As of January 1st, 2012, certain pharmacies will NOT continue to take care of patients who have Express Scripts, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, or Tricare.  Kilgore’s Medical Pharmacy, however, WILL continue to take care of these patients.  Check with your current pharmacy, and see if they will continue to accept ExpressScripts and affiliates.  If not, we can transfer your prescriptions for you.  All we have to do is make a phone call to that pharmacy for you.  Just give us a call, give us your information, and we will do the rest!

Have you ever heard the term MRSA? What is it exactly?  Officially, it is Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus infection, and it is becoming increasingly common.  Most commonly, it presents itself as a skin infection.  The lesions look like pimple or spider bites, but they are painful, pus-filled, and usually in clusters.

MRSA is spread through skin-to-skin contact.  Persons at higher risks for acquiring MRSA are populations of people that play contact sports, kids or workers in a daycare setting or people in confined living spaces.   Treatment for this kind of uncomplicated MRSA is easy, but if left untreated, complications can develop which can be serious as it can spread into the lungs.  Treatment involves proper diagnosis from your doctor, and you will probably prescribed an oral AND topical antibiotic.  Sulfa antibiotics are the most commonly used oral antibiotics, so make sure to let your doctor know if you have any drug allergies.  Bactroban (mupirocin) ointment is the topical antibiotic which is usually prescribed.  The doctor will probably tell you to apply it to the area of the lesions and most likely you will be instructed to apply it to the inside of the nasal passages as well, as the bacteria are commonly found inside of the nasal passages.  You can also cleanse the area with an Over-The-Counter antiseptic cleanser called Hibiclens, which you can find at Kilgore’s Medical Pharmacy.

If you need information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

A Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) is a blood clot that is usually found in the leg.  Symptoms include: change in color/redness of leg; warmth to the touch; pain; tenderness; and swelling.  If untreated, a clot can dislodge and travel to the lungs and form a pulmonary embolus.  A pulmonary embolus is life-threatening, so recognizing the symptoms of a DVT will allow one to seek treatment to avoid this complication.

Causes of a DVT include: extended periods of bed rest; smoking; fractures; taking medications which contain estrogen; obesity; recent surgery; and sitting for long periods of time while traveling.

Treatment consists of using blood thinners for a minimum of 3 months.  Frequent blood draws are required to make sure the thickness of the blood is in target range.  Prevention can include moving your legs often when traveling, taking a low-dose aspirin daily (only if advised by your physician), and wearing surgical support hose.  Surgical support hose prevent blood from pooling in the legs using graduated compression, therefore aiding to prevent a blood clot from forming.  Come and visit Tina Weaver, our certified support hose fitter, at our Providence location and she will get you fit in the proper support hose.

Do you have medications in your medicine cabinet that you don’t take or need anymore?  Do you have a teenager?  This might not be a good combination.  Painkillers such as Vicodin (hydrocodone), depressants such as Xanax (alprazolam), and stimulants such as Adderall (amphetamine salts) are the MOST common drugs of abuse in the teen population. However, there is information out there suggesting that teenagers are taking anything that might be in the medicine cabinet, even if it has NO abuse potential.  Recent information suggests that teenagers are taking medications just to take them. Statistics exist even for kids as young as 12 years of age.

Here is where you can help. If you have medications you use on a regular basis, it might not be a bad idea to lock up your medications in a lock box or a safe. Don’t flush medications down the toilet as this leads to contamination of our ground water.  To destroy medications, take the tablets, capsules, or liquids and mix them with something undesirable, such as kitty litter or coffee grounds. Tablets can be crushed and capsules can be opened up and mixed with these unpalateable substances and be thrown in the trash.  Don’t hesitate to call us if you have further questions.

Pediatric Analgesic Words of Wisdom from your Pharmacist

                With children returning back to school and the fall season is fastly approaching, parents are beginning to prepare their medicine cabinets for cold season.  It is not uncommon to use the same bottle of over the counter pain medication for all the children in the household.  However, there is a safety concern regarding the different dosage formulations available for infants and the rest of the pediatric population.  For example the infant formulation of Tylenol, known as Tylenol Infant Drops, contains 80mg of acetaminophen per 0.8mL (or 100mg/mL).  The Childrens Tylenol formulation (for children age 2-11) contains 160mg of acetaminophen per 5mL (or 32mg/mL).  The infants pediatric drops are more than 3 times more concentrated than the Childrens Tylenol formulation.  Thus if you gave your 3 year old child a teaspoonful of the infants formulation you would be giving them more than 3 times the dose they needed.

                Another common misconception is that baby aspirin, is for babies or young children.  Since aspirin has been associated with an increased risk of Reyes syndrome ( a rare but serious condition that causes swelling of the liver and brain), aspirin use is discouraged in young children and should not be administered without first talking to your doctor.

 ”Ewwww, what’s in your hair?”
As the school year begins, unfortunately, so might head lice. Head lice are small, six-legged insects that attach to a person’s scalp or skin and feed on human blood. It may be hard to see head lice, because they are about the size of a sesame seed. Head lice can be white, brown, or dark gray. Lice eggs, also called nits, stick to the hair closest to the scalp and may be even harder to see. Head lice are normally found in the hair near the back of the neck or behind the ears. The best way to spot an active infestation is to comb through wet hair.

Nits

Young children are most at risk for contracting head lice, because they attend daycare or schools where they play closely together. Head lice are transmitted by head-to-head contact or sharing contaminated items, like hairbrushes, hats, or hair clips. The most common symptom of carrying head lice is itching.
Head lice will not go away on their own. An individual must be treated. Notify your children’s school or daycare to prevent further infestation. Treat all infected family members at the same time. Clean the infested person’s hair-care items and bedding. Also, clean other items like clothing, furniture and carpeting that have been in contact with the infested person’s head before treatment. Washing, soaking or drying items at high temperatures will kill stray lice or eggs. Furniture, carpeting, car seats and other fabrics should be vacuumed.

Treatment:

Do not use different head lice treatments at the same time unless instructed to by your primary care physician or pharmacist.  If you treat an infected person more than two to three times with the same medication and it does not seem to be working, contact your primary care physician.  If the scalp or neck skin becomes red, swollen, painful, or the infected person develops a fever, please contact your primary care physician because these could be signs of an infection.

Traveling and getting out of your regular schedule are not excuses for you to stop taking your medication.  Here are some tips for traveling with your medication:

1. Keep your medication in the labeled containers that they were dispensed in (from the pharmacy). Protect medication from heat and light.

2. Store all prescription medications in your carry-on luggage so they will be easier to find once you reach your destination.  Also, they will less likely get “lost”. Bring extra medication in case of travel delays.

3. Carry a list of the names and contact information of your doctors and pharmacy just in case you need to contact them.

4. Make sure you have your insurance card with you while traveling.

5. One can bring liquid prescription or over-the-counter medications onto the airplane, but if the quantity exceeds 100ml (approx 3 ounces), they must be declared to airport security.  To avoid this, just ask your pharmacy for an extra bottle so that you can carry less than 3 ounces onto the aircraft.

6. If you are visiting a foreign country, check with that country’s embassy to make sure that none of your required medications are considered illegal narcotics.

If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Kilgore’s Medical Pharmacy…..442-0194 (Providence) OR 447-4444 (Chapel Hill).  We Make Columbia Feel Better!