Archive for June, 2009
What to Expect When You Take Plan B
A patient who came to the pharmacy the other day to buy Plan B had an interesting question for me – what will happen to me if I’m not pregnant and I take Plan B? From this question, I could tell the patient was confused about how Plan B works – “the morning-after pill” [...]
What to do about Nausea and Vomiting Caused by a Stomach Bug
In my articles “Nausea and Vomiting, it’s the Pits” and “Nausea and Vomiting Caused by a Stomach Bug”, I explained what may cause a “stomach bug” and what OTC medications may help control your symptoms. In this article, I’m going to tell you how to take the OTC medications that might help treat your nausea [...]
Nausea and Vomiting Caused by a Stomach Bug
The “stomach bug” is an infection of the stomach caused by a virus, bacteria, or parasite. The infection can also occur in the intestines (or gut). To make it easier, we will just call the infection a “stomach bug”! Note: If you didn’t get a chance to read my first nausea and vomiting article, [...]
Benadryl + Zantac for Rash
Amy, a 26 year old woman, came into the pharmacy a few days ago. She had a red, itchy rash on her arms and belly since yesterday. She also had two little girls with her grabbing her arms and demanding their mama’s attention NOW! When we were in pharmacy school, we were taught to spend [...]
HPV and Genital Warts
Human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause warts, genital warts and cervical cancer. Genital HPV is the most common viral STD (sexually transmitted disease) in the United States. There are over 40 different types of HPV that can infect the genital areas of women and men. HPV is a viral infection and currently there is no [...]
What is APAP?
Have you ever heard of APAP? You may recognize it from getting prescriptions filled at your pharmacy. Let’s use Vicodin (aka Lortab) as an example because this is where I see the use of APAP the most! The generic for Vicodin is hydrocodone/APAP and this generic name is what will show up on the [...]
How to treat runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing and cough
When you have runny itchy, itchy eyes and nose, sneezing, stuffy nose, post-nasal drip (mucus running down the back of your throat) and coughing, what do you take? All of those symptoms are caused by histamines. Histamines are released when we have a cold or allergies. Histamine can also cause hives (itchy, red, raised [...]
A Little Confusion About Benadryl
I’ve been asked so many times about this that I had to at least write a quick message before I forgot – where is the Benadryl (diphenhydramine) liquid for adults? The truth is it doesn’t exist! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there is a possible solution to this problem. [...]
Cold and Allergy OTC Medications
Eyes watering, coughing, sneezing and completely stuffed up –that is what was going on with my first patient of the day. By the end of the day, I had seven patients ask about cold/allergy drugs. They were not feeling well and were overwhelmed by the aisles of cold/allergy medicines –all claiming to make YOU [...]
False Positive Home Pregnancy Test
While at work yesterday, I had a young lady approach me with a question about home pregnancy tests. She had taken a home pregnancy test which came back with a positive result, but when she went to see her doctor to confirm the result, her tests came back negative. She was wondering how she could [...]
