Medication adherence refers to the extent to which patients take medications as prescribed by their healthcare providers. Medication non-adherence is a significant problem in healthcare, leading to poor health outcomes, increased healthcare costs, and preventable hospitalizations. Here are some tips and strategies for patients to stay on top of their medication regimen and the importance of medication compliance.
Medication adherence is crucial for maintaining good health and preventing complications. Patients can take several steps to stay on top of their medication regimen, such as keeping a medication list, setting reminders, making medication part of a daily routine, and communicating with healthcare providers. By following these tips and strategies, patients can improve their medication adherence and achieve better health outcomes.
Spring is here, and with it comes allergy season. For those who suffer from seasonal allergies, this time of year can be particularly difficult. Sneezing, itching, and congestion can make it hard to enjoy the warmer weather and longer days. But there are steps you can take to minimize the impact of seasonal allergies on your life. In this blog post, we’ll explore some tips for dealing with allergies this season.
The first step in dealing with seasonal allergies is to identify what triggers your symptoms. Common allergens include pollen, mold, and dust mites. Keep track of when your symptoms occur and what you were doing at the time. This can help you pinpoint your triggers and take steps to avoid them.
Pollen counts are highest in the morning and early evening, so try to stay indoors during these times. If you do need to go outside, wear a mask to filter out pollen and other allergens.
Regular cleaning can help reduce the amount of allergens in your home. Vacuum carpets and upholstery frequently, and use a HEPA filter to trap airborne particles. Wash bedding and curtains in hot water to kill dust mites, and keep humidity levels low to discourage mold growth.
Over-the-counter medications like antihistamines and decongestants can provide relief from allergy symptoms. If your symptoms are severe, your doctor may prescribe a stronger medication or allergy shots to desensitize you to allergens over time.
Some people find relief from allergies with natural remedies like saline nasal sprays, neti pots, and herbal supplements. Be sure to talk to your doctor before trying any new treatments, especially if you’re already taking medication.
Drinking plenty of water can help thin mucus and reduce congestion. It can also help flush allergens out of your system.
Stress can make allergy symptoms worse, so find ways to manage stress in your life. Meditation, yoga, and deep breathing exercises are all great options.
Seasonal allergies can be a nuisance, but they don’t have to ruin your spring. By taking steps to avoid allergens and manage symptoms, you can enjoy the season to the fullest. If your symptoms are severe or interfere with your daily life, talk to your doctor about treatment options.
Compounding medicine is a practice that has been used for centuries to create customized medications for patients who require unique dosages or formulations that are not readily available in the market. This process has proven particularly helpful for children who require specialized medications, as they often have difficulty taking traditional pills or liquid medications due to their taste, texture, or dosage requirements.
Compounding medication involves mixing individual ingredients to create a unique formulation that is tailored to the patient’s specific needs. This process allows for more precise dosing, better absorption, and reduced side effects, making it an ideal solution for children who require individualized care.
One of the main advantages of compounding medicine for kids is that it can help them overcome the challenges of traditional medications. For example, many children have difficulty swallowing pills, and the taste and texture of liquid medications can be unpleasant, leading to noncompliance and treatment failure. With compounding medicine, pharmacists can create customized medications that are easier to swallow, better-tasting, and more effective, improving treatment outcomes for children.
Another benefit of compounding medicine for children is that it can help address specific health conditions. For instance, children who suffer from allergies, asthma, or other respiratory conditions can benefit from medications that are tailored to their individual needs, including inhaled medications that are easier to use and more effective. Additionally, children who require medications for behavioral or mental health conditions can benefit from customized formulations that are better tolerated and more effective than traditional medications.
Moreover, compounding medicine can be particularly useful for children with developmental disabilities or medical conditions that affect their digestive system. These children often require unique dosages or formulations of medications, and compounding allows pharmacists to create medications that are better suited to their needs.
Compounding medicine is an important tool for pediatric patients who require specialized care. By creating customized medications that are tailored to their unique needs, pharmacists can help children overcome the challenges of traditional medications, improve treatment outcomes, and enhance their overall quality of life. If your child has specific medication needs, speak to your healthcare provider about whether compounding medicine may be an appropriate solution.
Skin is one of the most important parts of our body and maintaining its health is vital for overall well-being. A healthy skin barrier helps to protect the body from environmental threats and also maintains a critical water balance. However, several factors like a complicated skin care routine, improper pH levels of skin care products, and dry skin can weaken the skin barrier leading to problems like dryness, itching, and inflammation. To restore and protect the skin barrier, here are five strategies that you can consider:
If you’re using a lot of skin care products, you may be doing more harm than good. Consult a dermatologist or a skin care professional to determine which products are essential and most effective.
Your skin has a delicate acid mantle with a pH of 4.7. However, some skin care products have a pH that ranges from 3.7 to 8.2. Cleansing with a product that has a pH between 4.0 and 5.0 can help maintain your skin’s pH level and protect it from skin conditions like acne and Candida albicans infections.
Plant oils like jojoba oil, coconut oil, and borage oil have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects. They can help repair the skin barrier and prevent moisture loss. You can use creams and lotions that contain these oils or massage the oils directly into your skin.
Ceramides are waxy lipids that are crucial for maintaining the skin barrier’s integrity. Products containing ceramides can help improve the symptoms of a poorly functioning barrier and also protect darker skin tones that have lower ceramide levels.
Dry skin is a common problem and moisturizers are the best solution. Occlusive moisturizers like petrolatum can block up to 99% of water loss from your skin while humectants like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, honey, and urea can improve barrier function by drawing water and binding it into the skin barrier.
Keeping your skin barrier healthy is essential for overall well-being. By simplifying your skin care routine, paying attention to pH, using plant oils, looking for ceramide-rich formulations, and using moisturizers containing hyaluronic acid, petrolatum, or glycerin, you can help restore and protect your skin barrier. If you’re looking to keep your skin healthy, consider visiting or ordering supplements and products from Gaspar’s Best Pharmacy.
For individualized guidance from an expert pharmacist and a 10% discount on your next order, schedule a free consultation now! For more health tips, check out the rest of our glossary. In the meantime, the Gaspar’s Best family wishes you and your family happiness and health.
Heart disease is an overarching term that encompasses a variety of heart and blood vessel-related ailments. The Mayo Clinic lists the following illnesses as being included in this umbrella category: coronary artery disease, cardiac failure, arrhythmia (for instance atrial fibrillation), and congenital heart defects.
Other diseases of the heart include:
A common symptom of heart disease is chest pain, or angina—this occurs when the heart muscle isn’t receiving enough oxygen and nutrient-rich arterial blood. Angina causes a feeling of discomfort in one’s chest; many describe it as tightness or a squeezing sensation around their breastbone. The painful sensations can even spread to other areas such as the neck, shoulders, arms, abdomen and back.
Have you been feeling overwhelmingly exhausted after brief physical activity? Are you having difficulty breathing when at rest? If so, these may be signs of heart disease. Fortunately, these symptoms usually subside with a period of rest.
Women may not be aware of the signs of heart disease since its symptoms can imitate those from various other illnesses. Furthermore, women are more likely to have further risk factors than men such as depression, stress and menopause.
Common risk factors for heart disease include:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly half of all Americans have one or more of the major risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, or smoking. If your doctor has warned you that you might be at risk of developing this condition, it is important that you take their advice seriously!
For individualized guidance from an expert pharmacist and a 10% discount on your next order, schedule a free consultation now! For more health tips, check out the rest of our glossary. In the meantime, the Gaspar’s Best family wishes you and your family happiness and health.
The fight-or-flight response is your body’s reaction to stress or threat. Your body releases adrenaline and cortisol, which can lead to increased blood sugar levels if the body cannot process it efficiently. Chronic stress from long-term problems with blood glucose can also be debilitating, making it harder to manage your diabetes.
Depending on the individual, stress can have different effects. The severity of your stress will also dictate how your body reacts physically. For example, when people with type 2 diabetes are under psychological duress, they typically see an uptick in their blood sugar readings. People with type 1 diabetes may fluctuate more dramatically and experience either a rise or drop in blood glucose levels. Likewise, if you’re experiencing physical hardship like illness or injury, your blood sugar is likely to increase regardless of whether you have type 1 or 2 diabetes.
Symptoms of stress are not always easy to notice, however it is crucial to be aware of them. Stress takes a toll on your mental and emotional well-being as well as physical health. By recognizing the symptoms, you can learn how to manage stress more effectively.
Physical symptoms of stress include:
Stress may also cause you to feel:
Determining what causes your stress can be difficult, but keeping track of extra information such as the date and an activity you were doing when stressed may help. For example, do you find yourself always stressed on Monday mornings? If so, making a plan for Mondays which includes steps to lower your stress levels can help keep your glucose in check.
To see if this is happening to you, record both your stress and glucose levels. After rating your stress, check your glucose level and continue doing this for a few weeks. A pattern will likely emerge. If you notice that your glucose is consistently high, it’s probably because mental stress is negatively impacting your blood sugar.
Acid reflux, also called acid regurgitation or gastroesophageal reflux, happens when contents from your stomach come back up into your esophagus. If you have symptoms of acid reflux more than twice a week, it might be because you have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
As stated by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), GERD affects around 20 percent of individuals in America. If not treated, it can potentially lead to severe complications.
GERD’s primary symptom is acid reflux. Acid reflux can cause a burning feeling in your chest, which may move up into your neck and throat. This feeling is called heartburn. If you have acid reflux, you might also get sour or bitter taste at the back of mouth or regurgitation of food/liquid from stomach to mouth.
Some other symptoms of GERD include:
To reduce GERD symptoms, your doctor will likely recommend some lifestyle changes, such as:
The medications below can all be taken over-the-counter (OTC), but they also come with potential side effects. Talk to your doctor to see which one is right for you.
Antacids, such as Tums, are usually taken for only mild and infrequent heartburn or acid reflux. However if you find that you need them frequently, it might be time to get a stronger medication from your doctor.
Acid reducers, such as Pepcid AC, prevent your stomach from making too much acid. H2 blockers come in both over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription forms. The FDA recalled ranitidine, which is also known as Zantac, for containing N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), an ingredient that can cause cancer.
PPIs like Prilosec also lower the amount of acid your stomach makes. Because they tend to work better than H2 blockers, they’re more helpful when it comes to healing the esophageal lining — which can become damaged when someone is dealing with GERD for a while.
For individualized guidance from an expert pharmacist and a 10% discount on your next order, schedule a free consultation now! For more health tips, check out the rest of our glossary. In the meantime, the Gaspar’s Best family wishes you and your family happiness and health.
A pulsating or throbbing pain on one side of the head is characteristic of a migraine. It’s typically accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. Hormonal fluctuations, beverages, tension, medicines, and food are all potential causes. Migraines can occur for a few hours to days at a time and may be quite painful; in some cases, they can even obstruct normal functions.
Here are a few useful tips to manage your migraines better:
Putting an ice pack on your forehead or neck during a migraine might help relieve the discomfort. You can also try dampening a washcloth with cold water.
It is possible to get rid of migraines using over-the-counter medications rather than prescription drugs. Pharmacies provide OTC medicines like acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and naproxen as well.
For the average person, 7-8 hours of sleep is enough to prevent migraines. Sleep deprivation and over sleeping have been linked to headaches and a decreased pain threshold.
Migraines are often brought on by stress, which means it’s doubly important for you to relax when possible if this is your main trigger. Lighten your load whenever possible.
For individualized guidance from an expert pharmacist and a 10% discount on your next order, schedule a free consultation now! For more health tips, check out the rest of our glossary. In the meantime, the Gaspar’s Best family wishes you and your family happiness and health.
As you can imagine, your bones are central to your health – they store calcium, provide structure, anchor muscles, and protect your organs. While the most important work towards building a healthy skeletal system takes place during childhood and adolescence, there are still plenty of steps one can take as an adult to preserve and improve their bone health.
While your skeletal system may seem static, it’s always changing. New bone is made while old bone is broken down. After the age of 30, this continues, but you begin to lose a bit more bone mass than you gain. Maintaining as much bone mass as possible as you age then becomes key to preventing conditions like osteoporosis (which causes your bones to become weak and brittle) and improving your quality of life later on.
As with your other bodily systems, many factors affect the health of your skeletal system. These include:
It’s important to tell your doctor about your diet, family history, and other factors that might not be immediately apparent so they can help you safeguard your bone health.
For individualized guidance from an expert pharmacist and a 10% discount on your next order, schedule a free consultation now! For more health tips, check out the rest of our glossary. In the meantime, the Gaspar’s Best family wishes you and your family happiness and health.
Blood sugar level is the amount of glucose in the blood. Glucose is the main sugar found in the bloodstream, and its level can rise and fall for various reasons and throughout the day. It comes from the food you eat and is your body’s main source of energy.
Maintaining normal blood sugar levels is a very important part of maintaining good health and avoiding health issues, managing your weight, and just feeling well. Health issues related to blood sugar imbalances are a rapidly growing issue that is reaching rampant proportions.
When blood sugar goes under 70mg/dL, this is considered low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. When it is above 180mg/dL, this is called high blood sugar or hyperglycemia. Regular blood sugar monitoring is recommended for people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Knowing what affects your blood sugar level can help your doctor make decisions about your best diabetes care plan and supplements to take.
Fortunately, there are plenty of supplements that can assist your body’s natural blood sugar.
For individualized guidance from an expert pharmacist and a 10% discount on your next order, schedule a free consultation now! For more health tips, check out the rest of our glossary. In the meantime, the Gaspar’s Best family wishes you and your family happiness and health.
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