.

I have been a community and hospital pharmacist for over thirty years … trained in clinical pharmacy at one of the largest healthcare centers in the South. I am a consultant pharmacist for Medication Therapy Management (MTM) for the State of North Carolina.

I search the Internet and other sources for information that I think you should be aware of; that should be interesting and important for you to know. When I see something that meets these criteria, I will let you know about it in my next article.

If you don’t see some information that you need and it is within my areas of education and expertise, I will try to post an article or an answer as soon as possible! You can put your request in the “Contact Us” area located above the upper left column on this page.

.

.

Bob Diamond R.Ph Pharmacist

Tweet

Technorati Tags: Cancer, colon cancer, Diabetes, health care, Healthcare, pharmacist, pharmacy

What kind of pills are these?

Worried about those capsules you found in your teenager’s room? Not sure about some of those leftover pills still in the bathroom cabinet? There’s a good chance that our Pill Identification Wizard (Pill Finder) can help you match size, shape, colour… then lead you to find the detailed description in our drugs database.

NOTE: As a general rule, we should all periodically check our medicine cabinets for any expired, re-bottled, or unidentified pills. The safest bet is to keep all medications in their original bottles or packets, with pertinent labeling and instructions attached, to avoid confusion and mistakes.

Most pills can usually be identified by color, size, shape and a combination of letters and numbers.

Click here for a Pill Identification Wizard

Technorati Tags: Medicine, Pill Identification

The Basics

Food poisoning (foodborne illness) is when you get sick from eating or drinking something that has harmful germs (like bacteria, viruses, or parasites) in it. Two common causes of food poisoning are E. coli and Salmonella.

Good habits like these can help protect your family from food poisoning:

• Buy food from stores that look and smell clean.
• Don’t buy food past “sell by,” “use by,” or other expiration dates.
• Wash your hands often with warm water and soap – especially before and after touching food.
• Make sure food is cooked to a safe temperature.
• Keep raw meat and seafood away from cooked and ready-to-eat food.
• Keep cold foods cold. Keep hot foods hot.

Technorati Tags: food handling, food poison, food poisoning

Technorati Tags: Breast Cancer, Cancer, Healthcare

nist.gov image

by Rosemary Gibson

.

The October 19 Health Affairs briefing entitled “Saving Medicare Dollars and Improving Care,” sponsored by the ABIM Foundation and other funders, was a watershed moment in which ideas that would require less spending on health care that would actually improve care for patients were discussed on K Street. This is a great message for patients and, it so happens, for the super committee deliberations a few miles away.

Dr. Nancy Morioka-Douglas, Clinical Professor of Medicine/Family and Community Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine highlighted seven often unnecessary things done in primary care, such as EKGs in patients without symptoms, that were identified by the Good Stewardship groupconvened by the National Physicians Alliance.

Later, Dr. Steve Weinberger, Executive Vice President and CEO of the American College of Physicians identified sensible principles to guide the integration of a “less is more” theme in public policy, such as:

• Avoid interventions that don’t help and may harm
• Give incentives to physicians and patients to avoid low value care
• Use payment approaches that are politically feasible, medically appropriate and minimally burdensome
• Recognize that there will always be exceptions.

The discussion addressed the tip of the iceberg. The next step is to move to the big-ticket items where the literature is quite clear that patients are harmed by back surgeries for which there is no evidence of efficacy, cardiac bypass surgeries that are unwarranted, and duplicative and unnecessary diagnostic imaging that exposes patients to cancer-causing radiation, among many other tests and procedures performed that may cause more harm than good.

We can’t put all of the health care reform burden on patients, even with shared decision-making. Physician leadership is essential. That’s why this meeting will hopefully be the first of many conversations on K Street and on Capitol Hill.

In the end, this is all about good care of the patient. That’s the primary motivation. It’s also true that as a society, we don’t have money to waste. As I wrote in The Treatment Trap, the best way to preserve Medicare is to pay for things that improve health and well-being, and to stop paying for things that don’t. If we don’t get it right, and get it right soon, even the good things will be cut. Let’s act on the wisdom we have that knows the difference.

Rosemary Gibson led national quality and safety initiatives at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  She is author of The Treatment Trap and Wall of Silence: The Untold Story of the Medical Mistakes that Kill and Injure Millions of Americans. This article originally appeared on The Medical Professionalism Blog.

Technorati Tags: Healthcare, Medical Tests, Medicare

(Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

.

(CBS/AP) The Listeria outbreak from cantaloupes is now the deadliest foodborne illness outbreak in the U.S. in more than 25 years.

Pictures: 10 dangerous but common food safety mistakes

The CDC announced Wednesday that 23 people have died from listeriosis, while another 116 have been sickened. Not since 1985, when Listeria from Mexican-style soft cheeses killed 52 people, has a foodborne illness outbreak been this deadly in America. The current death toll also surpassed a 1998 Listeria outbreak linked to processed meats that killed 21 people.

Officials say the tainted cantaloupes from Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo., should be off store shelves by now, as they were recalled mid-September and their shelf life is about two weeks. But the number of deaths may continue to grow. Symptoms of listeriosis can take up to two months to appear.

The CDC on Wednesday confirmed two more deaths in Louisiana. Other deaths have been reported in Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.

Listeria illnesses have been reported in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

FDA investigators said that Colorado health officials found Listeria in cantaloupes taken from grocery stores and from a victim’s home that were grown at Jensen Farms. Matching disease strains were found on equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms’ packing facility in Granada, Colo. FDA officials have said they were looking at the farm’s water supply and possible animal intrusions among other things to figure out the source of the problem. Listeria grows in moist and muddy conditions, and the bacteria are often are carried by animals.

Jensen shipped the cantaloupes to about half the states, but added that it wasn’t sure where the cantaloupes went because they have been sold and resold. Some companies may be unaware that they bought or distributed the tainted fruit.

Listeria is more deadly than other well-known pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli. While most healthy adults can consume Listeria with no ill effects, it can kill the elderly, those with compromised immune systems, and unborn children of pregnant women. The CDC said the median age of those sickened is 78, and most people who are ill are over 60. The CDC said it is also aware of one miscarriage linked to the outbreak.

Colorado has the most illnesses with 34, while Texas has reported 17.

Technorati Tags: Listeria

Background: Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States.

Methods: The 2005–2010 National Health Interview Surveys and the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey were used to estimate national and state adult smoking prevalence, respectively. Current cigarette smokers were defined as adults aged ≥18 years who reported having smoked ≥100 cigarettes during their lifetime and who now smoke every day or some days.

Results: In 2010, 19.3% of U.S. adults were current cigarette smokers. Higher smoking prevalence was observed in the Midwest (21.8%) and South (21.0%). From 2005 to 2010, the proportion of smokers declined from 20.9% to 19.3% (p<0.05 for trend), representing approximately 3 million fewer smokers in 2010 than would have existed had prevalence not declined since 2005. The proportion of daily smokers who smoked one to nine cigarettes per day (CPD) increased from 16.4% to 21.8% during 2005–2010 (p<0.05 for trend), whereas the proportion who smoked ≥30 CPD decreased from 12.7% to 8.3% (p<0.05 for trend).

Conclusions: During 2005–2010, an overall decrease was observed in the prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults; however, the amount and direction of change has not been consistent year-to-year.

Implications for Public Health Practice: Enhanced efforts are needed to accelerate the decline in cigarette smoking among adults. Population-based prevention strategies, such as tobacco taxes, media campaigns, and smoke-free policies, in concert with clinical cessation interventions, can help decrease cigarette smoking and reduce the health burden and economic impact of tobacco-related diseases in the United States.

Click here > to read the rest of this article from the CDC

Technorati Tags: Causes of Death, Causes of Illness, CDC, Tobacco Use

Arthritis Remedy Site image

Will physical activity reduce or increase your arthritis pain? Get tips on exercise and other common concerns when coping with arthritis symptoms and arthritis pain.

By Mayo Clinic staff

.

You get all kinds of advice about exercise, medication and stress reduction, but how do you know what will work best for you? Here are some do’s and don’ts to help you figure it out.

Basics

Whatever your condition, you’ll have an easier time staying ahead of your pain if you:

• Talk to your doctor about all your symptoms, arthritis related or not. Sometimes seemingly unrelated problems are, in fact, connected.
• Give your doctor complete information about all your medical conditions, not just arthritis.
• Ask your doctor for a clear definition of the type of arthritis you have.
• Find out whether any of your joints are already damaged.

Everyday routines

Do some gentle exercise in the evening; you’ll feel less stiff in the morning. When you’re technically doing nothing — watching TV or sitting at your desk, for instance — be sure to:

• Adjust your position frequently.
• Periodically tilt your neck from side to side, change the position of your hands, and bend and stretch your legs.
• Pace yourself. Take breaks so that you don’t overuse a joint and cause more pain.

Technorati Tags: arthritis, Arthritis Pain, Arthritis Therapy

by NATASHA BURGERT, MD

.

A recent issue of Pediatrics includes a new report detailing the need for doctors to improve patient teaching about fever and fever-reducing drugs.

Many parents fear their child getting a fever, or have “fever phobia.” I certainly can understand why. Kids can do crazy things when they get fevers. They don’t sleep well, eat poorly, and behave strangely. Some children can even have seizures due to a quick spike in body temperature. So it isn’t surprising that beginning as early as the pre-natal consultation, parents ask questions about what to do when their child gets a fever.

Concern about childhood fevers is long-standing in our history. Fever superstitions and ancient fever remedies are ribboned throughout all cultures. For example, Romans would trim the fingernails of those affected with fever. Using wax to attach the fingernail clippings to a neighbor’s front door was thought to transmit the fever to that household. Note: Do not have ancient Romans as neighbors. And, even today, I will occasionally see children whose elders have used a method called cupping to literally suck the fever out of them.

So, here are 5 fabulous facts about fever. Some of these statements may be exactly opposite what our mothers have said about fever. The goal of this post is not to discredit grandma, but to decrease fever phobia and treat fever correctly. And with the right information, maybe the next time our pink-cheeked kiddos come to us with warm foreheads, we might not be so eager to jump to our medicine cabinets.

Please note: The following facts are NOT true for infants under the age of 3 months. Please talk to your pediatrician about newborns with fever.

1. There is no “number” on a thermometer that requires a trip to the Emergency Department.Nope, not even 104F degrees. With very specific exceptions, kids do not have to maintain a “normal” temperature during times of illness. Fever is a normal, healthy way for the body to fight common infections. Bacteria and viruses that attack our bodies love normal body temperature, but cannot successfully replicate in hotter conditions. Fever, therefore, reflects a robust immune system’s defense against these pathogenic attackers. The bacteria and viruses are the enemy, not the fever they cause.

So remember: fever is a symptom of illness, not a disease. Seeing a high number on the thermometer means your child’s body is doing its job to fight an infection.

2. The severity of fever does not always correspond with the severity of illness. So, what does that mean? A fever is generally defined as over 100F degrees. However, with few exceptions, the degree “number” over 100F really doesn’t matter. In fact, a fever of 101F degrees does not make more difference to me than a fever of 103F degrees.

I have kids running and playing in my office with high fevers. I have other children who look sluggish and sad with a reasonably mild fever. Every kiddo reacts to a fever differently. So regardless of the actual numerical value, look for signs of serious illness in your child. Observe his level of discomfort, level of activity, and ability to maintain adequate hydration. If you are concerned, call your pediatrician to discuss the next steps.

3. Fevers do not have to be treated with medication. Fevers help the body fight infection. Treating a fever is only necessary when you think your child is uncomfortable. The goal of administering antipyretic (anti-fever) medications is not to get a high temperature back to “normal.” They are simply medications to make your child feel better.

Fevers can make kids feel pretty lousy. Children can have altered sleep, unusual behavior, and poor oral intake. If these symptoms are upsetting to your child, please give a fever reducing medication. Treating fever does provide comfort, and may decrease the risk of dehydration.

As an aside, if you are coming to the pediatrician’s office because your child has a fever and her or she is uncomfortable, please give your child a fever reducing medication prior to coming to the office. You do not have to wait until the doctor “sees them with a fever.” A comfortable child is much easier to examine. And a good exam will often determine the cause of the fever, allowing for accurate treatment.

4. Half of you are dosing fever medications incorrectly. As many as one-half of parents do not administer the correct dose of fever reducing medication to their child. This includes both under-dosing and over-dosing. Medications should be dosed according to your child’s weight, not age. Always use the measuring device that comes with the medication. If you lose the dosing device, use only a standard measuring instrument (syringe, medicine cup) as a replacement. Household spoons and measuring spoons are not always accurate.

I often hear parents deliberately under-dosing their child. They say, “I didn’t really want to give him medication, so I just gave him a half-dose.”

A “half-dose” will do nothing. Don’t bother.

If you feel that your child needs medication, give the correct dose. If you have questions about your child’s dosage or the proper measuring device to use, call your pediatrician.

5. Fever does not cause brain damage. In a person with a normal functioning brain, and the ability to cool oneself, fever is normal response to infection. Every normal brain has a internal “thermostat” that will prevent a person’s temperature from getting high enough to cause brain damage. It is only when hyperthermia, or heat stroke, occurs when damage to the brain and other organs will occur. Hyperthermia happens in the rare instances when an individual’s brain cannot regulate temperature well (as in a rare case of brain injury) or when an individual is not able to cool oneself (as in a closed car on a summer day.) Fever due to illness in a normal child will not cause organ damage.

Natasha Burgert is a pediatrician who blogs at KC Kids Doc.

Technorati Tags: Brain Damage, Children, Fever, Fever Medicine, High Fever, Pediatrics

The Mayo Clinic Diet is a different approach to weight loss. It’s a lifestyle that can help you maintain a healthy weight for a lifetime.

By Mayo Clinic staff

.

If you’re overweight, you’ve probably tried many diet and weight-loss plans, yet the weight keeps coming back. You might have even tried what you thought was a Mayo Clinic diet — but it was probably bogus.

If the diets you’ve tried haven’t worked, don’t be surprised or call it quits. Most people who diet find that weight loss is a never-ending roller coaster ride. You may lose some weight at first, but then the weight loss stops or you regain the weight.

The problem may be that you just haven’t found the right approach yet. The Mayo Clinic Diet — the real one, that is — can help. The Mayo Clinic Diet isn’t like most diets. The Mayo Clinic Diet is a lifestyle approach that can improve your health and help you maintain a healthy weight for a lifetime.

The Mayo Clinic Diet: A new approach to healthy weight

The Mayo Clinic Diet is a program that helps you make simple, healthy, pleasurable changes in your lifestyle that result in a weight you can maintain for the rest of your life. Why the emphasis on lifestyle? It turns out that a healthy lifestyle is also a great way to lose weight and keep it off. You get better health and better weight. Not a bad deal.

Perhaps best of all, this program is enjoyable. Eating is one of the great joys in life. What you eat on this diet has to taste good, or you won’t do it. The Mayo Clinic Diet emphasizes foods that not only are healthy but also taste great.

The Mayo Clinic Diet: How does it work?

The Mayo Clinic Diet involves changing habits. With the Mayo Clinic Diet, you work to reshape your lifestyle by breaking unhealthy old habits that sabotage your weight and adopting healthy new habits that will lead you down a path toward better health.

The Mayo Clinic Diet has two phases:

• Lose It! This two-week phase is designed to help you begin seeing results right away, with weight loss of 6 to 10 pounds (2.7 to 4.5 kilograms, or kg). Unlike fad diets that promise rapid weight loss, the Mayo Clinic Diet approach is safe and healthy while building momentum and enthusiasm. It’s based on changing habits for a lifetime so that the weight you lose doesn’t come back, as it probably has in the past on fad diets.
• Live It! This second phase builds on Lose It! and is designed to help you continue to lose weight at a rate of 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kg) a week until you reach your weight goal. This phase also helps you maintain your weight goal permanently by continuing and tweaking lifelong healthy habits.

Within each phase, the diet helps you uncover your inner motivation — what really matters to you — that will help keep you on track in your effort to lose weight.

Click here to go to Page 2 > Mayo Clinic Diet for Life

Technorati Tags: Diet, Healthy Lifestyle, Mayo Clinic, weight control, Weight Loss