King's Compounding Pharmacy

Balanced meals=Balanced weight?

2009-09-24T09:47:00.003-06:00

How you combine the foods at your meals affects how quickly that food passes through the stomach and how quickly and dramatically the blood sugar rises. If your meal is primarily carbohydrate, the stomach empties in 1-1.5 hours and the blood sugar shoots very high very quickly. If you add protein to your carbohydrate, you meal hangs around the stomach for about 2.5 hours and the blood sugar response is slower and not quite as high. Adding fat (focus on quality fat--olives or olive oil, fish or fish oil, avocados and nuts) to your meal provides for the meal to retain in the stomach for up to 4 hours (hence less hunger) and blood sugar response is much slower and lower.

The down side to controlling hunger and keeping our insulin response to meals in control by balancing our meals with carbohydrates, protein and quality fats... can't think of one.

I'm Still Hot...It Just Comes in Flashes!

2009-09-11T11:42:00.003-06:00

We're having a repeat of our seminar to help women understand hormone changes; how stress and nutrition and hormone supplementation can help with these changes. If you're "hotter" than you want to be, give us a call (358-4576). We'll add you to our list for the September 28 7PM seminar here at the pharmacy.

Pharmacist of the Month

2009-08-27T16:54:00.001-06:00

Did I forget to brag? No, I couldn't have.

In July, Professional Compounding Centers of America named me Pharmacist of the month. The very best part of this recognition by some of my most respected peers, is that I get to go to one of their seminars FREE. We have a love/hate relationship with PCCA seminars. I love them and my staff and family hate them. I come back so rejuvenated--so excited about the new things that I've learned to help us all. I guess I become a little annoying to those closest to me.

I also love giving seminars; sharing the knowledge that I receive. Contact the store for information about our next BHRT seminar. One patient came in for her refill this week and said "I'm back to being me! I'm better during the day, because I'm sleeping at night. Not just sleeping, but I'm dreaming again!" I love success stories.

Who's Worried About the Flu?

2009-08-27T16:24:00.003-06:00

I'm going to:
Eliminate sugar and processed foods from mydiet. (Sugar consumption has an immediate, debilitating effect on your immune system.)
Take a pharmaceutical grade source of omega 3 (fish oil)
Exercise (My immune system needs good circulation in order to perform at its best for me.)
Optimize my Vitamin D levels. (Vitamin D deficiency is a likely cause of seasonal flu viruses. Getting an optimal level of vitamin D will help me fight infections of all kinds.)
Get plenty of good quality sleep (Sleep in a dark room; remove hazards between me and the bathroom for middle of the night trek so I won't have to turn the light on.)
Deal with stress effectively. (If I feel overwhelmed by stress, my body will not have the reserves it needs to fight infection.)
Wash my hands. (duh)
These steps give me confidence that, should the flu strike, I will be at my best to prevent a serious illness.

We'll see...

The Future of Hospice?

2009-08-12T17:02:00.001-06:00

We've had some inspirational hospice stories in the last couple of weeks and one heartbreaker involving some unpleasant family dynamics. All in all, I can say "I love hospice."

I remember the day we admitted my mom to Hospice Care of the Southwest's program. A weight lifted off my shoulders that day, simply because I had a team of professionals helping me make decisions about Mom's care. She was in their program for a little over 5 months. She greeted her maker in comfort, fresh, clean and perfumed thanks to her hospice aide. Since "cleanliness is next to Godliness" that was important to her and therefore to me.

I would recommend hospice care to any and all especially since revealing data has surfaced. A study by Duke University discussed the efficency, cost effectiveness and the fact that hospice patients live an average of 30 days longer than non-hospice patients. That's no surprise to me since I saw first hand how quickly a hospice team can respond to a change in a patient's condition and turn a possible life threatening condition around. For more information about the Duke University study see hospice http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/11/hospice.html

I sure hope all the "experts" in Washington who are deciding the future of our healthcare keep these things in mind. Hospice care, like independent pharmacies are good for our country and cost effective too.

Human Interest

2009-08-03T22:24:00.006-06:00

Mother Teresa said "What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway”. I have a great admiration for people with initiative, those with a vision. I would like to bring to your attention a couple sets of visionaries. My daughter Ginny and son-in-law BJ have a good friend, Zac, a good man who has become afflicted with cancer. My response and that of many is to pray and wring your hands and wish there was something more I could do. I’m proud to share that BJ and some of his friends have taken their concerns a step further and set up a web site and a fundraising event to help defray some of Zac’s immediate financial needs. While I was resting from a hard days work or puttering in the garden, BJ was working numerous hours (along with his wife and friends) on the Flat Zac Classic and training for said event. Check out their efforts at FlatZacClassic.org.

Another immediate financial medical need is for young Kashton, an 11 year old special needs child here in Amarillo. Kashton’s parents and family members are another set of “go-getters”. They, through word of mouth, sold Kashton’s Krew T-shirts to raise money to rent the Amarillo Drag Way. Well, because I’d do just about anything for Kashton and his parents, I bought us a set of T-shirts, and we spent Friday night at the “drags”. From what I hear it was the biggest night at the drags since the hey day of the 70’s and a huge success for a family who refuses to sit around and wring their hands.

Mother Teresa would be so proud & I’ve advanced from wringing my hands to clapping them for these events.

Vitamin D's for Me!

2009-07-17T14:49:00.005-06:00

Some may be interested in the progress in recent years regarding the role of Vitamin D in prevention of cancer and other diseases. I got a lot of information about Vitamin D at www.grassrootshealth.net. This is also the site that is doing a study to determine how much Vitamin D supplementation it takes to raise levels to optimal and to study the health effects. Testing required 2 drops of blood and $40; oh yeah, and lengthy health and sun evaluation. They want to test you every 6 months for 5 years. My husband and I signed up. I figured we were 2 opposite extremes, he frames houses in the sun all day long and I rarely see the light of day. He never supplements and I take 5000iu of a pharmaceutical grade quality daily. We'll see whose levels are optimal.

Many disease processes may be affected by Vitamin D insufficiency. Some of those are TB, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, high blood pressure, increased heart failure, muscle myopathy and cancer including colon and breast cancer. It is projected that the incidence of some of these diseases could be reduced by 20% to 50% or even more. Of course Vitamin D has been well documented to reduce osteoporosis risk.

Another interesting fact this site noted was that the darker the skin, the greater the probability of a vitamin D deficiency. Also that even in southern Arizona, 55% of African Americans and 22% of Caucasians are deficient.

Like I said-you couldn't keep me from taking a supplement that; along with my great multi-vitamin and fish oil, could affect my quality of life so much.

Benefits of Bio-Identical Hormone Supplementation...

2009-07-08T09:28:00.004-06:00

You may wonder if risks outweigh benefits or if benefits outweigh risks. I did until I heard feedback from our bio-identical hormone patients like the following:

I'm tons, tons, tons, better!

I love my bioidentical hormones!

It has been a slow but steady progress, but I'm now seeing vast improvements.

I can sleep again. Don't need my sleeper (sleeping pill?) any more.

I have my energy and brain back, so I'm going back to school to finish my degree. Finally!

My friend told me that she was glad to have her friend Terry back again, that I hadn't been myself for a couple of years. It made me mad when she told me that; I thought I had been hiding how bad I felt. Apparently everyone knew and could tell I was "ME" again.

From a patient's physical therapist, "I watched J... bloom under your care."

My compounded hormone is, by far, better than any of the "cookie cutter" HRTs I previously tried.

Everyone's story is different and your personal risk might be greater than any benefit you might gain. But, we sure hear lots of good things from our patients.

Breast Cancer Concerns

2009-06-29T09:13:00.003-06:00

I try to focus on all the things that I do right about prevention of breast cancer so I don't dwell on the vast numbers of women (and a few men) who are diagnosed daily. I take vitamin D & do spend some time in the sun, sleep in a dark room, consume lots of good fats and try to watch my bad fats even though we eat out a lot. Because my mother had diabetes, I try hard to watch the consumption of simple carbohydrates (OK sometimes I just watch me consume them, but I'm trying.). I think I'm on the safest bet for hormone supplementation. I'm scheduled for my thermogram next week. But after watching Dr. Mercola's video about breast cancer prevention I realize that I'm not risk free. I allow stress to enter my life and I did take birth control pills for many years.

My new focus:
More GOOD fats
Handle stressors better
Severely limit simple carbohydrates

If you need to refocus you might consider watching http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/06/27/Stop-Read-This-BEFORE-You-Get-that-Mammogram.aspx. I'm still a little 'iffy' about his statements about mamograms and if my physician still wants me to have one after the results of my thermogram, I will have one. After all. the patient and physician are a team and both have to be comfortable in treatment options.

2009-06-24T16:52:00.004-06:00

Many many years ago, a physician came into the pharmacy and asked if we could compound bio-identical hormones for his patients. I told him that "Yes, we are a compounding pharmacy and we can do that." I was confused by his request at the time, thinking that there were lots of hormone alternatives available for women, and why did he need us to compound more.

Being skeptical, I questioned our patients as they received refills of their compounded prescriptions about benefits and adverse effects. I was repeatedly told 4 benefits: fewer hot flashes, less migraine headaches, fewer episodes of breakthrough bleeding and less breast tenderness. These were documentable benefits. I was also told frequently many favorable benefits like: the fog has lifted from my brain, the kids aren't afraid of me anymore, I love my husband again, it was me not my mother-in-law that was unbearable. The first few times I heard these subjective comments, I attributed it to a charismatic physician who might have spent a little extra time with these patients. But when I heard these and similar comments over and over, I had to give bio-identical hormones some credibility.

This is what started my search to learn more to see if I could help lift the fog, and help us love our husbands again. I was swayed by multiple, vague, "I just feel better" comments to look for the science behind using our exact hormones in physiological doses to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life. More and more credible data is becoming available about the benefits of bio-identical hormones. There has also been much media coverage about the topic, both pro and con.

If you live in the Amarillo area and have questions, call. We can schedule an appointment and talk about your individual situation.

Hallie's bites

2009-06-17T16:28:00.002-06:00

We have so many stories to tell. I usually tell stories on the radio, but there are just too many, so I want to share some of them here. You'd naturally assume that I'd start with something life threatening, but no.

I just fell in love with 5 year old Hallie. Her mom called in the first prescription fill of the season for our oral compounded mosquito repellent. When they came to pick the prescription up the next day, I told Hallie that yesterday I had thought her mom was nuts--I'd seen no mosquitos, until last night when the tiniest mosquito gave me the worst bite. Hallie proceeded to show me all her bites, and we discussed which were worst and which spots itched most. We concluded that the worst bites were on the back of the knee. (You know, they itch, but it tickles when you scratch them.) There was lots of drama and hands waving. She was so cute, and just delighted with the thought of no more mosquito bites with her rootbeer flavored repellent.

PCAB Accreditation

2007-06-25T09:17:00.000-06:00

We are pleased to announce that we have completed the process to receive accreditation by the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board. We were the second pharmacy in Texas and the first in the Panhandle to receive this award.

As soon at the PCAB Board began accepting applications I started the process to apply. I was anxious to review our entire process of compounding and then have an "expert" come in to evaluate us. This was important to me because even though I thought we had excellent systems in place to ensure quality compounds, I was afraid I had missed something that could benefit our patients.

Accreditation is not yet required to be able to compound, it's just a significant step toward ensuring quality products. Until this process became available we had the guidelines of the Texas State Board of Pharmacy and the United States Pharmacopeia which we still follow as does the FDA when they inspect a drug manufacturer.

There were three steps involved in receiving accreditation.
1. Application. The application is well over 20 pages and the first question alone makes most pharmacies throw the whole thing in the trash.
2. The writing and reviewing of policies and procedures. This is by far the most time consuming step. It was also the most rewarding in that we were able to document why, who and how we do everything that we do. Addressed in this process were issues concerning safety, storage, equipment, sanitation; well the list goes on and on.
3. The physical evaluation. An expert in the field came to the pharmacy to reveiw our facility and our actual compounding practices and interview our staff about their knowledge of compounding procedures.

For more information about PCAB Accreditation see www.pcab.info

Intro

2006-11-11T13:31:00.000-06:00

Hello and welcome to my blog. You'll have to excuse the lack of information here, we have just recently begun to post to our blog. I will be updating this on a weekly basis. The information will be quite different from time to time, I may provide a weekly tidbit of information about a prescription you may be taking, medical breakthroughs or I might just rant about the day I had. In any case, please continue to check back regularly. See you soon!

Robin