Articles

Ask Amy #3 — Summer Skin

Q: I have sensitive skin, what can I use to protect my skin from the sun, bugs and worse?

Walker’s Drug Store can help with the following essentials:

• Sunscreen – check expiration date
• Bug spray – with Deet (check if age appropriate)
• Check you sun sensitivity to medicines – ask your pharmacist
• Dermatological compounding – if you need a prescription topical ointment
• Get the Shingles Vaccine – even if you’ve had the virus, you can get it again

A lifetime of sun exposure can cause wrinkles, freckles, age spots, rough, dry skin and skin cancer. Good skin care and healthy lifestyle choices can help delay the natural aging process and prevent many skin problems. Tips from www.MayoClinic.com to protect your skin:

• Avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
• Wear protective clothing, sunglasses and hats
• Use sunscreen and apply generous amounts of broad-spectrum sunscreen 30 minutes before going outdoors and reapply every two hours, after heavy sweating or after being in water.
• Check for moles before summer skin is exposed and then repeat in the fall
• Don't smoke
• Daily cleansing and shaving can take a toll on your skin, so keep it gentle
• Eat a healthy diet - The association between diet and acne isn't clear but research suggests that a diet rich in vitamin C and low in fats and carbohydrates may promote younger looking skin
• Manage stress - Uncontrolled stress can make your skin more sensitive and trigger acne breakouts and other skin problems

Ask Amy #2 — Allergies

Q: How should I treat a cold versus seasonal allergies?

Charlotte ranks third as one of the most challenging cities to live in with allergies, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation. Allergies happen when your immune system -- which normally protects your body against invading agents -- overreacts to a minor annoyance. When an allergic person inhales pollen, the immune system falsely identifies these particles as a threat and mobilizes to attack by producing large amounts of antibodies. The antibodies signal the body to unleash protective chemicals, including histamine. Within 30 minutes, small blood vessels in your nose widen and engorge tissues, causing a stuffy nose. Glands start to produce mucus, resulting in the sniffles.

Medicines, such as Claritin, Alegra, and Zyrtec provide the best relief for allergy sufferers. Talk with your doctor or pharmacist before taking over-the-counter medicine to make sure it won't interact with any current medications/conditions. OTC antihistamines and decongestants can also help. There are several proactive things you can do to minimize allergy symptoms.

• Keep your windows closed at home and in the car, especially in the morning when pollen levels are highest. When driving, put the air conditioner on recirculate mode so air doesn't come in from the outside.
• Wash your hands every time you come in from outside.
• Don't hang laundry outdoors. Pollen flying through the air will settle on it.
• If pets spend time outdoors, restrict their movement to certain rooms in the house and never let them in the bedroom.
• Vacuum often.
• Wear a mask while mowing the lawn. And mow often -- before grass gets high enough to bloom and release pollen. Most experts recommend finding a mask that excludes particles from size 12 to 25 microns.
• Check the weather report for the pollen count. If it is high, avoid outside activity.

While allergies and colds share some symptoms, such as coughing, sneezing, and sometimes a sore throat, the symptoms that signify a cold are a runny nose with thick discharge that's also accompanied by stuffiness. To relieve these symptoms, look for an over-the-counter decongestant, and consider steam therapy. If your cough is dry, increase your fluid intake, use a room humidifier, suck on lozenges, or gargle with warm salt water, and look for a combination decongestant/cough suppressant. A moist cough can be a symptom of a respiratory infection so be sure to see your doctor.

Check out our Facebook page and register for one of our free classes or screenings or Ask Amy a question for our next issue. Receive a FREE pill reminder box with purchase of a new/transfer prescription. Walker’s Drug Store accepts electronic prescriptions from providers and provides auto-refills for customers. Delivery is available within a five-mile radius for a small fee. The Ballantyne location provides postage and shipping at a new United States Postal Service counter inside the store. For more information on Walker’s Drug Store, visit www.walkersdrugstore.com or call (704) 321-0027.

Ask Amy #1 — Pets & Travel

Q: What’s the best way to give my pet medicine? We have a trip planned and I’ll have to travel with him. What should I bring?

Veterinary medicines are prepared at a compounding pharmacy to design the medicine in the exact dosage and in a form specifically for your pet. With flavor options like fish, chicken and beef, and trendy new pill pockets, pet medicine is getting easier to swallow. Walker’s Drug Store caters to pets and their owners by working directly with veterinarians to find the right medicine dosage and form to make taking the meds easier on everyone. Whether it’s a pill, a liquid or topical solution, we’ll find the right medicine for your best friend.

Pet Travel Kit – food, water, any pet prescriptions (pack in a cooler if needed), measuring dispenser, dose of Benadryl, pill pockets and antibacterial cleanser.

Tips to Prevent the Flu

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, and throw it away.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid close contact with sick people.
• Get a seasonal flu vaccine when the vaccine becomes available
• Stay home when you are sick
• Who should get the flu shot?

The flu shot is especially important for people at high risk of complications from influenza, including children under five years old; adults 65 years of age and older; pregnant women; and people with existing respiratory, pulmonary and certain other underlying medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease.

Are You Forgetting Something? Take Your Medicines On-Time, Every Time!

Medication non-compliance, the failure to take drugs on-time in the dosage prescribed, is as dangerous and costly as many of the illnesses they’re treating. Approximately 50% of the two billion prescriptions filled each year are not taken correctly.¹

The breakdown of non-compliance is as follows:

• 1/3 of patients take all their medicine
• 1/3 take some of their medicine
• 1/3 don't take any at all (Rx prescription never filled).¹

Studies have shown that non-compliance causes 125,000 deaths annually in the U.S., and leads to 10-25 percent of hospital and nursing home admissions. It’s becoming an international epidemic and The New York Times recently reported compliance is the world's “other drug problem”.¹

There are three major causes of medication non-compliance:

• Cost of medication
• Dosing schedule
• Dosing time

Cost

Many brand name medications have either a generic equivalent or may have a less expensive alternative brand name medication in the same therapeutic category. Ask your pharmacist if the medication you are taking has a less expensive alternative. This may be an option for you and your doctor to discuss or you can ask your pharmacist to talk with your doctor for you.

Schedule

The dosing schedule, the number of times a day a medication is to be taken, can be cumbersome. Taking a medication once a day is usually easy to remember; however, when you need to take a medication two, three even four times a day, it can be easy to forget. Ask your pharmacist if there is an equivalent alternative medication that may need to be taken fewer times per day.

Make it easy to see the number of pills per day, by asking your pharmacist to bubble pack your medication.

You can also place your medications in daily, weekly, or monthly pill containers.

Time

There are medications which need to be taken by itself, without food or any other medications. This means there may be a window of just a few hours when it is appropriate to take the medicine. Ask your pharmacist to help you choose the most convenient time for you to take your medicine.

Take advantage of Auto Refill and your medicine will always be ready. Having your maintenance prescriptions automatically filled by your pharmacy increases compliance. The prescriptions you take every day will be automatically refilled the day before you run out. This eliminates the wait in case your medication needs to be ordered and it allows your pharmacist to call your doctor for refills before you run out of your medication. You will receive a courtesy call when your prescriptions are ready for pick up. Ask your pharmacist to put all your maintenance medications on Auto-Refill and you’ll be one step closer to complete medication compliance.

1. http://www.epill.com/

Pet Meds Don’t Have to Be Hard to Swallow
Just Add Fish Flavor or a Pill Pocket

Not only do we treat our pets as members of the family, but we take them to the vet often and then give them the same medications as humans. With flavor options like fish, chicken and beef, and trendy new pill pockets, pet medicine is getting easier to swallow. Walker’s Drug Stores in Cotswold and Ballantyne cater to pets and their owners by working directly with veterinarians to find the right medicine dosage and form to make taking the meds easier on everyone.