We have lots of new items in the gift shoppe: clothing, shoes, and home décor. We also have several reclaimed pieces of furniture, including a book case from the University of Alabama.

I recently read this excellent article on Alzheimer’s by the Auburn University Drug Information Center. It is written for medical professionals, not laymen. Yet it does a great job of covering the signs and symptoms of AD plus it covers the proper role of pharmaceuticals. I didn’t want to try to re-write it, so here it is:

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/pharmacy/dilrc/pdf/auinformed_13_5_alzheimers.pdf

Find ways to get and stay health in 2014.

Healthy You
Make an appointment for a check-up, vaccination, or screening. We provide wellness screeinngs, so even if you don’t have health insurance, we can very economically screen your cholesterol, blood sugar, BMI, and blood pressure.

Healthy Family
Serve healthy meals and snacks and encourage and support physical activity.

healthy Home
Install smoke alarms on every floor, including the basement and particuarly near rooms in which people sleep.

Healthy Community
Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand santitizer.

November is American Diabetes Month, so you might be seeing some extra information about diabetes. Today, I want to try to distill some of my thoughts about it.

First, when we speak of diabetes, 85% of the time its Type 2 or adult diabetes. This is what effects millions of American’s. These patients typically don’t take insulin. Becuase this is the most common type of diabetes, my comments are geared toward them.

First, there has never been a better time to be diabetic. The new insulins are awesome: not just in terms of how well they control blood sugar, but also in terms of stability and ease of use devices. The oral medications are very good as well. Both metformin and pioglitazone are both generic and extrememly affordable.

Second. while the medications are good, I am afraid exericse and diet get lost in the mix. As American’s, we are programmed to think: “I am sick, so I take a pill and that’s it.” Type 2 diabetes is a disease most often due to lifestyle. God didn’t design you to eat excessive amounts of sugar and be a coach potatoe. We are desgined to be active.

Third, this is winnable: small amounts of change play huge dividends. It all starts will what you put in your mouth. Consider: consuming an extra 100 cal/day results in a 10 pound per year weight gain. But the opposite is also true: consuming 100 cal/day less than you need results in a 10 pound per year weight loss. That’s doable!

Also, small amounts of weight loss helps with blood sugar. Even if you are considerably overweight, studies show losing 10% of your wieght results in a large drop in blood sugar.

Finally, be active. I will go to my grave as a walker. It is the best way: it’s basically free, you can do it in a number of places, and we can do it basically year round in the south. Here is the catch: you got to do it for 30 minutes at a time, and you got to get a little sweaty. If you can’t do 30 minutes, go as far as you can and add 5 minutes every week or two.

We provide a number of services for diabetics: prescriptions, diabetic shows, wellness screening, immunizations. Let us help!

I have included a link below to a recent article that caught my attention. It conerns a recent lawsuit involving a drug error at Huntsville Hospital.

This is a difficult topic, because everyone in healthcare likes to act like this never happens, yet we all know it can and does. I want to be frank with you about this difficult topic.

First of all, please know my heart: it is my deepest desire, above all else, that no patient would ever experience any harm from a mistake my staff or I made. Thankfully, that prayer has been answered up to now, and I continue to petition for God’s daily guidance. Our goal is to always have the right pills in the right bottle for the right patient.

Second, we take a number of steps to prevent drug errors. I always tell our staff: never work faster than you think is safe. While our wait times are very short, I much rather you wait an extra 5-10 minutes during a particularily busy time and know every prescription is 100% right. Don’t rush!

Third, one of the advantages of local pharmacies is we know local prescribing patterns. Often, drug mistakes are caught because we know, “Dr. X typcially doesn’t prescribe this drug. Let’s double check…”

Fourth, look-alike/sound-alikes are always on our antenna (also know as LASA errors.) All of our LASA drugs have tAlL mAn letters to help differentiate them. Also, we have LASA stock segregated from regular stock. That is the type of drug error described in this article: Tegretol and Trileptal have similar names, dosages, and indications (both are used for seisures).

Finally, we encourage patient guestions. We always tell our patients, “if anything looks awry, always tell us. It could be something innocent (like a different manufacturer) but we can’t know unless we talk.” That is what is concerning about this example. If the article is accurate, then someone didn’t take the time to double check. Humility in healthcare is not weakness: double check!

I do not cast judgements on anyone mentioned in this article, as there may be a number of key facts missinng. That being said, I could see based on my experience how something like this could easily happen. Also, as a parent it makes me thankful that it appears this young lady made a full recovery.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/10/post_1251.html

October is American Pharmacist Month and I want to post some good, common sense ideas about safely managing your medications.

1. Always read the medication label.
2. When choosing an OTC medication, always choose a medication that will treat only the symptoms you have.
3. Know what to avoid while taking a medication (other medications, certain foods, alcohol, etc).
4. Take the medication exactly as directed on the labe.
5. Don’t combine OTC and prescription drugs without first talking to your pharmacist.
6. Don’t share your medications or take someone else’s.
7. Don’t use medications after the expiration date.

We have the best customers in the world and we love taking care of them! If you have questions about your medication, treatment options, etc, we are here to help!