Choose the Best Refill Option for You

Has your doctor included refills on your prescription? Check the label. If the label shows a number next to the "refills" section, that's how many times you can get more of your medicine without going back to see your doctor.

There are several ways to refill your prescription:

· In person. Go to the pharmacy where you originally filled your prescription and either wait for it or come back to pick it up at a later time.

· By phone. Use the pharmacy's phone number listed on your medication bottle to call in your refill. Most large pharmacies or chain stores have automated menus that you can use any time, day or night (though of course you'll have to wait for store hours to pick up your refill). The voice prompts will lead you through the process. At smaller pharmacies, you may speak to the pharmacist or pharmacy technician directly.

· Online. If your pharmacy lets you reorder a prescription online, you may still have to go to the store to pick it up.

· By mail. People who take medication regularly (such as every day to manage a health condition) can sometimes refill prescriptions by mail. This option is convenient because you can often get your medication in batches (say, a 3-month supply of allergy pills) if your doctor gives you a prescription for that amount. Ask your doctor about this option. If you want to use the mail-order option, you'll need to plan ahead since it may take up to 2 weeks to receive your medicine.

If your prescriptions are covered by health insurance, be sure to tell the pharmacy if your insurance has changed since you last filled your prescription. If you're not sure about the cost of your medication or the co-pay, ask.

Use the Label

No matter how you choose to refill a prescription, it will be easier if you have all your prescription information handy. Most of what you need is printed on the label.

The prescription label is usually wrapped around the medicine bottle. In some cases — especially with medicines like eye drops and skin creams — it may be stuck on the outer box instead. Check the box when you first get your prescription so you don't throw it out by mistake.

What if know your prescription is refillable but you threw the carton away? You may have to go in person to the same pharmacy where you first got the prescription and ask them to look it up in their database. They'll probably ask for ID and want to see your prescription card before giving you a refill.

Here's what to look for on the label:

· Pharmacy phone number. This is the number you'll call to place the refill.

· Prescription number. This number is often shown on the label as "Rx#". Although a pharmacist can look up your prescription in the computer, the refill process will go a lot faster if you have this number handy.

· Refills remaining. The prescription label will tell you how many refills you have left. Most labels show a number of refills with a cutoff date. If you refill your prescription before that date, you should be able to place your order with no problem. However, if the label says something like "Refills require authorization" or if your refills have expired, you'll need to get in touch with the doctor who prescribed the medication. Sometimes the pharmacy can do that for you, but other times the doctor will want to see you or talk to you before authorizing the pharmacy to refill the prescription.

Make Sure You Don't Run Out

Probably the trickiest part about refilling a prescription is remembering to check when you're running low. If you wait until you've taken your last pill to place your refill, and for some reason end up having to wait for it, it could be a mere annoyance — or a major ordeal. Missing even one daily dose of some medications can be dangerous.

On the flip side, if you try to get a jump on things and place a refill weeks in advance, your insurance might not cover it. So keep your eye on the bottle and try to time your refill so the pharmacy has a few days to get things ready for you — especially if they're going to need to contact your doctor.

Talk to the Pharmacist

When you pick up your refill, you'll probably be asked if you have any questions for the pharmacist. This is a good time to go over how you should be taking the medication — such as whether you should take it with or without food. If you're at all unsure about your medication, ask to see the pharmacist. Most pharmacies ask you to sign a "waiver" if you don't have questions.

Since you've already been taking the medication for a while, you might have noticed side effects. For example, does your acne cream leave your face red and irritated? Do you notice headaches after using your prescription eye drops? These are all good things to mention to your pharmacist — especially as people can sometimes notice new side effects even after they've been taking a medicine for many years.

When you pick up your prescription, let your pharmacist know if you've started using any new medications. Even over-the-counter medications (like cold medicines) or herbal supplements can sometimes affect how well prescriptions work or interact with prescription medications to cause health problems.

If the pharmacy seems busy or you don't want to ask about something personal (like birth control) in front of other people, call and ask to speak to the pharmacist after you leave. Mention that you just refilled your prescription and have questions. No matter how busy they are, pharmacists are still willing and eager to help — it's their job to make sure people take their medications safely and effectively.

 

The 5-Second Rule

Almost everyone has dropped food on the floor and still wanted to eat it. Some people apply the "5-second rule" — that random saying about how food won't become contaminated with bacteria if you pick it up off the floor in 5 seconds or less.

The 5-second rule has become such a part of our culture that scientists actually tested it. As you can probably guess, they found that the "rule" is mostly myth: Bacteria can attach to food even if you pick it up super fast. So, depending on which types of bacteria happen to climb on board, you could still get sick.

Here are two facts to consider whenever you feel tempted by the 5-second rule:

1. A clean-looking floor isn't necessarily clean. A shiny linoleum floor is probably cleaner than a 1970s-era carpet. But even clean, dry floors can harbor bacteria. Newly washed floors are only as clean as the tools used to wash them (picture eating food off the mop in the cafeteria if you need a visual). Even with a brand-new mop or sponge, stubborn germs can still remain on the floor after cleaning.

2. Fast is better — but it may not be fast enough. Although a piece of food does pick up more bacteria the longer it's on the floor, bacteria can attach to it instantly. So any food that makes contact with the floor can get contaminated if conditions are right. And foods with wet surfaces, like an apple slice, pick up bacteria easily.

When in Doubt, Toss It Out

Some bacteria are not harmful. But others can torture you with miserable stuff like diarrhea. Even if there's no visible dirt on your food, you can still get sick. You just can't tell what kinds of bacteria may be lurking on the floor.

So what are you to do with the piece of watermelon that just slipped from your grip? The safest choice is to throw it out. Or let the dog have it. (And there's another thing to consider — even the 5-second rule can't get around the fact that your food may have landed right in a spot where Fido parked his butt.)

 

The Basics on Genes and Genetic Disorders

Have people ever said to you, "It's in your genes?" They were probably talking about a physical characteristic, personality trait, or talent that you share with other members of your family. We know that genes play an important role in shaping how we look and act and even whether we get sick. Now scientists are trying to use that knowledge in exciting new ways, such as preventing and treating health problems.

What Is a Gene?

To understand how genes (pronounced: jeens) work, let's review some biology basics. Most living organisms are made up of cells that contain a substance called deoxyribonucleic (pronounced: dee-ahk-see-rye-bow-noo-klee-ik) acid (DNA). DNA is wrapped together to form structures called chromosomes (pronounced: krow-muh-soams).

Most cells in the human body have 23 pairs of chromosomes, making a total of 46. Individual sperm and egg cells, however, have just 23 unpaired chromosomes. You received half of your chromosomes from your mother's egg and the other half from your father's sperm cell. A male child receives an X chromosome from his mother and a Y chromosome from his father; females get an X chromosome from each parent.

So where do genes come in? Genes are sections or segments of DNA that are carried on the chromosomes and determine specific human characteristics, such as height or hair color. Because each parent gives you one chromosome in each pair, you have two of every gene (except for some of the genes on the X and Y chromosomes in boys because boys have only one of each).

Some characteristics come from a single gene, whereas others come from gene combinations. Because every person has from 25,000 to 35,000 different genes, there is an almost endless number of possible combinations!

Genes and Heredity

Heredity is the passing of genes from one generation to the next. You inherit your parents' genes. Heredity helps to make you the person you are today: short or tall, with black hair or blond, with green eyes or blue.

Can your genes determine whether you'll be a straight-A student or a great athlete? Heredity plays an important role, but your environment (including things like the foods you eat and the people you interact with) also influences your abilities and interests.

How Do Genes Work?

DNA contains four chemicals (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine — called A, T, C, and G for short) that are strung in patterns on extremely thin, coiled strands in the cell. How thin? Cells are tiny — invisible to the naked eye — and each cell in your body contains about 6 feet of DNA thread, for a total of about 3 billion miles (if all your DNA threads were stretched out straight) of DNA inside you! The DNA patterns are the codes for manufacturing proteins, chemicals that enable the body to work and grow.

Genes hold the instructions for making protein products (like the enzymes to digest food or the pigment that gives your eyes their color). As your cells duplicate, they pass this genetic information to the new cells. Genes can be dominant or recessive. Dominant genes show their effect even if there is only one copy of that gene in the pair. For a person to have a recessive disease or characteristic, the person must have the gene on both chromosomes of the pair.

What Are Genetic Disorders?

Cells can sometimes contain changes or variants in the information in their genes. This is called gene mutation, and it often occurs when cells are aging or have been exposed to certain chemicals or radiation. Fortunately, cells usually recognize these mutations and repair them by themselves. Other times, however, they can cause illnesses, such as some types of cancer. And if the gene mutation exists in egg or sperm cells, children can inherit the mutated gene from their parents.

Researchers have identified more than 4,000 diseases that are caused by genetic variants. But having a genetic mutation that may cause disease doesn't always mean that a person will actually get that disease. Because you inherit a gene from each parent, having one disease gene usually does not cause any problems because the normal gene can allow your body to make the normal protein it needs.

On average, people probably carry from 5 to 10 variant or disease genes in their cells. Problems arise when the disease gene is dominant or when the same recessive disease gene is present on both chromosomes in a pair. Problems can also occur when several variant genes interact with each other — or with the environment — to increase susceptibility to diseases.

If a person carries the dominant gene for a disease, he or she will usually have the disease and each of the person's children will have a 1 in 2 (50%) chance of inheriting the gene and getting the disease. Diseases caused by a dominant gene include achondroplasia (pronounced: ay-kon-druh-play-zhuh, a form of dwarfism), Marfan syndrome (a connective tissue disorder), and Huntington disease (a degenerative disease of the nervous system).

People who have one recessive gene for a disease are called carriers, and they don't usually have the disease because they have a normal gene of that pair that can do the job. When two carriers have a child together, however, the child has a 1 in 4 (25%) chance of getting the disease gene from both parents, which results in the child having the disease. Cystic fibrosis (a lung disease), sickle cell anemia (a blood disease), and Tay-Sachs disease (which causes nervous system problems) are caused by recessive disease genes from both parents coming together in a child.

Some recessive genetic variants are carried only on the X chromosome, which means that usually only guys can develop the disease because they have only one X chromosome. Girls have two X chromosomes, so they would need to inherit two copies of the recessive gene to get the disease. X-linked disorders include the bleeding disorder hemophilia (pronounced: hee-muh-fih-lee-uh) and color blindness.

Sometimes when an egg and sperm unite, the new cell gets too many or too few chromosomes. Most children born with Down syndrome, which is associated with mental retardation, have an extra chromosome number 21.

In some cases, people who are concerned that they might carry certain variant genes can have genetic testing so they can learn their children's risk of having a disease. Pregnant women can also have tests done to see if the fetus they are carrying might have certain genetic illnesses. Genetic testing usually involves taking a sample of someone's blood, skin, or amniotic fluid, and checking it for signs of genetic diseases or disorders.

Changing Genes

Sometimes scientists alter genes on purpose. For many years, researchers have altered the genes in microbes and plants to produce offspring with special characteristics, such as an increased resistance to disease or pests, or the ability to grow in difficult environments. We call this genetic engineering.

Gene therapy is a promising new field of medical research. In gene therapy, researchers try to supply copies of healthy genes to cells with variant or missing genes so that the "good" genes will take over. Viruses are often used to carry the healthy genes into the targeted cells because many viruses can insert their own DNA into targeted cells.

But there are problems with gene therapy. Scientists haven't yet identified every gene in the human body or what each one does. Huge scientific efforts like The Human Genome (pronounced: jee-nome) Project and related projects have recently completed a map of the entire human genome (all of the genetic material on a living thing's chromosomes), but it will take many more years to find out what each gene does and how they interact with one another. For most diseases, scientists don't know if and how genes play a role. Plus, there are major difficulties inserting the normal genes into the proper cells without causing problems for the rest of the body.

There are also concerns that people might try changing genes for ethically troubling reasons, such as to make smarter or more athletic children. No one knows what the long-term effects of that kind of change would be.

Still, for many people who have genetic diseases, gene therapy holds the hope that they — or their children — will be able to live better, healthier lives.

 

What's the Difference Between Infectious and Contagious?

What's the difference between infectious and contagious?

- Nick

Infections are diseases that are caused by microscopic germs (such as bacteria or viruses) that get into the body and cause problems. Some — but not all — infectious diseases spread directly from one person to another. Infections and other diseases that spread from person to person are said to be contagious.

Some infections spread to people from an animal or insect, not another human. Lyme disease is an example: You can't catch it from someone you're hanging out with or pass in the street. It comes from the bite of an infected tick.

Contagious diseases (such as the flu, colds, or other infections) spread from person to person in several ways. One way is through direct physical contact, like touching or kissing a person who has the infection. Another way is when an infectious microbe travels through the air after someone nearby sneezes or coughs. Sometimes people get contagious diseases by touching or using something an infected person has touched or used — like sharing a straw with someone who has mono or stepping into the shower after someone who has athlete's foot.

Even if an infection or other disease is contagious, being exposed to it does not mean a person will automatically get sick. Our immune systems do a great job of warding off the germs that cause many diseases, often because we've had the disease before or because we're up to date on our shots!