DrugXpert Blog

Brand and Generic Medication There is a general confusion especially among patients concerning generic and brand name of drugs. The confusion is not very common in hospital pharmacy. This is more pronounced when you come to the community pharmacy. Read Also:  Who pharma Reps Should Target In Nigeria Medical doctors prescription of drug is influence by a couple of factors. But when every other factor is constant, some write drugs based on their generic name, brand name or active ingredient. There have been strong debate all around the world as to which is better for the benefit of both health care professionals and the patient. Lets us look at each prescription. Prescription When a doctor writes out a prescription using the name of the active ingredient, the pharmacist can use his discretion and dispense any product that contains same strength and active of that drug. E.g. metronidazole. There are cases an active will have more than one manufacturer such as brand and gener...

Most young couples I know want to give birth according to a particular formula or format. You will hear something like, 'my first child should be a boy, the second a girl while the last should be another boy.' The next thing they say is it is God that gives children so let's just pray and hope it happen that way. At the end, they get what they produce and in most cases not what they bargained for. Choosing your child sex Another set of couples who this post may be directed at are those ones who already have a set of gender but want a mix. It could be having boys already but need a female to spice up the home. No matter the situation, here comes a theory that have been shown to work by many who follow the guidelines. Gunning For A Gender Pregnancy is the fusion of one egg from the woman and one spermatozoa from the man. Sperm and eggs all have one chromosome. Sperm have chromosome X or Y but female chromosome is X or X. During fertilization, one chromosome from the ...

Most young girls care less when they ovulate or when their fertile period will be. Their main concern is when their period will be. But the whole story change when they become active sexually. They shift major focus to when they can conceive. To them, it is like a rocket science. But today, we will see all the major signs a woman can use to predict to some reasonable degree days of ovulation. It help along especially when husband who stay far away and wants to get their wives pregnant can use any of these and plan when to visit instead of random visit. Ovulation is the point mature egg is released from one ovary. The egg then make a short journey to the fallopian tube waiting to be fertilized by a sperm. The egg last a period of 12-24 hrs. However, fertile period is the days a woman can get pregnant after sex. It is days leading to and into the day of ovulation. Let us look at both. Ovulation Prediction Ovulation Calendar This is the easiest and cheapest method. The downside is ...

Women who are looking for the fruit of the womb always look for easy ways to predict their most fertile days. There are several methods develop and design over the years with various degree of accuracy. The most accurate of them all is the use of ovulation test device or instrument. There are three kits two of which use urine with the third making use of saliva. Mechanism of action is different because they measure two hormones in the body that is peculiar during ovulation. Urine Test Predicte This device measures and increase in luteinizing Hormone (L.H) in the body which occur during some hours prior to ovulation. LH surge when an egg is release from one of the ovary. LH can be detected in the urine and blood. How To Use Predicte This test strips normally come in a box with about 20 strips for 20 days or attempt. To achieve accurate result, some guidelines must be followed. To minimise waste of strip, it is good to use calendar method to predict ovulation period. This will ...

Immediately after the induction ceremony for pharmacy graduates, the next stage is internship in an accredited center for twelve months period under a qualified perceptor. But there is a problem. The number of graduates yearly is far more than the available space. The problem is compounded more by the fact that the available centers are centralised in Lagos state. This makes graduates from other parts of the country to struggle before they can get placement. Read Also:  Highest Paying Internship Centers This post will narrow down some tricks pharmacy inductees can use to get internship placement in no distant time especially when they are not considering salary or the sector. Network If your family do not know someone that know someone that know someone who can contact someone to give you an internship, you can get that from friends or others maybe in the profession or not even in the profession. This is especially more important in public setting where political affiliation ...

The word 'chemist' means different things to different people based on geographical location. To the English man, a chemist is a pharmacist. This could be trace back to how pharmacy evolve in England some years ago. Chemist To the rest of the world, a chemist is one with a person with a basic background training in chemistry. Although it is same in Nigeria, there are another group of person that are called chemist in Nigeria. They are the owners of patent and proprietary medicine vendors (P.P.M.V). These persons are completely different from a pharmacist. To the English man, a pharmacist a term legally restricted to those who are registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. What this means is that in Britain, a pharmacist can be called a dispensing chemist. However, pharmacist in united states of America are called druggists. Read Also:  Services Chemist Must Not Render A pharmacist is trained in the science of pharmacy to prepared and dispense me...

Vitamin C is one very important vitamin the body needs to fight infection. It is also called ascorbic acid. It is common in fruits. Due to its value to man, it has been processed into tablet form. There are different strengths available in the market. The most common one is 100mg. The 100mg come in both white and coloured orange. This is the most prescribe dosage by medical doctors. Read Also:  Is there danger of using vitamin C tablet that have changed colour Most clients walk into the pharmacy demanding for a specific type. Most adults prefer the white tablet. They believe the white is more effective when compared to the coloured tablet. Some of the reasons they gave is that the sugar added must have degraded some of the potency of the coloured while others claim the coloured tablet is meant for children. Are the reasons true? Let us see. Flavoured Drugs Most drugs taste awful. Awful tasting drugs is a turn off for many persons including adults. To encourage persons to take...

Patients pay a visit to the hospital to get solution to their health problems. Majority of them end up not satisfied with what they got. Their complain is that either the medical doctor did not listen enough to their complain, or did not give them more time. This we understand is caused by the many queue of patients waiting to be attended to. This can have a great effect on compliance and adherence. However, this can be limited if a patient get some of these information from the pharmacist. It will instill some level of trust in them which will eventually lead to adherence and compliance. As patients get their drugs filled in the pharmacy either in the hospital or community pharmacy, there are many questions in their mind that probably were not attended to in the office of the medical doctor. These patients may not know the right questions to ask. They may also find it difficult to ask because they don't know it is their right. This is where the pharmacist can be of extreme help....

Suicide is becoming a normal thing in Nigeria. There are various methods adopted by these ones. They all seek for the easy and fast way out of this world. From observation, the most use for some years now is sniper insecticide. Read Also:  Overview Of Drug Poisoning Sniper insecticide contains dimethyl 2,2 dichlorovinyl 1 phosphate (DDVP). This chemical kills most types of farm and house crawling and flying insects. But due to its toxicity to humans, it is restricted for outdoor use only. It is a farmer's choice. But unfortunately, it founds its way into homes where they are use it raw without dilution or diluted with kerosene making it more potent instead of water. Both raw and kerosene diluted sniper is deadly. However, one can still survive if we all know the first aid to this poison. Sniper insecticide For those who ingested this position, it takes some minutes to hours before the signs and symptoms start to manifest and it takes longer before death can set in. This...

Warning on Fanta and sprite It was March, 2017. All news media including online publishers in Nigeria have a gist to give. Though repetitive, it was a heated news with lots of fanfare publicity. Friends and family calling each other to knkw the outcome of the news. What could be this important? A court in Lagos just ruled that drinking Fanta or sprite with vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is dangerous to health. I have written on this before in this blog. Please feel free and get more information there. Read Also:  The Health Hazard Associated With Drinking Fanta Or Sprite With Vitamin C But the issue we shall be discussing today is the second part of the judgement which specifically ordered the national agency food and drug administration and control (N.A.F.D.A.C) to order the Nigeria bottling company (N.B.A) to inscribe a warning label on all Fanta and sprite bottles that consuming the contents with vitamin C is unhealthy within 90 days from the day if the verdict. I guess I just...

To avoid many diseases, we are restricted on the type of food we eat. This restriction is more for those with history of a  particular disease condition. The restrictions become hard when diagnose with the condition. But patients are always worried if fruits and vegetables have any negative effects on their health. A good example of such confusion is diabetes mellitus patients and sugar cane. Read Also:  Benefits Of Coconut Water For Children Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorders characterized by too much glucose or sugar in the blood circulation. This is as a result of either low or no insulin production or reduce or no sensitivity of tissues in the body to insulin produced. Artificial sugar High blood glucose level is very dangerous as well as low sugar level. It requires constant monitoring to have the require quantity in the body. No human can do without blood sugar. The sugar is from the food we eat. Some fruits have more sugar than others. For example, diffe...

Community pharmacy encounter a lot of diagnostic and laboratory test results. Diagnosing minor ailments in a community pharmacy setting is a skill that must be develop fast if one must succeed. Signs and symptoms of patients is more than enough to make a precise diagnosis in some cases. But this is not the case at all times. In some situations, it is the duty of the pharmacist to prescribe an appropriate test. The test can be done in the community pharmacy shop if it a simple one or in a standard diagnostic laboratory with the right equipment. In some other cases, many patients work into the the shop with test results. It is good old and new community pharmacy get to know the most common test and their results including the meaning. This post is actually targeting new pharmacist in community pharmacy practice. Common Laboratory Test Blood Pressure Blood pressure kit This test is carried out in the community pharmacy right then and there using sphygmomanometer and a stethosc...

One of the most common diagnose health condition by community pharmacy is body pain. Same goes for patent medicine vendors. The reason is not far fetch. The nature of jobs people do affect them a lot physically. And unfortunately, Nigerians don't bother themselves on how to minimise the side effects of the jobs they do. From white collar jobs that requiring sitting in one position for a long time to farmers bending down almost all through the day working. These postures can cause body pain over time. Diagnosing it is not big deal. Treating it can be as simple as ABC. Different pain killers does the magic. However, the story change when the patient has history of stomach or peptic ulcer. Read Also:  Should ulcer drugs be taken before or after mesl Peptic ulcer is a sore in the stomach. This sore causes pain to the sufferer when the acid in the stomach touch it. The two main causes are the bacteria, helicobacter pylori or Non-Steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). The type o...