Click to hear Trevor's Pharmacy Feature-Audio Segment
Thanks to all the good people at the Parkland's Best Music 730 CKDM
Return to Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy site
Friday, May 29, 2009
WORLD MS DAY
By Trevor Shewfelt, Pharmacist at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy
Have you heard Trevor on the radio? Listen to 730 CKDM Tuesday Mornings at 8:35 am! We now have most of the articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 was the first World MS Day! The plan is every year to mark World MS Day on the last Wednesday in May. World MS Day is being established by the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation to raise awareness of MS, national MS Societies (like the MS Society of Canada) and the global MS movement.
What is MS or multiple sclerosis? It is an unpredictable and often debilitating disease of the brain and spinal cord. Some of the long nerves in the brain and spinal cord have a covering called myelin. Myelin works a little like the plastic covering around a telephone cord. Without the insulating plastic cover, some of the signal that goes down the telephone wire would leak out. The voice on the phone would sound delayed, weakened, garbled or possibly not there at all. In MS, the body mistakenly attacks the insulating myelin sheath around some of the nerve fibers. So the signals from the brain to the body or body back to the brain get weaker, delayed, garbled or go missing altogether.
The fact that MS affects some myelin covers, some of the time leads to one of the most fascinating and frustrating facets of the disease. The symptoms of MS change and are unpredictable. The most common form of MS, relapsing and remitting MS, has well defined attacks followed by complete or partial recovery. It can go away and come back. And it can affect vision, hearing, memory, balance and mobility. And this is not just that the disease affects different people in different ways! The same person can have different symptoms each attack. You can imagine how frustrating it would be to both worker and employer if a worker came to work one week in a wheel chair and then the next week could walk. Then six months later she can still walk, but says she can’t read her computer screen without magnification. And then she is fine. And then six months later she calls in sick for 3 weeks because she is too fatigued to leave the house. Unfortunately, changing symptoms that come and go and not being able to look at someone a see obvious signs that they are sick can confuse some employers and lead them to treat an employee with MS unfairly.
Compared with big diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes, why should you care about MS? While it is true that MS isn’t as common or deadly heart disease, cancer and diabetes, MS is the most common neurological disease affecting young adults in Canada. In fact, Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world. Within our country, Manitoba has one of the highest rates of MS in Canada. So Multiple Sclerosis does have a lot of relevance in our area.
What can you do to help end MS? How about tell you kid to study hard and maybe they will be the next Mike Namaka. Dr. Mike Namaka originally trained as a pharmacist and then did a lot more schooling and got a Ph.D. in neuroscience. His is now an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy and does research about the causes, treatments and possible cures for MS. He treats people with MS at the MS Clinic in Winnipeg along with an extensive healthcare team. Did I mention Dr. Mike Namaka grew up in Winnipegosis? If your child studies hard, maybe she will discover the cure and finally end MS.
After you remind your child to do their homework, why not visit the MS Society? The MS Society is your best place to go with general MS questions. They also run several fund raisers during the year like the Manitoba Lotteries MS Walk, MS Read-A-Thon and my favorite the RONA MS Bike Tour. They money raised goes to both world class research and innovative services to help people with MS across Canada. The MS Society has an excellent website at mssociety.ca, but if you are in the Dauphin area, why not go visit Robin Searle? Robin manages the Parkland Chapter of the MS Society which is located in the beautifully restored train station in Dauphin on 1st Ave NW. Robin is an excellent resource for information about MS, for services provided to people in the Parkland with MS and for information about local fund raising for MS.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
Have you heard Trevor on the radio? Listen to 730 CKDM Tuesday Mornings at 8:35 am! We now have most of the articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 was the first World MS Day! The plan is every year to mark World MS Day on the last Wednesday in May. World MS Day is being established by the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation to raise awareness of MS, national MS Societies (like the MS Society of Canada) and the global MS movement.
What is MS or multiple sclerosis? It is an unpredictable and often debilitating disease of the brain and spinal cord. Some of the long nerves in the brain and spinal cord have a covering called myelin. Myelin works a little like the plastic covering around a telephone cord. Without the insulating plastic cover, some of the signal that goes down the telephone wire would leak out. The voice on the phone would sound delayed, weakened, garbled or possibly not there at all. In MS, the body mistakenly attacks the insulating myelin sheath around some of the nerve fibers. So the signals from the brain to the body or body back to the brain get weaker, delayed, garbled or go missing altogether.
The fact that MS affects some myelin covers, some of the time leads to one of the most fascinating and frustrating facets of the disease. The symptoms of MS change and are unpredictable. The most common form of MS, relapsing and remitting MS, has well defined attacks followed by complete or partial recovery. It can go away and come back. And it can affect vision, hearing, memory, balance and mobility. And this is not just that the disease affects different people in different ways! The same person can have different symptoms each attack. You can imagine how frustrating it would be to both worker and employer if a worker came to work one week in a wheel chair and then the next week could walk. Then six months later she can still walk, but says she can’t read her computer screen without magnification. And then she is fine. And then six months later she calls in sick for 3 weeks because she is too fatigued to leave the house. Unfortunately, changing symptoms that come and go and not being able to look at someone a see obvious signs that they are sick can confuse some employers and lead them to treat an employee with MS unfairly.
Compared with big diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes, why should you care about MS? While it is true that MS isn’t as common or deadly heart disease, cancer and diabetes, MS is the most common neurological disease affecting young adults in Canada. In fact, Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world. Within our country, Manitoba has one of the highest rates of MS in Canada. So Multiple Sclerosis does have a lot of relevance in our area.
What can you do to help end MS? How about tell you kid to study hard and maybe they will be the next Mike Namaka. Dr. Mike Namaka originally trained as a pharmacist and then did a lot more schooling and got a Ph.D. in neuroscience. His is now an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy and does research about the causes, treatments and possible cures for MS. He treats people with MS at the MS Clinic in Winnipeg along with an extensive healthcare team. Did I mention Dr. Mike Namaka grew up in Winnipegosis? If your child studies hard, maybe she will discover the cure and finally end MS.
After you remind your child to do their homework, why not visit the MS Society? The MS Society is your best place to go with general MS questions. They also run several fund raisers during the year like the Manitoba Lotteries MS Walk, MS Read-A-Thon and my favorite the RONA MS Bike Tour. They money raised goes to both world class research and innovative services to help people with MS across Canada. The MS Society has an excellent website at mssociety.ca, but if you are in the Dauphin area, why not go visit Robin Searle? Robin manages the Parkland Chapter of the MS Society which is located in the beautifully restored train station in Dauphin on 1st Ave NW. Robin is an excellent resource for information about MS, for services provided to people in the Parkland with MS and for information about local fund raising for MS.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
Friday, May 22, 2009
LICORICE - Audio
Click to hear Trevor's Pharmacy Feature-Audio Segment
Thanks to all the good people at the Parkland's Best Music 730 CKDM
Return to Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy site
Thanks to all the good people at the Parkland's Best Music 730 CKDM
Return to Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy site
LICORICE
By Trevor Shewfelt, Pharmacist at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy
Have you heard Trevor on the radio? Listen to 730 CKDM Tuesday Mornings at 8:35 am! We now have most of the articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
So I’ve had the same question now in both Dauphin and Winnipegosis. People keep asking me about a belly fat burning product they read about in the Winnipeg Free Press. The product is called Glabrinex. The clipping from the Free Press said Glabrinex was made with Glycyrrhiza and it had been used for over 4000 years. I was time to go look through some ancient scrolls and stone tablets to see what I could find.
Well, it turns out that Glycyrrihiza is one of about a dozen names for licorice. Licorice is easier for me to say and spell, so that is how I am going to refer to it.
The Natural Medicines database rates licorice as likely safe when used orally in amounts commonly found in foods. Licorice has the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status in the US. Like almost everything, though, the dose is the key. Large amounts of licorice, like over 30 g per day, for several weeks can cause very high blood pressure, low potassium, alkalosis, weakness, paralysis and occasionally brain injury in otherwise healthy people. As little as 5 grams per day can cause problems in people with high blood pressure or kidney problems. The amount of licorice in Glabrinex is only 100 mg per capsule and they only recommend you take 3 capsules per day, so 300 mg is still less than 5 g.
The Free Press article talks about the dangers of belly fat. And as far as I can tell belly fat does seem to produce more chemical signals called peptide hormones and inflammatory cytokines than fat cells elsewhere. These bad chemical signals have been implicated in increasing the chance of heart attacks and strokes by causing inflammation in the blood vessels. I guess that is one more reason that people like me with a little extra around the middle should try to reduce our bellies.
Which brings us back to the licorice extract. Is it a good idea for reducing belly fat? Maybe. The manufacturers of Glabrinex did a study. The group that got Glabrinex, the licorice extract product, lost weight, and lost belly fat. They lost more than that group that got the placebo. The good results took at least 8 weeks to appear. So everyone who has a little extra around the middle like me should go and buy the stuff, right? Well maybe not.
The Natural Medicines Database rates the evidence for weight loss for licorice as mixed at best. It does acknowledge that licorice has been shown to reduce body fat, but other studies have found that the accompanying fluid retention offsets the weight loss.
As a pharmacist, I worry the most about people who are on other medications who want to take a licorice extract. People who are on blood pressure or heart failure medications should avoid licorice extracts as the possible fluid retention can raise blood pressure and worsen heart failure. People on the blood thinner warfarin should definitely avoid licorice as it may increase how fast your body breaks down warfarin and could lead to a blood clot.
So, I guess the bottom line is for a young, health person a licorice extract to lose belly fat may be safe. However if you retain water, the actual weight reduction may be small. If you have high blood pressure, heart failure or are on warfarin, licorice extracts aren't for you.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
Have you heard Trevor on the radio? Listen to 730 CKDM Tuesday Mornings at 8:35 am! We now have most of the articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
So I’ve had the same question now in both Dauphin and Winnipegosis. People keep asking me about a belly fat burning product they read about in the Winnipeg Free Press. The product is called Glabrinex. The clipping from the Free Press said Glabrinex was made with Glycyrrhiza and it had been used for over 4000 years. I was time to go look through some ancient scrolls and stone tablets to see what I could find.
Well, it turns out that Glycyrrihiza is one of about a dozen names for licorice. Licorice is easier for me to say and spell, so that is how I am going to refer to it.
The Natural Medicines database rates licorice as likely safe when used orally in amounts commonly found in foods. Licorice has the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status in the US. Like almost everything, though, the dose is the key. Large amounts of licorice, like over 30 g per day, for several weeks can cause very high blood pressure, low potassium, alkalosis, weakness, paralysis and occasionally brain injury in otherwise healthy people. As little as 5 grams per day can cause problems in people with high blood pressure or kidney problems. The amount of licorice in Glabrinex is only 100 mg per capsule and they only recommend you take 3 capsules per day, so 300 mg is still less than 5 g.
The Free Press article talks about the dangers of belly fat. And as far as I can tell belly fat does seem to produce more chemical signals called peptide hormones and inflammatory cytokines than fat cells elsewhere. These bad chemical signals have been implicated in increasing the chance of heart attacks and strokes by causing inflammation in the blood vessels. I guess that is one more reason that people like me with a little extra around the middle should try to reduce our bellies.
Which brings us back to the licorice extract. Is it a good idea for reducing belly fat? Maybe. The manufacturers of Glabrinex did a study. The group that got Glabrinex, the licorice extract product, lost weight, and lost belly fat. They lost more than that group that got the placebo. The good results took at least 8 weeks to appear. So everyone who has a little extra around the middle like me should go and buy the stuff, right? Well maybe not.
The Natural Medicines Database rates the evidence for weight loss for licorice as mixed at best. It does acknowledge that licorice has been shown to reduce body fat, but other studies have found that the accompanying fluid retention offsets the weight loss.
As a pharmacist, I worry the most about people who are on other medications who want to take a licorice extract. People who are on blood pressure or heart failure medications should avoid licorice extracts as the possible fluid retention can raise blood pressure and worsen heart failure. People on the blood thinner warfarin should definitely avoid licorice as it may increase how fast your body breaks down warfarin and could lead to a blood clot.
So, I guess the bottom line is for a young, health person a licorice extract to lose belly fat may be safe. However if you retain water, the actual weight reduction may be small. If you have high blood pressure, heart failure or are on warfarin, licorice extracts aren't for you.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Occupational Asthma
By Trevor Shewfelt, Pharmacist at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy
Have you heard Trevor on the radio? Listen to 730 CKDM Tuesday Mornings at 8:35 am! We now have most of the articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
World Asthma Day has just passed recently and the Lung Association was marking it by promoting awareness of occupational or work-related asthma. I learned a lot of things from their work-related asthma campaign and I thought I’d share some.
Occupational or work-related asthma is a type of asthma which is caused by exposure to something in the workplace. So that means someone who didn’t have asthma goes to work and because of something they are exposed to at work becomes asthmatic. The time of exposure can vary from a few days to several years before the asthma develops. Work-exacerbated asthma is when someone has asthma before they start a job, but something at that job makes the asthma worse.
There are two types of occupational asthma: sensitizing and irritant induced asthma. Sensitizing asthma develops after the worker has been exposed to a workplace chemical/product for a period of time. The exposure over a long time causes the worker to become sensitized to the chemical/product. Eventually the sensitization turns into an allergy. So this type of occupational asthma often occurs after long term exposure like months or years. Sensitizing asthma is the most common type of occupational asthma.
The second type of occupational asthma is called irritant induced asthma. This type of asthma usually occurs after an intense exposure to some workplace chemical/product. This type of asthma is not based on an allergy, but on a severe irritation. It is also referred to as Reactive Airway Dysfunction Syndrome. A persistent asthmatic state develops after workers are exposed to a high concentration of an irritant. So this type of occupational asthma can occur after a short term but high concentration exposure.
If workers experience shortness of breath, wheezing or coughing at work or shortly after work, they may have occupational asthma. Ideally, the next step would be to have a breathing test done. If the breathing test says a the worker has asthma, the doctor and patient need to go through a detailed history to try to figure out which chemicals/products at work might be causing the breathing problems. It may be necessary to have a referral to an immunologist and have allergy skin testing done. This allergy skin testing involves lots of little pokes to the skin with different chemicals to see what the patient reacts to. Unfortunately, not every workplace chemical is included in the skin tests.
When I think about occupational asthma, I think about people who work in large chemical factories. Apparently, I have to expand my mental picture to include many other occupations. In fact one of the Lung Association catch lines is, “If you work, you should know about work-related asthma.” Some of the occupations that surprised me were bakery workers being exposed to wheat/rye flour and eggs, hairdressers being exposed to henna, and Dialysis Nurses being exposed to formaldehyde.
The most effective treatment of occupational asthma is to separate the worker from the offending chemical. Ideally this would be done by enclosing the process or substituting the chemical for a safer one. Unfortunately it can be not possible to do this and the worker will have to change jobs to avoid the chemical. If the worker continues his or her exposure the asthma will often get worse. When workers leave the source of their exposure, it can take 2 years for their asthma to stabilize. And, of course if your doctor prescribes asthma medications to help your condition, use them.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
Have you heard Trevor on the radio? Listen to 730 CKDM Tuesday Mornings at 8:35 am! We now have most of the articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
World Asthma Day has just passed recently and the Lung Association was marking it by promoting awareness of occupational or work-related asthma. I learned a lot of things from their work-related asthma campaign and I thought I’d share some.
Occupational or work-related asthma is a type of asthma which is caused by exposure to something in the workplace. So that means someone who didn’t have asthma goes to work and because of something they are exposed to at work becomes asthmatic. The time of exposure can vary from a few days to several years before the asthma develops. Work-exacerbated asthma is when someone has asthma before they start a job, but something at that job makes the asthma worse.
There are two types of occupational asthma: sensitizing and irritant induced asthma. Sensitizing asthma develops after the worker has been exposed to a workplace chemical/product for a period of time. The exposure over a long time causes the worker to become sensitized to the chemical/product. Eventually the sensitization turns into an allergy. So this type of occupational asthma often occurs after long term exposure like months or years. Sensitizing asthma is the most common type of occupational asthma.
The second type of occupational asthma is called irritant induced asthma. This type of asthma usually occurs after an intense exposure to some workplace chemical/product. This type of asthma is not based on an allergy, but on a severe irritation. It is also referred to as Reactive Airway Dysfunction Syndrome. A persistent asthmatic state develops after workers are exposed to a high concentration of an irritant. So this type of occupational asthma can occur after a short term but high concentration exposure.
If workers experience shortness of breath, wheezing or coughing at work or shortly after work, they may have occupational asthma. Ideally, the next step would be to have a breathing test done. If the breathing test says a the worker has asthma, the doctor and patient need to go through a detailed history to try to figure out which chemicals/products at work might be causing the breathing problems. It may be necessary to have a referral to an immunologist and have allergy skin testing done. This allergy skin testing involves lots of little pokes to the skin with different chemicals to see what the patient reacts to. Unfortunately, not every workplace chemical is included in the skin tests.
When I think about occupational asthma, I think about people who work in large chemical factories. Apparently, I have to expand my mental picture to include many other occupations. In fact one of the Lung Association catch lines is, “If you work, you should know about work-related asthma.” Some of the occupations that surprised me were bakery workers being exposed to wheat/rye flour and eggs, hairdressers being exposed to henna, and Dialysis Nurses being exposed to formaldehyde.
The most effective treatment of occupational asthma is to separate the worker from the offending chemical. Ideally this would be done by enclosing the process or substituting the chemical for a safer one. Unfortunately it can be not possible to do this and the worker will have to change jobs to avoid the chemical. If the worker continues his or her exposure the asthma will often get worse. When workers leave the source of their exposure, it can take 2 years for their asthma to stabilize. And, of course if your doctor prescribes asthma medications to help your condition, use them.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
Friday, May 08, 2009
PHARMACARE 2009
By Trevor Shewfelt, Pharmacist at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy
We now have this and most other articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website. Please visit us at www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
Recently, I had the pleasure of driving up to Ethelbert and speaking at the Ethelbert Credit Union Annual General Meeting. It was held at the Parish Hall next to the Church. By the way, the Church in Ethelbert is a very pretty building. Anyway, I talked about pharmacare in general, and pre-pays in particular. During the excellent lunch put on by the Ethelbert Grad Committee, there were lots of questions. I thought you might have some too.
Pharmacare is a drug benefit program for any Manitoban, regardless of age, and is based on family income. So, everyone in Manitoba is entitled to Pharmacare benefits. Pharmacare is designed to help people pay for their prescription medications if they get expensive. Beginning in April of every year, everyone pays for their prescription medications out of their pocket. They keep paying until they reach their deductible. After a person reaches their deductible, Manitoba Health pays for 100% of their covered medications. Your pharmacare deductible is based on your family income and is between 2.69%-5.79% of your total income as declared on line 150 of your Notice of Assessment .
You will notice I said Manitoba Health will pay for 100% of COVERED medications after someone reaches their Pharmacare Deductible. What does covered mean? A covered medication is one that appears on the Manitoba Drug Formulary. After Health Canada determines a medication is safe and effective, Health Canada approves it for. Then Manitoba Health looks at it and decides if they want to pay for it. If Manitoba Health decides it is willing to pay for a medication, the medication is put on the list of covered medications. That list is called the Manitoba Drug Formulary. Not all medications are on it. New medications can take months or years to get added to the Formulary after they have been approved for use in Canada.
.
How do I know what my pharmacare deductible is? If you have applied for pharmacare benefits, every year Manitoba Health will mail you a letter stating your deductible. If you can’t remember if you ever filled out the form to apply for pharmacare benefits, visit your pharmacist. We can call Manitoba Health and ask them if they have a pharmacare application on file for you. Can I pay off my deductible all at once? Funny you should ask! Several years ago the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy had several customers ask that. So we set up a program called a Pharmacare Pre-Pay. If someone wants to pay off their deductible all at once, we let them and we give them a 10% discount. So for example, let's say someone's Pharmacare Deductible was $500. If they paid the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy $450, the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy would get them a $50 credit. Now there would be a $500 credit on the person's account. The person would buy prescripiton medications as usually and just charge them against that credit. At some point down the road, that $500 credit would get used up. However, at $500 of medications filled, they would reach their Pharmacare deductible and Manitoba Health would start paying for their prescriptions.
So why would someone want to Pre-Pay their pharmacare deductible? Well, some people like only paying once. They like to get it all over with. Other people like that if they pre-pay pharmacare deductible at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy, that makes their covered prescription medications cheaper than anywhere else. Let's look at the person with the $500 deductible again. If that person fills their covered prescription medications at a pharmacy in Winnipeg, Brandon, Thompson, or whereever he/she will have to spend $500 until Pharmacare starts paying for their medications. If that same person Pre-Pays their pharmacare deductible at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy, they will only have to spend $450. The Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy will give them a $50 credit which is 10% off.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
We now have this and most other articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website. Please visit us at www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
Recently, I had the pleasure of driving up to Ethelbert and speaking at the Ethelbert Credit Union Annual General Meeting. It was held at the Parish Hall next to the Church. By the way, the Church in Ethelbert is a very pretty building. Anyway, I talked about pharmacare in general, and pre-pays in particular. During the excellent lunch put on by the Ethelbert Grad Committee, there were lots of questions. I thought you might have some too.
Pharmacare is a drug benefit program for any Manitoban, regardless of age, and is based on family income. So, everyone in Manitoba is entitled to Pharmacare benefits. Pharmacare is designed to help people pay for their prescription medications if they get expensive. Beginning in April of every year, everyone pays for their prescription medications out of their pocket. They keep paying until they reach their deductible. After a person reaches their deductible, Manitoba Health pays for 100% of their covered medications. Your pharmacare deductible is based on your family income and is between 2.69%-5.79% of your total income as declared on line 150 of your Notice of Assessment .
You will notice I said Manitoba Health will pay for 100% of COVERED medications after someone reaches their Pharmacare Deductible. What does covered mean? A covered medication is one that appears on the Manitoba Drug Formulary. After Health Canada determines a medication is safe and effective, Health Canada approves it for. Then Manitoba Health looks at it and decides if they want to pay for it. If Manitoba Health decides it is willing to pay for a medication, the medication is put on the list of covered medications. That list is called the Manitoba Drug Formulary. Not all medications are on it. New medications can take months or years to get added to the Formulary after they have been approved for use in Canada.
.
How do I know what my pharmacare deductible is? If you have applied for pharmacare benefits, every year Manitoba Health will mail you a letter stating your deductible. If you can’t remember if you ever filled out the form to apply for pharmacare benefits, visit your pharmacist. We can call Manitoba Health and ask them if they have a pharmacare application on file for you. Can I pay off my deductible all at once? Funny you should ask! Several years ago the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy had several customers ask that. So we set up a program called a Pharmacare Pre-Pay. If someone wants to pay off their deductible all at once, we let them and we give them a 10% discount. So for example, let's say someone's Pharmacare Deductible was $500. If they paid the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy $450, the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy would get them a $50 credit. Now there would be a $500 credit on the person's account. The person would buy prescripiton medications as usually and just charge them against that credit. At some point down the road, that $500 credit would get used up. However, at $500 of medications filled, they would reach their Pharmacare deductible and Manitoba Health would start paying for their prescriptions.
So why would someone want to Pre-Pay their pharmacare deductible? Well, some people like only paying once. They like to get it all over with. Other people like that if they pre-pay pharmacare deductible at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy, that makes their covered prescription medications cheaper than anywhere else. Let's look at the person with the $500 deductible again. If that person fills their covered prescription medications at a pharmacy in Winnipeg, Brandon, Thompson, or whereever he/she will have to spend $500 until Pharmacare starts paying for their medications. If that same person Pre-Pays their pharmacare deductible at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy, they will only have to spend $450. The Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy will give them a $50 credit which is 10% off.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Custom Compounding - AUDIO
Click to hear Trevor's Pharmacy Feature-Audio Segment
Thanks to all the good people at the Parkland's Best Music 730 CKDM
Return to Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy site
Thanks to all the good people at the Parkland's Best Music 730 CKDM
Return to Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy site
Custom Compounding
By Trevor Shewfelt, Pharmacist at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy
We now have this and most other articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website. Please visit us at www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
How do you give a gorilla an eye drop? Very carefully. Seriously, this was a question a pharmacist who did work for a zoo was asked. Apparently the usual procedure was to tranquillize the animal and keep it under anesthetic for several days while the eye drops were given. This was very expensive and quite dangerous for the gorilla. So while the pharmacist was walking home trying to figure out what to do about this problem, some kids squirted him with a “Super-Soaker”. A Super-Soaker is an enormous water pistol that can squirt a long way. The pharmacist had an idea. He figured out how many shots it would take to fill up a paper cup from a distance. Then the pharmacist made up the correct concentration of eye drop to go into the Super-Soaker and the gorilla’s eye infection was cured in a few days. No tranquillizers needed.
What this pharmacist did is called custom compounding. With a prescription from a doctor, dentist or veterinarian we can modify or make a medication to make life easier for a patient.
At the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy, we have never compounded for a gorilla. But we have made lots of interesting stuff. We made a topical version of lorazepam for a nursing home patient. Lorazepam can be used to calm someone who is very agitated. But, as you can imagine, trying to give a pill to someone who is very agitated and has dementia can be difficult. Sometimes the nurse even gets bitten. There is an injectable version of lorazepam, but again it is difficult for the nurse and distressing for the patient. But, holding an agitated patient’s hand and rubbing a medication on their wrist is a very natural and calming thing for a nurse to do. So, we made a topical version of lorazepam so the nurse could rub into onto the wrist. It worked well for both nurse and patient.
We have been asked to make various kinds of wound preparations. One of the interesting bases we use is a gel that is liquid in the fridge but solidifies at body temperature. We have put antibiotics, medications to increase blood flow, medications to improve healing, pain killers, and others into the gel at the doctor's request. The neat thing is the nurse gets to pour the right amount directly into the wound, the liquid forms nicely to all the crevasses in the wound and then it solidifies into something like the consistency of Jello. Another interesting would treatment came from Dr. Kish. He calls it Sugar Paste and it is basically a bunch of different sugars and some stuff to hold them together. It goes directly into the wound and promotes healing quite well.
For animals, under a vet’s direction, we have made a variety of products. We have made everything from injections for cattle to liquid antidotes for dogs who ate rat poison. One interesting thing we made was a thyroid medication for a cat. I don't know if you have ever tried to get your fingers close to pointy sharp cat teeth to give them a pill, but it can be painful. So we put the cat’s thyroid medication into a topical form and the owner rubbed s it into the cat's ear.
Are there compounds we couldn’t make? Absolutely. Once a doctor asked if I could make a nitroglycerin patch stronger than the commercially available one. When I called the chemical supply companies to try to order nitroglycerin, they wouldn’t sell it to me because it is VERY explosive. It is one of the ingredients in dynamite and there was a great risk I’d blow myself up if I tried to compound with it. In the end though, I find it very rewarding to try to help patients but coming up with unique solutions to their medication needs.
So if you have trouble getting a medication in a form you can use, give us a call. We'd love to try and help you.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
We now have this and most other articles published in the Parkland Shopper on our Website. Please visit us at www.dcp.ca
The information in this article is intended as a helpful guide only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional advice. If you have any questions about your medications and what is right for you see your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.
How do you give a gorilla an eye drop? Very carefully. Seriously, this was a question a pharmacist who did work for a zoo was asked. Apparently the usual procedure was to tranquillize the animal and keep it under anesthetic for several days while the eye drops were given. This was very expensive and quite dangerous for the gorilla. So while the pharmacist was walking home trying to figure out what to do about this problem, some kids squirted him with a “Super-Soaker”. A Super-Soaker is an enormous water pistol that can squirt a long way. The pharmacist had an idea. He figured out how many shots it would take to fill up a paper cup from a distance. Then the pharmacist made up the correct concentration of eye drop to go into the Super-Soaker and the gorilla’s eye infection was cured in a few days. No tranquillizers needed.
What this pharmacist did is called custom compounding. With a prescription from a doctor, dentist or veterinarian we can modify or make a medication to make life easier for a patient.
At the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy, we have never compounded for a gorilla. But we have made lots of interesting stuff. We made a topical version of lorazepam for a nursing home patient. Lorazepam can be used to calm someone who is very agitated. But, as you can imagine, trying to give a pill to someone who is very agitated and has dementia can be difficult. Sometimes the nurse even gets bitten. There is an injectable version of lorazepam, but again it is difficult for the nurse and distressing for the patient. But, holding an agitated patient’s hand and rubbing a medication on their wrist is a very natural and calming thing for a nurse to do. So, we made a topical version of lorazepam so the nurse could rub into onto the wrist. It worked well for both nurse and patient.
We have been asked to make various kinds of wound preparations. One of the interesting bases we use is a gel that is liquid in the fridge but solidifies at body temperature. We have put antibiotics, medications to increase blood flow, medications to improve healing, pain killers, and others into the gel at the doctor's request. The neat thing is the nurse gets to pour the right amount directly into the wound, the liquid forms nicely to all the crevasses in the wound and then it solidifies into something like the consistency of Jello. Another interesting would treatment came from Dr. Kish. He calls it Sugar Paste and it is basically a bunch of different sugars and some stuff to hold them together. It goes directly into the wound and promotes healing quite well.
For animals, under a vet’s direction, we have made a variety of products. We have made everything from injections for cattle to liquid antidotes for dogs who ate rat poison. One interesting thing we made was a thyroid medication for a cat. I don't know if you have ever tried to get your fingers close to pointy sharp cat teeth to give them a pill, but it can be painful. So we put the cat’s thyroid medication into a topical form and the owner rubbed s it into the cat's ear.
Are there compounds we couldn’t make? Absolutely. Once a doctor asked if I could make a nitroglycerin patch stronger than the commercially available one. When I called the chemical supply companies to try to order nitroglycerin, they wouldn’t sell it to me because it is VERY explosive. It is one of the ingredients in dynamite and there was a great risk I’d blow myself up if I tried to compound with it. In the end though, I find it very rewarding to try to help patients but coming up with unique solutions to their medication needs.
So if you have trouble getting a medication in a form you can use, give us a call. We'd love to try and help you.
As always if you have any questions or concerns about these or other products, ask your pharmacist.
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