The Pharmacist Answers Podcast

If Healthcare Cared [Show Notes]

 in Podcasts  tagged #30DOH / grace / Jon Acuff / repect by

Holla!

If you’re a fan or follower of Jon Acuff, you will have heard of 30 Days of Hustle.  Started as a set of emails and a Facebook group, but has become a way of life for many.  It may be too late to join in on Jon’s #30DOH community, but it’s never too late to start hustling!  (And I’m not representing Jon or 30DOH, just a fan…because with them, this podcast wouldn’t be here!)

Not a lot of information today, but here’s the take-home message…

Treat those you encounter in the healthcare arena with respect, and confidently and respectfully demand they do they same.

Connect with me

Support us on Patreon

*NEW* Join the Pharmacist Answers Podcast Community on Facebook

Subscribe: iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, TuneIn Radio

Like the Facebook page

Music Credits:  “Radio Martini” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Insurance Speak [Show Notes]

 in Podcasts  tagged coinsurance / copay / costs / deductible / definitions / formulary / FSA / healthcare / HRA / HSA / insurance / netoworks / out of pocket / premium / prior authorization / terminology by

Coverage Terminology

  • Formulary – a list of medications that insurance decides they will pay for.  They can change this whenever they feel like it.
  • Prior Authorization – insurance requires the payment of a particular medication or service to be authorized prior to them paying for it and/or you receiving it.  Usually require documentation and justification from your doctor.
  • Networks – Providers in the Network usually have a negotiated discount or other beneficial contract with the insurance, which will translate to lower costs for you.

Payment Terminology

  • Premium – paying dues to be in the club.  And being in the club means that the insurance company will have to pay for your care if you get sick or hurt.
  • Deductible – a portion of costs that you are 100% responsible for before the insurance company chips in.  Low premium = high deductible.
  • Copay – Co = together, pay = payments.  You and your insurance are paying the total bill together.  Copays are usually standardized, and are a price predetermined by the insurance company.  Medication copays are broken down into Tiers.
  • Coinsurance – rather than a set price, it’s a set percentage.  Based on the total cost of the service, the price you pay may change.
  • Out Of Pocket (OOP) – some companies keep track of all the money you pay and they have a limit (called Lifetime Maximum or Lifetime Limit).  If your costs reach that limit, the insurance company will take care of everything after that.

Your Money

  • Health Savings Account (HSA) – YOUR money that you put back to use to pay for healthcare costs in the future.  This money will roll over.
  • Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) – an incentive from your employer or insurance for you do things to prevent illness, and then THEY will give you money to pay for your healthcare costs.  This money will roll over as well.
  • Flex Spending Account (FSA)-  YOUR money that you put into an account to pay for healthcare costs or health related items (some OTC things are approved).  They usually require receipt submission to prove you purchased approved items.  But if that money is not used by the deadline, it does NOT roll over, you do not get it back.

 

Connect with me

Support us on Patreon

*NEW* Join the Pharmacist Answers Podcast Community on Facebook

Subscribe: iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, TuneIn Radio

Like the Facebook page

Music Credits:  “Radio Martini” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Probiotics [Show Notes]

 in Podcasts  tagged digestive health / oral health / probiotics / skin health / unpasteurized / yogurt by

Good for Your Gut

Probiotics are advertised for digestive health, but they are good for your whole body.

Normal flora = bacteria and yeast in a nice, happy balance. This comes partly from when you exit your mother’s body, others come from your environment.

Any probiotic is better than none at all.

Probiotics – good for all your body parts!

WARNING!

If you eat yogurt, watch for sugar content!

Eat unpasteurized dairy at your own risk!

Connect with me

Support us on Patreon

*NEW* Join the Pharmacist Answers Podcast Community on Facebook

Subscribe: iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, TuneIn Radio

Like the Facebook page

Music Credits:  “Radio Martini” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

It’s All About Sleep

 in Podcasts / Sleep  tagged awake / blue light / electronics / melatonin / night shift / serotonin / Sleep / sleep apnea / sun light by

Angry grizzly bear meme, "Tumor Necrosis Factor be like You started goofing off today? I will kill you!" This happens in your sleep.

Gotta Breath While You Sleep

Apnea = stopped breathing

Types of sleep apnea

When you metabolize the fat stores when you’re losing weight, the main by-product of that process is carbon dioxide.  You breathe away your fat!!

Getting better sleep can be the trick to untangling the knot of many health problems.

Medication can make apnea worse.  So can other things too.

Caffeine helps you stay awake (read and listen here).  Sunlight does much more for you in helping you wake up (as little as 15 minutes of sunlight a day).

Light Makes a Difference

Sun comes up –> serotonin –> happy, awake, productive
Sun goes down –> melatonin replaces serotonin –> sleep

Sunrise clocks

People who work third shift have to use a lot of tricks for making daytime to feel like night so you can sleep.

Can’t just supplement serotonin because a lot of biologicals don’t survive the digestive and absorption process to get used by the body.

Electronic curfews are a good idea.

Blue blocking glasses

Light that helps us see is actually a combination of different colors of light (based on their wavelength).  The blue wavelength of light is what stimulates our eyes. So, if you have to do work at night, blocking that stimulating light can help you sleep once work is over.

Working third-shift is now considered a carcinogen.

Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) runs while you’re sleeping.

*Links in this post are affiliate links*

Connect with me

Support us on Patreon

*NEW* Join the Pharmacist Answers Podcast Community on Facebook

Subscribe: iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, TuneIn Radio

Like the Facebook page

Music Credits:  “Radio Martini” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Doctors Get Sick Too [Show Notes]

 in Podcasts  tagged angry / healthcare professionals / humans / hungry / lonely / respect / serve / sick / stressed / tired by

Healthcare Professionals Get Sick Too

The healthcare professionals that take care of you are human too!

Yes, they are in a job to serve, but they’re not immune to germs or stress or hunger.

Please treat the people that serve you like humans!

That is all!

Connect with me

Support us on Patreon

*NEW* Join the Pharmacist Answers Podcast Community on Facebook

Subscribe: iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, TuneIn Radio

Like the Facebook page

Music Credits:  “Radio Martini” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Disagreement with your Doctor [Show Notes]

 in Podcasts  tagged adulting / disagreement / doctors / interview / resources / respect by

Disagreements happen

Be an adult about it.

You can respectfully let your doctor know you’ve been trying to learn things on your own. Do not say “I learned it on Google.  Provide your doctor with the information from a respectable resource.

It’s not about getting the doctor to do it your way, but about everyone gaining knowledge, being respectful, and doing what’s best for YOU.

The goal is to build the best healthcare team for YOU

If the disagreement is strong on the doctor’s part and they show (or say) they don’t want you empowered and participating in the decision-making about your treatment and health, you may need to re-evaluate.

If you find yourself having to choose a new doctor, you can take an opportunity to interview the doctor.  Ask the hard questions.

Insurances and doctors try to imply that you don’t have a choice about the doctors you see, but don’t be fooled.  You still have the power to choose.

Connect with me

Support us on Patreon

*NEW* Join the Pharmacist Answers Podcast Community on Facebook

Subscribe: iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, TuneIn Radio

Like the Facebook page

Music Credits:  “Radio Martini” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Caffeine and Headaches [Show Notes]

 in Podcasts  tagged blood vessels / brain / Caffeine / Coffee / constriction / dilation / headaches by

How Blood Flows

Blood vessels are like flexible pipes that run to every nook and cranny of your body.  When they dilate (or widen), they let more blood through; when they constrict (or narrow), they let less blood through.  If the blood vessels constrict and the body part at the end of that path feels deprived, it may send a pain signal to the brain.

If the blood vessels constrict or dilate quickly, your body will feel it and it may be translated as pain.

Headaches can be the result of an overall constriction of blood vessels in the head.

Your brain is full of neurons (nerve cells), and even though they translate pain, they don’t sense pain.

Caffeine Can Help

Caffeine can gently open up constricted blood vessels.

Your body is efficient, so when you sleep, certain blood vessels to certain parts of your body (like digestive tract and skeletal muscles) constrict to maximize blood flow to other places.  Once you wake up, the process by which the body re-dilates those vessels can be slow.  Exercise can make it faster.  So can caffeine.

The reason why caffeine helps us wake up: it dilates the blood vessels so more blood flows to the areas of the brain that control attention and focus and alertness.

Caffeine pill = 200 mg

Water for a headache?

If you’re dehydrated, your blood will be slightly thicker and may be harder to get to the nooks and crannies, and that can cause headache.  Dehydration can also cause low blood pressure can lead to headache.

The reason caffeine is in OTC headache pills – 1) caffeine can dilate blood vessels, and 2) it speeds up heart rate with increases how fast the other meds flow through the body.

Lucy and Ethel

Connect with me

Support us on Patreon

*NEW* Join the Pharmacist Answers Podcast Community on Facebook

Subscribe: iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, TuneIn Radio

Like the Facebook page

Music Credits:  “Radio Martini” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Cholesterol Basics [Show Notes]

 in Podcasts  tagged Bulletproof coffee / Cholesterol / Eggs / Goals / HDL / LDL / Statins / Triglycerides by

Fat Basics

Fats don’t mix with water.  Some fats are liquid at room temperature (oils), some fats are solid at room temperature.

Because so much of your body is made up of water, fats are very unhappy there.  So your body will take this “head” that likes water, and sticks it on the lipid “tails”.
*Correction: This combination is called a Phospholipid

Then they will form a little ball where all the water-hating tails are inside, and all the water-liking heads are on the outside.  This is called a Lipoprotein.

Cholesterol

LDL = Low-density lipoprotein (“Bad”) HDL = High-density lipoprotein (“Good”)

Density = the amount of stuff you can cram in a limited space
– A lot of stuff in a small space = high density
– A little bit of stuff in a big space = low density

In the lipoproteins, extra proteins are added to help direct it where to go.  HDLs have more proteins to help them stay focused than LDLs, so LDLs are like distracted drivers…

The Egg Controversy (while I avoid a lot of HuffPost articles, and I don’t know much else about this author, I agree with 90% of what he says here – and that’s more than I can say about other information I find out there)

LDLs also have more triglycerides crammed into them.  Triglycerides have 3 water-hating tails instead of one.

What’s the magic number?

You don’t need your cholesterol number to be zero.  You need cholesterols to build cell membranes and hormones, you just don’t want there to be too much of it.

So the LDLs are less directed so they end up crashing into each other and sticking together.  Then if they crash into the artery wall, they may get stuck there and just becomes a place where more stuff can get stuck.  This is how atherosclerosis and blockages happens.  A bunch of cholesterol is stuck to the walls of the arteries.

There is NO magic number!

HDL: > 40 men, > 50 women
LDL: < 100
Trigs: < 150
TC: < 200

The Bottom Line

HDLs and LDLs are the types of packages your body uses to carry fatty acids around your body.

The main hub of all this cholesterol packing and shipping and using is your liver.  Once the liver is done using all the fatty acids it needs, if there’s a bunch extra, it starts packing them away into adipose (or fat) tissue and storing it wherever it can around your body.  And there is NO LIMIT to the size of the fat stores!

The Statin Controversy (this is a great summary – the bottom line being that the people recommending “statins for everyone” stand to benefit greatly in their pocketbook if more people in the world actually started taking (aka buying) statins.

Familial Hypercholesterolemia = genetically inherited high cholesterol

Lifestyle changes (eating healthy foods and an appropriate amount of exercise) can never be bad for you!

Risk Assessment

If you take your coffee the “bulletproof” way, consult your doctor first.

Connect with me

Support us on Patreon

*NEW* Join the Pharmacist Answers Podcast Community on Facebook

Subscribe: iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, TuneIn Radio

Like the Facebook page

Music Credits:  “Radio Martini” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Throwback: A Strange Hour of a Sunday Shift

 in Blog  tagged customers / pharmacy / problems / solutions / solving / Throwback by

This is a post I wrote a LOOOONG time ago, on my first blog.  Even though my industry and schedule has changed, what people want from me has not.

Originally posted October 3, 2011
I don’t work many Sundays, but this past Sunday I did so a co-worker could have the weekend with her family to celebrate her birthday.
And on the Sundays I do work, strange things seem to happen.  Not sure exactly why, though I do have my guesses:
  1. The hangover is gone.
  2. People go to church, get convicted of the weekend’s activities, repent, then come looking for solutions to the consequences realized.
  3. They think everyone else is at church so business will be slow, or they’ll avoid the judgmental eyes of the church-goers.
So, I had a very strange hour this past Sunday at work.

Customer #1

A man and his son.  Dad had skunk-streaked hair (as in dark on the outsides, white/gray down the middle), and the 15-year-old son was linebacker sized. The kid had a sinus infection and needed an antibiotic.

Customer #2:

An Ex-Marine who ran the 6-mile Currahee Challenge.  (If you’ve ever seen the series Band of Brothers, they were guys who trained at Camp Toccoa during WWII and running Currahee Mountain was all in a day’s work.)  This guy came hobbling to the counter.  He informed me that he had been out of the Marines for only a month and that running 6 miles should’ve been easy.  He described his pain and told me that “Icy Hot from hips to toes on both legs wasn’t working.”  Ibuprofen and real ice was a better option (and less smelly).Customer #3:  Nervous guy – he asked about purchasing Plan B.  I have

Customer #3

A nervous guy came up and asked about purchasing Plan B.  I gave him the 3rd degree: Who’s it for? How old are you? What about her? How long has it been? It’s funny cuz the guy’s squirming.  I sold him a pack: $53.  He calls a few minutes later and says “this box says for 17 and younger.  She’s not 17!”  I informed him that the label should say ‘Rx only for 17 and younger”, meaning if someone younger than 17 is going to use it, it requires a prescription from a doctor.  He was highly relieved (obviously if he had gotten the wrong thing, “the lady” was going to be angry!)
*Currently, Plan B contraception is fully OTC, the Rx requirement has been removed thanks to legislation from President Obama.*

Customer #4

The girl from the Chinese Buffet came in.  She is really sweet and I like helping her, but communication is a challenge. You’ve got to be able to laugh at some of the mistakes we make.  Today, she came in asking for advice on “cold medicine for a duck.” A duck?  Really?  I asked about symptoms, she said: “his nose is noisy”.  I head for the children’s medicine thinking “we can dose a duck by weight”, so I ask how much he weighed.  She said 140 pounds.  A duck?  Oooooh, adult!  She never knew I thought duck as in “quack quack” duck.  We got her dad some cold medicine and she was happily on her way.
Just another random Sunday at the pharmacy!