ppp 06-18-07

Quote of the day: I know of no more encouraging fact than the

unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

I received a newsletter from Pharmacist's Mutual Insurance in which they passed on a little home alarm trick. Even if you do not have a home alarm system installed, even if you have one but never arm it at night you still have hope. Most autos contain a PANIC button on the key fob. Set you keys next to your bed. If someone attempts to enter your house or you hear something suspicious outside then just press the PANIC button on you keychain. It will stay on until you turn it off or the car battery runs out. Anyone who would do you or your property harm will, at the very least, be startled and run away rather than risk discovery from the attention turned toward your place.

Do you have hidden talents that could be useful to your company? Maybe you are a good writer and could contribute to a newsletter. Are you all about fun and would be a great person to help plan the next "teambuilding" or other company outing? Stretch a little bit beyond expectations and all those around you will benefit… including yourself!

Are there other common items in your workplace or at home that you could use for multiple purposes?. When I wore contact lenses I bought a wrist watch with a mirrored face so that I would always have a mirror to find or straighten out an errant lens. Does your paperweight serve any other function than hold down papers….maybe a calendar cube would provide a dual purpose alternative. Look around for other opportunities to use items for multiple purposes. A toaster would make a lousy bowling ball but you may have other ideas. We are all asked to multitask during the work day why not asked the items in our lives to do the same? (it may actually reduce the clutter too!) Share your ideas with me and I'll compile them and share with the rest of Prattledom.

ps. Best answer this week to the question "How are you?" was "Ready to take on the world!"

pps. Occasionally, some of the links require FREE registration.... I'm sure you can handle THAT slight inconvenience.

Tons of counterfeit Colgate toothpaste labeled as made in South Africa (actually coming out of China) contains diethylene glycol, or DEG, Used in anti freeze authorities have seized DEG-contaminated toothpaste in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Nicaragua. While the amount in the toothpaste may make users a little ill, the amount that was found in Costariccian cough syrup last year proved fatal to 100 people. As far as I am concerned this is another reason to prohibit "reimportation". If "they" will do this to toothpaste you can only imagine what "they" will do to prescription drugs.

Russian antihistamine appears to work against symptoms of Alzheimer's disease for twice as long as present medications. The drug, Dimeban, (I can't find it listed in any compendia) appears to be effective in patients for about 1 year. Most similar drugs in the USA seem to work for only 6 months. Authors of the article don't seem to have a lot of faith in the Russians' ability to conduct scientifically rigorous research. Most antihistamines have anticholinergic side effects. Most current Alzheimer's treatment are cholinergic drugs. This WILL be interesting to follow.

Zimulti (rimonabant) rejected by FDA expert panel. They also nixed the name Acomplia should it EVER be approved. While the drug is approved in Europe for weight loss, the panel could not seem to get past the suicide side effect.

Europeans are considering tighter regulation in the wake of the FDA panel report: http://money.cnn.com/news/

Here we go again… the Garden State has seen fit to REQUIRE all pharmacists to fill all prescriptions. The reason? Pharmacists with moral or ethical reservations about the dispensing of abortifacient, "morning after", pills were refusing to fill these prescriptions. Over the years I have refused to fill many prescriptions….most due to inappropriate or unsafe prescribing practices. I wonder if I was licensed in New Jersey; would I be required to sell a dose of any other medication that could prove fatal to an adult? … just wondering… With the present shortage of pharmacist New Jersey appears awfully confident that this will not be a barrier to student entering one of their pharmacy schools or deter reciprocity applications.

Amazingly enough, when patients hear press reports of bad side effects and the lawyers begin soliciting clients, patient stop taking their medications. Patients with thought disorders (schizophrenia etc) are not that keen on taking medication to begin with so ANYTHING that can be used as an excuse to stop medication will threaten their mental health. It is one thing to transition to another drug under medical supervision and quite another to stop "cold turkey" with not replacement.

177 of 1491 patients infected with West Nile Virus died in 2006. This mosquito-born virus produced encephalitis and paralysis. Don't forget the bug repellant for you next outing! (Did I ever mention how much I hate mosquitoes?)

People who drank ten alcoholic drinks a week showed a significant reduction in arthritis. Hopefully the drinks were spread out during the week so as not to otherwise impair ambulation. Drink responsibly!

Disclaimer: "Pepin's Pharmaceutical Prattle" (AKA "The Prattle") is the property of PHARMWORKS, LLC and Steven M. Pepin, Pharm. D, BCPS. The opinions expressed are those of the bald-headed author. To start or stop any drug without the advice and supervision of your physician would be stupid. So don't do anything based upon what you read here without professional advice. To be added to or removed from the distribution list please e-mail your request to spepin@pharmworks.com . All insightful comments from readers are thoughtfully considered (the rest are callously discarded). Copyright 1998-2007 PHARMWORKS, LLC all rights reserved.

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