Drugs

Green Rx From New Zealand

While we in the United States worry about how to pay for all our prescriptions with or without Medicare Part D, New Zealand doctors have come up with something called a “Green Prescription” that won’t cost money, but will require time and effort.

Green Prescriptions are for specific physical activities that will help older people raise their exercise levels and general well-being and to stay healthy.

Studies show that regular physical activity reduces risks of death from all causes, including heart disease, even if the patient is a smoker and drinker or has other chronic conditions.

In a study from the University of Auckland, reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, people over 65 who got the Green Prescriptions, and follow-up calls to nudge them, spent an average of 40 more minutes each week engaged in physical activity than non-active others in the control group, burned more calories, and had fewer hospitalizations.

The New Zealand doctors think their approach is transferable to the United States, possibly through the large managed-care programs.

Say No to drug addiction

It’s no wonder the saying ‘Prevention is better than cure’ applies to almost every area of our lives. Take for example, the state of drug addiction. If you ask several addicts if they were given the chance to go back and change it all, most of them would admit to wanting to do so.

The word ‘change’ again applies to our lives at many levels. And in the case of the addict, a slew of alcohol rehabs are at their disposal to make a fresh start if not make that slow uphill climb back to the peak of sobriety. And it does take a lot of work and will power on the part of the patient as many will affirm.

But is it better that one did not get involved in taking drugs at all?

The answer to that is a resounding ‘Yes’ as an addiction is never planned but just happens, thanks to one’s affinity to a particular drug. So it’s better to not get involved at all!

However, for those who have already reached that stage where they depend on the drug fully, an addiction treatment program is in order. This program has to cater to their individual needs as each patient takes drugs for a particular reason that is not the same as another patient.

Cirque Lodge understands these concepts of addiction, and has been treating patients in the areas of recreational and prescription drugs successfully.

Another way to cut medical costs

Split your pills More health insurers are endorsing the practice, but some physicians say it’s risky.

Smart shoppers can’t resist a two-for-one sale. But should you purchase prescription drugs the same way you buy pizza or canned corn? For years, people who take daily medications have saved money by asking their doctors to prescribe pills with double the dose they need, which they then cut in half with a knife.

Although skeptics say the practice may be unsafe, a growing number of health insurers are encouraging patients to split pills as a way to combat the rising costs of prescription drugs. In June, UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation’s largest managed-care companies, advised members in Wisconsin to discuss pill splitting with their physicians. The insurer plans to introduce the program nationwide before the end of the year.

“Consumers are asking what they can do to bring their costs down,” said Tim Heady, chief executive of UnitedHealth’s Pharmaceutical Solutions drug benefit business. “This program provides better access to important drugs and can improve compliance with these medicines by helping them to be more affordable and accessible to more people.” U.S. Veterans Administration hospitals and some state Medicaid programs also ask patients who are prescribed certain medications to split pills.

But although the practice can save money for insurers and patients alike, is tablet splitting a good idea? Representatives for the pharmaceutical industry and drugstore owners say no. Other experts insist that, in some cases, medical consumers can divide and prosper.

Splitting pills saves cash because of a strategy employed by the pharmaceutical industry called “flat pricing.” Although a gallon of milk costs considerably more than a half gallon, there is often little or no price difference between high and low dosages of medications. For instance, drugstore.com recently offered 10 tablets of 100-milligram Viagra for $93.99, which is the same price it charged for an equal number of 50-milligram Viagra tablets.

Drug manufacturers use flat pricing to keep consumers from switching to cheaper brands if they need to increase dosage, said Dr. Michael P. Cecil, a Covington, Ga., cardiologist whose book “Drugs for Less” lists about 100 pills that can be safely cut in half as a way to battle the rising costs of prescription drugs.
According to the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, spending on prescription drugs in the United States rises more than 10% a year. Patients who pay for their own medications can reduce their drug bills by up to 50% with pill splitting. For example, someone who halves a double dose of the top-selling cholesterol-lowering drug, Lipitor, could save close to $600 a year. But even people whose health insurance covers prescriptions may be able to save a few dollars. For instance, UnitedHealthcare members who agree to split pills are only required to pay half the usual out-of-pocket co-payment for their medications; a typical $25 co-payment drops to $12.50.

The savings for healthcare companies can also be substantial. The Veterans Administration, for example, trimmed $46.5 million from its annual drug tab in 2003 simply by asking patients to split Zocor, a cholesterol drug. “We were able to treat two patients for the price of one,” said pharmacist David Parra, of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Drug manufacturers and pharmacies oppose pill splitting, arguing that it’s too difficult to divide a tablet into equal halves, especially for the elderly and people with poor vision or arthritis. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry organization, and the National Assn. of Chain Drug Stores discourage the practice. “It’s a lot of responsibility to put on the patient and doctor,” said Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for the pharmaceutical group. “We strongly urge that pill splitting not be pursued.” Neither Trewhitt nor Mary Ann Wagner, vice president of pharmacy regulatory affairs for the chain drugstores group, could provide estimates of how much money their respective industries would lose if pill splitting became more widespread. But a 2000 study estimated that if all Americans who take just the 12 most commonly prescribed psychotropic drugs — which include antidepressants and antipsychotics — split pills, consumers would save nearly $1.5 billion.

Some doctors oppose tablet splitting too. Emergency room physician Charles Phillips said he has opposed the practice since some of his patients who were Kaiser Permanente members in Fresno began telling him that they were required to chop double doses of certain medications. When he examined their drug bottles, he was alarmed to find pill fragments of all sizes. “They’d go from big, to little, down to dust,” said Phillips, who was a plaintiff in a 2002 lawsuit questioning the legality of managed-care provider Kaiser Permanente’s pill-splitting program, which it began in the early 1990s. (The lawsuit was unsuccessful; Kaiser spokeswoman Beverly Hayon said the insurer’s pill-splitting program has been voluntary since its inception.)

Critics such as Phillips charge that splitting a pill too often produces unequal fragments, leading to erratic dosing. A review last fall in the Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics found that trained pharmacists are at best able to divide tablets into roughly equal halves about two-thirds of the time, even when using pill cutters available in drugstores. In one experiment, just 27% of tablets divided equally. However, properly chosen pills can be split as a way to save money, said Dr. Gianna Zuccotti, deputy editor of the Medical Letter.

Many drugs remain active in the body for a long time, so subtle variations in dosage won’t make much difference, she said. In fact, Parra and colleagues recently published a study in the American Journal of Cardiology showing that patients at six V.A. hospitals who split Zocor had cholesterol levels similar to those of patients who took whole pills. Zuccotti suggests splitting pills one at a time and taking the second half as the next dose (rather than chopping up a month’s worth and tossing the fragments back in the bottle) to be sure you don’t take too much or too little medicine at once. Don’t split pills with a knife or razor, said Parra, because it’s easy to slip and cut yourself. “Definitely use a pill splitter,” he said.

Most pharmacies carry a few kinds; Cecil recommends buying one with a clear cover and a V-shaped tip, which allows more precise placement of the pill. Certain pills should not be split, including capsules; enteric-coated tablets; extended-release pills; and pills that combine two drugs in which one dose increases with tablet size but the other does not. What’s more, some drugs have a “narrow therapeutic index,” meaning that tiny changes in dosage can dramatically change their effects. To be safe, always talk to your doctor or pharmacist.

Drug addiction – Death by Ecstasy

Scientists have identified a key protein involved in one of the most lethal side effects of the popular but illegal drug ecstasy. Most ecstasy-related deaths are caused by an increase in body temperature, or hyperthermia, which leads to organ failure. Coroners report: 18-year-old female who attended a RAVE PARTY between the hours of 2230 and 0230 hours at a vacant lot. Mother of decedent picked her up at which time the decedent appeared to be under the influence. Mother drove straight to Good Samaritan Hospital where decedent told staff that she had taken 3 Ecstasy pills at the party.

Decedent kept in ER and monitored until about 0800 when she was released with doctor telling the mother that she would probably sleep for 18 hours and wake up with a headache. Decedent unable to get to car on her own and seemed to sleep the entire trip home to Sylmar. Decedent put to bed and checked on every 30 minutes or so by family. When checked on at about 1600 hours she was found not breathing so family called 911. Decedent taken to Olive View Hospital where she was declared dead in the ER at 1701 hours.

In this story the young girl died after being sent home from the hospital. The doctors failed to realize the actual lasting effects of ecstasy and thus were unable to help this girl. If our own doctors don’t even know how to handle a drug like ecstasy, just imagine the state of affairs our youth are in. They need the correct knowledge in order to make the right decisions. As if the drug ecstasy wasn’t bad enough, a lot of times the drug has other things added into it. Things like rat poison, sedatives and other chemical combinations.
While it is the drug ecstasy itself that does the most damage, nowadays kids don’t know what they are taking. They need all the facts and complete understanding about drugs themselves in order to keep from using them. About 8% of high school seniors surveyed had tried Ecstasy at least once in their lives. About 5.5% of 19-22 year-olds surveyed had used Ecstasy in the previous year. Ecstasy-related emergency room incidents increased nationwide from 250 in 1994, to 637 in 1997, to 1,142 in 1998, to 2,850 in 1999. Some of you may be wishing you’d had this type of information when you were growing up doing drugs.

Get Penis Enlargement Pills
Offers Safe and Potent Doctor Approved Formula that Increase penis length by 3-4″ and girth by 1″.

You know this would have made a big difference. Why? Because you were lied to by friends, who were drug users, and by the drug dealers. This situation is still happening today. What makes things even more horrifying today is that drugs are much more powerful then they were 30 years ago. Combine this with a pure lack of knowledge on the subject of drugs and you can begin to see the uphill battle our youth have in today’s world. “We have an opportunity to reach kids about this drug before they go down the dark side of using Ecstasy. I hope the above story illustrates the importance of this for all of you,” said Young.

For help with overcoming drug and alcohol addiction or to request drug education personnel to your school or group, go to http://www.DrugAddictionHelpLine.com.

What is Ecstacy?

MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), most commonly known today by the street name ecstasy, is a synthetic entactogen of the phenethylamine family whose primary effect is to stimulate the secretion of large amounts of serotonin as well as dopamine and noradrenaline in the brain, causing a general sense of openness, empathy, energy, euphoria, and well-being. Tactile sensations are enhanced for some users, making general physical contact with others more pleasurable, but contrary to popular mythology, it generally does not have aphrodisiac effects. Its ability to facilitate self-examination with reduced fear has proven useful in some therapeutic settings, leading to its 2001 approval by the United States FDA for testing in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ecstasy Might Cause Brain Damage

Ecstacy/MDMA Side Effects

There’s more evidence that the wildly-popular, feel-good “rave” drug known as ecstasy can have potentially devastating effects on brain cells. And women who use the drug for extended periods are particularly susceptible to this damage.

Also known as MDMA, ecstasy is cheap, relatively easy to get, and seems more innocuous than other “recreational” drugs because it’s taken in pill form, not snorted or injected. Ecstasy is thought to produce an overall sense of happiness and well-being by affecting the brain chemicals dopamine and serotonin.

Using the high-tech scanning device known as SPECT, Dutch researchers found that female heavy ecstasy users, when compared with light users, ex-users, and nonusers of either sex, had significant changes and reductions in the brain cells that transport serotonin. They report their findings in the Dec. 1 issue of The Lancet.

“Serotonin imbalance is thought to underlie depression, anxiety, panic disorder, and disorders of impulse control,” the researchers write.

On a positive note, the researchers suggest that the effects of heavy ecstasy use may be reversible, because the brain cells of ex-users did not show the same changes.

In an accompanying editorial, researchers from John Hopkin University School of Medicine in Baltmore call for additional, larger studies to confirm these preliminary findings and look more closely at gender differences and whether the changes really are reversible.