Prescription Drugs

Video transcripts reprinted with permission from Dr. Allison Jorgensen, Registered Pharmacist (RP)

"Welcome to Health Wise. I'm Ally Jorgensen.

Today, we are going to be talking about the safe use of prescription, over-the-counter, and herbal products. Whenever you take a drug, any drug, whether you got it by prescription, over-the-counter, or it is actually an herbal product, there are some things that you need to know to keep you safe. But first, and an important thing that we need to talk about is, 'what is a drug?'

A drug is anything that we are using to treat or prevent a disease. So, even though it says health food, or it says non drug, it is really a drug where we are talking about staying safe. A couple of the other things that we need to remember, is that tablets and capsules are different. And when you are talking to your pharmacist or some other health care professional who can help you, you need to know which one is which. A tablet is solid and it looks like the pictures in back of me. A capsule you can pull apart and it has powder inside; sometimes it has liquid inside. But it is not hard like a tablet. Do not call anything 'pills' because pills are hand rolled and pharmacists do not make those anymore.

It is also important that you know when you are taking any drug, which questions you should ask. And you should ask your pharmacist, you should ask your physician, you should ask your dentist, (and) you should ask the people who write the prescriptions and the people who fill them. If it is a drug you are buying without a prescription, you need to talk to your pharmacist so that you can stay safe.

Some of the things you should ask are ..'Why am I taking this?' - especially if it is a prescription. 'What is this supposed to do for me?  Is it going to lower your blood pressure? Or change your blood sugar? Or is it going to kill an infection?'

You also need to know how long you should take this product. Some things say 'take until gone.' Drugs that you take for a cough are like that. That means until the drugs are gone, not until the cough is gone. Some drugs you are going to take for most of the rest of your life. And you need to know how to plan for that.

Another question that is really important, especially with things you buy over the counter is 'What time of day should I take this?' For some things, it seems simple. If you are taking it for sleep, you obviously take it at bedtime. But other drugs can keep you from sleeping. Drugs like decongestants that you take when your sinuses get full, cannot be taken after supper or they will interfere with your sleep.

You should also say, 'is this one of those drugs I need to take with food?' There are not many. But those drugs that we want you to take with food, we want you to take with food to protect you from the drug. That is, the food in your stomach will protect your stomach from the drug hurting it. Drugs for arthritis are like this. And we have a few drugs, most of them are antibiotics, or drugs that change the way your heart beats, that you have to take on an empty stomach with just plain water. That means, it cannot be within two hours of a meal, (and) you cannot take it with coffee, or soda pop or milk. You have to take it with plain water and it has to be separated from a meal.

Those are kinds of questions that your pharmacist can answer and we answer every day.

The last thing you need to know is 'are there any bad things that can happen when I take this drug?' We call those side effects. Not only should you say 'are there side effects I need to worry about?' you should also ask 'what do I do if they happen?' We know that some antibiotics in certain patients cause a rash. Does that mean you should stop taking it? Well, I do not know the answer until I know what is wrong with you and which drug it is. Every time you get a prescription, when you buy something new over the counter that you have never taken before, or when you start taking a new health food product, you need to ask, 'Is there something that can go wrong, and if it goes wrong, what shall I do to make it better.'

Did you know in Nebraska, the legislature passed a law to help keep you safe? The law says every time a pharmacist in Nebraska fills or refills a prescription for you, you have a right, a right given to you by the Unicameral, to talk to a pharmacist about your questions. Usually what happens is you will walk to the prescription counter to pick up your prescription. And someone will say 'Do you have questions for the pharmacist?' Or 'Would you like to talk to a pharmacist?' The next part is your job. You have to say 'Yes.' And a pharmacist, by law, has to come answer your questions. They will tell you what you are taking it for, how long you have to take it, what time of day you should take your drugs, if you should take them with food or not, and, most importantly, what could go wrong and what to do if that happens. At that time, the pharmacist may also say to you, 'are you taking anything else?' That is why it is important that we remember the original definition of drug; every thing you are taking to treat or prevent a disease is a drug. When the pharmacist says 'are you taking anything else?', you have to remember the over-the-counter products you are taking. The picture in back of me shows you some of the over-the-counter products that you may be taking. I care if you are taking calcium. I care if you are taking vitamins. I care if you are taking drugs to make you sleep. I care if you are taking drugs for hay fever or sneezes. You need to remember those. And, if you cannot remember them, or you forget until you get home and see the box, call me back and remind me that there is something else you are taking, so that I can be sure the prescription I just filled won't hurt you.

When the pharmacist talks to you about over-the-counter products without filling a prescription, that is, you walk into the pharmacy with a problem that you would like to treat yourself, be sure and remind us of all your diseases. If your blood pressure is high, that matters when we are treating your allergies. If you have glaucoma, that matters when we are finding a drug to help you sleep. We need to know all of those things. Over-the-counter products have warnings on the labels. Sometimes the labels are hard to read and sometimes the warnings don't make any sense. That is why it is important to talk to your pharmacist or your doctor, or your nurse practitioner, or your dentist when you are using products that you can buy without medical help.

Lastly, I need to talk to you about herbal products. The herbal product market in Nebraska and in the United States is growing so fast, that it is hard for any single one of us to keep track. You will see here that we have three big books full of little bits of information about herbal products and we still don't know a lot. Sometimes when you ask questions, our answer is 'I do not know.' Sometimes when you ask questions, our answer is 'this could be dangerous.' Please remember, even if you bought it at the gas station or the health food store, if you are taking it to treat or prevent a disease like arthritis, like depression, like Alzheimer's disease, like loss of memory; if you are taking any herbal products for those things in your body, they are still acting like drugs. They still have drug interactions and they can still do bad things that hurt you.

Every day in the newspaper, you will read that the federal government is looking at some new product that may have caused a stroke, or memory loss, or whatever. Sometimes it is really hard to know what those are. Keeping yourself safe is your biggest job. Please talk to your health care providers about herbal products. If you are taking one right now, and you believe it is working...that is terrific. We do not want you to stop. We just want to know that it is there, so that anything we do today or tomorrow or the next day, doesn't hurt you. When it comes to keeping yourself safe, with prescriptions or over-the-counter, or herbal products, it is very important that you remember to ask questions (and) that you use the right terminology. A drug is a drug is a drug, even if it does not say drug on the label. And tell everyone what you are taking. That will help us keep you safe.

For Health Wise, I'm Ally Jorgensen."