Sinks Pharmacy, Author at Medley Pharmacy

APRIL 2020: What You Need To Know About Gout

03/31/2020

Gout is a type of arthritis that is caused by high uric acid levels in the blood, which then accumulate as crystals around a joint causing inflammation, pain, and discomfort similar to osteoarthritis. The majority of gout cases affect the big toe. The remainder affects the fingers, wrists, knees, and heels. Gout affects an estimated 8.3 million people in the United States and can be controlled with medication, diet, lifestyle changes, and natural remedies.

People with gout cannot remove excess uric acid from the blood. The uric acid accumulates in the joints causing gout attacks. Trigger foods are high in purines and when digested, our body turns them into uric acid. Trigger foods include organ meats, red meat, seafood, alcohol, and beer. Fructose, even though a non-purine, has shown to increase the risk of gout and gout attack.

A gout diet can help decrease uric acid levels and lower the risk of gout attacks and joint damage.

What foods to avoid?

All organ meats including liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, and brain
Game meat including pheasant, veal, and venison.
Fish include hearing, trout, mackerel, tuna, sardines, anchovies, and haddock.
Seafood such as scallops, crab, shrimp, and roe.
Sugary beverages, especially fruit juice and sugary sodas.
Sugars such as honey, agave nectar, and high fructose corn syrup.
Limit alcohol intake
Yeast, including nutritional yeast, brewers yeast, and other yeast supplements.
Refined carbs such as white bread, baked goods, cakes, and cookies.
Lifestyle changes such as maintaining a healthy weight and exercising can decrease your risk of gout. Excess weight causes insulin to become resistant, not allowing your body to remove sugar in the blood. This insulin resistance can increase uric acid levels. Research has shown that losing weight and exercising can decrease insulin resistant and decrease uric acid levels in the blood.

Staying hydrated with water helps remove the excess uric acid from the blood by flushing it out of the urine.

As for natural remedies for gout, a few studies support cherries or tart cherry juice to help with gout management and reducing flares.
The studies recommended over a two day period, three servings of any cherry form. Some other remedies with not much supporting evidence are vitamin C, coffee, magnesium, ginger, stinging nettle, dandelion, milk thistle seeds, hibiscus, apples, bananas, epsom salt, and the concoction of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and turmeric.

A gout diet, lifestyle changes, and natural remedies are not a cure, but it can help lower the number of gout attacks and limit their severity. Remember to let your healthcare team know if you are making any of these changes so they can modify treatment.

Sources: US. News (How to prevent gout), healthline.com, and Mayo Clinic (Gout diet)

About Shima: Shima graduated from the University of Arkansas with a BS in Microbiology in 1997 and worked at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences with the Infectious Disease Department on clinical trials for over 4 years. She then pursued a career change and graduated with her Doctorate degree from St. Louis College of Pharmacy in 2007. During her years enrolled in pharmacy school she worked part-time at St. Louis University, where she helped design a laboratory protocol for the BCG Vaccine Study, which received full funding in 2011.

Shima joined Sinks and Medley Pharmacy in September of 2014 as a pharmacist. She continually strives to focus on improving outcomes and raising the quality of life for patients with all types of medical ailments and conditions.

Quality Care at Your Convenience

03/05/2020

It’s a world of technology and accessibility. With online shopping, fast shipping, and one-click purchases available at our fingertips, it’s tempting to think about using this same type of service for your healthcare needs. If you take several medications, having a box of pills show up at your doorstep sounds nice, but is it really the most beneficial for your overall health? What many don’t know is that their local pharmacy offers that same great convenience but with quality care to back it up. Here are some benefits of knowing your pharmacist and packaging your medications at a local pharmacy.

Face-to-Face Medication Counseling: We discuss reasons for specific medication(s) prescribed, doses, directions and any questions our patients may have. Dispensing errors are often averted when we counsel patients about the medications. This offers the patients the opportunity to ask questions and bring up any concerns they may have.

Communicated Refills: Your local pharmacist will proactively communicate with your doctor to ensure they know when changes are made to your medications. They don’t auto send refills for a medication you no longer take or give an excess supply.

Medication Changes: If you do have a change in one of your medications, your local pharmacy will update your medication packaging, simply bring back your current pack to the pharmacy. No calling a 1-800 number or having to go online to request the change.

Personalized Pharmacy Care: We don’t just put pills in a bottle or a medication pack and send you on your way. We offer personalized services and follow-up to make sure that the medications are working properly to help you reach your treatment goals without causing any side effects.

We do MORE: We provide disease state education, have resources & educational materials, provide wellness services, talk to you about medication safety, suggest ways to help you take your medication, help you manage other health conditions, and much more.

Your pharmacist may be the health professional you see most often and talk with about your health. It’s important to take advantage of the many ways your pharmacist can help you manage your health and medications. Pharmacists work closely with your doctor or nurse to give you expert information and guidance about your health and any conditions you may have. All this information & all these services are available at your local pharmacy… now that sounds like convenience!

MARCH 2020: Eye Health

02/28/2020

March is workplace eye wellness month and many of us neglect our eye health at work and home. Always use the proper personal protective eye wear at work or at home depending on the type of hazard you are dealing with. Visit an eye care specialist on a regular basis to help detect any problems. Here are some tips on how to keep your eyes healthy at work and home.

• When outdoors wear wraparound sunglasses that block 99%-100% of UVA and UVB rays to decrease the risk of cataracts, macular degeneration, and other eye problems.

• Stop smoking. Smoking can increase the risk of eye related diseases such as cataracts, macular degeneration, and harm the optic nerve.

• Eat healthy foods that are high in lutein, zinc, omega-3-fatty acid, vitamin C and E. Be sure to eat plenty of broccoli, carrots, green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, and collard greens.

• Eat foods high in omega-3-fatty acids such as salmon, tuna, halibut, or other oily fish.

• Eat eggs, nuts, beans, and other non meat protein sources. Eat citrus fruits or drink the natural juices. These foods can help reduce the risk of age related diseases like macular degeneration and cataracts.

• Staying hydrated is essential for eye health.

• Looking at your phones, computers, televisions, and laptops constantly can cause headaches, dry eyes, eyestrain, blurry vision, trouble focusing at a distance, and neck, back, and shoulder pain.

• Try resting your eyes every 20 minutes by looking 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

• Wear eye protection that blocks the blue light while working on computers and laptops and use anti-glare screens and blue light blocking glasses.

• Make sure contact lenses or glasses are up to date for looking at any type of screen. Make sure the computer screen is an arm’s length away from the eyes and the eyes are level with the top of the computer monitor.

• Blink more if your eyes are dry.

• Try dimming the brightness of the screens on the phone, computer, or laptop. Too much light exposure may irritate the eye.

Sources: National Eye Institute and WebMD

FEBRUARY 2020: Reducing Your Risk of Heart Disease

02/01/2020

February is healthy heart month. Heart disease is the number one killer in both men and women in the United States. People who have high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, are overweight, or have a history of smoking or cardiac conditions in their family are at a higher risk of developing heart disease. Other factors include: not enough physical activity, excessive alcohol use, stress, and not eating a healthy diet. Here are some healthy steps to take to reduce your risk of heart disease.

• Quit smoking – smoking is a major cause of coronary heart disease.

• Maintain a healthy weight – the extra weight puts more pressure on the arterial walls and forces your heart to work harder.

• Reduce stress and look after your mental health. Anxiety and depression can put a strain on the heart.

• Control your cholesterol and blood pressure with diet, exercise, stress reduction, or prescription medication. See November and December 2019 Wellness Corner.

• Stay physically active – The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise a week. See January 2020 Wellness Corner.

• Get enough sleep. Research has shown a lack of sleep can lower the metabolism, making it harder to lose weight and increases the risk of developing high blood pressure. See March 2019 Wellness Corner.

• Eat nutritious foods and moderate proportions – eat foods that contain healthy fats from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fish. Avoid foods high in salt, saturated fat, and sugar. Avoid butters, red meat, cheese, and baked goods.

• Get yearly checkups.

Medication Adherence: Benefits of medication or myMedPack packaging

01/06/2020

Medication adherence, or taking medications correctly, involves factors such as getting prescriptions filled, remembering to take medications on time, and understanding and following the directions of the medication. Medication adherence can affect quality and length of life, health outcomes, and overall healthcare costs. The failure to take medications as prescribed (or non-adherence) is as dangerous and costly as many illnesses. According to the APhA Foundation, 75% of adults are non-adherent in one or more ways, and 10-25% of hospital visits or nursing home admissions are due to non-adherent behavior*. If you find yourself forgetting to take medication on time, tired of carrying multiple pill bottles around, or just want to find a more convenient way to take your medication: medication packaging may benefit you!

Medication packaging is a versatile program that allows your medications to be packaged down to time of day, helping you take the right medications at the right time. The packaging includes a detailed description with the patient’s name, the date and time the medications are to be taken, and which medications to take at that time. Benefits of medication packaging include being easy to open, eliminating missed and double doses, and it is a convenient alternative to pill boxes.

Who could benefit from medication packaging? EVERYONE! Seniors can stay independent longer by letting the pharmacy manage their multiple daily medications, and students get a jump start on learning healthy habits they will carry with them their whole lives. Daycares and school nurses love the ease of strip packaging, too! Finally, travelers can easily pack their meds for just the days they will be gone.

Do you or a loved one often forget to take certain medications at the right time? Are you tired of carrying around multiple pill bottles every time you travel? We now offer a NEW medication packaging program called myMedPack. Talk with one of our staff members at Sinks Pharmacy today or call 888-269-8404!

*Source: https://www.aphafoundation.org/align-my-refills/benefits