Greetings, everybody! Collectively, we have been through a lot since the first confirmed case of COVID-19. We have seen peaks and valleys in reported cases, hospitalization rates, and deaths. We have seen variants and sub-variants of the initial …

Nearly half of adults in the United States have high blood pressure. Many monitor their blood pressure at home. If you use a home blood pressure (HBP) monitor, you’re already doing a great job taking care of your health. But are you sure your …

  Saturday, April 30, 2022, is National Drug Take-Back Day. Seems like there’s a National Day for just about every activity, doesn’t it? But honestly, every person who takes any kind of medicine should pay attention. Drug disposal …

Pneumonia vaccines have been in use for years. And they’re very effective at preventing serious illness in people of all ages. But just when we think we’re on top of the best way to vaccinate, experts find new information and change the …

Nerve pain, especially in the legs, feet, and hands, is common among adults in the United States. Also called peripheral neuropathy, it affects up to 30% of adults, and nearly 10% of those over age 65. There are many causes of peripheral neuropathy, …

Calcium and vitamin D are essential for maintaining bone strength. From children all the way on up to the elderly, these vitamins and minerals are important for health. But I’ve found that there’s a fair amount of misunderstanding about …

Are you one of the many people who count grapefruit as one of your favorite fruits or juices? If so, you may have been disappointed if you were told to avoid it because of a medication. It’s even worse if you learn you’ll need to take …

As a pharmacist, I love helping my patients understand more about how their medications work, how they improve health, and which ones might not be needed anymore. While every patient brings different questions and health concerns to our discussion, …

Well, here comes 2022! A lot has changed over the past two years. And if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that lots was changing even before that. But the changes really accelerated in early 2020 and, for many of us, life feels …

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 …