I try to live a life of gratitude. Can’t pretend I’m always successful at it, but I do tend to be more of an optimist than a pessimist. I think that means I’m more often grateful for what I have than upset about what I don’t …

Somehow, the terms “additional dose” and “booster dose” for Covid-19 vaccines have become interchangeable. I heard an expert from CDC say on a national webinar that they were only using the term “booster” to refer …

Medicare and the Health Insurance Marketplace both have an annual open enrollment period. They usually run at about the same time, though with slightly different start and end dates. This year, the Medicare open enrollment period started last week. …

In our last blog post, we explained the newest CDC guidelines for Covid-19 booster shots. Just a quick recap – it is only for those who received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and only certain groups of people were made eligible. Since then, …

Are you paying attention to the news but still unclear about today’s recommendations for the Covid-19 vaccine? If so, you’re not alone. We’ve heard about meetings of special committees, meetings of FDA and CDC, and still sometimes …

It’s been three years since this article was originally posted. But one of the most common problems patients still ask me about is difficulty sleeping. It was time to pull this article out, update it, and repost it. Ruby, the lab in the …

Actually, National Immunization Awareness month (August) is almost over already! But it’s still a great time to talk about the importance of routine adult vaccinations. We’ve all been focused on Covid-19 vaccines in the past several …

Greetings, everybody! I am glad to be back after a lengthy absence, and I hope this article finds you well. The topic for this article is blood pressure. Now, I’m confident that most of us have heard about blood pressure. However, how many …

As a Medication Management pharmacist, I often get questions about statin drugs for high cholesterol. Many people have heard negative things about statins, and are reluctant to take them. That’s understandable – no one wants to take a …

Turmeric is widely available as a dietary supplement. It seems to be getting more and more popular, and lots of my patients either take it or wonder if they should. The most common reason people use turmeric is pain from osteoarthritis, so …

I did not drop off the face of the earth as some of you might have suspected. My blog has been quiet because of a long-planned road trip from Michigan to Los Angeles and back! We talk a lot about health in these posts, and getting away from it all …

Where did I put my keys? Did I remember to lock the front door? Why did I come into this room? I’m guessing everyone reading this can relate to at least one of those questions. No matter how old we are, we forget things sometimes. And …

Diabetes is a common health concern. In fact, about 10% of the US population has diabetes. And it’s estimated that about a third of US adults over 18 and nearly half of those over 65 have prediabetes. What’s more, over 75% of those with …

If you’ve been a reader of this blog you’ve probably seen the phrase “getting the best value out of your medications.” That means not only making sure your medications are doing their job, but also taking a hard look at …

A third COVID-19 vaccine is now available! The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave emergency use authorization to a vaccine produced by Janssen, the pharmaceutical branch of Johnson & Johnson, last weekend. This is great news. A third …

You’ve been reading these blog posts for some time now. Thank you! But many of you don’t really know exactly what BetterMyMeds is. Why I, as a pharmacist, founded this business, or what value it adds to health care. Your health care, …

Betty’s story Well, folks, I got my second COVID-19 vaccine on January 20! You should have seen the big smile on my face. I know that very soon I’ll be 95% less likely to come down with COVID. I also was vaccinating people at Chelsea …

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations is picking up speed. Many more people are eligible to be vaccinated now compared to a week or two ago. (You may not be able to get an appointment yet, but hopefully that will get easier soon.) In our recent …

Greetings everyone! I hope this article finds you and your families doing well and staying safe! I’m writing this post in a different fashion than I have before. With the encouragement of Betty Chaffee, PharmD., I am going to share with you my …

Who would have thought that a needle in the arm could bring such a huge smile to so many faces? As a pharmacist immunizer, I was blessed to be one of the first healthcare workers at St Joseph Mercy hospital in Chelsea to be vaccinated in late …