Conversation between me and female patient:
"My doctor prescribed this antibiotic and this other pill. Is this other pill for yeast?"
"Yes, it is."
"Good, I'm thinking in the right box then."
Um ...yes. Yes you are.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Why is Pepto-Bismol pink?
Ok Target, thanks for the tv ad that has forced me to answer this question-of-the-day.
Pepto is pink because of the main ingredient, bismuth subsalicylate, AKA pink bismuth. This is the same ingredient that turns your tongue black. Pink bismuth reacts with the tiny amounts of sulfur in your saliva and forms bismuth sulfide, which is black, and it can coat your tongue after you take Pepto.
And no, you should not give Pepto to kids because that active ingredient, bismuth subsalicylate, is a derivative of salicylic acid, AKA aspirin.
Next question?
Pepto is pink because of the main ingredient, bismuth subsalicylate, AKA pink bismuth. This is the same ingredient that turns your tongue black. Pink bismuth reacts with the tiny amounts of sulfur in your saliva and forms bismuth sulfide, which is black, and it can coat your tongue after you take Pepto.
And no, you should not give Pepto to kids because that active ingredient, bismuth subsalicylate, is a derivative of salicylic acid, AKA aspirin.
Next question?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Pharmacy is BIG business
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090903/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_pfizer_settlement
Excerpt from the above link from the Associated Press:
"WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors hit Pfizer Inc. with a record-breaking $2.3 billion in fines Wednesday and called the world's largest drugmaker a repeating corporate cheat for illegal drug promotions that plied doctors with free golf, massages, and resort junkets.
Announcing the penalty as a warning to all drug manufacturers, Justice Department officials said the overall settlement is the largest ever paid by a drug company for alleged violations of federal drug rules, and the $1.2 billion criminal fine is the largest ever in any U.S. criminal case. The total includes $1 billion in civil penalties and a $100 million criminal forfeiture.
Authorities called Pfizer a repeat offender, noting it is the company's fourth such settlement of government charges in the last decade. "
____________________________________________________
Pfizer makes some of the top selling drugs, including Lipitor and Viagra. If you don't take these drugs, you probably know 27 people who do. How does it feel to contemplate the notion that the hard-earned money you paid for your expensive medication was partially used by Pfizer to ply "doctors with free golf, massages and resort junkets"? So that your doctor would choose Lipitor for your medication, which costs you and your insurance company more than a generic statin? Your collective prescriptions for these drugs and some others added up to $43 billion in sales for Pfizer last year. That's $43,000,000,000. That's a 43 and nine zeros. That's BIG. Do you think that a fine of $2.3 billion means that much?
Excerpt from the above link from the Associated Press:
"WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors hit Pfizer Inc. with a record-breaking $2.3 billion in fines Wednesday and called the world's largest drugmaker a repeating corporate cheat for illegal drug promotions that plied doctors with free golf, massages, and resort junkets.
Announcing the penalty as a warning to all drug manufacturers, Justice Department officials said the overall settlement is the largest ever paid by a drug company for alleged violations of federal drug rules, and the $1.2 billion criminal fine is the largest ever in any U.S. criminal case. The total includes $1 billion in civil penalties and a $100 million criminal forfeiture.
Authorities called Pfizer a repeat offender, noting it is the company's fourth such settlement of government charges in the last decade. "
____________________________________________________
Pfizer makes some of the top selling drugs, including Lipitor and Viagra. If you don't take these drugs, you probably know 27 people who do. How does it feel to contemplate the notion that the hard-earned money you paid for your expensive medication was partially used by Pfizer to ply "doctors with free golf, massages and resort junkets"? So that your doctor would choose Lipitor for your medication, which costs you and your insurance company more than a generic statin? Your collective prescriptions for these drugs and some others added up to $43 billion in sales for Pfizer last year. That's $43,000,000,000. That's a 43 and nine zeros. That's BIG. Do you think that a fine of $2.3 billion means that much?
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