The Panic

There is so much scare and panic around because of coronavirus that is increasingly affecting people. Let’s remain calm. Practice some safety measures and you would be preventing the virus from affecting you.

• Stay hydrated

• Build your immune system. Eat well, increase your fruit consumption.

• Wash your hand frequently with soap and water, if not available use an alcohol-based sanitizer to sanitize your hands.

• Disinfect surfaces at workplaces, house e.t.c

• Bath regularly and wash your clothes

• Cover your mouth with your elbow when coughing, or cover with a tissue paper and properly dispose of after use.

• Maintain social distance, avoid crowded places and avoid handshakes and hugs this period.

• Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine not yet approved for the treatment of CoronaVirus. Hours after we got this information about chloroquine used in covid19 treatment, now every Nigerian wants to start taking chloroquine as what, prevention I guess? Everybody is stopping at the pharmacy to see if they can purchase chloroquine. The side effects of chloroquine are adverse. Do not self medicate. Chloroquine would be used only when the patient has been confirmed to be positive. Please let us not create more problems for ourselves.

#StaySafe

GLAUCOMA

The eyes are one of the most precious gifts given to us by the creator. It is a vital organ that helps us see because of this very important function it is good we take care of it so we do not get to lose it. Glaucoma is one condition that affects the eye, it damages the optic nerve which is responsible for transmitting images to the brain. The damage is as a result of increased intraocular pressure. Glaucoma is one of the most leading causes of blindness in the elderly.

Open-angle and closed-angle glaucoma are the two most common types. Loss of vision, eye pain are the symptoms of glaucoma. Those with a family history of glaucoma, diabetic patients, hypertensive patients, people with previous eye injuries, people who take steroid medications are at risk of developing glaucoma.

Treatment includes eye drops, oral tablets, and surgery that would help reduce eye pressure.

Glaucoma doesn’t have any initial symptom or sign and can cause a permanent vision loss. Everyone is encouraged to have their eyes examined regularly especially people who are at risk of developing glaucoma. Patients with high intraocular pressure are advised to adhere to your doctor’s instructions.

StayHealthy

WorldGlaucomaWeek

COUGH

Cough is a reflex action that helps to clear the airway off irritants or mucous. Coughing could be discomforting especially those night persistent cough or irritating when you have to spit out those thick heavy mucus. A cough could either be a wet cough(a cough that brings out viscid mucous) or a dry cough( no mucous).

The type of cough would give a clue on the cause of cough.
Coughing could result from the usage of some medications (e.g antihypertensives like lisinopril), Asthma, infectious organisms( bacteria or virus), disease condition( Heart failure) and smoking.
Coughing resulting from medication use would resolve once the medication is stopped. Proper management of asthma would also help reduce the coughing as a result of an asthma attack. Antibiotics are included in the treatment when it is caused by bacteria.

Wet coughs are better managed using an expectorant that would help reduce the viscosity of the mucous and make it easier for people to cough it out. Examples of expectorants are Ammonium chloride, bromhexine, balsam of Tolu, carbocisteine,e.t.c.

Cough center suppressants are better used to suppress dry cough since there is no mucous present in this type of cough. Opioids like codeine, nonopioids like Dextromethorphan, antihistamines like chlorpheniramine are used as suppressants.

Some health tips

*Wash your hand frequently using soap and water.

*When you have a cough, cover your mouth to prevent cough droplets from expelling out and contaminating the environment.

*Drink plenty of water to keep your body hydrated.

*Fruits and vegetables would be encouraged as this would help build your immunity and keep you healthy.

My remedy for heat rash

What season of the year do we enjoy,Dry or wet season? The complain about the weather being extremely hot is increasing. The weather is not any cooler even when the fan or air conditioners are working. Heat rash is one common rash that would result in hot weather conditions like this.
Heat rash occurs when the sweat glands are blocked, sweat is not able to move up to the skin surface were it evaporates. The sweat produced now remains underneath the skin resulting in an inflammation.Bumps on the skin which can be very itchy are its symptoms.
Once the skin cools off the rash would resolve on its own.
My recommendation for this season may include;

Bath/Shower frequently, medicated powders or even calamine lotion can be applied afterwards.

Picture2: Bath frequently

• Avoid hot environment, stay in well ventilated areas.
• Wear lightweight loose clothes.
• Stay hydrated.Drinking plenty of water of highly recommended.

Peptic Ulcer Disease

A patient asked me if ulcer had a permanent cure? Another asked if antacid could used to treat ulcer? My reply was this; the antacid would only provide temporary relief. A peptic ulcer is like a sore that develops on the stomach lining or duodenum as a result of so many factors. Any injury on any part of the skin can heal likewise peptic ulcer but be sure never to aggravate the sore. Abdominal pain is the most common symptom of ulcer.

A peptic ulcer can be caused by

• A bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori. This can be diagnosed by a blood test, urea breath test or stool culture.
• Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs( NSAIDs) e.g Diclofenac, piroxicam, ibuprofen, e.t.c.These drugs would interfere with the gastric mucosal thereby exposing the stomach wall to direct acid attack.
• Alcohol, smoking
• Spicy foods, caffeine, coffee would exacerbate peptic ulcers.
  • MANAGEMENT
• Once H.Pylori has been diagnosed as the cause, antibiotics would be included in the management alongside ulcer healing drugs (cimetidine, esomeprazole, omeprazole).
• Antacid (Anti-acids like I call it) help to neutralize the acid thereby decreasing the mucosal exposure to gastric acid.
• If ulcer is induced by NSAIDs, the Drug should be discontinued.in cases were the NSAID can’t be discontinued an ulcer healing drug can be added to therapy.
• Cessation of smoking in patients would be advised. Reduced or no alcohol intake.
• Avoid foods that trigger the symptoms such as spicy foods, caffeine, citrus juices, e.t.c. The patient is advised to avoid large meals but eat frequently small about of food.

#StayHealthy

#PharmMind

Condom use

A colleague and I were having a conversation about the use of condoms. To my surprise, he made mention of some group of people who believed that if you have not had STI( gonorrhea, chlamydia) once in your life then you are not yet a man and they believe condom is not necessary even when they have multiple partners. The popular saying,” my people perish for lack of knowledge “. Prevention is always better than cure.

Condoms could be used as a birth control method to prevent pregnancy. They can also be used to prevent the spread of sexually Transmitted disease like chlamydia, gonorrhea. Condoms can be easily bought without a prescription at the pharmacy. They are cheap.They come in various colours,textures,sizes and even fragrance just to make sure that sex is pleasurable for you.

If you can’t abstain, then use condom.

Why I should Deworm

A common health hazard that has affected many lives is worm infestation.
Most of our daily activities increase our chances of getting exposed to the worm. Walking barefooted on the lawn or waterlogged areas, eating unwashed or not properly washed fruits and vegetables, drinking untreated water, swimming or bathing in untreated water can put one at risk of getting infected by worms.
Once infected, you could experience one or all of the following symptoms: lack of appetite, tiredness, anemia, fever, itching bottom, loose stool, abdominal pain, and vomiting.
Dewormers help to clear the system off worms. Since one cannot always be sure of the hygiene of our food and water consumed, it is advisable to deworm once every 6months. Albendazole or mebendazole could be recommended as drugs of choice.

#AskYourPharmacist

Now we know that cancer is not only deadly but causes a huge economic loss both in terms
of life years lost and in terms of the costs of treatment. It’s been estimated that about
$895 billion dollars represent a loss due to cancer. And when we consider the fact that
cost of reducing exposure to key risk factors like smoking, drinking, and poor diet costs
only $1.8 billion dollars, there is absolutely no reason why we should not invest more in
prevention rather than suffer the huge economic and health consequences of cancer that’s not
been prevented. We know cost effective solutions exist. By reducing smoking, by reducing immoderate
consumption of alcohol, and by promoting healthy diets we can prevent one in three cancer cases

#Copied

#feb4

#WorldCancerDay

#Stayhealthy

We often go to the pharmacy and request for a certain brand of drug and when it is not available you walk away not minding the other options suggested by the pharmacist. We also also complain when we find out that a brand of the same drug is more expensive than other generics.
Generic names are the chemical names of the drugs e.g Diazepam, ciprofloxacin , amoxicillin, e.t.c. the generic names are given by the official body after the drugs have been discovered while the company that has spent so much resources in a new drug discovery and development procedure gives the brand name since the drug discovered by the company is identified to be an exclusive property of that company. You often observe that those brand names are pretty expensive. For example Augmentin tablet/ suspension, Rocephine injection as compared to other generics. The generics are less expensive because they dont face the same cost as manufacturers of branded medicines.That doesn’t mean that these other generics are less effective
The drug doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective.

SUGAR: the evil nutrient

There is now a shift in attention from treating fat as the evil nutrient to treating sugar as the evil nutrient.
Sugar in all forms is a simple carbohydrate that the body converts into useful energy. The effects sugar has on your body and your overall health would be dependent on the type of sugar(natural or refined sugar). Sugar consumption has greatly increased over the past years. Increased sugar consumption have been documented in countries where processed foods are available. Many people are now becoming aware of the need to reduce their sugar intake to maintai healthy body weight.
Sugars are not only present in desserts, sweet beverages but they could also be present i breads, condiments, sauces, salad dressings under a variety of pseudonyms.
WHO recommends that adult and children reduce their sugar intake to less than 10% of their total calories consumed in a day,further recommendation suggesta reduction to even lesser than 5% of total sail calorie consumption. The recommendation applies to free sugars (those added by manufacturers, cooks and consumer), naturally present sugars present in honey,syrups and fruit juices but does not apply to intrinsic sugars found in whole fruits and vegetable, milk.
For Example, if 2000 calories is consumed per day. It isrecomeneded that sugar intake is reduced by 5%. That means 100 calories/ day is expected to be consumed as sugar in a day.
N.B. free sugars offer 4 calories of energy per gram.
100 calories/day translates into 25gram of free sugar which is about 6teaspoons of sugar daily. That is so much sugar to be consumed in one day imagining the size of a teaspoon. But looking at nutritional labels, most packaged foods, the numbers begin to add up incredibly. Our concern should be more on the reduction in the consumption of refined sugars rather than natural sugars.The biggest difference between these two types of sugars is in the number of calories you consume. The best example of this would be with eating an orange compared to orange juice. The orange juice found in grocery stores is heavily processed (even the “not from concentrate” ones) to stay shelf-stable. Beyond that, you might eat one orange in a sitting, but you’d never eat five oranges at once—and that’s how many oranges it takes to get one glass of juice. That means you’re drinking the sugar from five oranges without getting any of the fiber that would slow the digestion of that sugar. More sugar are just added to your body system which lead to sugar craving and potential weight gain. ( https://www.sweetdefeat.com/blogs/sugar-basics/natural-sugar-vs-added-sugar)
More calorie intake than energy expenditure in a long term leads to fat deposition, insulin resistance and fatty living. This processed sugars have little or no nutritional benefits so why no reduce or avoid consuming them and stick to a heathy die