Level 12 Diabetes

A woman came to the counter today with a gallon on GatorAde fruit punch. She wanted to know if it was good for her diabetic husband to drink GatorAde all day. I scanned the ingredients...water, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose syrup. I say no, that doesn't sound good for a diabetic. She challenged me, "since I am the pharmacist".

Suzy Q:"He has gone from a level 4 diabetic in June to a level 12 diabetic now so he needs to drink electrolytes. What exactly are electrolytes anyway?'

Oh my, so many many things wrong with these questions. I know this discussion will end badly.

Me:"Has your husband been sick? Did your physician recommend electrolytes?"

Suzy Q: "Everybody needs electrolytes".

Kudos to the great marketing team of GatorAde, they have earned their salaries.

I quickly skim over the basic science and again ask her if her husband has been sick with the flu, vomiting, diarrhea?

Suzy Q: "He has level 12 Diabetes"

Me: "I'm not familiar with that terminology. What were his last few blood sugar levels?"

Suzy Q; "Oh, you don't know anything about diabetes?"

Sigh. Maybe she is a friend of The Channeler. Remember him? He told me that aliens whispered the cure for diabetes to him in his dreams. He has a huge volume of information to share with the world. Nobody can read it because it's written in the alien language but he's working on a translation and will bring it in when he is finished. Maybe he gave Suzy Q a copy of the translation. So I guess that I don't know anything about diabetes after all. And I'm still waiting for my copy.

The Pharmacist (1946)

Video courtesy of the Prelinger Archives.

My favorite part is the line that "women make good pharmacists" but the film shows a woman mixing what could be cake icing. They are hoping that a woman who looks like she's in the kitchen will be more acceptable? ANYway, this film is a quaint ode to pharmacy, a field that serves all humanity.

Question-of-the-day: "Can I have my salad with Italian dressing if I am taking an antibiotic?" This stumped me so I asked why she was asking me that particular question. She said that her drug info said to "avoid grapefruit". I am still puzzled. :-/.

Rising Drug Costs

Link to an article snatched from the NYT about rising drug costs. My instinctive reaction is that Big Pharma wants to establish higher costs, so that when their payments are reduced by any newly changed healthcare policies, they will have the same revenues as before. Remember how some banks increased some credit card fees and rates before some new regulations took effect? Same thing. Brace yourself for higher drug costs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/business/16drugprices.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

I am amused by my little old ladies who cannot remember to take their Alzheimer's pills. Those little old ladies are my favorite patients and I look forward to helping them when they come to my counter. I am also amused by the little old ladies with thick glasses who cannot find the Ocuvite on the shelf. They come in armed with their magnifiers but still need my help. Good times!

Quip-of-the-day: Obama planted the swine flu so senior citizens would have to sign up for the new healthcare.

Exacta Zen

Counting all day can get tedious. You need ways to keep your mind fresh and focused. I keep tally of the number of times that I pour out exactly the right number of pills in one pour. This has to be a quick unhesitant pour. No shaking the bottle as the pills fall out one by one. Over a decade ago, one of my technicians called these pours "Exactas". The name stuck. I admit that I tally my Exactas most days. I have a strict definiton of Exacta. It only counts if you pour quickly. It only counts if there are pills remaining in the stock bottle after you pour. Unit-of-use packaging doesn't count. I average about 3-4 Exactas in a 10 hour day. It's going to be a good day if I pour an Exacta before 9am. Last week I had 11 in a 10 hour day. That was a great day! Throwing Exactas somehow reassures me that I am in the zone, I am focused and clear and ready. You can't forcefully enter the zone, you have to be loose and let it come to you. If you focus on the zone, it evaporates. It's a meditation of motion and rhythm. It's Zen................
.....then both phonelines ring, consulation is needed, override codes are needed, blah, blah, sigh.