Entry bubble Proper Prescription Drug Disposal

By: Sommer | April 04, 2008 | Category: Health

A recent study announced that pharmaceuticals like sex hormones, mood stabilizers, and acetaminophen were found in the U.S. drinkingblue pills spilling out of a pill bottle water supply. YIKES! When I read the article, it didn’t really strike close to home, until…

A couple weeks ago when my nesting instinct took me on a trip to the top shelf of my linen closet to a basket full of expired medications and first aid supplies.

So, this was my dilemma; do I contribute further to the problem by just cavalierly tossing the stuff in the trash like I had originally planned? Not if I can help it! But, what do I do? I’ve heard of some prescription drug take back programs but in my search I couldn’t find one in my local area. (I wish I lived in the Great Lakes Region – they’re collecting old pharmaceuticals to commemorate Earth Day – how cool!)

While there's lots of advice on taking meds, from what I could find, there's a lack of clear info about what to do if you no longer need the medicine and have to dispose of it. And, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m a little confused by the guidance on proper disposal – I’ve read, “Crush Don’t Flush” from the SmaRxt Disposal campaign but the ONDCP says that flushing is appropriate in certain circumstances.

I don’t feel fully comfortable that the instructions I found will completely protect the environment, but I guess it’s better than doing nothing. Here’s how I’ll dispose of my pills:

  1. Remove them from their original containers
  2. Crush the pills and put them in a sealable container – probably a plastic zipper bag
  3. I’ll add coffee grounds to the bag (they recommend mixing the crushed pills with an “undesirable substance”)
  4. Then I’ll throw the bag in the trash.

I’ll also be sure to remove any identifying information from prescription drug containers before I recycle them (if they’re recyclable, of course).

Here are some other resources I found:

| Comments [6] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: disposal   drug   environment   medication   medicine   prescription   sommer   waste  

 

Entry bubble Finding Information About Illnesses and Other Ailments Online

By: Jake | December 03, 2007 | Category: Health

My brother recently did a two week stint in the hospital because he had pancreatitis. He’s fine now, but it was quite a scare.

If you are like most of the people I have talked to (that aren’t doctors or nurses), you probably have never heard of pancreatitis. When I found out my brother had it I scoured the Internet to find out everything I could about it. I found two really good websites that provided insight on the ailment and ways to prevent future cases.

MedlinePlus has information on 740 different diseases and ailments and it is where I found the Pancreatitis link above. This is no surprise since MedlinePlus is maintained by the world’s largest medical health library, the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

I found out at MedlinePlus that there are two forms of pancreatitis, acute and chronic, and it can be triggered by alcoholism and diabetes. My brother had acute pancreatitis and his doctors said his pancreatitis was caused by diabetes, which he was unaware he had.

I know a lot about diabetes since I read Sam’s recent blog post. Still I was able to find more information about diabetes using HealthFinder.gov, a partnership of many federal agencies maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. HealthFinder.gov focuses more on prevention than MedlinePlus and links to carefully selected information and Web sites from over 1,500 health-related organizations.

While the internet is not the only way to find health information, these two sites can cover a lot of ground for you. And as always the best health expert is your doctor.

| envelope Email This Entry | Tags: alcoholism   diabetes   health   hhs   library   medical   medicine   pancreatitis