Archive for September, 2012
Home blood glucose monitoring
Posted by pharmacyinfoguy in Health Issues on September 25, 2012
I really like the info presented in this video about home blood glucose monitoring.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SISNj4osaM Health Talk #6 Self Blood Glucose Monitoring by Olean General Hospital
Check it out if you have diabetes or take care of someone who does.
If you like this video see more on my Likeable Links Page on the About tab
Ready to Quit?
Posted by pharmacyinfoguy in Health Issues on September 23, 2012
Smoking is a difficiult habit to break. The combination of physical and psychological addictions make it a formidal opponent.
Understanding the process and knowing what’s coming may help you prepare for the fight. And a fight it is for many.
It often takes multiple attempts for a smoker to become a non smoker.
Did you know smokers have more nicotine binding receptors than nonsmokers? Smoking is believed to cause the brain to create extra receptors to acoomodate the nicotine doses taken in from tobacco.
These extra receptors add to the discomfort and craving experienced when nicotine is taken away. This makes quitting “cold turkey” difficult for many especially when combined with the triggers created by the smoking habit itself.
So, you need to identify your triggers. Think about when you smoke and what you associate with during that time. Maybe it’s getting out of bed in the morning, having a cup of coffee, driving to work, having a drink with friends and many, many more events in your life.
Next, decide how you want to quit. If you have tried cold turkey and failed you might try nicotine supplements and tapering. After all, nicotine patches and gum are much less harful than the smoke inhaled from cigarettes. So it takes you a year or more to wean off the nicotine product, who cares? The goal is to QUIT SMOKING.
Nicotine patches can supply steady amounts to your body which greatly decreasees the cravings from smoking cessation. Some people still don’t get enough nicotine from the strongest patches. What to do? You may want to add some nicotine gum when the cravings tempt you to light up again. Remember it’s a fight between you and your cravings. Every time you decrease nicotine patch strengths you may experienc cravings. Again, having some nicotine gum or lozenges handy may greatly increase your success. And, when you finally stop the nicotine patches, you may want to keep nicotine gum or lozenges with you all the time until you finally feel you no longer need them. Expensive? Not really if you compare to cigarette smoking for the rest of your life.
No matter what you can expect some irritability, insomnia and and anxiety. It usually takes 6 weeks or more to decrease the quantity of nicotine receptors in your brain.
Other methods require prescriptons and shoud be discussed with your presciber or pharmacist to see if they are right for you.
Always follow directions on over the counter products containing nicotine and never exceed the doses on the package. NEVER smoke if you have a nicotine patch on. Consult with your prescriber or pharmacist if you have any cardiovascular diseases such as previous heart attack, high blood pressure, angina or others to help you get started.
Try, try again until you scucced.
Questions?
Hello world!
Posted by pharmacyinfoguy in Photos on September 22, 2012
My goal is to provide basic information about medications and their use for treatment of common medical problems.
Your Prescriptions
Posted by pharmacyinfoguy in Prescription Filling on September 22, 2012
So, what is your pharmacist doing behind those counters that seems to take so long sometimes?
Filling prescriptions involves many processes. There is more to it than counting pills and labeling bottles.
During the filling process the prescription must be read and input into the pharmacy’s computer system.
Over 90% of customers have insurance, so the prescription must be transmitted to your insurance claims processor for approval.
Next the correct medication must be counted or measured, packaged and labeled.
Then your pharmacist must verify the prescription information the packaged medication and label.
The prescription makes it’s way to the checkout counter where you can pay and be on your way.
Sounds easy, Right?
Each of these steps can be disrupted which slows the process and can cause minor delays (minutes) or major delays (days) depenidng on where the process stops.
The prescription may be poorly written and difficult to read. Information may be missing which is required to process your prescription.
Your insurance may have special requirements or “prior authorization” requirements, meaning your prescriber must provide additional information to them before the claim will be approved. At this point you may choose to pay cash instead, but many medications are very expensive.
Counting, packaging and labeling are usually fast and simple unless the order has multiple prescriptons. This increases the time to get them ready for approval by the pharmacist.
Pharmacist verification is the last step between your medication processing and you receiving your medication. It is very important to verify accuracy, appropriateness, dosing, drug interactions and disease interactions during this step.
Once the pharmacist verifies the prescription, it will be sent to the checkout area. Please remember to ask to speak to your pharmacist if you have not taken this medication to cover questions and proper use of the medication.
As I said. Sounds easy. But the devil is always in the details.
Questions?
pharmacyinfoguy 