About Betty Chaffee

Betty Chaffee, PharmD, is owner and sole proprietor of BetterMyMeds, a Medication Management service devoted to helping people get the maximum benefit from their medications.

A New (Okay, Actually Quite Old) Remedy for Heartburn

A New (Okay, Actually Quite Old) Remedy for Heartburn

A colleague of mine recently published a video on Facebook that took me by surprise. Dr. Steve Jensen, the owner Jensen’s Community Pharmacies in Dexter and Saline, Michigan, learned about a ‘new” nonprescription product for heartburn. But it’s not really new – it’s been around for a very long time. Read on to find out why it’s not well known here in the US, how it works, and its risks and

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Stopping medications — when is it important to taper?

What medications should be tapered rather than abruptly stopped? If you’ve stopped a prescription medicine in the past, you may have wondered if it was okay to stop abruptly. It’s always a good question to ask. There are many prescription medications that should be tapered slowly to avoid uncomfortable or even life-threatening consequences. With prescription medications, your doctor or pharmacist is in a great position to guide you. Or check

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Stronger For Longer? Creatine Supplements in Older Adults

Stronger For Longer? Creatine Supplements in Older Adults

Have you seen articles or ads about the wonders of creatine supplementation for older adults? Wondering if you should try it? A reader asked me about creatine recently, so I looked into the research. What I learned was quite interesting. Creatine is a compound that our bodies need to build muscle. We get some of it from animal protein in our diet and some from our body’s manufacturing processes. Though

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Menopausal Hormone Therapy — No Longer Off Limits

Menopausal Hormone Therapy — No Longer Off Limits

Until the early 2000’s, hormones were used pretty routinely to treat women with uncomfortable menopausal symptoms. Then a study by the Women’s Health Initiative changed everything. It seemed to show that the risks of hormone replacement far outweighed the benefit. So for the past two decades or so, doctors have discouraged the use of hormones. But a reanalysis of the research results found that some conclusions didn’t apply to women

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