Archive for the ‘Prescription Drug Care’ Category

April 28th is National Prescription Take-Back Day

Posted by on April 27th, 2012

Safe Drug DisposalThe Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is again hosting a National Prescription Drug Take Back day at locations around the United States. To find the location closest to your home simple visit the www.takebackyourmeds.org website and type in your location here, they also have a Facebook page where you can learn more about the event.

Last year at 5550 take-back sites in all 50 states over 377,000 pounds of unwanted or expired medication was turned in for proper and safe disposal.

A survey done in conjunction with this years event revealed that over 57% of American adults dispose of their prescription medication improperly by throwing them out in the trash or flushing them down the toilet or drain. The survey also found that 35% of American adults said yes to having prescription medication in their home they are not using and 21% admitted to having expired medication. Over 84% of those that reported that had recently disposed of medication improperly did say in the survey that they would be willing to return medication to a pharmacy or local waste management program if they were better informed of how to go about it.

Safe disposal is important because it reduces drug abuse. A lot of prescription drug abuse amongst teens involves unwanted and forgotten about drugs that they take from family for use or resale. Proper disposal also reduces accidental poisoning. Over half of calls to poison control centres concern children who have taken prescription medication left improperly stored at home. Finally, safe disposal of medication reduces the harmful effects that it has the environment.

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Air Travel and Prescription Medications. A Common Question.

Posted by on February 23rd, 2011

A frequent question that our team of Canada Drugs pharmacists often get over the phone and through our Ask a Pharmacist online tool concerns questions about traveling by air with medication and any precautions that need to be taken when flying with medication.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the government agency in control of implementing and enforcing security measures for airlines and airports and their suggestions for flying with medication are found on their website in detail here . A quick run down of their tips are below.

  • Pack extra medicine and supplies when traveling in case you are away from home longer than you expect or there are travel delays.
  • Carry a copy of your prescriptions in your carry-on, purse, or wallet when you travel.
  • Remember that prescription medications are allowed in carry-on bags, with some restrictions. Prescriptions must be in their original pharmacy container labeled with the name of the passenger. Be sure that the name is the same as on your ticket. Don’t combine your medications into one bottle; take each type of medication in its own labeled bottle. Place all medications in a plastic bag for ease during security screening.
  • If you are taking injectable medications (e.g., Fuzeon, insulin, testosterone) you must have the medication along with you in order to carry empty syringes.
  • Do not remove syringes or medicines from the original packaging with printed labels and manufacturer’s information. Packaging is a good way to help airport security identify your medicines. Opening packages or taking pills out of their prescription bottles will delay your time in security.
  • Show copies of your prescriptions and/or your medication bottles you have in your carry-on when you present to airport security. If you have any problems ask to see a supervisor.
  • You can ask and are entitled to a private screening to maintain your confidentiality.
  • In response to security issues at your departure site and destination site, travel restrictions can change often. Arrange 2 to 3 hours before your flight in order to pass through security in plenty of time.
  • With recent security concerns, the amount of liquids you are allowed to carry-on is limited and in some cases prohibited. Liquids, gels, and aerosol preparations are allowed as long as these are in 3-ounce or smaller containers. Larger containers that are partially full are not permitted. All liquids, gels, and aerosols must be placed in a single, quart-size, zip-top, clear plastic bag. Each traveler can use only one plastic bag. These bags must be removed from carry-on baggage and placed in a bin or on the conveyor belt for x-ray screening.
  • In some cases, the airline may ask the on-board staff to store your medicines and syringes during flight. Keep your medicines, syringes, and supplies together in a carry-on case or travel case to make passing them to and from the flight staff easier with less chance of losing medications or supplies.
  • If traveling abroad, become familiar with the laws, restrictions, and requirements of the countries you are traveling to. The US requires all passengers to declare medicines and syringes when traveling abroad.
  • Contact your airline if you need special assistance with transportation or other medical needs prior to boarding. Airlines are still responsible for offering assistance to passengers with extra needs. The TSA security officer’s job is limited to assistance with security screening. Ask the airline for a gate pass so that your companion or caretaker can accompany you to the gate if necessary.

Another question we get quite often about travel from our patients deals with having medications shipped to another address different than the home address supplied when placing the original prescription order. For those of our patients who winter away from home, or are taking extended vacations, we can have your order sent to your vacation home very easily. Just advise our Patient Service Representative when placing your order or refill and we can have your order sent to another address.

Happy Traveling!

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The Problem with Household Spoons and Dosing Medication

Posted by on September 14th, 2010

A spoonful of sugar might help the medicine go down in a most delightful way, but the size of that spoonful could be dangerous to you or your children’s health. A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine reports that people who use household spoons to dispense common over-the-counter medicine rarely get the dosage correct.

The study looked at 71 teaspoons and 49 tablespoons collected from 25 households in Attica, Greece. It found that the capacity of the teaspoons ranged from 2.5ml to 7.3ml, with an average and median volume of 4.4ml. The capacity of the tablespoons ranged from 6.7ml to 13.4ml, with an average of 10.4ml and a median of 10.3ml. What this means is a parent using one of the biggest domestic teaspoons would be giving their child 192 per cent more medicine than a parent using the smallest teaspoon and the difference was 100 per cent for the tablespoons. This increases the chance of a child receiving an overdose or indeed too little medication. It’s recommended that instead of reaching for the spoon, that it’s always best to use the measuring syringe that comes with most liquid children’s medication, and pour a correct dosage. Save the spoons strictly for the spoonful of sugar! If your medication didn’t come with the measuring syringe, or a dose spoon, they are easy to pick up at many stores.

The side effects of too much medicine can be more pronounced in children, Excitability may occur — or extreme drowsiness, nausea or dizziness. Another thing to be concerned about is the common ingredient, acetaminophen, which can do serious liver damage if used to excess.

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Study Calls for Increased American Access to International Drugs

Posted by on August 4th, 2010

American health care consumers could stand to benefit from significantly faster access to newly released drugs and would benefit from a wider selection of pharmaceutical products if the Food and Drugs Administration’s (FDA’s) monopoly on regulations was weakened, argues a California based free-market research group.

Last week the Pacific Research Institute, a thirty-year-old leading think-tank published a study by John R. Graham called “Leviathan’s Drug Problem: Increasing Patients’ Choices through International Competition in Pharmaceutical Regulation.” The detailed report outlines a case against the stringent FDA regulations that cause many Americans to wait increasingly longer time to have access to drugs, which have already been approved in other western industrialized nations like those in the European Union (EU).

The think tank argues “allowing American patients to access medicines that have already been approved in Europe would increase regulatory competition, enable more patient choice, and potentially save the lives of those suffering life-threatening illnesses and who currently have no treatment options.”

If, during a 12-month period in 2008 and 2009, the US government had allowed American patients to use new medicines that were approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) but not yet by the Food and Drug Administration American patients would have had faster access to 17 new medicines out of the entire set of 39. This is because the EMA is more aggressive in approving new medications for human use, whereas the FDA generally delay’s American access to these same drugs by up to 18 months.

Graham in the report calls American patients “the innocent victims of the FDA’s regulatory monopoly” and calls on the US government to amend the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the FDA to approve a New Drug Application (NDA) when the drug maker notifies it that a comparable foreign jurisdiction, such as the European Union (EU), has approved it. The FDA would retain the power the compel manufacturers to label their medicines with the warning that it has not yet approved their safety or efficacy.

The report raises an interesting debate that Canada Drugs will be watching closely, as we believe that it is important that our American customers have safe, affordable access to their needed prescription medication. All countries have provisions that allow, with special paperwork and approval, to import products that are not yet available in that region from another country. This is part of the service that CanadaDrugs.com has provided to millions of customers for almost 10 years. We look forward however to the elimination of these exceptions, and the wider spread general availability of all products across all countries equally. Patients in consultation with their personal physician and our trained licensed pharmacists should be empowered to make informed health care choices.

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Tips for Summer Traveling with Prescription Medication

Posted by on July 8th, 2010

Our Canada Drugs pharmacists are always available for consultation and can answer any of your questions via e-mail or over the phone. One of the questions our pharmacists get quite often over the summer months has to do with patients looking for advice on how best to travel with their prescription medication as they get away from it all on summer vacation.

Here are a few tips from our pharmacists concerning best practices when traveling with your prescriptions from Canada Drugs Canadian Pharmacy.

  • Always order enough medication to cover your needs during travel. Canada Drugs offers Free World-Wide Shipping and can ship to your vacation house, or even to the hotel you will be staying at.
  • Pack your prescription medication properly. Use tightly closed containers, such as the containers your medicines came in, and make sure to protect your medications from heat and light.
  • Put your prescription medications in your carry-on bag, rather than in checked luggage. It’s never fun when the airline loses your luggage, but it’s even worse if you are without your prescription medication as well as your clothing.
  • Bring extra medication just in case. If you are traveling for 7 days, for example, you may want to bring 12 days of medication. You never know what kind of delays might happen when you travel and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
  • Obtain a duplicate prescription and bring it with you when you travel. Canada Drugs can ship your medication almost anywhere, but it will take some time. If the worst case happens and you are stranded without your prescription, it’s best to have the opportunity to fill it locally.
  • Carry a list of the prescription number and other pertinent information on the specific medication (brands, generic names, and dosage) to identify your “lost” medicine in case you need to describe it to authorities.
  • Write out a medication schedule and bring this with you in your carry on bag. Since your routine while traveling will change, a written medication schedule helps you remember when to take your medications.
  • Have your doctor’s phone number handy, just in case you need to get touch while traveling.

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