Posts Tagged ‘Suzy Cohen’
GERD Awareness Week is November 22-28.
GERD stands for gastroesophageal reflux disease, but if you have it, GERD also stands for upset stomach, heartburn, belching, acid rising up into your throat and choking you, and an aversion to certain foods that might bring on an attack. GERD can also lead to inflamed gums, erosion of tooth enamel, and a chronic sore throat.
One in five people (or about 21 million Americans) is affected by GERD, spending $7.6 billion annually to help treat the disease.
Every year during the week of Thanksgiving, appropriate since we all tend to overeat during this holiday, GERD Awareness Week takes place. This year it falls from November 22-28.
Joe and I know all about GERD, as Joe has been popping antacids since he was a teenager. He has also been taking medicines such as Prilosec and Pepcid for years. These medications led him to have a severe case of anemia and made us very aware that while he needed something for the GERD, he also needed something to combat the side effects caused by the medicines he was using.
The medications, acid blockers such as proton pump inhibitors (Prilosec, Prevacid, Nexium) and H2 blockers (Tagamet, Pepcid, Zantac, Axid), that are used to treat GERD are serious “drug muggers” since they alter the pH or acidity of the stomach. Remember, a “drug mugger,” according to author and pharmacist Suzy Cohen, is a medication that robs your body of necessary nutrients and therefore causes a whole host of side effects.
GERD medications, because they change the acidity in the gut, can deplete your body of most important nutrients and lead to a ton of health problems. These risks can include:
- Heart disease
- Fatigue
- Anemia
- High blood pressure
We carry a line of supplements in the pharmacy called Replenish. There is a specific Replenish supplement made just for people taking PPIs (proton pump inhibitors) and H2 antagonists. The supplement is called PPI/H2 Complete and it contains vitamin B12, magnesium, calcium, folic acid, beta-carotene, vitamin C, iron, zinc, and chromium.
To find out more about PPI/H2 Complete, go HERE.
There is also a nice article on the Replenish web site about acid reflux medications and the impact they have on your body. You can read that article HERE.
And don’t forget, stop in the pharmacy throughout the month of November and enter the raffle to win Pharmacist Suzy Cohen’s book, Drug Muggers, so you can learn even more about how to combat the drugs robbing your body of nutrients.
Besides combatting the side effects of the GERD medicines, there are other things you can do to manage the GERD symptoms as the holidays approach. The flyer below lists “15 Tips to Manage Your Symptoms this Holiday.”
Several of the mentioned tips Joe already does, because they help him prevent acid reflux and a miserable night of pain. His favorites from the list would be:
- Schedule an earlier meal. This was a problem in the early days of the pharmacy when Joe sometimes wouldn’t get home until 8 pm or later. It is also a worry when he has late meetings. As long as Joe eats early, he usually doesn’t have to worry about acid reflux overnight.
- Nix the juice. Orange juice really gets Joe’s GERD in motion. That is a problem, because he loves orange juice.
- Substitue water for soda. Joe does this most of the time. He drinks so much water, we call him a camel.
- Stay awake. Once the symptoms of GERD start (acid coming up in the throat), Joe has to get up and sit in a chair. Lying down only makes things worse.
To read all the other tips, scroll down to the info graph at the bottom of the posting.
For more information on GERD, visit the Digestive Health Alliance web site HERE.
You can also visit the About GERD website HERE.
For other helpful tips LIKE the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (IFFGD) on Facebook HERE.
Great American Smokeout is Thursday, November 19.
The Great American Smokeout started in 1970 when Arthur P. Mullaney asked smokers in Randolph, Massachusetts to give up smoking for one day and donate the money they would have used to buy cigarettes to fund a high school scholarship.
Today, the American Cancer Society uses the third Thursday of November to encourage smokers to finally quit.
According to the American Cancer Society web site, there are still almost 42 million Americans who smoke cigarettes; 12.4 million cigar smokers; and 2.3 million who smoke tobacco in pipes.
Did you know that within just twenty minutes after you stop smoking, your heart rate and blood pressure drop?
Within two weeks to three months, your circulation and lung function improve.
And within a year, your risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker.
For more information on how your body changes after you quit smoking, go HERE.
We all know the harmful effects caused by smoking, but smoking is also, according to pharmacist and author Suzy Cohen, a “lifestyle drug mugger.”
Drug muggers (per Ms. Cohen’s book of the same name) are usually medications that rob your body of essential vitamins and nutrients. In this case, smoking is the culprit.
If you smoke, you are probably deficient in:
- Vitamin C which is an anticancer vitamin found in oranges, lemons, and other citrus fruit.
- Thiamine which, when deficient, can lead to cardiovascular, neurological, and neuromuscular problems.
- Trace minerals (boron, magnesium, copper, manganese, phosphorous, selenium) which are needed to make healthy bones.
- Vitamin A or beta-carotene which also can lead to cancer when in short supply in the body.
Besides taking the vitamins and minerals listed above, you should also take N-acetylcysteine (NAC) if you are a smoker. NAC helps to build up levels of glutathione, a powerful antioxidant that detoxifies our bodies.
Stop in the pharmacy the entire month of November and enter our raffle to win your own copy of “Drug Muggers.”
There are two components that have to be addressed whenever someone stops smoking: the mental and the physical side to the addiction.
Things you can do to address the mental part of cigarette smoking include:
- Support groups and counseling
- Support from family and friends
- Find something to keep your hands and mouth busy–they are used to holding a cigarette. Carry a sucker or chew gum/candy.
The physical portion of smoking is usually combatted using medications including:
- Nicotine Replacement Therapy
- Prescription medications such as buproprion (Wellbutrin, Zyban, Aplenzin) and varenicline (Chantix)
There are many other methods, besides using prescription products or just going “cold turkey,” that can help people stop smoking. For a great article on those many methods go HERE. These include:
- Hypnosis
- Acupuncture
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Electronic cigarettes
I remember that when I was a kid, my aunts and uncles and grandma always had a great interest in the Great American Smokeout. They would vow not to smoke on that one day and, finding the challenge very difficult, would either immediately begin smoking the next day or fail to stop smoking even on the day of the smokeout. My grandma always admonished me and my sister, as well as our cousins, to never, ever begin smoking as it was such a hard habit to break. None of us ever did.
After seeing my family’s struggles with cigarettes, and Joe’s mom and dad’s battles, I know how hard it is to stop smoking. But if you want to give it a try on this Great American Smokeout day, stop in the pharmacy and we can recommend Nicotine Replacement Therapy to help start the process. You may also need a prescription from your doctor to aid in controlling your cravings. And, finally, it helps if no one else in the family is smoking in your household. So get support from family and friends to quit together to make the process easier.
You will feel so much better if you take part in the Great American Smokeout and continue to break the habit even after this one day ends. Best wishes to you as you begin this healthy journey forward.
Diabetes Medication “Drug Muggers.”
Last week, I recommended the book, Drug Muggers by Pharmacist Suzy Cohen. Drug muggers is a phrase author Cohen uses to describe prescription medications (and lifestyle habits) that can rob your body of necessary vitamins and minerals.
To combat the drug muggers in our lives, many of us should be taking supplements to replenish what has been depleted by our medicines.
In my first blog posting on drug muggers, I wrote about statins or cholesterol lowering medicines and the things in your body that are lost with their use. You can read that blog HERE.
This week, since November is American Diabetes Month, I thought we should discuss diabetes medication drug muggers and what supplements you should take if you are on diabetes medicine.
Diabetes medicines include:
- Glyburide (Diabeta, Glynase, Micronase)
- Metformin (Glucophage, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, Fortamet, Riomet)
- Metformin and Sitagliptin (Janumet)
- Tolazamide (Tolinase)
- Glipizide (Glucotrol)
Some of the side effects that can occur with diabetes medicines when certain nutrients are in short supply:
- Fatigue
- Weakness and muscle cramps
- Memory loss
- Heart disease
- Frequent infections
Diabetes medications can leave you deficient in:
- Coenzyme Q 10–necessary for the proper functioning of our muscles, including the heart. Decreased levels can lead to muscle weakness and pain, as well as problems with the heart.
- Vitamin B6–(pyridoxine) needed for normal nerve and heart function.
- Vitamin B12-(also known as methylcobalamin) necessary for energy, sleep, as well as for our nervous systems.
- Folic Acid (also known as Vitamin B9 or 5-MTHF/5-methyltetrahydrofolate or Folate in its natural form)–Folic acid is necessary to make red blood cells to transport oxygen throughout the body. Folic acid is also needed to make DNA, our genetic code, and is thus vital to prevent birth defects. Folate and the other B Vitamins also play an important role in heart function.
We carry a line of supplements in the pharmacy known as Replenish. Replenish has a supplement, Oral Hypoglycemic Complete, specifically for people who are taking diabetes medications. For less than 50 cents a day, you can take this supplement to help restore the vitamins and minerals that have been drug mugged by your diabetes medicines.
During the month of November, we will be giving away four copies of Drug Muggers. So please stop in the store and fill out a raffle ticket. There is a ton of wonderful information in this book about many classes of prescription drugs–more information than I can possibly summarize in my blogs.
There is also an end cap in the pharmacy featuring Statinzyme and the vitamins and supplements needed if you are taking diabetes medications.
As always, please check with your doctor and let them know about any and all vitamins and supplements you add to your daily regimen of medications.
What Are “Drug Muggers” and Are They Robbing Your Body Right Now?
Joe and I were recently at a conference for independent pharmacists. While we were there, one of the guest speakers recommended a book by Suzy Cohen who is also a registered pharmacist.
The book, Drug Muggers (a phrase coined by Pharmacist Suzy), explains that, while prescription medications do a ton of good for many people, they can also lead to other side effects and diseases when they strip your body of nutrients that you need to function properly.
A drug mugger then is a medicine that “robs” your body of something you need. Most prescription medicines are drug muggers.
I thought that I would try to highlight a different class of drugs each week and explain what nutrients they leave your body lacking and why you should try to replace these depleted substances with vitamins and supplements.
First up are the statins or cholesterol lowering medications.
Joe and I had heard about this problem with prescription medications and the need to replace vitamins and minerals in the body a few years ago at another conference. After that conference, we started carrying Statinzyme in the pharmacy, because we learned what a toll statin medications can take on the body.
Stain drugs include:
- atorvaSTATIN (Lipitor)
- lovaSTATIN (Mevacor)
- pravaSTATIN (Pravachol)
Some of the side effects that can occur with statins are:
- joint and muscle pain
- memory loss and confusion
- liver damage
Statin drugs can leave you deficient in:
- Coenzyme Q 10–necessary for the proper functioning of our muscles, including the heart. Decreased levels lead to muscle weakness and pain and problems with the heart.
- Vitamin D–also necessary for normal heart function.
Statinzyme contains Coenzyme Q 10 and Vitamin D3. It also contains fish oil and flax seed oil to replace the HDL or “good cholesterol” that is depleted by the statin drugs. Statins lower your LDL or “bad cholesterol”, but they also lower the good HDL. Additionally, Statinzyme contains resveratrol, B6, B12, and folic acid; all of which help heart heath and decrease the likelihood of strokes and heart attacks.
You can read about all of the ingredients in Statinzyme and why you need them by going HERE.
You could buy all of these vitamins and minerals separately–and pay more–or you can get everything you need by taking two capsules of Statinzyme daily. For the cost of a daily cup of fancy coffee at Starbucks, a daily dose of Statinzyme can protect your body and make you feel better.
During the month of November, we will be giving away four copies of Drug Muggers. So please stop in the store and fill out a raffle ticket. There is a ton of wonderful information in this book about many classes of prescription drugs–more information than I can possibly summarize in my blogs.
There is also an end cap in the pharmacy featuring Statinzyme and the vitamins and supplements needed if you are taking diabetes medications. I’ll have a blog posting on diabetes medicine “drug muggers” next week.
To find out more about Pharmacist Suzy Cohen, visit her web site HERE.
If you don’t think you will be lucky enough to win a copy in our raffle, order your copy of Drug Muggers HERE.
To read a Huffington Post article by Suzy Cohen that briefly explains Drug Muggers, go HERE.