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As a Valentines’ Day present to yourself, you might ask your doctor if any of your prescriptions are coming available as generics. 2015 is slated to be a big year for popular name-brand drugs to come off patent. Some of the big names on the list are Abilify, Nexium, Epipen, Namenda, Zyvox and Emend. Here’s a list of anticipated generic medications: www.corporatepharmacy.com/page/upcoming_generic_drugs. Release dates may be delayed if manufacturers get into legal squabbles with each other. Man...
Happy Shortest Month of the Newest Year! To those of you who bought the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug plan, I am sorry to tell you that there was incorrect information about pharmacies who participated in Aetna’s 2015 Part D website during the open enrollment period. Community pharmacists and beneficiary advocates say that the situation is problematic but the National Community Pharmacists Association called the situation a “bait and switch” on beneficiaries. Centers for Medicare and Medic...
Alaska Health Fairs, Inc. begins its spring series of health fairs this month, featuring free health screenings and education, low cost blood tests and more. The tests can help you learn about your health and detect potential problems early, when treatment or changes in personal habits can be most effective. The test results give you and your health care provider important information about your physical condition and vital organ functions. A complete and comprehensive chemistry/hematology test is available for only $45 and panels 27 different...
Yoga may help boost brain function in older adults A simple yoga program may be good for the brain in unexpected ways. University of Illinois researchers are now reporting that practicing hatha yoga three times a week for eight weeks may help improve sedentary older adults’ performance on cognitive tasks that are relevant to everyday life. The findings involved 108 adults between the ages of 55 and 79 years of age. Among the 108 adults, 61 attended hatha yoga classes. The others met for the s...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in February. This month’s theme is National Heart Month. Feb. 3, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Feb. 10, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Feb. 12, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program in the Blazy Mall, 5 p.m. Feb. 17, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Feb. 24, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Please j...
Millions of Americans are suffering needlessly with chronic pain, according to a new book, A Nation in Pain. The author, Judy Foreman, calls the opioid wars not only medical but psychological, economic, political and cultural. We are suffering needlessly in what she calls “an unrecognized health epidemic.” Pain is the main reason seniors visit their doctors. Research has shown that 50 percent of older adults who live on their own and 75 percent to 85 percent of the elderly in care facilities suffer from chronic pain. Yet, pain among older adu...
Attitudes about marijuana and its use are changing nationwide. Alaska, along with Washington, Colorado and Oregon, has lifted the prohibition on its use. The voter-approved changes in each state are expected to bring in millions of dollars through taxes. However, the real windfall may be for Alaska residents and others with chronic health problems. The active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is now showing promise for treating chronic pain conditions, nerve pain and nausea...
If affording your prescriptions is a challenge, please don’t turn to ‘cost-cutting’ measures like going without, or maybe taking one pill a day instead of two, or splitting your pills and only taking half your prescribed dose. These can end up costing you far more than they save you. There are almost always ways to make your prescriptions affordable. First, tell your pharmacist you need something cheaper. Sometimes you can take a less expensive medicine instead. For example, the New York Times...
Breast cancer vaccine showing promise The New Year is ushering in new hope for women who have advanced breast cancer. Researchers are now reporting success with a novel breast cancer vaccine that appears to be safe and effective for helping women with metastatic breast cancer. Preliminary evidence also suggests that the vaccine specifically primes the patients’ immune systems to attack tumor cells and help slow the cancer’s progression. The vaccine causes the body’s immune system to hone in on...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in January. This month’s theme is National Senior Independence Month. Jan. 6, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Jan. 13, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Jan. 15, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program in the Blazy Mall, 5 p.m. Jan. 20, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Jan. 27, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1...
If you’re like most of us, you detest those darn child-proof caps that come on every medication. In fact, you may have tossed the troublesome lids. And you may be in the habit of keeping your medications on bedside tables or other easily reachable places. You should know, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 80 percent of emergency room visits are from medication overdose among kids 12 and under, usually because they were curious when they found medicines that resembled candy. That’s the equivalent of four busloads of kids, eve...
An ethical will is a document which expresses your wishes, hopes and maybe blessings. It’s something you share with family members while you are still alive. Sound unimportant? Think about it. You could look at it as a way to impart wisdom to those you will leave behind. It’s easier than a memoir and a good way to convey important ideas. I had a friend – Annette – who suffered a serious brain injury at age 42. Before she went into a surgery, which she knew she might not survive, she wrote short letters to her daughters, husband, parents...
Medicine helps us tremendously, but occasionally we experience negative side effects, allergic reactions or other problems. Sometimes they’re quite serious. It’s important to be aware of potential problems so you can watch for them and report them right away before they become dangerous. An Anchorage woman recently contacted me and asked me to share her tale, in the hopes that it might spare others some of the trouble she’d had. I agreed, because I’ve heard so many similar stories over the yea...
My friends, I always regret it when I have to report not so good news to you. The Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans for 2015 are the unpalatable ones that I always knew they would be since the program started – there are no good policies that I can suggest to my clients. The lowest premium (Humana Walmart) is $15.60, but it comes with a whopping $320 deductible. In fact, most of the plans have a deductible of $320. Why do you think that is? Is this collusion? And why is there still a ...
Healthy Christmas party choices This Christmas season the nutritionists say think red wine, dark chocolate and berries for heart health. New studies show you need to watch for the calorie counts and added sugars but these foods in particular may help fight heart disease and protect the brain. Berries, including blueberries, cranberries, raspberries and strawberries are a good source of beta carotene and lutein, polyphenols, vitamin C, folate, potassium and fiber. Red wine contains resveratrol,...
Last summer’s viral “ice bucket challenge” focused attention and helped raise money for ALS – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – a disease that impairs motor function so people often can’t talk or even move. But while public attention focused people on the disease, Medicare changes already in the works could now seriously curtail coverage of communication tools that ALS patients need. Unless it is delayed, beginning Dec. 1, people with ALS could lose access to technological advances that allow them to better communicate, as a result of what Med...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in December. This month’s meetings will focus on fall prevention. Dec. 2, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Dec. 9, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Dec. 11, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program in the Blazy Mall, 5 p.m. Dec. 16, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Dec. 30, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. P...
A series of online trainings will be available beginning in January, sponsored by the Area Health Education Center (AHEC), UAA Office of Health Programs Development, and the Trust Training Cooperative. The series is a partnership with the Northwest Geriatric Education Center, and will offer 10 weeks of trainings from Jan. 6 through March 10, to Alaska via virtual classroom on the Internet. The series is designed to give community-based providers working in the field of aging – physicians, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, p...
Here's something new from Social Security, which has just launched "my Social Security account," a personalized online account people can establish at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount, beginning in their working years and continuing throughout the time they receive Social Security benefits. With a "my Social Security account," people can access their online Social Security statement, which provides workers age 18 and over their complete earnings history and estimates for future retirement, disab...
Because I am a dietitian, friends sometimes ask me to help them interpret their health fair blood test results. This fall, I had the unhappy chore of telling a friend that the test results showed “prediabetes” and to talk with a physician. Wanting to put a positive spin on things, I also said that it was great to find out about the prediabetes because there are some simple and effective ways to deal with the problem. My friend is one of the 86 million people in the United States with “prediabetes”. This is a condition in which the blood s...
Fall in Alaska is that short period of time between summer fun and six months of cold snowy weather that lasts until after you file your taxes. As the leaves turn bright colors and fall from the trees, you remember it's time to winterize everything, pull out the blue tarps and have the sled tuned up. But the most important ritual for the fall should include a trip to the VA influenza clinic and see the Alaska VA Flu Coordinator, Marylou. The Alaska VA could not have made this annual visit any...
Prehabilitation may benefit hip and knee replacement patients All hip and knee replacement patients have physical therapy after their surgery. However, a new study is suggesting that prehabilitation may be highly beneficial to some patients. Researchers found prehabilitation could significantly diminish the need for postoperative care. In some cases, postoperative care was cut by nearly 30 percent, resulting in a significant cost savings. The study included more than 4,700 patients and it found...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in November. This month’s theme for discussion is “Coping With Holiday Stress.” Nov. 4, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Nov. 11, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Nov. 13, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program in the Blazy Mall, 5 p.m. Nov. 18, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Nov. 25, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior C...
November is Thanksgiving month, a time when we reflect on our blessings and often celebrate them with food and drink — so it is also a good month to think about the tricks your food and drink can play on your medicines, like leftover Halloween pranks. Here are a few food-and-drug facts worth reflecting on: There are 249 drugs that interact with grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice can interfere with how the body metabolizes (takes up and processes) medication. When medicine isn’t passing thr...
Alaska Health Fairs, Inc. wraps up its fall series of health fairs around the state this month, featuring free health screenings and education, low cost blood tests and more. These tests can help you learn about your health and detect potential problems early, when treatment or changes in personal habits can be most effective. The test results give you and your health care provider important information about your physical condition and vital organ functions. Unless another phone number is listed, for more information on the events below, call...
