Drug alert

Nurofen Plus mix up

Fortunately, these incidents are very rare.
The details as to exactly what has happened in this instance are as yet unclear and will doubtless be subject to much scrutiny over coming days and weeks.

We are very fortunate to have a rapid response system for drug alerts in the UK whereby alerts like this are circulated by fax and email to all community and hospital pharmacies rapidly and efficiently. This means that stock can be quarantined and further spread of rogue batches of tablets can be checked.

All community pharmacies will be checking and quarantining stock as a matter of urgency to protect the public.
The question mains as to whether permanent damage will have been done to Nurofen plus, the brand....only time will tell.

Erectile Dysfunction - time for action

"Maybe its because I'm tired"

"I've got a lot on my mind"

No more excuses!

40% of men over 40 suffer from some degree of erectile dysfunction (ED), so if you think you may do too, you're not alone.
ED happens when not enough blood can get into or stay in the penis long enough to make it sufficiently hard to allow an erection and sexual activity.
Lilly (who make Cialis) have a really useful website with more information about ED

You've probably heard the jokes about the little blue diamonds, viagra and other pills to treat ED, well now  - through a new service at  Barnton Pharmacy - you can access these treatments without having to go to your GP.

Using our confidential and convenient online service you will be screened by a doctor from medescribe and if suitable for you, a private prescription will be issues. You can collect your treatment at Barnton Pharmacy or we will even deliver it within the EH4 postcode area. Your tablets are in discreet Barnton Pharmacy  and you can be assured you are receiving top quality legitimate medicines.

How does it work?

1. Access the webprescriptions site through our Barnton Pharmacy website
2. Register. This only takes about 5 minutes and all your details will be stored for future use.
3. Complete the online questionnaire (choose from the list of medical conditions).
4. Questionnaire is then reviewed by a health professional at medescribe
5. If appropriate a private prescription is sent to Barnton Pharmacy*
6. Pay online - nothing more to pay in the pharmacy
7. We will dispense your prescription and have it ready for you to collect - or even deliver if you have an EH4 postcode.

*if not appropriate, you will be contacted by a health professional from Medescribe

Self management - what's it all about?

Over 2 million people in Scotland are living with a long term condition such as asthma, diabetes or mental health problems.
That's about 40% of us.
Self management is about enjoying life with a long term condition, not about enduring it. It's about you being in charge of your illness.

Click here to find out more about self management

There are loads of reasons why this makes sense, but the the Self Management website lists just a few:

• Life can be better with self management.  Being told you have a condition for which there may be no cure can be devastating.  Individuals respond in individual ways.  It can often have a profound impact on a person’s well-being and self-esteem.
• People try to cope as best they can with the support they have.  But frequently they do not have the information or skills to manage their condition well.  It is often difficult to make well informed decisions about their life; let alone make plans for the future.
• Together with health professionals and others who provide support, self management helps people to make decisions that are right for their life.

At Barnton Pharmacy we firmly believe in self management and in terms of your medicines this means being informed about them, knowing when to take them to get the best out of them and what to expect in terms of side effects or interactions with other medicines.

Our team are on hand to answer your questions so that you can get on with enjoying life!

All change for herbal remedies

Since 1st May 2011, all herbal medicines on sale have needed a to be licensed.
This should ultimately lead to improved safety for all of us and we can have confidence in the products we choose to buy and take.

For the companies who manufacture herbal medicines it has meant some tough choices and a huge investment in order to decide which products to apply for licenses for.

Most people in Edinburgh will have heard of Napier's the Herbalists and many of you will have used the services of their herbalists and therapists or visited their shops.

What you may not know is that some of their products are now available in pharmacies - including Barnton Pharmacy. As a result of the changes in licensing requirements, Napiers decided to license some of their excellent products and also to make them more widely available through selected pharmacies.

We have had some excellent feed back on the products we stock. Here are just a few.

Napier's Sweet Dreams Herbal Remedy contains passion flower, Jamaica dogwood, valerian root, hops  and scullcap

It is great for those who have trouble getting off to sleep and is also useful if you get to sleep fine, but wake after a couple of hours.
There is no chance of addiction and you will have no residual tiredness the next day.

Napier's Elixir of Echinacea is another best seller.
Containing echinacea, fumitory and wild indigo it will help your body fight back from infection and relieve symptoms of catarrh in the nose and throat.
It is great to use when you have a cold.

We also have herbal teas including Napier's nursing tea which is great for breast-feeding mums and if you can't find what you are looking for we can generally order it in from Napiers within a couple of days.

Rickets is back.

I thought rickets was a third world condition or at least a disease from days gone by.
However, those harrowing images of children with bowed legs may not be a thing of the past.

In fact only last week the BBC reported new cases of this crippling bone disease in Cardiff.
So what can we do about it?
It's all about Vitamin D.
Rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults are caused by a lack of vitamin D.

There are three main ways of getting vitamin D - from the sun,  from food and from supplements.

Living in Scotland and being paranoid about skin cancer, most of us don't get enough sunlight for our bodies to build up enough Vitamin D stores to get us through the winter.
In theory you only need 10-15 minutes of unportected Scottish sun to get  enough.

Vitamin D is found naturally in oily fish, meat and eggs and it is added (by law) to margarines. Despite this most of us don't get more than about 40% or the daily amount we need from the food we eat.

So on to supplements:

NHS Health Scotland have issued new guidance on Vitamin D.

They recommend that all pregnant and breast feeding women take 10mcg per day
Breast fed babies up to 6 months old need an additional 7.5mcg per day
From 6 months to 5 years, children should be getting 7.5mcg per day

In addition housebound individuals and people over 65years old ought to be getting 10mcg per day of Vitamin D.

Many multivitamin preparations will have vitamin D in them, but they may not have ENOUGH to mee these new recommendations.
We can advise you on the best product for you.