Ask the Pharmacy Expert

COMPOUNDING – Customized

Medications to Meet Your Needs!

In every field of medicine, there are some patients who don’t respond to traditional methods of treatment.  Sometimes they need medicine at strengths that are not manufactured by drug companies, or perhaps they simply need a different method of ingesting a medication.  Pharmacy COMPOUNDING meets these needs.  It provides a way for physicians and compounding pharmacists to customize an individualized prescription for the specific need of their patient.  Compounding provides solutions which are not met by commercial products.

What is compounding and what are its benefits?

Pharmacy compounding is the art and science of preparing customized medications for patients.  Its practice dates back to the origins of pharmacy, yet, over the years the pharmacist’s role quickly changed as a preparer of medications to that of a dispenser of manufactured medications.  Within the last two decades, though, compounding has experienced a resurgence as modern technology and innovative techniques and research have allowed pharmacists to customize medication to meet specific patient needs.

There are several reasons why pharmacists compound prescription medications.  The most important one is what the medical community calls “patient non-compliance.”  Many patients are allergic to preservatives or dyes, or are sensitive to standard drug strengths.  With a physician’s consent, a compounding pharmacist can change the strength of a medication, alter its form to make it easier for the patient to ingest, or add flavor to make it more palatable.

What kinds of prescriptions can be compounded?

Almost any kind.  Compounded prescriptions are ideal for any patient requiring unique dosages and delivery systems.  The pharmacist can prepare medication using several unique delivery systems, such as a sublingual troche or lozenge, a lollipop, or a transdermal gel or cream that can be absorbed through the skin.  For those patients having a hard time swallowing a capsule, a compounding pharmacist can make a liquid suspension instead.  Other unique dosages and/or delivery devices can take the form of solutions, suppositories, sprays or oral rinses.

Compounding applications can include:  Bio-identical Hormone Restoration Therapy (BHRT), Veterinary, Hospice, Pediatric, Ophthalmic, Dental, Otic (ear), Dermatology, Medication Flavoring, Chronic Pain Management, Neuropathies, Sports Medicine, Infertility, Wound Therapy, Podiatry and Gastroenterology.

Are doctors aware of compounding?

Prescription compounding is a rapidly growing component of many physicians’ practices.  But in today’s world of aggressive marketing by drug manufacturers, compounding can be overlooked.  Ask your physician about compounding.  Then get in touch with Millerdale Pharmacy.  We are committed to providing high-quality compounded medications which have been prescribed by your doctor.

Who can compound?

Compounded prescriptions are both ethical and legal as long as they are prescribed by a licensed practitioner for a specific patient and compounded by a licensed pharmacy.  In addition, compounding is regulated by provincial boards of pharmacy.

Millerdale Pharmacy prides itself in being a member of PCCA – Professional Compounders of America.  PCCA is a complete resource for compounding pharmacists, offering the highest standards for chemicals, equipment, devices, training and education and a consulting department.  Millerdale Pharmacy can meet the unique healthcare needs of our patients through exceptional service, highest-quality products, innovation and education.

One patient.  One physician.  One pharmacist.  A triad relationship with a common goal:  achieving a positive therapeutic outcome for you!

 

 

January 2012 Article

DETOXIFICATION

Chemicals are everywhere – air, food, water, soil, dust, and everyday products.  Every day you’re expose to numerous chemicals that can affect the way you feel.  Over time, a buildup of toxins in your body can make you feel bad.  Tired, achy, poor concentration, irritable/moody, sleep disturbances, bloated, indigestion, and generally unhealthy to name a few.

While you may have limited control over your environment, you have a great deal of control over your own body. A 10-day Metabolic Detoxification Program can help remove toxins from your body.  By taking action now, you can start to feel re-energized soon!

Millerdale Pharmacy is offering a simple 10-day program.  This scientifically designed program includes targeted nutrition, a modified elimination diet, simple exercise, and basic recommendations for stress management.  If that sounds simple, that’s because it is!

Targeted Nutrition

The program includes a powdered beverage mix to support metabolic detoxification, including a “clean” protein, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.

Eating Plan

A modified elimination diet rich in vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients reduces the allergen and toxin load, helping the body detoxify efficiently.  Avoiding potentially allergenic foods that may impair your body’s ability to cleanse and detoxify is very important for the success of your program.

Simple Exercise

Strenuous or prolonged exercise should be reduced during the program to allow your body to cleanse and rejuvenate more effectively.  You can gain benefit from an exercise program as simple as 30 minutes of walking 3 times a week.

Stress Management

Adequate stress reduction and sleep are important to the success of your program.  Quick and simple tips make it easy to change your response to stress:  breathe from your belly, take a short walk, burst into exercise, listen to music, dance or sing, take a mental break, laugh, journal, take a power nap.  In addition, your body is recharging and regenerating – help it by getting adequate rest!

Professional Supervision

Millerdale Pharmacy has a certified Metagenics Healthcare Provider.  Program adjustments may be made to better suit your individual health needs.

If feeling great and achieving optimal health is one of your New Year’s resolutions, pick up your 10-Day Metabolic Detoxification today!  Millerdale Pharmacy – your healthcare destination!!!

 

 

December 2011 Article

ADRENAL FATIGUE – The Stress Syndrome

Feeling run down and stressed?  Tired for “no reason”?  Having trouble getting up in the morning?  Need coffee or colas to keep you going?   Crave salty or sweet snacks?  Struggling to keep up with life’s daily demands?  Can’t bounce back from stress or illness?  Not having fun anymore?  Decreased sex drive?   If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you may be suffering from adrenal fatigue.

How Does Adrenal Function Affect Your Everyday Life?

The purpose of your adrenal glands is to help your body cope with stresses and survive.  The adrenals are known as “the glands of stress.”  It is their job to enable your body to deal with stress from every possible source, ranging from injury and disease to work and relationship problems.  Your resiliency, energy, endurance and your very life all depend on their proper functioning.

No bigger than a walnut and weighing less than a grape, each of your two adrenal glands sits like a tiny pyramid on top of a kidney.  From this central location they not only significantly affect the functioning of every tissue, organ and gland in your body, they also have important effects on the way you think and feel.

What Adrenal Fatigue?

Hypoadrenia, from the root word “hypo” (lower) and adrenia (related to the adrenals), is a deficiency in the functioning of the adrenal glands.  Normally functioning adrenal glands secrete minute, yet precise and balanced amounts of steroid hormones.  But because they are designed to be so very responsive to changes in your inner physical, emotional and psychological environment, any number of factors can interfere with this finely tuned balance.  This means that too much of any kind of stress can deplete your adrenals, causing a decrease in the output of adrenal hormones, particularly cortisol.  This lowered adrenal activity (hypoadrenia), resulting from adrenal fatigue, can range in severity all the way from almost zero to almost normal.

What Causes Adrenal Fatigue?

Adrenal fatigue, in all its mild and severe forms, is usually caused by some form of stress.  Stress can be physical, emotional, psychological, environmental, infectious, or a combination of these.  It is important to know that your adrenals respond to every kind of stress the same, whatever the source.   Adrenal fatigue occurs when the amount of stress overextends the capacity of the body (mediated by the adrenals) to compensate and recover from that stress or combined stresses.  The worse the overload relative to the ability of the body to respond, the worse the adrenal fatigue.

Who Suffers From Adrenal Fatigue?

Anyone who does not get enough rest and relaxation to enjoy life, who drives him/herself constantly, who is never satisfied or is a perfectionist, who is under constant pressure (especially with few outlets for emotional release), who feels trapped or helpless, who feels overwhelmed by repeated of continuous difficulties, or has experienced severe or chronic emotional or physical trauma or illness is probably already suffering from some degree of adrenal fatigue.  Do you recognize any of these patterns in your own life?  In short, anyone can experience adrenal fatigue.

What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Adrenal Fatigue?

Some of the common symptoms of low adrenal function are:

•            Difficulty getting up in the morning.

•            Continuing fatigue not relieved by sleep.

•            Craving for salt or salty foods.

•            Lethargy (lack of energy).

•            Increased effort to do everyday tasks.

•            Decreased sex drive.

•            Decreased ability to handle stress.

•            Increased time to recover from illness, injury, or trauma.

•            Light-headed when standing up quickly.

•            Mild depression.

•            Less enjoyment or happiness with life.

•            Increased PMS or symptoms of Menopause.

•            Symptoms increase if meals are skipped or inadequate.

•            Thoughts less focused, more             fuzzy.

•            Memory less accurate.

•            Decreased tolerance.

•            Don’t really feel awake until  10AM, afternoon low between 3PM and 4PM, feels better after  evening meal.

•            Decreased productivity.

No single one of these symptoms gives a definitive diagnosis of adrenal fatigue, but taken collectively as a syndrome, they strongly suggests its presence.  If many of these seem familiar, then you are probably suffering from some level of adrenal fatigue.  Although we have come to accept it as such, adrenal fatigue in not a part of  normal life!  These symptoms indicate defective adaptation of your adrenal glands to the stresses you are experiencing.  They are warnings that something needs to change if you want to feel well again.

How Can Adrenal Fatigue Be Treated?

Caring for the adrenal glands means applying body, mind and spirit to the task.  Unfortunately, there is no one “magic pill” to improve adrenal function, so it is important to work with a health care practitioner who can develop an adrenal care program for you.  Book an Adrenal Function Consultation at Millerdale Pharmacy today and get started on the path to wellness!

 

 

November 2011 Article

DETOXIFICATION

Chemicals are everywhere – air, food, water, soil, dust, and everyday products.  Every day you’re expose to numerous chemicals that can affect the way you feel.  Over time, a buildup of toxins in your body can make you feel bad.  Tired, achy, poor concentration, irritable/moody, sleep disturbances, bloated, indigestion, and unhealthy to name a few.

While you may have limited control over your environment, you have a great deal of control over your own body. A 10-day Metabolic Detoxification Program can help remove toxins from your body.  By taking action now, you can start to feel re-energized soon!

Millerdale Pharmacy is offering a simple 10-day program.  This scientifically designed program includes targeted nutrition, a modified elimination diet, simple exercise, and basic recommendations for stress management.  If that sounds simple, that’s because it is!

Targeted Nutrition

The program includes a powdered beverage mix to support metabolic detoxification, including a “clean” protein, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.

Eating Plan

A modified elimination diet rich in vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients reduces the allergen and toxin load, helping the body detoxify efficiently.  Avoiding potentially allergenic foods that may impair your body’s ability to cleanse and detoxify is very important for the success of your program.

Simple Exercise

Strenuous or prolonged exercise should be reduced during the program to allow your body to cleanse and rejuvenate more effectively.  You can gain benefit from an exercise program as simple as 30 minutes of walking 3 times a week.

Stress Management

Adequate stress reduction and sleep are important to the success of your program.  Quick and simple tips make it easy to change your response to stress:  breathe from your belly, take a short walk, burst into exercise, listen to music, dance or sing, take a mental break, laugh, journal, take a power nap.  In addition, your body is recharging and regenerating – help it by getting adequate rest!

Professional Supervision

Millerdale Pharmacy has a certified Metagenics Healthcare Provider.  Program adjustments may be made to better suit your individual health needs.

If feeling great and achieving optimal health is one of your goals this fall, pick up your 10-Day Metabolic Detoxification today!  Millerdale Pharmacy – your healthcare destination!!!

 

 

August 2011 Article

INTESTINAL HEALTH

The GI tract or “a tube approximately 15 feet long, running through the body from mouth to anus,” is where food from the stomach passes into the intestine for further digestion and absorption.  Many practitioners believe that a healthy gastrointestinal GI tract is the basis of overall good health.  Studies show there is a direct link between GI health and immune responses.  An estimated 70% of the body’s immune cells reside in the GI tract, suggesting that maintaining GI health is essential to immune system function and overall health.

THE INSTESTINE AS A PROTECTIVE BARRIER

The atmosphere surrounding the earth and its role in protecting our environment parallels the function of the intestine and its role in protecting our overall health.  The earth’s atmosphere provides a protective barrier to support and sustain an abundant variety of life.  But most importantly, balance is the key!

In principal, the intestine provides a very similar protective barrier.  The intestinal wall is coated with hundreds of different species of both healthy and unhealthy bacteria.  This serves as a protective coating in concert with the physical of cells lining the intestinal tract.  Damaging substances like unhealthy bacteria, toxins, chemicals and wastes are filtered out and eliminated.  As well, critical factors for life, such as nutrients and water are absorbed into circulation and made available to the billions of cells in the body that need them.

Just as the atmosphere selectively filters out excessive UV radiation to protect life on earth, the selective barrier function of the intestine is equally protective.  In the healthy state, small sugars, fats and proteins are absorbed through the intestinal wall and circulate throughout the body, providing nourishment.   At the same time, damaging substances from unhealthy bacteria, incompletely digested food, toxins or chemicals are largely prevented from being absorbed and transported throughout the body.

BAD HABITS THAT IMPACT INTESTINAL HEALTH

Unfortunately, human beings have developed bad habits that promote imbalance in both the atmosphere and the intestinal tract.  For example, pollutants such as CFCs have punctured holes in our ozone shield, resulting in increased UV radiation reaching the earth.

In parallel, bad habits in our society have contributed to an imbalance of intestinal protective factors.  These bad habits include consumption of a diet high in fat and refined simple sugars and deficient in nutritious, whole, unprocessed foods and fiber.  This diet tips the intestinal balance toward overgrowth of unhealthy bacteria and yeast or fungal organisms.  It also leads to less frequent bowel movements and chronic intestinal dysfunction.  Other bad habits include excess alcohol consumption, use of antacids and anti-inflammatories like aspirin and ibuprofen.  These contribute to breakdown or deterioration in the physical integrity of the intestinal wall.  Another bad habit is the overuse of antibiotics, causing alterations in the balance of the bacteria in the intestine.

ACHIEVING OPTIMAL INTESTINAL HEALTH

The following suggestions may be helpful in achieving optimal intestinal health.  Avoid excessive alcohol use and refined, sugar-rich, fiber-poor foods.  Avoid the use of antacids and broad spectrum antibiotics whenever possible.  Eat a diet rich in whole, unprocessed, nutritious foods and fiber.  Drink plenty of pure water.  Supplement the diet with high quality, probiotic (beneficial) bacteria such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria to support a healthful and balanced population of intestinal bacteria.

The GI system is quite complex.  The consulting pharmacist at  Millerdale Pharmacy can perform a GI Health Assessment in order to recommend a therapeutic support program that is right for you!