Every drug can have side effects, but we don’t usually pay attention to the labels on the bottles, probably because generally, only a minority will experience the side effects. And they’re not usually that terrible—maybe a rash or a bad bout of diarrhea.

However, some drugs have some weird and often nasty side effects, like those that can make people violent and suicidal. Sometimes, the unintended consequences are good, such as making people less racist. Here we go.

10 Propanolol Makes Users Less Racist

Propanolol is used to treat heart disease, high blood pressure, the physical effects of anxiety, and migraines. But in 2012, researchers at Oxford University found that it can also reduce racism.

Researchers made this discovery after a study revealed that the drug made users less racist. The experiment involved 36 white people who were divided into two equal groups. One group received doses of propanolol, while the others received a placebo. Then both groups were given a test used to detect subconscious racism.^[1]

Results showed the group that took propanolol was less racist than the group that took the placebo. Researchers believe this happens because propanolol works on the amygdalae, the areas of the brain that control emotional responses like fear.

9 Lariam Makes Users Murderous And Suicidal

Lariam is used to treat malaria, but it has the terrible side effect of making users murderous and suicidal. The severity of this is worsened when we realize that the drug used to be the top choice of several militaries deploying soldiers overseas.

In 2009, the US military stopped giving the drug to its special forces after it was linked to several killings and suicides. In one incident, a US soldier killed 16 people in Afghanistan after taking the drug. Today, it is considered a severe offense to administer Lariam to serving US military officers.

Several Irish soldiers have also fingered Lariam for causing a range of symptoms, including memory loss, anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, restlessness, and permanent brain injury. The terrible side effects have caused several militaries to ban Lariam. Others, like the German military, only administer it if other drugs do not work.

In 2013, the FDA had Roche add a black box warning to the drug. A black box is the most severe warning the FDA can have a manufacturer add to their product. The warning states, “Neurologic side effects can occur at any time during drug use, and can last for months to years after the drug is stopped or can be permanent.”^[2]

8 Aripiprazole Makes Users Gamble

Aripiprazole, (aka Abilify, Aristada, etc.) has been blamed for causing weird side effects like excessive shopping, gambling, sex, and eating in users. Aripiprazole is used to treat autism symptoms, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and Tourrette’s syndrome.

Most users complain of the excessive urge to gamble. Strangely, even non-gamblers started gambling after taking the drug. One former user said he gambled so hard that his parents kicked him out of their home.

A Las Vegas woman who was prescribed Abilify to treat her depression said she gambled so much that she lost her home and kids. She’d never had a gambling problem before. The woman claimed she spent between $1 and $2 million on gambling in five years. Once, she was so engrossed in gambling that she missed her flight. She rescheduled the flight and continued gambling but also missed the rescheduled flight.

Researchers believe this happens because aripiprazole affects the dopamine receptors of the brain. Dopamine is released from the brain during pleasure.^[3] The weird side effects stopped when users were taken off the drug.

7 Ambien Makes Users Cook And Eat While Sleeping

Ambien is used to treat insomnia. While the drug works at getting people to sleep, its side effects can see users getting up from their bed, cooking, and eating—all while sleeping. They remain in the kitchen or return to their bed, where they eat and doze off again.

Users have no memory of cooking or eating and will usually be surprised when they find messes in their kitchens and beds the next morning. The weird cooking habit often leads to obesity because for some unknown reasons, users tend to choose high-calorie foods.^[4]

If the sleep-cooking side effect isn’t scary enough, Ambien has also been linked to sleep-driving. However, those arrested for sleeping while driving under the influence of Ambien had taken the drug just before driving, a gross misuse of the medication. There is no recorded instance of a driver waking up from sleep to drive after taking the drug.

6 Capecitabine Can Make Users Lose Their Fingerprints

In 2009, a 62-year-old man was denied entry into the US because he was suspected of being a threat. The reason? He did not have fingerprints. As it turned out, the man lost his fingerprints because he was on capecitabine, which he took as part of his cancer treatment.

Some researchers think the loss of fingerprints could be linked to hand-foot syndrome and hand-foot skin reaction, two other side effects of the drug. Both side effects cause the fingers to swell and peel. However, this is inconclusive.

In one study, 14 percent of capecitabine users lost their fingerprints after eight weeks on the drug. However, a third of those who’d lost their fingerprints regained them within four weeks of stopping treatment.^[5]

5 Mirapex And ReQuip Cause Sudden Sleep

Mirapex and ReQuip are used to treat Parkinson’s disease. Their major side effect is sudden sleep, as in the user just dozes off without warning. Patients have reported falling asleep while driving, sometimes leading to disastrous consequences.

In one incident, a 72-year-old woman crashed her vehicle and killed a pedestrian after falling asleep at the wheel. Beforehand, her physician had prescribed some drugs, including Mirapex and Ultram, a pain reliever she took for her back pain. She noticed she often fell asleep without warning, prompting her to return to her physician.

The unnamed physician blamed her sudden sleep pattern on Ultram (instead of Mirapex) and replaced it with Vicodin. A week later, she was involved in the accident. She fell asleep at the wheel and ran over a pedestrian, causing serious brain injuries that led to death. She’d taken Mirapex, Ultram (despite the prescription change), and Sinemet with a bit of alcohol before the accident.

The sleep-related incidents linked to Mirapex and ReQuip were such that Health Canada asked the drugs’ makers, Boehringer and GlaxoSmithKline, respectively, to inform physicians to advise patients not to drive or engage in activities that require alertness because the drugs can cause sudden sleep.

Some physicians in some cities were also advised to inform local vehicle departments whenever they administered the drugs to a patient. Younger Parkinson’s patients who need to drive regularly often will not take the drugs.^[6]

4 Chantix Makes Users Violent And Suicidal

Chantix is used to help smokers quit smoking. It can also make people suicidal and violent. Users become suicidal and aggressive within two days of taking the drugs and less aggressive when they stop taking the drug. They are also more likely to become more aggressive if they’re taking other drugs with Chantix.

In one incident, a 24-year-old woman beat her boyfriend and attempted killing herself. A 21-year-old woman threatened to shoot her mother, a 42-year-old man punched another person for no reason, and a 46-year-old man thought of committing suicide.

The incidents have sometimes turned deadly, like in 2007, when a musician turned aggressive after taking the drug. He was shot and killed while trying to break into the home of his girlfriend’s neighbor.

Today, the FDA requires Chantix’s manufacturer, Pfizer, to include a warning that the drug can cause violence and suicide. Pfizer disagrees. While the drug company probably agrees that Chantix could be dangerous, they say its benefits are more important than its side effects.^[7]

3 Thalidomide Caused Severe Birth Defects

Thalidomide used to be the go-to drug for depression, insomnia, and morning sickness. It was approved in the UK in 1958 but was banned in 1961, after it was discovered to cause deformities in babies, especially in the limbs.

Within three years, thousands of women who took thalidomide during pregnancy birthed over 10,000 children with shortened or even absent limbs. Its manufacturer, Distillers, quickly found itself in trouble and was forced to pay millions of pounds in settlement. This includes the £200 million it is still paying to 455 limbless children affected by the drug. Payment will be completed in 2037.^[8]

While children in Canada, Europe, and the Middle East suffered from the effects of the drug, American children were less affected because the drug was never approved for widespread use in the United States. This was because of Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey of the FDA, who insisted that the William S. Merrell Company of Cincinnati (which was trying to get the drug approved in the US) provide more information about thalidomide.

The company could not provide more information and was so distraught with the refusal that they ringed Dr. Kelsey’s supervisors and told them she was a “petty bureaucrat.” By 1961, the effects of the drugs were already clear.

Dr. Kelsey received a medal for service to humanity from Congress and the highest federal civilian service award from President Kennedy. Decades later, she received the Order of Canada from the Canadian government. Congress also passed laws to ensure that drugs were safe before they could be approved for sale in the US.

2 Viagra Can Cause Prolonged Erection

Viagra is used to treat erectile dysfunction. So it should be no surprise that its side effects include priapism: prolonged erection.

Normally, the penis becomes erect because of blood flowing into the spongy tissue inside. The blood leaves after ejaculation. However, in rare instances, something stops blood from leaving the penis, causing priapism.

Priapism affects one in every 1,000 Viagra users and is more common among leukemia and sickle cell anemia patients. It is also more likely in people who’ve been administered Caverject, an injection used to treat erectile dysfunction. Because users may find it difficult to differentiate between a regular erection and an adverse reaction to Vigara, doctors categorize any erection that lasts for over four hours after taking Viagra as reason to seek medical attention.^[9]

1 A Number Of Drugs Can Make Users Blind

One of the worst drug side effects might be Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS). Stevens-Johnson syndrome causes the top layer of the skin and mucous membranes to peel off. This includes in sensitive areas like the eyes and the lungs. Having the top layer of the eyes peeled off is one of the easiest ways to go blind.

In one notable incident, 13-year-old Veronica Zenkner ended up with Stevens-Johnson syndrome after taking mere ibuprofen for a headache in 2004. It started with a fever and rash that spread from her neck and face to her back, arms, and throat within days. She ended up with toxic epidermal necrolysis, the worst form of SJS.

Zenkner had to be admitted to a burn facility and placed in a coma during treatment. She later went blind in her left eye, while the right eye remains red, itchy, and light-sensitive. She has to wear sunglasses all the time.

As terrible as this side effect sounds, it is not unique to ibuprofen. In fact, SJS can be caused by almost any drug. However, it is more common among users of drugs like penicillin, sulfonamides, naproxen, ibuprofen, and Lamictal (lamotrigine). In fact, the label on Lamictal warns that Stevens-Johnson syndrome is a possible side effect.^[10]

Doctors have been prescribing medicine for far longer than most people realize. Early prescriptions were etched on clay tablets over 4,000 years ago. The first drugstore was in Baghdad in the eighth century. Medicine has evolved greatly in that time, and the number of prescriptions doctors prescribe has skyrocketed. Upwards of 4.69 billion were filled in America in 2021. And, as it turns out, some prescriptions are for things a little more unexpected than Lipitor or Amoxicillin 

10. Rectal Dilators 

The 18th and 19th centuries were not necessarily a period of enlightenment, as far as medicine was concerned. There was a lot of quackery afoot and treatments that were at best useless and at worst deadly were rolled out for all manner of ailments. This was the era that gave us heavy narcotics as a cure for just about any condition, not to mention things like tobacco enemas and white lead smears.

Not everything that doctors prescribed at this time was medicine, there were also medical devices. Or maybe “alleged” medical devices, like rectal dilators. Sold in a series of graduated sizes, patients were advised to insert the rubber dilator until their rectum had adjusted, then move on up a size. The obvious question now is why. Why would anyone do this? According to the packaging, this was a cure for piles, constipation, headache, stomach disorders, insomnia, and even weak heart action. Who knew the butt was such a pathway to health?

Obviously that was past and now we live in a more progressive time, right? Well, tell that to Sandy Springs, Georgia, which made the sale of any kind of adult-oriented devices like vibrators illegal unless buyers had a prescription from their doctors. 

9. Beer 

If you’ve ever had an extended stay in a hospital, you’ve experienced hospital food. It’s made to be fairly bland by design because the last thing a hospital wants is to make people even sicker. So generally you get mild, flavorless, textureless sustenance. But they will throw in a curveball now and then.

Some hospitals provide beer by prescription to some patients. It may be prescribed for patients going through withdrawal to help them ease their symptoms. In at least one hospital in Canada, patients are prescribed a small daily dose of vodka to help overcome their alcoholism. The concept dates back to Prohibition times when people could be exempted from the ban if their doctor signed off on it. Prescriptions were written for beer and even whiskey back then. Consider it like medical marijuana prescriptions closer to the present. Whiskey doesn’t have a whole lot of medicinal value, of course, and the prescriptions seemed to just be a way for doctors to make a few extra bucks. 

8. Lubricant 

We already covered how some intimate items have been the subject of prescriptions in various times and places, but it doesn’t just end there. Even things like KY Jelly have been prescription-only. 

The water soluble personal lubricant is made mostly of glycerol and hydroxyethylcellulose. There are a handful of preservative and antiseptic ingredients as well, but nothing close to a narcotic or anything really dangerous at all. Despite that, it was introduced in 1917 when it was available by prescription only. It wasn’t until 1980 that you could buy the stuff over the counter. 

It’s still prescribed today for some patients to deal with symptoms relating to conditions that cause excessive dryness. A doctor may prescribe it so that it can potentially be covered by drug benefit plans rather than paying out of pocket for it. 

7. The ADHD Video Game

Minecraft is the top-selling video game of all time, with around 238 million copies sold. That’s a lot of blocks. For years, parents, encouraged by the media, have feared that video games were causing their children problems, including things like ADHD. There’s no evidence that’s the case, however. In fact, there’s evidence that video games may help kids with ADHD, so much so that there’s a video game that can be prescribed by doctors to help treat it called EndeavorRx. 

The game is designed for kids between eight and 12 years of age. It wasn’t just slapped together, either. Clinical trials of the game lasted six years and included 600 children. After four weeks of using the game, one-third of children report improvement in their abilities to concentrate. Half of parents agreed they’d seen a noticeable difference in their child day to day. 

The game works by using sensory stimuli and motor challenges to target portions of the brain related to attention and concentration according to its creators. That said, critics think it’s mostly smoke and mirrors and little more than a scam. 

6. Leeches

Once upon a time, a doctor might prescribe leeches to you if he thought your blood was giving you flatulence. Have the little guys suck out a bit of the bad stuff and you’d get better, was the thinking. More commonly it was used to treat things like fever, which were thought to be caused by an imbalance of the humors. Basically, you had too much blood, and it made you hot. They’d be placed inside your nostrils, your lips, or all sorts of places to help alleviate symptoms. 

While to modern sensibilities, this seems like quackery, it’s not entirely baseless. In fact, leeches are still prescribed by some doctors to this day. They’re not used to treat anything like a fever or hemorrhoids as they once were, but they do have a place. For instance, if a person has suffered a severed digit that was sewn back on, leech therapy could be prescribed to stimulate blood flow and prevent clotting as the repaired finger heals.

Leeches have a compound in their saliva called hirudin that prevents blood from coagulating. This is an ideal and weirdly natural way to promote healing and blood flow as a result. 

They’re not the only creepy-crawly that might be prescribed these days, either. Maggot therapy is still being used in some cases as well. The larvae of flies have a knack for devouring rotten tissue while ignoring healthy stuff, so they can be used to clean wounds that are having trouble healing. 

5. Passes for National Parks 

Have you ever heard someone recommend you go outside and get some fresh under because it’ll do you good? Turns out there’s something to that idea, and doctors are getting on board with it in Canada. You can get a prescription for visiting a national park there.

Canada has numerous national parks from coast to coast and typically these require the payment of an entrance fee. Those who make use of parks, especially for things like camping or fishing, find a Parks Canada Discovery Pass to be a worthwhile investment as it gives you access to all parks across the country for a whole year. That’s over 80 parks and 450,000 square kilometers of space. They cost $72.25 Canadian for an adult. 

Doctors and some nurses are able to prescribe these passes in several provinces. Patients suffering from both mental and physical conditions are being given them based on evidence that indicates being immersed in nature can reduce anxiety and improve a person’s mental and physical wellbeing. 

4. Cooking Classes

Medicine has to always be evolving. We can’t rest on our laurels because people are always getting sick with something and there are always better ways to deal with it. Modern doctors, some of them anyway, have taken to thinking outside the box to try to treat the patient as a whole rather than focusing on a single symptom or condition. That’s how you end up getting prescription cooking classes. 

Loneliness causes health problems. It’s been recognized by numerous health organizations for some time now. Social isolation is not good for people and can lead to increased risk for all manner of illness, both mental and physical. So rather than giving patients medication for the effects of conditions brought on by isolation and loneliness, doctors are getting ahead of the problem. Cooking classes and even walking groups are being prescribed to help people get out and be in the world with others. This was happening even before Covid, so it will probably ramp up once the pandemic has passed considering how much damage it’s done with increased isolation. 

3. Fruits and Veggies

Everyone knows that they should be eating fruits and vegetables, but in a lot of cases that’s more of a nice idea than a reality. Some people just have unhealthy habits and don’t eat properly, while others have fewer opportunities to do so. For some people in food deserts where access to fresh fruits and vegetables is difficult, eating healthy can be a real chore. For others, it can be cost prohibitive to maintain a healthy diet for themselves and their family as prices go up. 

New York City started a program where doctors could prescribe fruits and vegetables to those with conditions like high blood pressure and poor access to healthy food. The prescriptions are essentially just vouchers for healthy food and for many people, it’s a real benefit. They get to eat better and get healthier while the food is actually covered, so they’re getting some relief on their food bills. 

The program began at two hospitals back in 2013 but has continued for years. Patients receive coupons worth $2 a piece that can be used at hundreds of markets across New York. The Pharmacy to Farm Program was adopted in 2017 and gives patients $30 from participating pharmacies to spend on fruits and vegetables.

2. Bicycles

With doctors prescribing things like nature and healthy foods, it’s not a stretch to imagine how a prescription bicycle might fit into the mix as well. In 2014, doctors in Boston began writing prescriptions as part of the “Prescribe-a-Bike” program which allowed low-income patients to subscribe to Hubway for $5 a year. Memberships are typically $11 per month. Hubway was the precursor to Blue Bikes, a bicycle sharing program based in Boston that started in 2011. By 2021, they had over 23,000 members. 

The Prescribe A Bike program is meant to combat obesity, and it’s been a success. Another program started in Brooklyn and Portland as well. The UK has its own nationwide initiative. 

1. Radon Healing Mines 

Most people never run afoul of radon gas but if you do, it may be thanks to it leaking into your house. Some homes have radon detectors in the basement because radon, a radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer, is present in soil. In certain places, it can seep into homes and build to toxic levels in the basement. And if it does that, why would you ever want to be exposed to it?

Turns out radon also has therapeutic properties. Radon has been used for over a century to treat chronic pain and inflammation. In Montana, patients can even get a prescription to go sit in abandoned uranium mines full of it. 

Uranium decays into radon so old mines tend to be saturated in it. Because it’s been used as a treatment for pain and inflammation as well as various muscular disorders, patients with severe arthritis and other conditions find it beneficial. Clinics have been set up at old uranium minds to allow patients to simply sit in the old mines and soak it in. Radon levels in the mines are about 400 times what the EPA cites as safe.

In other countries, radon hot springs are prescribed for therapeutic reasons and recognized by the healthcare community, but it’s less well regarded in America. The people sent to the Montana mines are the people who are in so much pain they’re debating between choosing radon or suicide, so it’s a serious issue even if it sounds bizarre on the surface. 

The reason for the beneficial effects has never been seriously studied, so what is known is limited. The exposure may be promoting cell repair while eliminating free radicals and activating proteins that limit inflammation. Whatever the mechanism, it seems to work for some people