trigger wheezing.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Atenolol", "slug": "atenolol",
+ "generic_name": "atenolol",
+ "brand_names": "Tenormin",
+ "drug_class": "Beta-1 Selective Beta-Blocker",
+ "category": "Heart & Blood Pressure",
+ "uses": "Treats high blood pressure and angina, and is used after heart attack to improve survival. Compared with metoprolol it is longer-acting and excreted by the kidneys rather than the liver.",
+ "dosage": "Adults with hypertension: 25 to 50 mg once daily initially, up to 100 mg once daily. Doses must be reduced in significant kidney impairment.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Fatigue, dizziness, slow heart rate, cold extremities, and vivid dreams.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Severe bradycardia, heart block, worsening heart failure, and bronchospasm in people with asthma.",
+ "interactions": "Verapamil and diltiazem (additive heart-rate slowing), clonidine, NSAIDs (reduce blood-pressure effect), and diabetes medicines whose hypoglycemia warning signs it can mask.",
+ "warnings": "Do not stop suddenly; taper under medical supervision to avoid rebound chest pain or heart attack. Tell your doctor if you have asthma, diabetes, or kidney disease before starting.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Hydrochlorothiazide", "slug": "hydrochlorothiazide",
+ "generic_name": "hydrochlorothiazide",
+ "brand_names": "Microzide",
+ "drug_class": "Thiazide Diuretic",
+ "category": "Heart & Blood Pressure",
+ "uses": "Treats high blood pressure and fluid retention (edema) caused by heart failure, liver disease, or kidney disorders. As a 'water pill' it helps the kidneys remove extra salt and water.",
+ "dosage": "Adults with hypertension: 12.5 to 25 mg once daily, up to 50 mg daily. Take in the morning to avoid nighttime urination.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Increased urination, dizziness, low potassium, muscle cramps, and increased blood sugar or uric acid.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Severe electrolyte imbalance (weakness, confusion, irregular heartbeat), gout flares, acute eye pain from angle-closure glaucoma (rare), and severe skin reactions with sun exposure.",
+ "interactions": "Lithium (levels rise dangerously), digoxin (low potassium raises toxicity risk), NSAIDs (blunt the diuretic effect), corticosteroids, and diabetes medicines.",
+ "warnings": "Tell your doctor if you are allergic to sulfonamide drugs. Have electrolytes checked periodically, eat potassium-rich foods unless told otherwise, and use sun protection because of photosensitivity.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Atorvastatin", "slug": "atorvastatin",
+ "generic_name": "atorvastatin calcium",
+ "brand_names": "Lipitor",
+ "drug_class": "HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor (Statin)",
+ "category": "Cholesterol",
+ "uses": "Lowers LDL ('bad') cholesterol and triglycerides, raises HDL ('good') cholesterol, and reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke in people with cardiovascular risk factors. One of the two most potent statins available.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 10 to 80 mg once daily, at any time of day, with or without food. A common starting dose is 10 or 20 mg; high-intensity therapy after a heart attack is 40 to 80 mg.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Muscle aches, joint pain, diarrhea, and mild elevations in liver enzymes.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Rhabdomyolysis (severe muscle breakdown with dark urine and weakness), liver injury, and new-onset diabetes in predisposed people.",
+ "interactions": "Grapefruit juice in large quantities, clarithromycin, itraconazole, cyclosporine, and gemfibrozil all raise atorvastatin levels and muscle-injury risk. Also interacts with digoxin and some HIV medicines.",
+ "warnings": "Report unexplained muscle pain, tenderness, or weakness promptly, especially with fever or dark urine. Do not use during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Simvastatin", "slug": "simvastatin",
+ "generic_name": "simvastatin",
+ "brand_names": "Zocor",
+ "drug_class": "HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor (Statin)",
+ "category": "Cholesterol",
+ "uses": "Lowers LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and reduces cardiovascular events in people with heart disease or diabetes. An older statin with more drug-interaction limits than atorvastatin or rosuvastatin.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 10 to 40 mg once daily in the evening — evening dosing matters because the body makes most cholesterol at night. The 80 mg dose is restricted to patients who have tolerated it long-term.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, muscle aches, constipation, and nausea.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Myopathy and rhabdomyolysis (risk rises sharply with interacting drugs and the 80 mg dose), and liver injury.",
+ "interactions": "Contraindicated with clarithromycin, erythromycin, itraconazole, ketoconazole, gemfibrozil, and cyclosporine. Limit to 20 mg daily with amlodipine and 10 mg daily with verapamil or diltiazem. Avoid grapefruit juice.",
+ "warnings": "Because of muscle toxicity risk, never exceed your prescribed dose, and review every new medicine — including antibiotics — with your pharmacist. Report muscle pain or weakness right away.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Rosuvastatin", "slug": "rosuvastatin",
+ "generic_name": "rosuvastatin calcium",
+ "brand_names": "Crestor",
+ "drug_class": "HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor (Statin)",
+ "category": "Cholesterol",
+ "uses": "Lowers LDL cholesterol, raises HDL, slows the progression of atherosclerosis, and reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke. Milligram for milligram it is the most potent statin.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 5 to 40 mg once daily, at any time of day. Common starting doses are 10 to 20 mg; the 40 mg dose is reserved for patients not reaching their LDL goal on 20 mg. Asian patients often start at 5 mg because blood levels run higher.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, muscle aches, abdominal pain, and nausea.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Myopathy and rhabdomyolysis, liver enzyme elevations, and protein or blood in the urine at the highest dose.",
+ "interactions": "Cyclosporine, gemfibrozil, certain HIV and hepatitis C antivirals, and warfarin (monitor INR). Antacids containing aluminum or magnesium should be taken at least 2 hours after rosuvastatin.",
+ "warnings": "Report unexplained muscle pain or weakness, especially with fever. Not for use in pregnancy. Periodic liver enzyme and cholesterol checks are standard while on therapy.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Warfarin", "slug": "warfarin",
+ "generic_name": "warfarin sodium",
+ "brand_names": "Coumadin, Jantoven",
+ "drug_class": "Vitamin K Antagonist Anticoagulant",
+ "category": "Blood Thinners",
+ "uses": "Prevents and treats blood clots in the legs (DVT) and lungs (pulmonary embolism), and prevents stroke in people with atrial fibrillation or mechanical heart valves. It blocks vitamin K-dependent clotting factors.",
+ "dosage": "Highly individualized: typically started at 2 to 5 mg once daily and adjusted based on INR blood tests, with most patients targeting an INR of 2.0 to 3.0. Take at the same time each evening.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Easy bruising and minor bleeding from gums or small cuts.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Major bleeding (gastrointestinal, urinary, or into the brain), skin necrosis early in therapy, and purple toe syndrome.",
+ "interactions": "One of the most interaction-prone drugs in medicine: NSAIDs, aspirin, many antibiotics (including ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, and amoxicillin), amiodarone, and even acetaminophen at regular high doses can raise bleeding risk, while vitamin K-rich foods and rifampin reduce its effect.",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning for major or fatal bleeding — regular INR monitoring is essential. Keep vitamin K intake (leafy greens) consistent rather than avoiding it entirely, and tell every prescriber and dentist you take warfarin.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Clopidogrel", "slug": "clopidogrel",
+ "generic_name": "clopidogrel bisulfate",
+ "brand_names": "Plavix",
+ "drug_class": "P2Y12 Platelet Inhibitor",
+ "category": "Blood Thinners",
+ "uses": "Reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke in people with recent heart attack, recent stroke, peripheral artery disease, or acute coronary syndrome, and keeps coronary stents from clotting, usually combined with low-dose aspirin for a defined period.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 75 mg once daily, with or without food. A one-time loading dose of 300 to 600 mg is often given at the start of treatment for acute coronary syndrome or stenting.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Bruising, minor bleeding, itching, and diarrhea.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Major bleeding, and a rare but life-threatening blood disorder called thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), usually within the first two weeks.",
+ "interactions": "Omeprazole and esomeprazole reduce its activation and should be avoided (pantoprazole or famotidine are alternatives); NSAIDs and warfarin add bleeding risk.",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning: poor metabolizers of CYP2C19 get less benefit — genetic testing is available. Never stop clopidogrel after a stent without talking to your cardiologist, even before dental work or surgery.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Apixaban", "slug": "apixaban",
+ "generic_name": "apixaban",
+ "brand_names": "Eliquis",
+ "drug_class": "Factor Xa Inhibitor Anticoagulant",
+ "category": "Blood Thinners",
+ "uses": "Prevents stroke in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, treats and prevents deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and prevents clots after hip or knee replacement — without the routine blood-test monitoring warfarin requires.",
+ "dosage": "For atrial fibrillation: 5 mg twice daily, reduced to 2.5 mg twice daily in patients with at least two of: age 80 or older, body weight 60 kg or less, or elevated creatinine. DVT treatment starts at 10 mg twice daily for 7 days, then 5 mg twice daily.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Easy bruising and minor bleeding; nausea is uncommon.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Major bleeding including gastrointestinal and intracranial hemorrhage, and spinal hematomas after epidural procedures.",
+ "interactions": "Strong dual CYP3A4/P-gp inhibitors (ketoconazole, ritonavir) raise levels; rifampin, carbamazepine, and St. John's wort lower them. Aspirin, NSAIDs, and other blood thinners add bleeding risk.",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warnings: stopping apixaban early increases clot and stroke risk, and spinal punctures during therapy can cause paralysis-causing hematomas. Do not miss doses — its protection fades within a day.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Metformin", "slug": "metformin",
+ "generic_name": "metformin hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Glucophage, Glucophage XR",
+ "drug_class": "Biguanide Antidiabetic",
+ "category": "Diabetes",
+ "uses": "The first-choice medicine for type 2 diabetes: it lowers blood sugar by reducing the liver's glucose production and improving the body's sensitivity to insulin. It does not cause weight gain and rarely causes low blood sugar on its own.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: usually started at 500 mg once or twice daily with meals, increased gradually to a typical maintenance dose of 1,000 mg twice daily. Maximum 2,550 mg per day (immediate-release). Extended-release forms are taken once daily with the evening meal.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Diarrhea, nausea, gas, abdominal discomfort, and a metallic taste — usually improving after the first weeks.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Lactic acidosis (very rare but life-threatening: deep rapid breathing, severe weakness, unusual muscle pain), and vitamin B12 deficiency with long-term use.",
+ "interactions": "Iodinated contrast dye (hold metformin around imaging procedures), heavy alcohol use, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors like topiramate, and cimetidine.",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning for lactic acidosis — risk rises with kidney impairment, liver disease, heavy drinking, and dehydration. Your doctor will check kidney function before and during treatment.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Glipizide", "slug": "glipizide",
+ "generic_name": "glipizide",
+ "brand_names": "Glucotrol, Glucotrol XL",
+ "drug_class": "Sulfonylurea Antidiabetic",
+ "category": "Diabetes",
+ "uses": "Lowers blood sugar in type 2 diabetes by stimulating the pancreas to release more insulin. Often added when metformin alone is not enough.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: started at 5 mg once daily taken 30 minutes before breakfast, adjusted up to 40 mg per day (immediate-release, divided) or 20 mg once daily (extended-release).",
+ "side_effects_common": "Low blood sugar (shakiness, sweating, hunger, confusion), dizziness, and modest weight gain.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Severe or prolonged hypoglycemia, especially in older adults or with missed meals, and rare liver or blood-cell effects.",
+ "interactions": "Alcohol (can trigger both hypoglycemia and flushing), beta-blockers such as metoprolol (mask low-sugar warning signs), fluconazole, and NSAIDs.",
+ "warnings": "Always carry a fast-acting sugar source. Do not skip meals after taking a dose. Tell your doctor before periods of fasting, illness, or increased exercise, which change your insulin needs.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Insulin Glargine", "slug": "insulin-glargine",
+ "generic_name": "insulin glargine",
+ "brand_names": "Lantus, Basaglar, Toujeo",
+ "drug_class": "Long-Acting Insulin Analog",
+ "category": "Diabetes",
+ "uses": "A once-daily basal insulin that provides a steady background level of insulin over about 24 hours to control blood sugar in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It is injected under the skin and is not used to correct sudden sugar spikes.",
+ "dosage": "Individualized by a clinician: type 2 diabetes commonly starts at 10 units (or 0.2 units/kg) once daily at the same time each day, then is titrated based on fasting glucose readings. Rotate injection sites on the abdomen, thigh, or upper arm.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Low blood sugar, injection-site redness or thickened skin, and weight gain.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Severe hypoglycemia with confusion, seizures, or loss of consciousness; low potassium; and serious allergic reactions.",
+ "interactions": "Other diabetes medicines (additive sugar lowering), beta-blockers (mask hypoglycemia symptoms), thiazolidinediones (fluid retention and heart failure risk), and alcohol.",
+ "warnings": "Never share pens or needles, even with family. Do not dilute or mix glargine with other insulins in the same syringe. Learn the symptoms of low blood sugar and keep glucose tablets or juice on hand.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Sitagliptin", "slug": "sitagliptin",
+ "generic_name": "sitagliptin",
+ "brand_names": "Januvia",
+ "drug_class": "Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 (DPP-4) Inhibitor",
+ "category": "Diabetes",
+ "uses": "Improves blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes by boosting the body's own incretin hormones, which increase insulin release after meals and reduce the liver's sugar output. Weight-neutral with a low risk of hypoglycemia when used alone.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 100 mg once daily, with or without food. The dose is lowered to 50 mg daily in moderate kidney impairment and 25 mg daily in severe kidney impairment.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, headache, and upper respiratory infections.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Pancreatitis (severe persistent abdominal pain radiating to the back), serious allergic reactions, severe disabling joint pain, and worsening heart failure in some patients.",
+ "interactions": "Insulin and sulfonylureas such as glipizide (their doses may need lowering to avoid hypoglycemia); digoxin levels rise slightly.",
+ "warnings": "Stop the drug and seek care for severe abdominal pain that will not ease — pancreatitis has been reported. Tell your doctor about any history of pancreatitis, kidney disease, or heart failure.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Pravastatin", "slug": "pravastatin",
+ "generic_name": "pravastatin sodium",
+ "brand_names": "Pravachol",
+ "drug_class": "HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor (Statin)",
+ "category": "Cholesterol",
+ "uses": "Lowers LDL ('bad') cholesterol and reduces cardiovascular risk. A lower-intensity statin than atorvastatin or rosuvastatin, it is often chosen when a higher-intensity statin caused muscle aches, or when a patient takes interacting medicines, because it is cleared without the liver enzymes most statins depend on.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 40 mg once daily to start, adjustable between 10 and 80 mg daily. Can be taken at any time of day, with or without food.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Muscle or joint aches, nausea, headache, and cold-like symptoms.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis) with dark urine and severe muscle pain, and liver injury (rare).",
+ "interactions": "Fewer than most statins because it bypasses CYP3A4 metabolism: cyclosporine and clarithromycin still raise its levels, and combining with gemfibrozil raises muscle-injury risk.",
+ "warnings": "Do not use during pregnancy. Report unexplained muscle pain, tenderness, or weakness promptly, especially with fever or dark urine.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Lovastatin", "slug": "lovastatin",
+ "generic_name": "lovastatin",
+ "brand_names": "Mevacor (discontinued brand), Altoprev",
+ "drug_class": "HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor (Statin)",
+ "category": "Cholesterol",
+ "uses": "The first statin approved in the United States, used to lower LDL cholesterol and slow coronary artery disease. Its LDL-lowering is more modest than atorvastatin or rosuvastatin, so it now serves mainly patients who need moderate-intensity therapy and tolerate it well.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 20 mg once daily with the evening meal to start; range 10 to 80 mg daily. Immediate-release tablets absorb best with food, unlike most other statins.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Muscle aches, constipation, stomach upset, and headache.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Rhabdomyolysis with kidney failure (risk rises sharply with interacting drugs), and liver enzyme elevations.",
+ "interactions": "Strong CYP3A4 inhibitors — clarithromycin, itraconazole, protease inhibitors, and grapefruit juice in quantity — are contraindicated. Amiodarone, diltiazem, and verapamil require dose caps.",
+ "warnings": "Avoid grapefruit juice. Do not use during pregnancy or with the contraindicated antibiotics and antifungals listed above — switch statins instead of risking the combination.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Allopurinol", "slug": "allopurinol",
+ "generic_name": "allopurinol",
+ "brand_names": "Zyloprim, Aloprim",
+ "drug_class": "Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitor",
+ "category": "Pain & Inflammation",
+ "uses": "The first-choice daily medicine for preventing gout attacks: it lowers the body's production of uric acid so crystals stop forming in joints. Also used for kidney stones caused by uric acid and for high urate from cancer treatment. It does not relieve an attack already underway.",
+ "dosage": "Start low — 100 mg once daily (50 mg in kidney disease) — and increase every 2 to 5 weeks until blood uric acid falls below 6 mg/dL; typical maintenance is 300 mg daily, maximum 800 mg. Take after meals with plenty of water.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Rash, stomach upset, drowsiness, and a temporary increase in gout flares during the first months (often covered with low-dose colchicine).",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Severe hypersensitivity syndrome with fever, widespread rash, and liver and kidney injury — stop at the first sign of rash. Risk is higher in people with the HLA-B*58:01 gene variant.",
+ "interactions": "Azathioprine and mercaptopurine (dangerous accumulation — doses must be cut), warfarin (enhanced effect), amoxicillin (higher rash rates), and thiazide diuretics (higher hypersensitivity risk).",
+ "warnings": "Do not stop during a gout flare if already taking it, and do not start during one. Stay well hydrated, and report any rash immediately.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Colchicine", "slug": "colchicine",
+ "generic_name": "colchicine",
+ "brand_names": "Colcrys, Mitigare",
+ "drug_class": "Anti-Gout Anti-Inflammatory",
+ "category": "Pain & Inflammation",
+ "uses": "Treats and prevents gout flares by calming the inflammatory response to urate crystals, and treats the crystal arthritis of pseudogout. Low doses are also used long-term while urate-lowering therapy is being started.",
+ "dosage": "For a gout flare: 1.2 mg at the first sign, then 0.6 mg one hour later (1.8 mg total), started within 24 hours of onset. For prevention: 0.6 mg once or twice daily. Doses must be reduced with kidney or liver impairment.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Diarrhea, nausea, cramping, and vomiting — often the first sign the dose is too high.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Life-threatening toxicity in overdose or with interacting drugs: muscle damage, bone marrow suppression, and multi-organ failure.",
+ "interactions": "Clarithromycin, itraconazole, cyclosporine, and other strong CYP3A4/P-glycoprotein inhibitors can make standard doses toxic — combinations are contraindicated in kidney or liver disease. Statins raise muscle-injury risk.",
+ "warnings": "Narrow margin between effective and toxic doses — never take extra to 'finish off' a flare. Keep away from children; overdose is a medical emergency.",
+ },
+]
diff --git a/sites/webmd/_seed_drugs_b.py b/sites/webmd/_seed_drugs_b.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1ce8ca41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/_seed_drugs_b.py
@@ -0,0 +1,477 @@
+"""Drug catalog, part B (thyroid, GI, mental health, allergy/respiratory,
+neurology, men's health).
+
+Same sourcing rules as part A: structured facts from openFDA labeling
+(public domain, snapshots in scraped_data/openfda/), original prose.
+"""
+
+DRUGS_B = [
+ {
+ "name": "Levothyroxine", "slug": "levothyroxine",
+ "generic_name": "levothyroxine sodium",
+ "brand_names": "Synthroid, Levoxyl, Unithroid",
+ "drug_class": "Thyroid Hormone Replacement",
+ "category": "Hormones & Thyroid",
+ "uses": "Replaces the hormone your thyroid gland no longer makes enough of, treating hypothyroidism, and suppresses TSH in certain thyroid cancers and goiters. It restores normal energy, metabolism, and body temperature regulation.",
+ "dosage": "Individualized by TSH blood tests; full replacement in adults is about 1.6 mcg/kg once daily (roughly 100 to 125 mcg for many adults). Take on an empty stomach with water, 30 to 60 minutes before breakfast, at the same time every day.",
+ "side_effects_common": "At the correct dose, few — hair thinning may occur in the first months. Symptoms of over-replacement include palpitations, weight loss, tremor, insomnia, and heat intolerance.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Chest pain or irregular heart rhythm from excessive dosing, and bone density loss with long-term over-replacement.",
+ "interactions": "Calcium, iron, antacids, and proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole reduce absorption — separate by 4 hours. Soy, coffee, and high-fiber meals also interfere. Warfarin effect may increase as thyroid levels normalize.",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning: thyroid hormone is not a weight-loss drug and is dangerous when used for that purpose. Doses look tiny (micrograms) but small changes matter — never switch brands or skip blood tests without telling your doctor.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Omeprazole", "slug": "omeprazole",
+ "generic_name": "omeprazole",
+ "brand_names": "Prilosec, Prilosec OTC",
+ "drug_class": "Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI)",
+ "category": "Digestive Health",
+ "uses": "Treats frequent heartburn, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), erosive esophagitis, and stomach and duodenal ulcers, and is part of regimens to eradicate H. pylori. It shuts down the stomach's acid-producing pumps.",
+ "dosage": "For frequent heartburn (OTC): 20 mg once daily before breakfast for 14 days; the course may be repeated every 4 months. Prescription GERD dosing is 20 to 40 mg daily for 4 to 8 weeks. Swallow whole — do not crush or chew delayed-release forms.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, and gas.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Low magnesium with long-term use, vitamin B12 deficiency, increased risk of C. difficile infection, bone fractures with high-dose long-term therapy, and kidney inflammation.",
+ "interactions": "Clopidogrel (omeprazole blunts its antiplatelet effect — a clinically important combination to avoid), methotrexate, diazepam, and drugs needing stomach acid to absorb, such as certain antifungals.",
+ "warnings": "OTC use is limited to a 14-day course up to three times a year — see a doctor if heartburn persists, or if you have alarm symptoms like trouble swallowing, vomiting blood, or unintended weight loss.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Esomeprazole", "slug": "esomeprazole",
+ "generic_name": "esomeprazole magnesium",
+ "brand_names": "Nexium, Nexium 24HR",
+ "drug_class": "Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI)",
+ "category": "Digestive Health",
+ "uses": "Treats GERD, heals erosive esophagitis, reduces the risk of NSAID-associated stomach ulcers, and is used with antibiotics for H. pylori. It is the S-isomer of omeprazole.",
+ "dosage": "Adults with GERD: 20 to 40 mg once daily for 4 to 8 weeks, taken at least one hour before a meal. The OTC 20 mg product follows the same 14-day-course rules as omeprazole.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, diarrhea, nausea, gas, and dry mouth.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Same class risks as other PPIs: low magnesium, B12 deficiency, C. difficile diarrhea, fracture risk with prolonged high-dose use, and acute kidney inflammation.",
+ "interactions": "Clopidogrel (reduced activation — avoid combining), certain HIV drugs such as rilpivirine (contraindicated), methotrexate, and warfarin.",
+ "warnings": "Long-term users should periodically review with a doctor whether continued acid suppression is needed, and report muscle spasms, tremor, or irregular heartbeat, which can signal low magnesium.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Pantoprazole", "slug": "pantoprazole",
+ "generic_name": "pantoprazole sodium",
+ "brand_names": "Protonix",
+ "drug_class": "Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI)",
+ "category": "Digestive Health",
+ "uses": "Treats erosive esophagitis associated with GERD and conditions of excess stomach acid such as Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Because it interferes less with clopidogrel than omeprazole does, it is often the PPI chosen for heart patients.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 40 mg once daily for up to 8 weeks for erosive esophagitis, taken with or without food. Tablets must be swallowed whole.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, and joint pain.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Low magnesium, C. difficile-associated diarrhea, kidney inflammation, lupus-like reactions, and fracture risk with long-term high-dose use.",
+ "interactions": "Methotrexate, warfarin, and drugs that need stomach acid for absorption (ketoconazole, iron salts, certain HIV medicines). Minimal interaction with clopidogrel compared with omeprazole.",
+ "warnings": "Tell your doctor about persistent watery stools, new joint pain with rash on sun-exposed skin, or symptoms of low magnesium such as muscle cramps and palpitations.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Famotidine", "slug": "famotidine",
+ "generic_name": "famotidine",
+ "brand_names": "Pepcid, Pepcid AC",
+ "drug_class": "Histamine-2 (H2) Receptor Blocker",
+ "category": "Digestive Health",
+ "uses": "Relieves and prevents heartburn from acid indigestion, and at prescription doses treats ulcers and GERD. It works faster than PPIs (within an hour) but suppresses acid less profoundly, making it a good option for occasional symptoms.",
+ "dosage": "OTC for heartburn: 10 to 20 mg once or twice daily, taken 15 to 60 minutes before food or drink that causes symptoms; maximum 2 tablets in 24 hours. Prescription ulcer dosing is typically 20 mg twice daily or 40 mg at bedtime.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, dizziness, constipation, and diarrhea.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Confusion or agitation in elderly patients and those with kidney impairment, irregular heart rhythm at high IV doses, and rare blood-cell effects.",
+ "interactions": "Drugs requiring stomach acid for absorption such as certain antifungals and the HIV drug atazanavir; otherwise few significant interactions — one reason it is preferred over older H2 blockers.",
+ "warnings": "Doses must be lowered in kidney disease. See a doctor if heartburn persists beyond 14 days of self-treatment or comes with trouble swallowing, chest pain spreading to the arm, or black stools.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Ondansetron", "slug": "ondansetron",
+ "generic_name": "ondansetron hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Zofran, Zofran ODT",
+ "drug_class": "Serotonin-3 (5-HT3) Receptor Antagonist",
+ "category": "Digestive Health",
+ "uses": "Prevents nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. It blocks serotonin signals in the gut and brain that trigger the vomiting reflex.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 8 mg by mouth 30 minutes before chemotherapy, repeated 8 hours later, then 8 mg every 12 hours for 1 to 2 days. For post-surgical nausea: 16 mg one hour before anesthesia. Orally disintegrating tablets dissolve on the tongue without water.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, constipation, fatigue, and dizziness.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "QT-interval prolongation with risk of a dangerous heart rhythm (torsades de pointes), serotonin syndrome when combined with serotonergic drugs, and allergic reactions.",
+ "interactions": "Other QT-prolonging drugs (azithromycin, certain antipsychotics), serotonergic antidepressants such as sertraline and venlafaxine, apomorphine (contraindicated), and tramadol (reduced effect of both).",
+ "warnings": "People with congenital long QT syndrome should not use ondansetron. Tell your doctor about heart disease, low potassium or magnesium, or any fainting episodes before taking it.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Loperamide", "slug": "loperamide",
+ "generic_name": "loperamide hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Imodium A-D",
+ "drug_class": "Antidiarrheal (Mu-Opioid Agonist, Peripheral)",
+ "category": "Digestive Health",
+ "uses": "Controls the symptoms of acute diarrhea, including traveler's diarrhea, and reduces the number of ostomy discharges. It slows intestinal movement so the body can absorb more fluid.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 4 mg (two 2 mg caplets) after the first loose stool, then 2 mg after each subsequent loose stool. Do not exceed 8 mg in 24 hours for OTC use (16 mg under a doctor's direction). Drink plenty of clear fluids to prevent dehydration.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Constipation, dizziness, abdominal cramps, and nausea.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "At doses far above the label — often from misuse — life-threatening heart rhythm problems including torsades de pointes and cardiac arrest; also toxic megacolon in colitis.",
+ "interactions": "Drugs that raise loperamide levels such as ritonavir, quinidine, and itraconazole, and other QT-prolonging medicines.",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning: taking more than directed can cause serious heart problems and death. Do not use with bloody or black stools or a fever over 101°F — these suggest an infection needing medical care.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Sertraline", "slug": "sertraline",
+ "generic_name": "sertraline hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Zoloft",
+ "drug_class": "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI)",
+ "category": "Mental Health",
+ "uses": "Treats major depressive disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. One of the most widely prescribed antidepressants in the United States.",
+ "dosage": "Adults with depression: started at 50 mg once daily, adjustable in 25 to 50 mg steps at intervals of at least one week, up to 200 mg daily. Panic disorder often starts at 25 mg. Full effect typically takes 4 to 6 weeks.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Nausea, diarrhea, insomnia or drowsiness, dry mouth, increased sweating, tremor, and sexual side effects.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Serotonin syndrome, increased bleeding risk (especially with NSAIDs or blood thinners), low sodium in older adults, activation of mania, and worsening suicidal thoughts in people under 25 early in treatment.",
+ "interactions": "MAO inhibitors (contraindicated — 14-day washout required), tramadol and triptans such as sumatriptan (serotonin syndrome risk), NSAIDs and warfarin (bleeding), and pimozide (contraindicated).",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning: antidepressants increase the risk of suicidal thinking in children, adolescents, and young adults — watch closely for mood changes early in treatment. Do not stop abruptly; taper to avoid discontinuation symptoms.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Fluoxetine", "slug": "fluoxetine",
+ "generic_name": "fluoxetine hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Prozac",
+ "drug_class": "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI)",
+ "category": "Mental Health",
+ "uses": "Treats major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bulimia nervosa, and panic disorder. Its very long half-life makes missed doses more forgiving and abrupt discontinuation symptoms milder than other SSRIs.",
+ "dosage": "Adults with depression: 20 mg every morning to start, up to 80 mg daily. Because the drug and its active metabolite stay in the body for weeks, dose changes are spaced at least 1 to 2 weeks apart.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Insomnia, nausea, nervousness or anxiety, headache, decreased appetite, and sexual side effects.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Serotonin syndrome, severe rash or allergic events, low sodium, QT prolongation at high doses, activation of mania, and increased suicidal thoughts in young people.",
+ "interactions": "MAO inhibitors (contraindicated, with a 5-week washout after stopping fluoxetine), thioridazine and pimozide (contraindicated), tramadol, triptans, NSAIDs and blood thinners, and drugs metabolized by CYP2D6 such as metoprolol.",
+ "warnings": "Carries the SSRI boxed warning for suicidality in patients under 25. Because it lingers in the body, interactions can occur weeks after the last dose — tell any new prescriber you recently took fluoxetine.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Escitalopram", "slug": "escitalopram",
+ "generic_name": "escitalopram oxalate",
+ "brand_names": "Lexapro",
+ "drug_class": "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI)",
+ "category": "Mental Health",
+ "uses": "Treats major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. It is the purified active isomer of citalopram and is often chosen for its relatively clean interaction profile and tolerability.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 10 mg once daily, morning or evening, which may be increased to a maximum of 20 mg daily after at least one week. Older adults and those with liver impairment should stay at 10 mg.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Nausea, insomnia or sleepiness, increased sweating, fatigue, and sexual side effects.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Serotonin syndrome, dose-dependent QT-interval prolongation, low sodium in older adults, abnormal bleeding, and increased suicidal thinking in young people.",
+ "interactions": "MAO inhibitors and pimozide (contraindicated), other QT-prolonging drugs such as ondansetron, tramadol and triptans, and NSAIDs or anticoagulants.",
+ "warnings": "Carries the SSRI boxed warning for suicidality under age 25. Report fainting, palpitations, or a personal or family history of long QT syndrome before starting.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Bupropion", "slug": "bupropion",
+ "generic_name": "bupropion hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Wellbutrin XL, Wellbutrin SR, Zyban",
+ "drug_class": "Norepinephrine-Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor (Aminoketone Antidepressant)",
+ "category": "Mental Health",
+ "uses": "Treats major depression and seasonal affective disorder, and helps people quit smoking (as Zyban). Unlike SSRIs it rarely causes sexual side effects or weight gain, and tends to be energizing.",
+ "dosage": "Extended-release (XL): 150 mg once each morning, increased to 300 mg daily after at least 4 days. Sustained-release (SR): 150 mg once daily, then twice daily, with doses at least 8 hours apart. Maximum 450 mg per day.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Dry mouth, insomnia, headache, agitation, nausea, tremor, and decreased appetite.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Seizures (dose-related — the key class risk), elevated blood pressure, activation of mania, angle-closure glaucoma, and neuropsychiatric symptoms during smoking cessation.",
+ "interactions": "MAO inhibitors (contraindicated), other seizure-threshold-lowering drugs, and CYP2D6-metabolized drugs such as metoprolol and certain antidepressants whose levels it raises.",
+ "warnings": "Do not use if you have a seizure disorder, a current or prior eating disorder (anorexia or bulimia), or are abruptly stopping alcohol or sedatives — these sharply raise seizure risk. Never double up doses.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Duloxetine", "slug": "duloxetine",
+ "generic_name": "duloxetine hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Cymbalta",
+ "drug_class": "Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor (SNRI)",
+ "category": "Mental Health",
+ "uses": "Treats major depression and generalized anxiety disorder, and — unusually for an antidepressant — is also approved for nerve pain from diabetes, fibromyalgia, and chronic musculoskeletal pain such as osteoarthritis and low back pain.",
+ "dosage": "Depression: 40 to 60 mg per day (once daily or divided). Diabetic nerve pain and fibromyalgia: 60 mg once daily; fibromyalgia may start at 30 mg for a week. Maximum studied benefit is generally at 60 mg daily. Swallow capsules whole.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Nausea, dry mouth, sleepiness, constipation, decreased appetite, and increased sweating.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Liver injury (avoid in heavy alcohol use), serotonin syndrome, severe skin reactions, orthostatic drops in blood pressure, urinary retention, and suicidality in young people.",
+ "interactions": "MAO inhibitors (contraindicated), strong CYP1A2 inhibitors such as ciprofloxacin (raise duloxetine levels — avoid), tramadol and triptans, NSAIDs and anticoagulants, and thioridazine.",
+ "warnings": "Carries the antidepressant boxed warning for suicidality under 25. Do not stop abruptly — dizziness, irritability, and 'brain zaps' are common with sudden discontinuation; taper gradually.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Venlafaxine", "slug": "venlafaxine",
+ "generic_name": "venlafaxine hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Effexor XR",
+ "drug_class": "Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor (SNRI)",
+ "category": "Mental Health",
+ "uses": "Treats major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. At higher doses it adds norepinephrine effects on top of its serotonin action.",
+ "dosage": "Extended-release: 75 mg once daily with food (may start at 37.5 mg for a week), increased in 75 mg steps every 4 or more days to a maximum of 225 mg daily for depression.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Nausea, dizziness, insomnia, dry mouth, sweating, and sexual side effects.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Sustained increases in blood pressure (dose-related — monitor regularly), serotonin syndrome, low sodium, abnormal bleeding, and suicidality in young people.",
+ "interactions": "MAO inhibitors (contraindicated), tramadol, triptans such as sumatriptan, other serotonergic drugs, NSAIDs and anticoagulants, and drugs affecting CYP2D6.",
+ "warnings": "Among antidepressants, venlafaxine has notably prominent discontinuation symptoms — never stop suddenly; taper over weeks. Have your blood pressure checked regularly, especially at doses above 150 mg.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Trazodone", "slug": "trazodone",
+ "generic_name": "trazodone hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Desyrel (discontinued brand)",
+ "drug_class": "Serotonin Receptor Antagonist and Reuptake Inhibitor (SARI)",
+ "category": "Mental Health",
+ "uses": "Approved for major depression, but in modern practice most often prescribed at low doses off-label to help with insomnia because it is sedating and not habit-forming.",
+ "dosage": "For depression: started at 150 mg per day in divided doses, up to 400 mg daily in outpatients. For off-label sleep: commonly 25 to 100 mg at bedtime. Take shortly after a meal or light snack.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Drowsiness, dizziness, dry mouth, blurred vision, and headache.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Priapism (a painful erection lasting more than 4 hours — a medical emergency), orthostatic hypotension with fainting, heart rhythm changes, and serotonin syndrome.",
+ "interactions": "MAO inhibitors, other serotonergic drugs (SSRIs, tramadol, triptans), CYP3A4 inhibitors such as ketoconazole and ritonavir, digoxin, and phenytoin. Alcohol intensifies sedation.",
+ "warnings": "Carries the antidepressant boxed warning for suicidality in young people. Rise slowly from sitting or lying down, especially at night, to avoid falls from sudden blood pressure drops.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Alprazolam", "slug": "alprazolam",
+ "generic_name": "alprazolam",
+ "brand_names": "Xanax, Xanax XR",
+ "drug_class": "Benzodiazepine",
+ "category": "Mental Health",
+ "uses": "Treats generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. It enhances the calming neurotransmitter GABA and works within an hour, but is intended for short-term or intermittent use because tolerance and dependence develop.",
+ "dosage": "Anxiety: 0.25 to 0.5 mg three times daily, up to 4 mg per day. Panic disorder may require higher divided doses. The dose must be tapered gradually — typically no faster than 0.5 mg every 3 days — when stopping.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Drowsiness, light-headedness, memory problems, poor coordination, and slurred speech.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Dangerous breathing suppression when combined with opioids or alcohol, dependence and withdrawal seizures with abrupt discontinuation, and paradoxical agitation.",
+ "interactions": "Opioids such as tramadol (boxed warning — profound sedation and death), alcohol, other sedatives, and strong CYP3A4 inhibitors including ketoconazole and itraconazole (contraindicated).",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warnings for risks of combined opioid use, and for abuse, misuse, addiction, dependence, and withdrawal reactions. Never stop suddenly after regular use — withdrawal can include life-threatening seizures.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Lorazepam", "slug": "lorazepam",
+ "generic_name": "lorazepam",
+ "brand_names": "Ativan",
+ "drug_class": "Benzodiazepine",
+ "category": "Mental Health",
+ "uses": "Treats anxiety disorders and anxiety associated with depression, and is used in hospitals for status epilepticus and pre-procedure sedation. Its metabolism is simpler than alprazolam's, making it steadier in liver disease and older adults.",
+ "dosage": "Anxiety: 2 to 3 mg per day given two or three times daily, with a usual range of 1 to 6 mg daily; insomnia from anxiety may use 2 to 4 mg at bedtime. Use the lowest effective dose for the shortest time.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Sedation, dizziness, weakness, and unsteadiness.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Respiratory depression with opioids or alcohol, dependence and withdrawal (including seizures), and worsening depression.",
+ "interactions": "Opioids (boxed warning), alcohol, other CNS depressants, clozapine, and valproate (raises lorazepam levels).",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warnings for opioid co-use and for abuse, dependence, and withdrawal. Avoid driving until you know its effect. Older adults are more sensitive and fall risk increases.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Gabapentin", "slug": "gabapentin",
+ "generic_name": "gabapentin",
+ "brand_names": "Neurontin, Gralise",
+ "drug_class": "Gabapentinoid (Anticonvulsant)",
+ "category": "Neurology & Sleep",
+ "uses": "Treats nerve pain following shingles (postherpetic neuralgia) and partial seizures, and is widely used off-label for other nerve pain and restless legs syndrome.",
+ "dosage": "For postherpetic neuralgia: 300 mg on day 1, 300 mg twice daily on day 2, 300 mg three times daily on day 3, then titrated as needed up to 1,800 mg per day in three divided doses. Kidney impairment requires substantial dose reductions.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Dizziness, sleepiness, swelling of the legs, unsteadiness, and weight gain.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Serious breathing problems when combined with opioids or in people with lung disease, severe allergic reactions with fever and swollen lymph nodes (DRESS), and mood changes with suicidal thoughts.",
+ "interactions": "Opioids (respiratory depression), alcohol and other sedatives, and aluminum/magnesium antacids (take gabapentin at least 2 hours after them).",
+ "warnings": "Do not stop suddenly if you take it for seizures — taper over at least a week. Report new or worsening depression or unusual mood changes; anticonvulsants carry a suicidality warning.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Pregabalin", "slug": "pregabalin",
+ "generic_name": "pregabalin",
+ "brand_names": "Lyrica",
+ "drug_class": "Gabapentinoid (Anticonvulsant)",
+ "category": "Neurology & Sleep",
+ "uses": "Treats nerve pain from diabetes, shingles, and spinal cord injury, fibromyalgia, and partial-onset seizures. It binds the same calcium-channel site as gabapentin but absorbs more predictably.",
+ "dosage": "Diabetic nerve pain: 50 mg three times daily, up to 300 mg per day within one week. Fibromyalgia: 300 to 450 mg per day in divided doses. Reduce doses in kidney impairment.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Dizziness, sleepiness, dry mouth, swelling of hands and feet, blurred vision, weight gain, and difficulty concentrating.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Angioedema, serious breathing suppression with opioids, mood changes with suicidal thoughts, and muscle pain with fever (possible myopathy).",
+ "interactions": "Opioids and other CNS depressants, alcohol, and pioglitazone-type diabetes drugs (additive swelling and weight gain).",
+ "warnings": "A controlled substance (Schedule V) with some misuse potential. Do not stop abruptly — taper over at least a week to avoid insomnia, nausea, headache, and, in epilepsy, increased seizures.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Sumatriptan", "slug": "sumatriptan",
+ "generic_name": "sumatriptan succinate",
+ "brand_names": "Imitrex",
+ "drug_class": "Serotonin 5-HT1B/1D Receptor Agonist (Triptan)",
+ "category": "Neurology & Sleep",
+ "uses": "Treats migraine attacks with or without aura, and (in injection form) cluster headache. It narrows swollen blood vessels around the brain and blocks pain-signal release — it treats attacks but does not prevent them.",
+ "dosage": "Tablets: 25, 50, or 100 mg at the first sign of migraine; if the headache returns, a second dose may be taken at least 2 hours after the first. Maximum 200 mg in 24 hours. Nasal spray and injection forms act faster.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Tingling, warmth or flushing, pressure or tightness in the chest, neck, or jaw, dizziness, and drowsiness.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Heart attack and serious arrhythmias in people with coronary disease, medication-overuse headache with frequent use, serotonin syndrome with serotonergic antidepressants, and blood-vessel spasm elsewhere in the body.",
+ "interactions": "Ergotamine-type migraine drugs and other triptans within 24 hours (contraindicated), MAO inhibitors, and SSRIs/SNRIs such as sertraline and venlafaxine (serotonin syndrome — usually manageable but watch for symptoms).",
+ "warnings": "Not for people with coronary artery disease, uncontrolled blood pressure, or prior stroke. Using acute migraine medicines on 10 or more days per month can itself cause chronic daily headache.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Cetirizine", "slug": "cetirizine",
+ "generic_name": "cetirizine hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Zyrtec",
+ "drug_class": "Second-Generation Antihistamine",
+ "category": "Allergy & Respiratory",
+ "uses": "Relieves runny nose, sneezing, itchy and watery eyes, and itchy throat or nose from hay fever and other respiratory allergies, and treats chronic hives. Among second-generation antihistamines it is fast-acting but slightly more sedating than loratadine or fexofenadine.",
+ "dosage": "Adults and children 6 years and over: 10 mg once daily; 5 mg may be enough for milder symptoms. Adults 65 and over should ask a doctor before use.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Drowsiness (in roughly 1 in 10 people), dry mouth, and fatigue.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Rare allergic reactions; intense itching has been reported after stopping long-term daily use.",
+ "interactions": "Alcohol and sedatives amplify drowsiness; theophylline may slightly reduce its clearance. Otherwise few significant interactions.",
+ "warnings": "Do not drive or operate machinery until you know whether it makes you drowsy. Use with a doctor's advice in kidney or liver disease, which slow its elimination.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Loratadine", "slug": "loratadine",
+ "generic_name": "loratadine",
+ "brand_names": "Claritin, Alavert",
+ "drug_class": "Second-Generation Antihistamine",
+ "category": "Allergy & Respiratory",
+ "uses": "Relieves sneezing, runny nose, and itchy, watery eyes from hay fever and other upper respiratory allergies, and treats chronic hives. Marketed as non-drowsy because very little crosses into the brain at the labeled dose.",
+ "dosage": "Adults and children 6 years and over: 10 mg once daily. Do not take more than one dose in 24 hours — extra doses add drowsiness without extra relief.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, fatigue, and dry mouth; drowsiness is uncommon at the recommended dose.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Rare allergic reactions and, very rarely, rapid heartbeat.",
+ "interactions": "Ketoconazole, erythromycin, and cimetidine raise loratadine blood levels, though this rarely matters clinically. Alcohol may still add mild sedation.",
+ "warnings": "Ask a doctor before use if you have liver or kidney disease. If symptoms don't improve within a week of daily use, see a clinician to confirm allergies are the cause.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Fexofenadine", "slug": "fexofenadine",
+ "generic_name": "fexofenadine hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Allegra",
+ "drug_class": "Second-Generation Antihistamine",
+ "category": "Allergy & Respiratory",
+ "uses": "Relieves seasonal allergy symptoms — sneezing, runny nose, itchy nose or throat, and itchy watery eyes — and treats chronic hives. It is the least sedating of the common second-generation antihistamines.",
+ "dosage": "Adults and children 12 and over: 180 mg once daily or 60 mg twice daily, taken with water only.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, nausea, and occasionally dizziness; drowsiness rates are similar to placebo.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Rare hypersensitivity reactions with rash and swelling.",
+ "interactions": "Fruit juices (orange, apple, grapefruit) markedly cut its absorption — take with water and avoid juice within 4 hours. Aluminum/magnesium antacids also reduce absorption; separate by 2 hours. Ketoconazole and erythromycin raise its levels.",
+ "warnings": "Take with water, not juice — this is the most common reason it 'doesn't work.' Ask a doctor before use if you have kidney disease.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Diphenhydramine", "slug": "diphenhydramine",
+ "generic_name": "diphenhydramine hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Benadryl, ZzzQuil",
+ "drug_class": "First-Generation Antihistamine",
+ "category": "Allergy & Respiratory",
+ "uses": "Relieves allergy and cold symptoms including sneezing, runny nose, and itchy watery eyes, treats hives and itching, helps motion sickness, and is used as a nighttime sleep aid because of its strong sedative effect.",
+ "dosage": "Adults for allergies: 25 to 50 mg every 4 to 6 hours, not exceeding 300 mg in 24 hours. As a sleep aid: 50 mg at bedtime. Effects last 4 to 6 hours.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Marked drowsiness, dry mouth, dizziness, blurred vision, constipation, and urinary retention.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Confusion and falls in older adults, rapid or irregular heartbeat, seizures in overdose, and paradoxical excitation in children.",
+ "interactions": "Alcohol, sedatives, opioids, MAO inhibitors, and other anticholinergic drugs (additive confusion, constipation, and urinary retention).",
+ "warnings": "Not recommended for adults 65 and older for routine use — its anticholinergic load is linked to confusion and falls. Do not use to make a child sleepy. Avoid driving after a dose.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Montelukast", "slug": "montelukast",
+ "generic_name": "montelukast sodium",
+ "brand_names": "Singulair",
+ "drug_class": "Leukotriene Receptor Antagonist",
+ "category": "Allergy & Respiratory",
+ "uses": "Prevents asthma attacks (not for rescue during an attack), prevents exercise-induced airway narrowing, and relieves allergic rhinitis symptoms when antihistamines are not enough.",
+ "dosage": "Adults and adolescents 15 and over: 10 mg once daily in the evening. For exercise-induced symptoms: 10 mg at least 2 hours before exercise, with no second dose within 24 hours.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, abdominal pain, and upper respiratory infection symptoms.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Neuropsychiatric events — agitation, depression, sleep disturbances, nightmares, and suicidal thoughts — plus rare allergic inflammation of blood vessels.",
+ "interactions": "Phenobarbital and rifampin reduce its levels; otherwise interaction burden is low.",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning for serious mental health side effects — because of this, it is reserved for allergic rhinitis patients who cannot use other treatments. Report mood or behavior changes immediately, and keep a rescue inhaler for asthma attacks.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Albuterol", "slug": "albuterol",
+ "generic_name": "albuterol sulfate",
+ "brand_names": "ProAir HFA, Ventolin HFA, Proventil HFA",
+ "drug_class": "Short-Acting Beta-2 Agonist (SABA) Bronchodilator",
+ "category": "Allergy & Respiratory",
+ "uses": "The standard rescue inhaler: rapidly relaxes airway muscles to relieve wheezing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath in asthma and COPD, and prevents exercise-induced bronchospasm.",
+ "dosage": "Inhalation aerosol: 2 puffs every 4 to 6 hours as needed for symptoms; 2 puffs 15 to 30 minutes before exercise for prevention. Shake well before each use and rinse the mouthpiece weekly.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Tremor, nervousness, rapid heartbeat, headache, and throat irritation.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Paradoxical bronchospasm (breathing suddenly worsens right after a dose), significant heart rhythm changes, low potassium at high doses, and allergic reactions.",
+ "interactions": "Beta-blockers such as metoprolol and atenolol blunt its effect, diuretics add to potassium loss, and MAO inhibitors or tricyclic antidepressants can amplify cardiovascular effects.",
+ "warnings": "Needing your rescue inhaler more than two days a week (outside exercise) means your asthma is not controlled — see your doctor about a daily controller medicine rather than using more albuterol.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Fluticasone Nasal", "slug": "fluticasone-nasal",
+ "generic_name": "fluticasone propionate (nasal spray)",
+ "brand_names": "Flonase Allergy Relief",
+ "drug_class": "Intranasal Corticosteroid",
+ "category": "Allergy & Respiratory",
+ "uses": "Relieves the full set of nasal allergy symptoms — congestion, runny nose, sneezing, and itchy nose — plus itchy, watery eyes. Steroid sprays are the single most effective drug class for nasal allergy congestion.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 2 sprays in each nostril once daily for the first week, then 1 to 2 sprays daily as needed. Full effect builds over several days of regular use. Aim slightly away from the nasal septum.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Nasal dryness or burning, nosebleeds, headache, and an unpleasant taste.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Nasal septum perforation (rare, usually from poor spray technique), glaucoma or cataracts with long-term use, and slowed growth in children.",
+ "interactions": "Strong CYP3A4 inhibitors such as ritonavir and ketoconazole can raise systemic steroid levels — tell your doctor if you take these.",
+ "warnings": "Point the spray toward the outer wall of the nostril, not the center, to prevent nosebleeds and septum damage. See a doctor if you have frequent nosebleeds, eye pain, or vision changes.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Prednisone", "slug": "prednisone",
+ "generic_name": "prednisone",
+ "brand_names": "Deltasone (discontinued brand), Rayos",
+ "drug_class": "Systemic Corticosteroid",
+ "category": "Hormones & Thyroid",
+ "uses": "A powerful anti-inflammatory and immune suppressant used for asthma and COPD flare-ups, severe allergic reactions, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, and many other inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.",
+ "dosage": "Highly condition-dependent, from 5 mg to 60 mg per day. Short 'burst' courses (for example 40 mg daily for 5 days) can stop abruptly, but courses longer than about 2 to 3 weeks must be tapered gradually. Take in the morning with food.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Increased appetite and weight gain, insomnia, mood changes, fluid retention, elevated blood sugar, and indigestion.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Adrenal suppression, serious infections, stomach ulcers and bleeding (especially with NSAIDs), osteoporosis and fractures, cataracts and glaucoma, and psychiatric reactions.",
+ "interactions": "NSAIDs (ulcer and bleeding risk), warfarin, diabetes medicines (steroids raise blood sugar), live vaccines (avoid during significant doses), and CYP3A4 inducers/inhibitors like rifampin and ketoconazole.",
+ "warnings": "Never stop long-term prednisone suddenly — your adrenal glands need time to resume cortisol production; abrupt withdrawal can cause a crisis. Carry a steroid card if on prolonged therapy.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Tamsulosin", "slug": "tamsulosin",
+ "generic_name": "tamsulosin hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Flomax",
+ "drug_class": "Alpha-1A Adrenergic Blocker",
+ "category": "Men's Health",
+ "uses": "Improves urinary symptoms of an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia) — weak stream, hesitancy, and nighttime urination — by relaxing muscle in the prostate and bladder neck. Also used off-label to help pass kidney stones.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 0.4 mg once daily, taken about 30 minutes after the same meal each day. May be increased to 0.8 mg daily after 2 to 4 weeks if needed. Do not crush, chew, or open capsules.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Dizziness, runny nose, abnormal ejaculation, and headache.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "First-dose fainting from a sudden blood pressure drop, priapism (rare), and intraoperative floppy iris syndrome during cataract surgery.",
+ "interactions": "Other alpha-blockers, strong CYP3A4 inhibitors such as ketoconazole (avoid), cimetidine, and erectile dysfunction drugs like sildenafil (additive blood pressure lowering).",
+ "warnings": "Tell your eye surgeon you take or have ever taken tamsulosin before cataract or glaucoma surgery. Rise slowly for the first days of treatment and after dose increases.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Sildenafil", "slug": "sildenafil",
+ "generic_name": "sildenafil citrate",
+ "brand_names": "Viagra, Revatio",
+ "drug_class": "Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) Inhibitor",
+ "category": "Men's Health",
+ "uses": "Treats erectile dysfunction by increasing blood flow to the penis during sexual stimulation; the same molecule at lower doses (Revatio) treats pulmonary arterial hypertension.",
+ "dosage": "For ED: 50 mg taken about one hour before sexual activity, adjustable between 25 mg and 100 mg based on response. Maximum one dose per day. High-fat meals delay its onset.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Headache, flushing, indigestion, nasal congestion, and a temporary bluish tinge to vision.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Dangerous blood pressure drops with nitrates, priapism (erection lasting over 4 hours), sudden vision loss in one or both eyes (NAION), and sudden hearing loss.",
+ "interactions": "Nitrates such as nitroglycerin (absolutely contraindicated — life-threatening hypotension), riociguat, alpha-blockers such as tamsulosin (separate timing, use low doses), and strong CYP3A4 inhibitors like ritonavir and ketoconazole.",
+ "warnings": "Never combine with any nitrate medicine, including recreational 'poppers.' Seek immediate care for an erection lasting more than 4 hours or any sudden loss of vision or hearing.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Alfuzosin", "slug": "alfuzosin",
+ "generic_name": "alfuzosin hydrochloride",
+ "brand_names": "Uroxatral",
+ "drug_class": "Alpha-1 Adrenergic Blocker",
+ "category": "Men's Health",
+ "uses": "Relaxes muscle in the prostate and bladder neck to relieve urinary symptoms of an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia). It works in the same family as tamsulosin (Flomax) but blocks alpha-1 receptors less selectively, which some men tolerate better for ejaculatory side effects.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 10 mg extended-release once daily, taken immediately after the same meal each day. Swallow whole — do not crush or chew.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Dizziness, headache, and fatigue.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Fainting from a sudden blood pressure drop (especially the first dose), QT-interval prolongation in susceptible patients, and priapism (rare).",
+ "interactions": "Strong CYP3A4 inhibitors such as ketoconazole and ritonavir (contraindicated), other blood pressure medicines, and erectile dysfunction drugs like sildenafil (additive pressure lowering).",
+ "warnings": "Not for use in moderate or severe liver impairment. Rise slowly during the first days of treatment, and mention it before cataract surgery — floppy iris syndrome has occurred with this drug class.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Silodosin", "slug": "silodosin",
+ "generic_name": "silodosin",
+ "brand_names": "Rapaflo",
+ "drug_class": "Alpha-1A Adrenergic Blocker",
+ "category": "Men's Health",
+ "uses": "Treats urinary symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Like tamsulosin (Flomax), it selectively targets the alpha-1A receptors concentrated in the prostate, giving strong symptom relief with less effect on blood pressure — at the cost of more ejaculatory side effects.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 8 mg once daily with a meal; 4 mg daily with moderate kidney impairment. Capsules may be opened and sprinkled on a tablespoon of applesauce if swallowing is difficult.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Retrograde or absent ejaculation (the most frequent complaint), dizziness, diarrhea, and nasal congestion.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Orthostatic hypotension with fainting, and intraoperative floppy iris syndrome during cataract surgery.",
+ "interactions": "Strong CYP3A4 inhibitors such as ketoconazole and clarithromycin (contraindicated), cyclosporine, other alpha-blockers, and PDE5 inhibitors such as sildenafil.",
+ "warnings": "Not recommended with severe kidney or liver impairment. Tell your eye surgeon you take or have taken it before any cataract or glaucoma procedure.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Finasteride", "slug": "finasteride",
+ "generic_name": "finasteride",
+ "brand_names": "Proscar, Propecia",
+ "drug_class": "5-Alpha Reductase Inhibitor",
+ "category": "Men's Health",
+ "uses": "Shrinks an enlarged prostate over months by blocking conversion of testosterone to DHT, improving urine flow and cutting the long-term risk of urinary retention and prostate surgery; often prescribed alongside an alpha-blocker such as tamsulosin (Flomax) for larger prostates. A lower dose (Propecia, 1 mg) treats male pattern hair loss.",
+ "dosage": "For BPH: 5 mg once daily, with or without food. Full benefit takes 6 months or more of continuous use; symptoms return if it is stopped.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Decreased libido, erectile difficulty, reduced ejaculate volume, and breast tenderness.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Persistent sexual side effects after stopping in some men, depression, and high-grade prostate cancer detected at slightly higher rates in trials (overall cancer risk was lower).",
+ "interactions": "Few clinically significant drug interactions; it does lower PSA readings by about half — tell any doctor interpreting your PSA test.",
+ "warnings": "Pregnant women should not handle crushed or broken tablets — absorption can harm a male fetus. PSA values must be doubled for prostate-cancer screening while on this drug.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Dutasteride", "slug": "dutasteride",
+ "generic_name": "dutasteride",
+ "brand_names": "Avodart",
+ "drug_class": "5-Alpha Reductase Inhibitor",
+ "category": "Men's Health",
+ "uses": "Treats benign prostatic hyperplasia by blocking both forms of the enzyme that makes DHT, shrinking the prostate more completely than finasteride blocks it. Available combined with tamsulosin (Flomax) in a single capsule (Jalyn) for men who need both mechanisms.",
+ "dosage": "Adults: 0.5 mg once daily, swallowed whole with or without food. Like other drugs in its class, it needs 3 to 6 months for full effect.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Decreased libido, erectile difficulty, reduced ejaculate volume, and breast enlargement or tenderness.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Allergic reactions with swelling of the face or throat, and the same high-grade prostate cancer signal seen with finasteride.",
+ "interactions": "Strong CYP3A4 inhibitors such as ritonavir may raise its levels; otherwise few significant interactions. It halves PSA readings.",
+ "warnings": "Do not donate blood while taking it and for 6 months after stopping — transfused blood could reach a pregnant woman. Women who are or may be pregnant should not handle leaking capsules.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Melatonin", "slug": "melatonin",
+ "generic_name": "melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine)",
+ "brand_names": "Sold as a dietary supplement (many store brands)",
+ "drug_class": "Hormone Supplement (Sleep-Wake Regulator)",
+ "category": "Neurology & Sleep",
+ "uses": "A supplement form of the hormone your brain releases at dusk to signal night. Best supported for shifting sleep timing — jet lag, shift work, and delayed sleep phase — with smaller, less consistent effects on ordinary insomnia. As a supplement it is not FDA-approved to treat any disease.",
+ "dosage": "Less is more: 0.5 to 3 mg taken 1 to 2 hours before the desired bedtime. Higher doses raise next-day grogginess without adding benefit. Supplement content varies between brands — look for USP-verified products.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Daytime drowsiness, headache, dizziness, and vivid dreams.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Few at usual doses; accidental overdose in children is a growing poison-control concern — gummies look like candy.",
+ "interactions": "Sedatives and alcohol (additive drowsiness), warfarin (case reports of altered INR), blood pressure medicines, and immunosuppressants.",
+ "warnings": "Not a substitute for treating the cause of chronic insomnia. Store gummy products out of children's reach, and check with a pediatrician before regular use in kids.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Liothyronine", "slug": "liothyronine",
+ "generic_name": "liothyronine sodium (T3)",
+ "brand_names": "Cytomel",
+ "drug_class": "Thyroid Hormone Replacement",
+ "category": "Hormones & Thyroid",
+ "uses": "A synthetic form of T3, the fast-acting thyroid hormone. Used in special situations — myxedema, some thyroid cancer protocols, and occasionally combined with levothyroxine for patients who feel unwell on levothyroxine alone, though evidence for routine combination therapy is mixed.",
+ "dosage": "For hypothyroidism: 25 mcg once daily to start, increased by 12.5 to 25 mcg every 1 to 2 weeks; usual maintenance 25 to 75 mcg daily. Older adults and heart patients start at 5 mcg.",
+ "side_effects_common": "At excessive doses: palpitations, tremor, sweating, weight loss, insomnia, and heat intolerance — T3's short half-life makes levels spike and dip.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Chest pain and heart rhythm disturbances, especially in coronary artery disease; long-term over-replacement thins bone.",
+ "interactions": "Warfarin (enhanced effect as metabolism normalizes), diabetes medicines (doses may need adjustment), cholestyramine and antacids (reduced absorption — separate by 4 hours).",
+ "warnings": "Boxed warning: thyroid hormone is not a weight-loss treatment. Because T3 acts quickly, missed or doubled doses are felt more than with levothyroxine — use a pillbox and consistent timing.",
+ },
+ {
+ "name": "Methimazole", "slug": "methimazole",
+ "generic_name": "methimazole",
+ "brand_names": "Tapazole",
+ "drug_class": "Antithyroid Agent (Thionamide)",
+ "category": "Hormones & Thyroid",
+ "uses": "The standard antithyroid drug for hyperthyroidism, including Graves' disease: it blocks the thyroid gland's ability to make new hormone. Used long-term to induce remission or short-term before radioactive iodine or surgery — after which many patients eventually need lifelong levothyroxine for the resulting underactive thyroid.",
+ "dosage": "Starting dose 15 to 30 mg daily (higher for severe disease), tapered to a maintenance of 5 to 15 mg daily as levels normalize. Thyroid function is checked every 4 to 6 weeks initially.",
+ "side_effects_common": "Rash, itching, joint aches, nausea, and altered taste, mostly in the first weeks.",
+ "side_effects_serious": "Agranulocytosis — a sudden dangerous drop in infection-fighting white cells signaled by fever and severe sore throat — plus liver injury and vasculitis.",
+ "interactions": "Warfarin (effect shifts as thyroid levels change), beta-blockers and digoxin (doses may need lowering as metabolism normalizes), and theophylline.",
+ "warnings": "Seek care immediately for fever or sore throat — a white-count check rules out agranulocytosis. First-trimester use can harm the fetus; propylthiouracil is preferred early in pregnancy.",
+ },
+]
diff --git a/sites/webmd/app.py b/sites/webmd/app.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..db68dd46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/app.py
@@ -0,0 +1,690 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""WebMD mirror — Flask application.
+
+Routes + SQLAlchemy models for an offline mirror of webmd.com. Runtime data
+comes entirely from instance/webmd.db (seeded from instance_seed/webmd.db at
+boot). No JSON read at request time.
+
+Determinism: the site clock is pinned to BENCHMARK_TODAY (2025-01-10). No
+func.random() and no real clocks are used anywhere a page renders.
+"""
+import os
+import re
+from datetime import datetime, date
+
+from flask import (Flask, render_template, request, redirect, url_for,
+ flash, abort)
+from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
+from flask_login import (LoginManager, UserMixin, login_user, logout_user,
+ login_required, current_user)
+from flask_wtf import FlaskForm
+from flask_wtf.csrf import CSRFProtect
+from flask_bcrypt import Bcrypt
+from wtforms import StringField, PasswordField
+from wtforms.validators import DataRequired, Email, Length, EqualTo
+from sqlalchemy import or_, func
+from sqlalchemy.orm import selectinload
+
+BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+
+app = Flask(__name__)
+app.config['SECRET_KEY'] = 'webmd-mirror-secret-key'
+# DB path is overridable so seed-regeneration tooling can write
+# instance_seed/ instead of the runtime instance/. Default = runtime DB.
+DB_PATH = os.environ.get('WEBMD_DB_PATH',
+ os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'instance', 'webmd.db'))
+app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = f"sqlite:///{DB_PATH}"
+app.config['SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS'] = False
+app.config['WTF_CSRF_TIME_LIMIT'] = None
+
+os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(DB_PATH), exist_ok=True)
+
+db = SQLAlchemy(app)
+bcrypt = Bcrypt(app)
+login_manager = LoginManager(app)
+login_manager.login_view = 'login'
+login_manager.login_message = 'Please log in to access your account.'
+login_manager.login_message_category = 'info'
+csrf = CSRFProtect(app)
+
+# Frozen benchmark date: keeps "today", trending, and dates deterministic.
+BENCHMARK_TODAY = date(2025, 1, 10)
+
+STOPWORDS = {'a', 'an', 'the', 'of', 'to', 'in', 'on', 'for', 'and', 'or',
+ 'is', 'are', 'be', 'with', 'as', 'by', 'at', 'from', 'what',
+ 'how', 'your', 'you'}
+
+LETTERS = [chr(c) for c in range(ord('A'), ord('Z') + 1)]
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Models
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+class User(db.Model, UserMixin):
+ __tablename__ = 'users'
+ id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
+ email = db.Column(db.String(120), unique=True, nullable=False, index=True)
+ name = db.Column(db.String(120), nullable=False)
+ password_hash = db.Column(db.String(255), nullable=False)
+ created_at = db.Column(db.DateTime,
+ default=lambda: datetime(2025, 1, 10, 9, 0, 0))
+
+ saved_articles = db.relationship('SavedArticle', backref='user',
+ lazy=True, cascade='all, delete-orphan')
+ reading_history = db.relationship('ReadingHistory', backref='user',
+ lazy=True, cascade='all, delete-orphan')
+
+ def set_password(self, pw):
+ self.password_hash = bcrypt.generate_password_hash(pw).decode('utf-8')
+
+ def check_password(self, pw):
+ return bcrypt.check_password_hash(self.password_hash, pw)
+
+
+class Section(db.Model):
+ __tablename__ = 'sections'
+ id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
+ name = db.Column(db.String(120), nullable=False)
+ slug = db.Column(db.String(120), unique=True, nullable=False, index=True)
+ blurb = db.Column(db.String(255), default='')
+
+ articles = db.relationship('Article', backref='section', lazy=True)
+
+
+class Author(db.Model):
+ __tablename__ = 'authors'
+ id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
+ name = db.Column(db.String(120), nullable=False)
+ slug = db.Column(db.String(120), unique=True, nullable=False, index=True)
+ role = db.Column(db.String(40), nullable=False) # writer|medical reviewer
+ credentials = db.Column(db.String(120), default='')
+ bio = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ image = db.Column(db.String(200), default='')
+
+ articles = db.relationship('Article', backref='author', lazy=True,
+ foreign_keys='Article.author_id')
+ reviewed_articles = db.relationship('Article', backref='reviewer',
+ lazy=True,
+ foreign_keys='Article.reviewer_id')
+
+
+class Article(db.Model):
+ __tablename__ = 'articles'
+ id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
+ title = db.Column(db.String(255), nullable=False)
+ slug = db.Column(db.String(255), unique=True, nullable=False, index=True)
+ section_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('sections.id'),
+ nullable=False)
+ subcategory = db.Column(db.String(80), default='', index=True)
+ summary = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ body_html = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ author_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('authors.id'),
+ nullable=False)
+ reviewer_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('authors.id'),
+ nullable=False)
+ published_date = db.Column(db.Date, nullable=False)
+ reviewed_date = db.Column(db.Date, nullable=False)
+ image = db.Column(db.String(200), default='')
+
+ saved_by = db.relationship('SavedArticle', backref='article', lazy=True,
+ cascade='all, delete-orphan')
+
+
+class Drug(db.Model):
+ __tablename__ = 'drugs'
+ id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
+ name = db.Column(db.String(120), nullable=False, index=True)
+ slug = db.Column(db.String(120), unique=True, nullable=False, index=True)
+ generic_name = db.Column(db.String(200), default='')
+ brand_names = db.Column(db.String(255), default='')
+ drug_class = db.Column(db.String(200), default='')
+ category = db.Column(db.String(80), default='', index=True)
+ uses = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ dosage = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ side_effects_common = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ side_effects_serious = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ interactions = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ warnings = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ image = db.Column(db.String(200), default='')
+
+
+condition_symptoms = db.Table(
+ 'condition_symptoms',
+ db.Column('condition_id', db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('conditions.id'),
+ primary_key=True),
+ db.Column('symptom_id', db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('symptoms.id'),
+ primary_key=True),
+)
+
+
+class Condition(db.Model):
+ __tablename__ = 'conditions'
+ id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
+ name = db.Column(db.String(160), nullable=False, index=True)
+ slug = db.Column(db.String(160), unique=True, nullable=False, index=True)
+ letter = db.Column(db.String(1), nullable=False, index=True)
+ overview = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ symptoms = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ causes = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ treatments = db.Column(db.Text, default='')
+ related_drug_slugs = db.Column(db.Text, default='') # comma-separated
+ image = db.Column(db.String(200), default='')
+
+ symptom_links = db.relationship('Symptom', secondary=condition_symptoms,
+ backref='conditions', lazy=True)
+
+ def related_drugs(self):
+ slugs = [s for s in (self.related_drug_slugs or '').split(',') if s]
+ if not slugs:
+ return []
+ rows = Drug.query.filter(Drug.slug.in_(slugs)).all()
+ by_slug = {d.slug: d for d in rows}
+ return [by_slug[s] for s in slugs if s in by_slug]
+
+
+class Symptom(db.Model):
+ __tablename__ = 'symptoms'
+ id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
+ name = db.Column(db.String(120), nullable=False)
+ slug = db.Column(db.String(120), unique=True, nullable=False, index=True)
+
+
+class SavedArticle(db.Model):
+ __tablename__ = 'saved_articles'
+ id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
+ user_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('users.id'), nullable=False)
+ article_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('articles.id'),
+ nullable=False)
+ created_at = db.Column(db.DateTime,
+ default=lambda: datetime(2025, 1, 10, 12, 0, 0))
+
+
+class ReadingHistory(db.Model):
+ __tablename__ = 'reading_history'
+ id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
+ user_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('users.id'), nullable=False)
+ article_id = db.Column(db.Integer, db.ForeignKey('articles.id'),
+ nullable=False)
+ created_at = db.Column(db.DateTime,
+ default=lambda: datetime(2025, 1, 10, 12, 0, 0))
+
+ article = db.relationship('Article', lazy=True)
+
+
+@login_manager.user_loader
+def load_user(user_id):
+ return db.session.get(User, int(user_id))
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Forms
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+class RegisterForm(FlaskForm):
+ name = StringField('Full Name',
+ validators=[DataRequired(), Length(min=2, max=120)])
+ email = StringField('Email', validators=[DataRequired(), Email()])
+ password = PasswordField('Password',
+ validators=[DataRequired(), Length(min=6)])
+ confirm = PasswordField('Confirm Password',
+ validators=[DataRequired(), EqualTo('password')])
+
+
+class LoginForm(FlaskForm):
+ email = StringField('Email', validators=[DataRequired()])
+ password = PasswordField('Password', validators=[DataRequired()])
+
+
+class PasswordChangeForm(FlaskForm):
+ current_password = PasswordField('Current Password',
+ validators=[DataRequired()])
+ new_password = PasswordField('New Password',
+ validators=[DataRequired(), Length(min=6)])
+ confirm = PasswordField('Confirm New Password',
+ validators=[DataRequired(),
+ EqualTo('new_password')])
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Search (scored token overlap, not strict AND)
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def _tokens(q):
+ return [t for t in re.findall(r'[a-z0-9]+', q.lower())
+ if t not in STOPWORDS and len(t) >= 2]
+
+
+def _score(tokens, name, haystack):
+ name = name.lower()
+ score = 0
+ for t in tokens:
+ if name == t:
+ score += 6
+ elif name.startswith(t):
+ score += 4
+ elif t in name:
+ score += 3
+ elif t in haystack:
+ score += 1
+ return score
+
+
+def search_all(q):
+ """Return (articles, drugs, conditions) lists ordered by score."""
+ tokens = _tokens(q)
+ if not tokens:
+ return [], [], []
+ like = f'%{tokens[0]}%'
+ min_req = max(1, len(tokens) // 2)
+
+ art_rows = Article.query.filter(or_(
+ Article.title.ilike(like), Article.summary.ilike(like),
+ Article.body_html.ilike(like),
+ *[Article.title.ilike(f'%{t}%') for t in tokens[1:]],
+ )).limit(80).all()
+ arts = []
+ for a in art_rows:
+ hay = ' '.join([a.title, a.summary or '', a.subcategory or '',
+ a.body_html or '']).lower()
+ s = _score(tokens, a.title, hay)
+ if s >= min_req:
+ arts.append((s, a))
+
+ drug_rows = Drug.query.filter(or_(
+ Drug.name.ilike(like), Drug.generic_name.ilike(like),
+ Drug.brand_names.ilike(like), Drug.uses.ilike(like),
+ *[Drug.name.ilike(f'%{t}%') for t in tokens[1:]],
+ *[Drug.brand_names.ilike(f'%{t}%') for t in tokens[1:]],
+ )).limit(60).all()
+ drugs = []
+ for d in drug_rows:
+ hay = ' '.join([d.name, d.generic_name or '', d.brand_names or '',
+ d.drug_class or '', d.uses or '']).lower()
+ s = _score(tokens, d.name, hay)
+ if s >= min_req:
+ drugs.append((s, d))
+
+ cond_rows = Condition.query.filter(or_(
+ Condition.name.ilike(like), Condition.overview.ilike(like),
+ Condition.symptoms.ilike(like),
+ *[Condition.name.ilike(f'%{t}%') for t in tokens[1:]],
+ )).limit(60).all()
+ conds = []
+ for c in cond_rows:
+ hay = ' '.join([c.name, c.overview or '', c.symptoms or '',
+ c.causes or '', c.treatments or '']).lower()
+ s = _score(tokens, c.name, hay)
+ if s >= min_req:
+ conds.append((s, c))
+
+ arts.sort(key=lambda x: (-x[0], x[1].title))
+ drugs.sort(key=lambda x: (-x[0], x[1].name))
+ conds.sort(key=lambda x: (-x[0], x[1].name))
+ return ([a for _, a in arts], [d for _, d in drugs],
+ [c for _, c in conds])
+
+
+def _record_history(article):
+ if current_user.is_authenticated:
+ db.session.add(ReadingHistory(
+ user_id=current_user.id, article_id=article.id,
+ created_at=datetime(BENCHMARK_TODAY.year, BENCHMARK_TODAY.month,
+ BENCHMARK_TODAY.day, 12, 0, 0)))
+ db.session.commit()
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Routes — core browsing
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@app.route('/')
+def index():
+ # Deterministic homepage: hero = newest news article; trending = a fixed
+ # ordering (reviewed_date desc, then title). No randomness anywhere.
+ hero = (Article.query.join(Section)
+ .filter(Section.slug == 'news')
+ .order_by(Article.published_date.desc(), Article.title)
+ .first())
+ sections = Section.query.order_by(Section.id).all()
+ section_cards = []
+ for s in sections:
+ top = (Article.query.filter_by(section_id=s.id)
+ .filter(Article.id != (hero.id if hero else -1))
+ .order_by(Article.published_date.desc(), Article.title)
+ .limit(3).all())
+ section_cards.append((s, top))
+ trending = (Article.query
+ .filter(Article.id != (hero.id if hero else -1))
+ .order_by(Article.reviewed_date.desc(), Article.title)
+ .limit(6).all())
+ return render_template('index.html', hero=hero,
+ section_cards=section_cards, trending=trending)
+
+
+@app.route('/section/')
+def section_view(slug):
+ section = Section.query.filter_by(slug=slug).first_or_404()
+ subcat = request.args.get('topic', '').strip()
+ q = Article.query.filter_by(section_id=section.id)
+ if subcat:
+ q = q.filter(Article.subcategory == subcat)
+ articles = q.order_by(Article.published_date.desc(),
+ Article.title).all()
+ subcats = [r[0] for r in db.session.query(Article.subcategory)
+ .filter(Article.section_id == section.id)
+ .distinct().order_by(Article.subcategory).all()]
+ return render_template('section.html', section=section,
+ articles=articles, subcats=subcats,
+ active_subcat=subcat)
+
+
+@app.route('/articles/')
+def article_detail(slug):
+ article = Article.query.filter_by(slug=slug).first_or_404()
+ _record_history(article)
+ is_saved = False
+ if current_user.is_authenticated:
+ is_saved = SavedArticle.query.filter_by(
+ user_id=current_user.id,
+ article_id=article.id).first() is not None
+ related = (Article.query
+ .filter(Article.section_id == article.section_id,
+ Article.id != article.id)
+ .order_by(Article.published_date.desc(), Article.title)
+ .limit(4).all())
+ return render_template('article_detail.html', article=article,
+ is_saved=is_saved, related=related)
+
+
+@app.route('/authors/')
+def author_detail(slug):
+ author = Author.query.filter_by(slug=slug).first_or_404()
+ written = (Article.query.filter_by(author_id=author.id)
+ .order_by(Article.published_date.desc(), Article.title).all())
+ reviewed = (Article.query.filter_by(reviewer_id=author.id)
+ .order_by(Article.published_date.desc(),
+ Article.title).all())
+ return render_template('author_detail.html', author=author,
+ written=written, reviewed=reviewed)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Routes — drugs
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@app.route('/drugs')
+@app.route('/drugs/')
+def drugs_index(letter=None):
+ category = request.args.get('category', '').strip()
+ q = Drug.query
+ if letter:
+ letter = letter.upper()
+ if letter not in LETTERS:
+ abort(404)
+ q = q.filter(Drug.name.ilike(f'{letter}%'))
+ if category:
+ q = q.filter(Drug.category == category)
+ drugs = q.order_by(Drug.name).all()
+ active_letters = {r[0] for r in db.session.query(
+ func.upper(func.substr(Drug.name, 1, 1))).distinct().all()}
+ categories = [r[0] for r in db.session.query(Drug.category)
+ .distinct().order_by(Drug.category).all()]
+ return render_template('drugs_index.html', drugs=drugs,
+ letters=LETTERS, active_letters=active_letters,
+ current_letter=letter, categories=categories,
+ active_category=category)
+
+
+@app.route('/drug/')
+def drug_detail(slug):
+ drug = Drug.query.filter_by(slug=slug).first_or_404()
+ conditions = (Condition.query
+ .filter(Condition.related_drug_slugs
+ .ilike(f'%{drug.slug}%'))
+ .order_by(Condition.name).all())
+ conditions = [c for c in conditions
+ if drug.slug in (c.related_drug_slugs or '').split(',')]
+ same_category = (Drug.query
+ .filter(Drug.category == drug.category,
+ Drug.id != drug.id)
+ .order_by(Drug.name).limit(6).all())
+ return render_template('drug_detail.html', drug=drug,
+ conditions=conditions,
+ same_category=same_category)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Routes — conditions & symptom checker
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@app.route('/conditions')
+@app.route('/conditions/')
+def conditions_index(letter=None):
+ q = Condition.query
+ if letter:
+ letter = letter.upper()
+ if letter not in LETTERS:
+ abort(404)
+ q = q.filter(Condition.letter == letter)
+ conditions = q.order_by(Condition.name).all()
+ active_letters = {r[0] for r in db.session.query(Condition.letter).all()}
+ return render_template('conditions_index.html', conditions=conditions,
+ letters=LETTERS, active_letters=active_letters,
+ current_letter=letter)
+
+
+@app.route('/condition/')
+def condition_detail(slug):
+ condition = Condition.query.filter_by(slug=slug).first_or_404()
+ related_drugs = condition.related_drugs()
+ related_articles = []
+ tokens = _tokens(condition.name)
+ if tokens:
+ related_articles = (Article.query
+ .filter(or_(*[Article.title.ilike(f'%{t}%')
+ for t in tokens]))
+ .order_by(Article.title).limit(4).all())
+ return render_template('condition_detail.html', condition=condition,
+ related_drugs=related_drugs,
+ related_articles=related_articles)
+
+
+@app.route('/symptom-checker', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
+def symptom_checker():
+ all_symptoms = Symptom.query.order_by(Symptom.name).all()
+ if request.method == 'POST':
+ picked_slugs = request.form.getlist('symptoms')
+ picked = (Symptom.query.filter(Symptom.slug.in_(picked_slugs))
+ .order_by(Symptom.name).all())
+ if not picked:
+ flash('Select at least one symptom to check.', 'error')
+ return redirect(url_for('symptom_checker'))
+ picked_ids = {s.id for s in picked}
+ results = []
+ conds = (Condition.query
+ .options(selectinload(Condition.symptom_links))
+ .order_by(Condition.name).all())
+ for cond in conds:
+ cond_ids = {s.id for s in cond.symptom_links}
+ overlap = picked_ids & cond_ids
+ if overlap:
+ results.append({
+ 'condition': cond,
+ 'matched': sorted(
+ (s for s in cond.symptom_links if s.id in overlap),
+ key=lambda s: s.name),
+ 'match_count': len(overlap),
+ 'total': len(cond_ids),
+ })
+ results.sort(key=lambda r: (-r['match_count'], r['condition'].name))
+ return render_template('symptom_results.html', picked=picked,
+ results=results)
+ return render_template('symptom_checker.html', symptoms=all_symptoms)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Routes — search
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@app.route('/search')
+def search():
+ q = request.args.get('q', '').strip()
+ if not q:
+ return render_template('search.html', q='', articles=[], drugs=[],
+ conditions=[], total=0)
+ articles, drugs, conditions = search_all(q)
+ total = len(articles) + len(drugs) + len(conditions)
+ return render_template('search.html', q=q, articles=articles,
+ drugs=drugs, conditions=conditions, total=total)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Routes — auth & account
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@app.route('/register', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
+def register():
+ if current_user.is_authenticated:
+ return redirect(url_for('index'))
+ form = RegisterForm()
+ if form.validate_on_submit():
+ if User.query.filter_by(email=form.email.data.lower()).first():
+ flash('That email is already registered.', 'error')
+ else:
+ u = User(email=form.email.data.lower(),
+ name=form.name.data.strip())
+ u.set_password(form.password.data)
+ db.session.add(u)
+ db.session.commit()
+ login_user(u)
+ flash('Welcome to WebMD!', 'success')
+ return redirect(url_for('index'))
+ return render_template('register.html', form=form)
+
+
+@app.route('/login', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
+def login():
+ if current_user.is_authenticated:
+ return redirect(url_for('index'))
+ form = LoginForm()
+ if form.validate_on_submit():
+ user = User.query.filter_by(
+ email=form.email.data.strip().lower()).first()
+ if user and user.check_password(form.password.data):
+ login_user(user)
+ flash('Logged in successfully.', 'success')
+ return redirect(request.args.get('next') or url_for('index'))
+ flash('Invalid email or password.', 'error')
+ return render_template('login.html', form=form)
+
+
+@app.route('/logout')
+def logout():
+ logout_user()
+ flash('You have been logged out.', 'info')
+ return redirect(url_for('index'))
+
+
+@app.route('/account', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
+@login_required
+def account():
+ form = PasswordChangeForm()
+ if form.validate_on_submit():
+ if not current_user.check_password(form.current_password.data):
+ flash('Current password is incorrect.', 'error')
+ else:
+ current_user.set_password(form.new_password.data)
+ db.session.commit()
+ flash('Your password has been updated.', 'success')
+ return redirect(url_for('account'))
+ return render_template('account.html', form=form)
+
+
+@app.route('/account/saved')
+@login_required
+def account_saved():
+ saved = (SavedArticle.query.filter_by(user_id=current_user.id)
+ .order_by(SavedArticle.created_at.desc(),
+ SavedArticle.id.desc())
+ .all())
+ return render_template('account_saved.html', saved=saved)
+
+
+@app.route('/account/history')
+@login_required
+def account_history():
+ history = (ReadingHistory.query.filter_by(user_id=current_user.id)
+ .order_by(ReadingHistory.created_at.desc(),
+ ReadingHistory.id.desc())
+ .limit(40).all())
+ return render_template('account_history.html', history=history)
+
+
+@app.route('/articles//save', methods=['POST'])
+@login_required
+def toggle_save(article_id):
+ article = db.session.get(Article, article_id)
+ if not article:
+ abort(404)
+ existing = SavedArticle.query.filter_by(
+ user_id=current_user.id, article_id=article.id).first()
+ if existing:
+ db.session.delete(existing)
+ db.session.commit()
+ flash(f'Removed "{article.title}" from your saved articles.', 'info')
+ else:
+ db.session.add(SavedArticle(user_id=current_user.id,
+ article_id=article.id))
+ db.session.commit()
+ flash(f'Saved "{article.title}" to your articles.', 'success')
+ return redirect(request.referrer
+ or url_for('article_detail', slug=article.slug))
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Health, errors, globals
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@app.route('/_health')
+def health():
+ return {'ok': True, 'site': 'webmd',
+ 'articles': Article.query.count(),
+ 'drugs': Drug.query.count(),
+ 'conditions': Condition.query.count()}
+
+
+@app.errorhandler(404)
+def not_found(e):
+ return render_template('404.html'), 404
+
+
+@app.errorhandler(500)
+def server_error(e):
+ return render_template('500.html'), 500
+
+
+@app.context_processor
+def inject_globals():
+ # Frozen to 2025 so the footer year matches BENCHMARK_TODAY and the site
+ # is deterministic across runs.
+ return {'current_year': 2025, 'benchmark_today': BENCHMARK_TODAY}
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Bootstrap
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+from seed_data import seed_database, seed_benchmark_users # noqa: E402
+
+with app.app_context():
+ db.create_all()
+ seed_database(db, Section, Article, Drug, Condition, Symptom, Author,
+ condition_symptoms)
+ seed_benchmark_users(db, User, bcrypt, Article, SavedArticle,
+ ReadingHistory, BENCHMARK_TODAY)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+ port = int(os.environ.get('PORT', 5000))
+ app.run(host='0.0.0.0', port=port, debug=False)
diff --git a/sites/webmd/instance_seed/.gitkeep b/sites/webmd/instance_seed/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/sites/webmd/seed_data.py b/sites/webmd/seed_data.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3afb426a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/seed_data.py
@@ -0,0 +1,222 @@
+"""Idempotent seed for the WebMD mirror.
+
+Runs at every container boot and every /reset/webmd. Each seed function
+early-returns on a populated DB so re-seeding is a no-op and the
+byte-identical reset invariant holds (even a bare commit on a populated DB
+bumps SQLite metadata).
+
+Content sourcing: structured medical facts come from openFDA drug labeling
+and MedlinePlus/NIH public-domain health topics (snapshots in scraped_data/);
+all prose is original; authors are fictional personas.
+"""
+from datetime import date, datetime
+
+from _seed_drugs_a import DRUGS_A
+from _seed_drugs_b import DRUGS_B
+from _seed_conditions_a import CONDITIONS_A, SYMPTOMS
+from _seed_conditions_b import CONDITIONS_B
+from _seed_authors import AUTHORS
+from _seed_articles_a import ARTICLES_A
+from _seed_articles_b import ARTICLES_B
+from _seed_articles_c import ARTICLES_C
+
+DRUGS = DRUGS_A + DRUGS_B
+CONDITIONS = CONDITIONS_A + CONDITIONS_B
+ARTICLES = ARTICLES_A + ARTICLES_B + ARTICLES_C
+
+SECTIONS = [
+ {"name": "Health A-Z", "slug": "conditions",
+ "blurb": "Conditions, symptoms, and treatments explained."},
+ {"name": "Drugs & Supplements", "slug": "drugs-supplements",
+ "blurb": "How medicines work, safety, and smart use."},
+ {"name": "Well-Being", "slug": "well-being",
+ "blurb": "Sleep, fitness, stress, and healthy aging."},
+ {"name": "Diet & Weight Management", "slug": "diet-weight",
+ "blurb": "Nutrition science and sustainable weight strategies."},
+ {"name": "Family & Pregnancy", "slug": "family-pregnancy",
+ "blurb": "Pregnancy, parenting, and health across generations."},
+ {"name": "Health News", "slug": "news",
+ "blurb": "What's happening in health right now."},
+]
+
+
+def _d(iso):
+ return date.fromisoformat(iso)
+
+
+def seed_database(db, Section, Article, Drug, Condition, Symptom, Author,
+ condition_symptoms):
+ if Section.query.count() > 0:
+ return
+
+ sections = {}
+ for s in SECTIONS:
+ row = Section(name=s["name"], slug=s["slug"], blurb=s["blurb"])
+ db.session.add(row)
+ sections[s["slug"]] = row
+
+ authors = {}
+ for a in AUTHORS:
+ row = Author(
+ name=a["name"], slug=a["slug"], role=a["role"],
+ credentials=a["credentials"], bio=a["bio"],
+ image=f"author_{a['slug']}.png",
+ )
+ db.session.add(row)
+ authors[a["slug"]] = row
+
+ db.session.flush()
+
+ for art in ARTICLES:
+ db.session.add(Article(
+ title=art["title"], slug=art["slug"],
+ section_id=sections[art["section"]].id,
+ subcategory=art["subcategory"],
+ summary=art["summary"], body_html=art["body_html"],
+ author_id=authors[art["author"]].id,
+ reviewer_id=authors[art["reviewer"]].id,
+ published_date=_d(art["published"]),
+ reviewed_date=_d(art["reviewed"]),
+ image=f"article_{art['slug']}.png",
+ ))
+
+ for d in DRUGS:
+ db.session.add(Drug(
+ name=d["name"], slug=d["slug"],
+ generic_name=d["generic_name"], brand_names=d["brand_names"],
+ drug_class=d["drug_class"], category=d["category"],
+ uses=d["uses"], dosage=d["dosage"],
+ side_effects_common=d["side_effects_common"],
+ side_effects_serious=d["side_effects_serious"],
+ interactions=d["interactions"], warnings=d["warnings"],
+ image=f"drug_{d['slug']}.png",
+ ))
+
+ symptoms = {}
+ for name, slug in SYMPTOMS:
+ row = Symptom(name=name, slug=slug)
+ db.session.add(row)
+ symptoms[slug] = row
+
+ db.session.flush()
+
+ for c in CONDITIONS:
+ row = Condition(
+ name=c["name"], slug=c["slug"], letter=c["letter"],
+ overview=c["overview"], symptoms=c["symptoms"],
+ causes=c["causes"], treatments=c["treatments"],
+ related_drug_slugs=",".join(c["related_drug_slugs"]),
+ image=f"condition_{c['slug']}.png",
+ )
+ db.session.add(row)
+ db.session.flush()
+ for ss in c["symptom_slugs"]:
+ db.session.execute(condition_symptoms.insert().values(
+ condition_id=row.id, symptom_id=symptoms[ss].id))
+
+ db.session.commit()
+ print(f"Seeded {len(SECTIONS)} sections, {len(ARTICLES)} articles, "
+ f"{len(DRUGS)} drugs, {len(CONDITIONS)} conditions, "
+ f"{len(SYMPTOMS)} symptoms, {len(AUTHORS)} authors.")
+
+
+# The primary benchmark account. Login-flow tasks reference this one; the
+# others exist so account pages aren't trivially single-row.
+BENCHMARK_USERS = [
+ {"email": "alice.j@test.com", "name": "Alice Johnson",
+ "password": "TestPass123!"},
+ {"email": "bob.m@test.com", "name": "Bob Martinez",
+ "password": "TestPass123!"},
+ {"email": "carol.w@test.com", "name": "Carol Williams",
+ "password": "TestPass123!"},
+ {"email": "david.k@test.com", "name": "David Kim",
+ "password": "TestPass123!"},
+]
+
+# Pre-existing saved articles per user (article slugs). Fixed distribution so
+# saved-list tasks have ambiguity and non-trivial state.
+SAVED_ARTICLES = {
+ "alice.j@test.com": [
+ "high-blood-pressure-home-monitoring", "migraine-getting-real-treatment",
+ "mediterranean-diet-week-one", "sleep-debt-week-short-nights",
+ "ssri-first-six-weeks", "fiber-least-glamorous-nutrient",
+ ],
+ "bob.m@test.com": [
+ "nsaids-compared", "knee-osteoarthritis-exercise",
+ "strength-after-60", "weekend-warrior-study", "gout-attacks-prevention",
+ ],
+ "carol.w@test.com": [
+ "first-trimester-checklist", "fevers-in-kids",
+ "melatonin-evidence", "emotional-eating-circuit",
+ ],
+ "david.k@test.com": [
+ "warfarin-vs-newer-anticoagulants", "atrial-fibrillation-basics",
+ "prostate-psa-decision",
+ ],
+}
+
+# Pre-existing reading history rows: (email, article slug, days before the
+# benchmark date). Deterministic timestamps.
+READING_HISTORY = [
+ ("alice.j@test.com", "flu-season-hits-stride", 1),
+ ("alice.j@test.com", "high-blood-pressure-home-monitoring", 2),
+ ("alice.j@test.com", "type-2-diabetes-first-year", 4),
+ ("alice.j@test.com", "hydration-how-much-water", 6),
+ ("alice.j@test.com", "sodium-you-never-salted", 9),
+ ("bob.m@test.com", "new-year-exercise-safely", 2),
+ ("bob.m@test.com", "statins-muscle-aches", 3),
+ ("bob.m@test.com", "walking-8000-steps", 7),
+ ("bob.m@test.com", "protein-how-much", 11),
+ ("carol.w@test.com", "norovirus-outbreaks-rise", 1),
+ ("carol.w@test.com", "ear-infections-watchful-waiting", 5),
+ ("carol.w@test.com", "kids-anxiety-talking", 8),
+ ("david.k@test.com", "holiday-heart-syndrome", 3),
+ ("david.k@test.com", "dry-january-physiology", 6),
+ ("david.k@test.com", "blood-pressure-control-slipping", 10),
+ ("david.k@test.com", "aging-parents-five-conversations", 14),
+]
+
+
+def seed_benchmark_users(db, User, bcrypt, Article, SavedArticle,
+ ReadingHistory, benchmark_today):
+ if User.query.filter_by(email="alice.j@test.com").first():
+ return
+
+ users = {}
+ for u in BENCHMARK_USERS:
+ user = User(email=u["email"], name=u["name"])
+ user.password_hash = bcrypt.generate_password_hash(
+ u["password"]).decode("utf-8")
+ db.session.add(user)
+ users[u["email"]] = user
+ db.session.flush()
+
+ anchor = datetime(benchmark_today.year, benchmark_today.month,
+ benchmark_today.day, 9, 0, 0)
+
+ n_saved = 0
+ for email, slugs in SAVED_ARTICLES.items():
+ for i, slug in enumerate(slugs):
+ art = Article.query.filter_by(slug=slug).first()
+ if art:
+ db.session.add(SavedArticle(
+ user_id=users[email].id, article_id=art.id,
+ created_at=anchor.replace(hour=8 + (i % 4)),
+ ))
+ n_saved += 1
+
+ n_hist = 0
+ for email, slug, days_ago in READING_HISTORY:
+ art = Article.query.filter_by(slug=slug).first()
+ if art:
+ ts = datetime(benchmark_today.year, benchmark_today.month,
+ benchmark_today.day, 20, 0, 0)
+ ts = datetime.fromordinal(ts.toordinal() - days_ago).replace(
+ hour=20, minute=(days_ago * 7) % 60)
+ db.session.add(ReadingHistory(
+ user_id=users[email].id, article_id=art.id, created_at=ts))
+ n_hist += 1
+
+ db.session.commit()
+ print(f"Seeded {len(BENCHMARK_USERS)} users, {n_saved} saved articles, "
+ f"{n_hist} history rows.")
diff --git a/sites/webmd/static/css/.gitkeep b/sites/webmd/static/css/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/sites/webmd/static/css/style.css b/sites/webmd/static/css/style.css
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..492be3d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/static/css/style.css
@@ -0,0 +1,323 @@
+/* WebMD mirror — original stylesheet emulating webmd.com's look:
+ WebMD blue (#0060A9), clean sans type, card grids. No CSS copied. */
+
+:root {
+ --wm-blue: #0060A9;
+ --wm-blue-dark: #00447c;
+ --wm-blue-light: #e8f2fa;
+ --wm-cyan: #00a3e0;
+ --ink: #1a1a1a;
+ --ink-soft: #4a4a4a;
+ --ink-faint: #767676;
+ --line: #e0e0e0;
+ --bg: #ffffff;
+ --bg-soft: #f6f8fa;
+ --danger: #b00020;
+ --ok: #1d7a3c;
+}
+
+* { box-sizing: border-box; }
+html, body { margin: 0; padding: 0; }
+body {
+ font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto,
+ "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif;
+ color: var(--ink);
+ background: var(--bg);
+ line-height: 1.55;
+}
+a { color: var(--wm-blue); text-decoration: none; }
+a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }
+img { max-width: 100%; display: block; }
+.container { max-width: 1100px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 0 16px; }
+
+/* ---------- Header ---------- */
+.site-header { border-bottom: 1px solid var(--line); }
+.header-top {
+ display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 20px; padding: 14px 16px;
+}
+.brand { font-size: 30px; font-weight: 800; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1; }
+.brand:hover { text-decoration: none; }
+.brand-web { color: var(--wm-blue); }
+.brand-md { color: var(--wm-cyan); }
+.search-form { flex: 1; display: flex; max-width: 520px; }
+.search-form input {
+ flex: 1; padding: 10px 14px; border: 2px solid var(--wm-blue);
+ border-right: none; border-radius: 22px 0 0 22px; font-size: 15px;
+ outline: none;
+}
+.search-form button {
+ padding: 10px 20px; border: 2px solid var(--wm-blue);
+ background: var(--wm-blue); color: #fff; font-weight: 700;
+ border-radius: 0 22px 22px 0; cursor: pointer; font-size: 15px;
+}
+.search-form button:hover { background: var(--wm-blue-dark); }
+.header-account { display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 14px; margin-left: auto; font-weight: 600; }
+.btn-solid {
+ background: var(--wm-blue); color: #fff !important; padding: 8px 18px;
+ border-radius: 20px; font-weight: 700;
+}
+.btn-solid:hover { background: var(--wm-blue-dark); text-decoration: none; }
+.btn-outline {
+ border: 2px solid var(--wm-blue); color: var(--wm-blue); padding: 6px 16px;
+ border-radius: 20px; font-weight: 700;
+}
+.btn-outline:hover { background: var(--wm-blue-light); text-decoration: none; }
+
+.header-nav { background: var(--wm-blue); }
+.header-nav ul {
+ display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; list-style: none; margin: 0; padding: 0;
+}
+.header-nav li a {
+ display: block; padding: 12px 16px; color: #fff; font-weight: 600;
+ font-size: 14.5px;
+}
+.header-nav li a:hover { background: var(--wm-blue-dark); text-decoration: none; }
+
+/* ---------- Flash ---------- */
+.flash { padding: 10px 16px; border-radius: 6px; margin: 12px 0; font-weight: 600; }
+.flash-success { background: #e6f4ea; color: var(--ok); }
+.flash-error { background: #fde8e8; color: var(--danger); }
+.flash-info { background: var(--wm-blue-light); color: var(--wm-blue-dark); }
+
+/* ---------- Homepage ---------- */
+.hero { background: var(--bg-soft); padding: 28px 0; }
+.hero-grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: 3fr 2fr; gap: 28px; align-items: center; }
+.hero-kicker { color: var(--wm-blue); font-weight: 800; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; }
+.hero h1 { font-size: 34px; line-height: 1.2; margin: 8px 0 12px; }
+.hero h1 a { color: var(--ink); }
+.hero p { color: var(--ink-soft); font-size: 17px; }
+.hero-img img { border-radius: 10px; }
+
+.home-block { padding: 28px 0; }
+.home-block h2 {
+ font-size: 22px; border-left: 5px solid var(--wm-blue); padding-left: 12px;
+ margin: 0 0 18px;
+}
+.card-grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr); gap: 20px; }
+.card {
+ border: 1px solid var(--line); border-radius: 10px; overflow: hidden;
+ background: #fff; display: flex; flex-direction: column;
+}
+.card img { width: 100%; height: 150px; object-fit: cover; }
+.card-body { padding: 14px 16px 16px; }
+.card-kicker { color: var(--wm-blue); font-size: 12px; font-weight: 800; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: .8px; }
+.card h3 { font-size: 16.5px; margin: 6px 0 8px; line-height: 1.35; }
+.card h3 a { color: var(--ink); }
+.card p { font-size: 14px; color: var(--ink-soft); margin: 0; }
+
+.section-strip { background: var(--wm-blue-light); }
+.strip-grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr); gap: 16px; }
+.strip-item {
+ background: #fff; border: 1px solid var(--line); border-radius: 10px;
+ padding: 16px 18px;
+}
+.strip-item h3 { margin: 0 0 6px; font-size: 17px; }
+.strip-item p { margin: 0 0 10px; font-size: 13.5px; color: var(--ink-soft); }
+.strip-item ul { margin: 0; padding-left: 18px; font-size: 14px; }
+.strip-item li { margin-bottom: 4px; }
+
+/* ---------- Listing pages ---------- */
+.page-head { padding: 24px 0 8px; }
+.page-head h1 { font-size: 30px; margin: 0 0 6px; }
+.page-head p { color: var(--ink-soft); margin: 0; }
+.breadcrumbs { font-size: 13px; color: var(--ink-faint); padding-top: 16px; }
+
+.filter-bar { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 8px; margin: 16px 0; }
+.filter-bar a {
+ border: 1px solid var(--line); border-radius: 18px; padding: 6px 14px;
+ font-size: 13.5px; font-weight: 600; color: var(--ink-soft);
+}
+.filter-bar a.active { background: var(--wm-blue); border-color: var(--wm-blue); color: #fff; }
+.filter-bar a:hover { text-decoration: none; border-color: var(--wm-blue); color: var(--wm-blue); }
+.filter-bar a.active:hover { color: #fff; }
+
+.azbar { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 4px; margin: 14px 0 20px; }
+.azbar a, .azbar span {
+ display: inline-block; min-width: 32px; text-align: center; padding: 6px 4px;
+ border: 1px solid var(--line); border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 700;
+ font-size: 14px;
+}
+.azbar span { color: #c0c0c0; }
+.azbar a.active { background: var(--wm-blue); color: #fff; border-color: var(--wm-blue); }
+.azbar a:hover { text-decoration: none; background: var(--wm-blue-light); }
+
+.item-list { list-style: none; padding: 0; margin: 0 0 32px; }
+.item-list li {
+ border-bottom: 1px solid var(--line); padding: 14px 4px;
+ display: flex; justify-content: space-between; gap: 16px; align-items: baseline;
+}
+.item-list .item-name { font-size: 17px; font-weight: 700; }
+.item-list .item-meta { color: var(--ink-faint); font-size: 13.5px; white-space: nowrap; }
+
+.article-rows { display: grid; gap: 18px; margin-bottom: 36px; }
+.article-row {
+ display: grid; grid-template-columns: 220px 1fr; gap: 18px;
+ border: 1px solid var(--line); border-radius: 10px; overflow: hidden;
+}
+.article-row img { width: 100%; height: 100%; min-height: 130px; object-fit: cover; }
+.article-row .row-body { padding: 14px 18px 14px 0; }
+.article-row h3 { margin: 4px 0 6px; font-size: 18px; }
+.article-row h3 a { color: var(--ink); }
+.article-row p { margin: 0; color: var(--ink-soft); font-size: 14.5px; }
+.row-meta { font-size: 12.5px; color: var(--ink-faint); margin-top: 8px; }
+
+/* ---------- Detail pages ---------- */
+.detail { display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 300px; gap: 36px; padding: 20px 0 48px; }
+.detail-main h1 { font-size: 32px; line-height: 1.2; margin: 4px 0 10px; }
+.detail-kicker { color: var(--wm-blue); font-weight: 800; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 1px; }
+.byline { color: var(--ink-faint); font-size: 13.5px; margin-bottom: 4px; }
+.byline a { font-weight: 600; }
+.detail-summary { font-size: 18px; color: var(--ink-soft); font-style: italic; margin: 10px 0 18px; }
+.detail-hero img { border-radius: 10px; margin: 0 0 20px; }
+.article-body p { font-size: 16.5px; margin: 0 0 18px; }
+.save-form { margin: 18px 0; }
+.save-form button {
+ background: #fff; border: 2px solid var(--wm-blue); color: var(--wm-blue);
+ padding: 9px 22px; border-radius: 22px; font-weight: 700; font-size: 14.5px;
+ cursor: pointer;
+}
+.save-form button.saved { background: var(--wm-blue); color: #fff; }
+.save-form button:hover { background: var(--wm-blue-light); }
+.save-form button.saved:hover { background: var(--wm-blue-dark); }
+
+.sidebar h2 {
+ font-size: 15px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1px;
+ color: var(--wm-blue-dark); border-bottom: 2px solid var(--wm-blue);
+ padding-bottom: 8px;
+}
+.sidebar ul { list-style: none; padding: 0; margin: 0 0 28px; }
+.sidebar li { border-bottom: 1px solid var(--line); padding: 10px 0; font-size: 14.5px; }
+
+.fact-section { margin-bottom: 26px; }
+.fact-section h2 {
+ font-size: 20px; color: var(--wm-blue-dark); margin: 0 0 8px;
+ border-bottom: 2px solid var(--wm-blue-light); padding-bottom: 6px;
+}
+.fact-section p { margin: 0; font-size: 15.5px; }
+.fact-table { width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 12px 0 24px; }
+.fact-table th, .fact-table td {
+ text-align: left; padding: 9px 12px; border: 1px solid var(--line);
+ font-size: 14.5px; vertical-align: top;
+}
+.fact-table th { background: var(--bg-soft); width: 170px; font-weight: 700; }
+.warn-box {
+ background: #fff7e6; border-left: 5px solid #d97706; padding: 14px 16px;
+ border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; margin-bottom: 26px; font-size: 15px;
+}
+.warn-box strong { color: #92400e; }
+
+/* ---------- Symptom checker ---------- */
+.symptom-grid {
+ display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr); gap: 8px 20px;
+ margin: 18px 0 24px;
+}
+.symptom-grid label {
+ display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 8px; padding: 8px 10px;
+ border: 1px solid var(--line); border-radius: 8px; font-size: 14.5px;
+ cursor: pointer;
+}
+.symptom-grid label:hover { border-color: var(--wm-blue); background: var(--wm-blue-light); }
+.primary-btn {
+ background: var(--wm-blue); color: #fff; border: none; padding: 12px 30px;
+ border-radius: 24px; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; cursor: pointer;
+}
+.primary-btn:hover { background: var(--wm-blue-dark); }
+.result-card {
+ border: 1px solid var(--line); border-radius: 10px; padding: 16px 20px;
+ margin-bottom: 14px;
+}
+.result-card h3 { margin: 0 0 6px; font-size: 19px; }
+.match-pill {
+ display: inline-block; background: var(--wm-blue-light); color: var(--wm-blue-dark);
+ border-radius: 14px; padding: 3px 12px; font-size: 12.5px; font-weight: 700;
+ margin-left: 8px; vertical-align: middle;
+}
+.matched-symptoms { font-size: 14px; color: var(--ink-soft); }
+
+/* ---------- Auth & account ---------- */
+.auth-box {
+ max-width: 440px; margin: 36px auto 60px; border: 1px solid var(--line);
+ border-radius: 12px; padding: 30px 34px;
+}
+.auth-box h1 { font-size: 26px; margin: 0 0 18px; text-align: center; }
+.form-field { margin-bottom: 16px; }
+.form-field label { display: block; font-weight: 700; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 5px; }
+.form-field input {
+ width: 100%; padding: 10px 12px; border: 1px solid #bbb; border-radius: 8px;
+ font-size: 15px;
+}
+.form-field input:focus { border-color: var(--wm-blue); outline: none; }
+.form-errors { color: var(--danger); font-size: 13px; margin-top: 4px; }
+.auth-alt { text-align: center; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 14px; }
+
+.account-tabs { display: flex; gap: 6px; margin: 18px 0 22px; border-bottom: 2px solid var(--line); }
+.account-tabs a {
+ padding: 10px 18px; font-weight: 700; color: var(--ink-soft);
+ border-radius: 8px 8px 0 0;
+}
+.account-tabs a.active { background: var(--wm-blue); color: #fff; }
+.account-tabs a:hover { text-decoration: none; color: var(--wm-blue); }
+.account-tabs a.active:hover { color: #fff; }
+.profile-card {
+ border: 1px solid var(--line); border-radius: 10px; padding: 20px 24px;
+ max-width: 560px; margin-bottom: 30px;
+}
+.profile-card dt { font-weight: 700; font-size: 13px; color: var(--ink-faint); text-transform: uppercase; }
+.profile-card dd { margin: 2px 0 14px; font-size: 16px; }
+
+.saved-list { list-style: none; padding: 0; margin: 0 0 40px; max-width: 760px; }
+.saved-list li {
+ display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center; gap: 14px;
+ border: 1px solid var(--line); border-radius: 10px; padding: 14px 18px;
+ margin-bottom: 10px;
+}
+.saved-list .saved-title { font-weight: 700; font-size: 15.5px; }
+.saved-list .saved-meta { font-size: 13px; color: var(--ink-faint); }
+.saved-list form button {
+ background: none; border: 1px solid var(--line); color: var(--danger);
+ border-radius: 16px; padding: 5px 14px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 700;
+ cursor: pointer; white-space: nowrap;
+}
+.saved-list form button:hover { border-color: var(--danger); background: #fde8e8; }
+
+/* ---------- Author ---------- */
+.author-head { display: flex; gap: 24px; align-items: center; padding: 26px 0 6px; }
+.author-head img { width: 120px; height: 120px; border-radius: 50%; object-fit: cover; }
+.author-head h1 { margin: 0 0 4px; font-size: 28px; }
+.author-role { color: var(--wm-blue); font-weight: 700; font-size: 14px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: .5px; }
+.author-bio { max-width: 760px; color: var(--ink-soft); }
+
+/* ---------- Misc ---------- */
+.empty-note { color: var(--ink-faint); font-style: italic; padding: 18px 0 36px; }
+.error-page { text-align: center; padding: 70px 0 90px; }
+.error-page h1 { font-size: 44px; color: var(--wm-blue); margin-bottom: 8px; }
+
+/* ---------- Footer ---------- */
+.site-footer { background: var(--wm-blue-dark); color: #d7e6f2; margin-top: 40px; }
+.footer-cols {
+ display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(4, 1fr); gap: 24px;
+ padding: 34px 16px 20px;
+}
+.footer-brand { font-size: 26px; font-weight: 800; letter-spacing: -1px; }
+.footer-brand .brand-web { color: #fff; }
+.footer-brand .brand-md { color: var(--wm-cyan); }
+.footer-tag { font-size: 13px; margin-top: 6px; }
+.footer-cols strong { display: block; color: #fff; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 14px; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: .8px; }
+.footer-cols a { display: block; color: #d7e6f2; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 7px; }
+.footer-cols a:hover { color: #fff; }
+.footer-legal { border-top: 1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.2); padding: 14px 16px 22px; font-size: 12.5px; }
+.footer-legal p { margin: 0; }
+
+/* ---------- Responsive ---------- */
+@media (max-width: 860px) {
+ .hero-grid, .detail { grid-template-columns: 1fr; }
+ .card-grid, .strip-grid, .symptom-grid { grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr); }
+ .footer-cols { grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr); }
+ .header-top { flex-wrap: wrap; }
+ .search-form { order: 3; width: 100%; max-width: none; }
+}
+@media (max-width: 540px) {
+ .card-grid, .strip-grid, .symptom-grid { grid-template-columns: 1fr; }
+ .article-row { grid-template-columns: 1fr; }
+ .article-row .row-body { padding: 0 16px 14px; }
+}
diff --git a/sites/webmd/static/icons/.gitkeep b/sites/webmd/static/icons/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/sites/webmd/static/js/.gitkeep b/sites/webmd/static/js/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/sites/webmd/tasks.jsonl b/sites/webmd/tasks.jsonl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b3540082
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/tasks.jsonl
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--0", "ques": "Browse the Well-Being section filtered to the Sleep topic, open the article about how to fall asleep faster, and report the name of the doctor who medically reviewed it.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_0.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open the article detail page /articles/fall-asleep-faster. (2) The answer MUST name the medical reviewer Miguel Santana (Miguel Santana, MD) from that article's byline. (3) Empty answer is a FAIL. FAIL if the article page was never opened or a different reviewer is reported."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--1", "ques": "In the Health News section, filter to the Research & Approvals topic, open the article about RSV vaccines for adults in their 50s, and report both its published date and its medically reviewed date.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_1.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open /articles/rsv-vaccine-adults-50s (the RSV-vaccine-for-adults-in-their-50s article, NOT the RSV-in-infants article). (2) The answer MUST report BOTH the published date (December 23, 2024) AND the medically-reviewed date (December 27, 2024). (3) Empty answer or only one date is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--2", "ques": "In the Diet & Weight Management section, filter to the Food & Recipes topic, open the article listed there, and report who wrote it and which doctor medically reviewed it.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_2.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open /articles/meal-prep-90-minute-system (the Diet & Weight > Food & Recipes article). (2) The answer MUST name BOTH the author Sofia Andersson AND the reviewer Danielle Hart (Danielle Hart, MD). (3) Empty answer or only one name is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--3", "ques": "Use the site search to find the article about how much water you actually need, open it, and report who wrote it, which doctor medically reviewed it, and which topic it is filed under within its section.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_3.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open /articles/hydration-how-much-water. (2) The answer MUST report the author Sofia Andersson, the reviewer Karen Shale (Karen Shale, MD), AND the topic/subcategory it is filed under: Healthy Living. (3) Missing any of the three, or an empty answer, is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--4", "ques": "Search the site for the brand name Flomax, open the matching drug's page, and report the standard adult starting dose and exactly when the page says it should be taken relative to meals.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_4.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open the Tamsulosin drug page /drug/tamsulosin (reached by searching Flomax). (2) The answer MUST give the standard adult starting dose 0.4 mg once daily AND the timing: about 30 minutes after the same meal each day. (3) Empty answer, wrong dose, or missing timing is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--5", "ques": "Search for melatonin and open the article about what the evidence supports. Report the name of its medical reviewer, then open that reviewer's author profile and report the credentials listed there.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_5.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open /articles/melatonin-evidence AND the reviewer profile /authors/steven-marsh-pharmd. (2) The answer MUST name the reviewer Steven Marsh AND report the credentials on his profile: PharmD, BCPS. (3) Empty answer or missing credentials is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--6", "ques": "Open the drug page for warfarin and report the three antibiotics that its interactions section specifically names as raising bleeding risk.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_6.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open the warfarin drug page /drug/warfarin. (2) The answer MUST name all THREE antibiotics its interactions section calls out: ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, and amoxicillin. (3) Fewer than three, wrong drugs, or an empty answer is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--7", "ques": "Open the levothyroxine drug page and report the category label shown at the top of the page and the conditions listed in its 'Used For' sidebar.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_7.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open the levothyroxine drug page /drug/levothyroxine. (2) The answer MUST give the category label (Hormones & Thyroid) AND the conditions in the 'Used For' sidebar: Hyperthyroidism (Overactive Thyroid) and Hypothyroidism (Underactive Thyroid). (3) Missing the category or either condition, or an empty answer, is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--8", "ques": "From the Migraine condition page, open the triptan listed among its related medications and report the maximum total dose in milligrams that page allows in 24 hours, and the minimum number of hours to wait before taking a second dose.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_8.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open the Migraine condition page /condition/migraine AND the related triptan drug page /drug/sumatriptan. (2) The answer MUST give the maximum total dose in 24 hours (200 mg) AND the minimum wait before a second dose (at least 2 hours). (3) Missing either figure, or an empty answer, is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--9", "ques": "From the Atrial Fibrillation condition page, open the factor Xa inhibitor anticoagulant listed among its related medications, and report its standard dose for atrial fibrillation plus the three patient criteria the page lists for using the reduced dose.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_9.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open /condition/atrial-fibrillation AND the factor Xa inhibitor drug page /drug/apixaban. (2) The answer MUST give the standard AFib dose (5 mg twice daily) AND the three reduced-dose criteria: age 80 or older, body weight 60 kg or less, and elevated creatinine. (3) Missing the dose or any criterion, or an empty answer, is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--10", "ques": "Open the Gout condition page and report which diuretic its causes section specifically names as a risk factor. Then open the related article about gout attacks that is linked from that page and report who wrote it.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_10.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open the Gout condition page /condition/gout AND the linked article /articles/gout-attacks-prevention. (2) The answer MUST name the diuretic risk factor hydrochlorothiazide AND the article's author Curtis Boone. (3) Missing either, or an empty answer, is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--11", "ques": "Open the condition page for Vertigo (BPPV) and report the name of the repositioning maneuver its treatments section says cures most cases, and the anti-nausea medicine it names for short-term relief.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_11.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open the Vertigo (BPPV) condition page /condition/vertigo-bppv. (2) The answer MUST name the repositioning maneuver (Epley maneuver) AND the anti-nausea medicine (ondansetron). (3) Missing either, or an empty answer, is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--12", "ques": "Use the Symptom Checker: select Dizziness, Heart palpitations, Fatigue, and Shortness of breath, run the check, and report the top-ranked condition and how many of the selected symptoms it matched.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_12.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST use the Symptom Checker (/symptom-checker) and reach a results page. (2) The answer MUST report the top-ranked condition (Atrial Fibrillation) AND how many of the 4 selected symptoms it matched (4 of 4). (3) A guessed condition without running the checker, missing the count, or an empty answer is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--13", "ques": "Use the Symptom Checker: select Fever, Frequent urination, and Painful urination, run the check, and report the top-ranked condition.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_13.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST use the Symptom Checker (/symptom-checker) and reach a results page. (2) The answer MUST report the top-ranked condition: Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). (3) A guessed condition without running the checker, or an empty answer, is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--14", "ques": "Find the author profile of the medical reviewer on this site who is board-certified in Gastroenterology, and report her name and how many articles she has medically reviewed on this site.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_14.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open the author profile /authors/lucia-ferreira-md (the reviewer board-certified in Gastroenterology). (2) The answer MUST give her name (Lucia Ferreira, MD) AND how many articles she has medically reviewed on the site (5). (3) Missing the count, wrong reviewer, or an empty answer is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--15", "ques": "Register a new WebMD account with the name Jordan Rivera, email jordan.rivera@example.com, and password DemoPass789!, then open the account settings page and confirm the name shown on your profile.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_15.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST hit /register. (2) A new user account with name 'Jordan Rivera' and email jordan.rivera@example.com MUST exist in the after-state DB and MUST NOT exist in the seed. (3) The answer MUST confirm the profile name Jordan Rivera. Self-reported success with no registered user is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--16", "ques": "Log in with the demo account (email: alice.j@test.com, password: TestPass123!), open the article about why gout attacks happen at 3 A.M., save it, then go to your saved articles and confirm it now appears in the list.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_16.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST hit /login, open /articles/gout-attacks-prevention, and open /account/saved. (2) In the after-state DB, 'gout-attacks-prevention' MUST be in alice.j@test.com's saved list AND MUST NOT have been in her seed saved list. (3) A self-report of saving with no DB change is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--17", "ques": "Log in with the demo account (email: bob.m@test.com, password: TestPass123!), change the account password to NewPass456! from account settings, log out, and log back in with the new password to confirm the change worked.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_17.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open /account (settings) and visit /login at least twice (initial login + re-login after the change). (2) In the after-state DB, bob.m@test.com's stored password hash MUST differ from the seed hash; if bcrypt is available it must verify the new password NewPass456!. (3) A self-report with an unchanged password hash is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--18", "ques": "Log in with the demo account (email: carol.w@test.com, password: TestPass123!), open your saved articles list, and report how many articles are saved in it.", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_18.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST hit /login and open /account/saved for carol.w@test.com. (2) The answer MUST report the correct number of saved articles (4, matching the DB). (3) A wrong count or empty answer is a FAIL."}
+{"web_name": "WebMD", "id": "WebMD--19", "ques": "Compare the drug pages for atorvastatin and rosuvastatin: which one's 'Used For' list links more conditions, and which conditions appear on that drug's list but not on the other's?", "web": "http://localhost:40016/", "upstream_url": "https://www.webmd.com/", "verifier_path": "sites/webmd/verify/verify_19.py", "judge_rubric": "FACT CHECKPOINTS: (1) Trajectory MUST open BOTH drug pages /drug/atorvastatin AND /drug/rosuvastatin. (2) The answer MUST state that atorvastatin's 'Used For' list links MORE conditions (4 vs 2) AND identify the two conditions on atorvastatin but not rosuvastatin: Chronic Kidney Disease and Stroke. (3) Wrong winner, missing either unique condition, or an empty answer is a FAIL."}
diff --git a/sites/webmd/templates/404.html b/sites/webmd/templates/404.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..36d0bfec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sites/webmd/templates/404.html
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{% extends 'base.html' %}
+{% block title %}Page Not Found | WebMD{% endblock %}
+{% block content %}
+
+
404
+
We couldn't find that page. It may have moved, or the address may be misspelled.
Based on your selected symptoms:
+ {% for s in picked %}{{ s.name }}{% if not loop.last %}, {% endif %}{% endfor %}.
+ Ranked by how many of your symptoms each condition shares.
 }})
+  }})
+  }})
+  }})
+  }})
+
+  }})
+
+
+