Category Archives: antibiotics

How to save money on your prescription medications!

If you are buying any prescription medications for your child, your teen, or yourself, then you know how pricey they can be. Sometimes they are covered by insurance; sometimes insurance only pays a fraction; and there are drugs that are not covered by insurance and families that don’t have prescription coverage at all.

No matter your situation, there are still ways you can save, even as prescription drug prices continue to rise.

Buy a generic drug alternative. Not all drugs have generic versions, but when they do the generic is usually quite a bit less expensive. Ask your physician or pharmacist if there is a generic available for a particular drug.

Talk to the doctor. In addition to knowing about generic alternatives, your pediatrician may know of a less expensive option for the drug your child is taking. There won’t always be another alternative, but it’s certainly worth asking about.

Look for cheaper prices. If you think the drug prices at your pharmacy are too high, call around. Sometimes there can be quite a difference from one pharmacy to another.

Look online for coupons or other resources. Some pharmaceutical companies have special programs for uninsured patients, or for patients who have difficulty paying even with insurance. In addition, you can often find coupons for particular drugs from a pharmaceutical company.

Drugs aren’t likely to get cheaper anytime soon, and yet they are often necessary. We want to help you find less expensive alternatives. Please ask us.

© MBS Writing Services, 2015, all rights reserved

Probiotics

You’ve likely heard the term “probiotics”.  Maybe you’ve also wondered what it means and what, if any, benefit probiotics could provide for your family’s health.

What are probiotics?  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Probiotics are defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the World Health Organization as live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.”  Sound appetizing?

Every human intestinal tract contains beneficial bacteria that helps break down food products into compounds that are more easily absorbed into the body.  Sometimes the beneficial bacteria need a boost over the harmful bacteria that share the same space, or during or after a round of antibiotics that may kill the good bacteria along with the bad.

Probiotics contain the helpful bacteria.  According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, giving probiotics early in the course of “acute viral gastroenteritis can reduce its duration by one day. Probiotics also have been found to be modestly effective in preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhea in otherwise healthy children, though there is no evidence probiotics are effective at treating this type of diarrhea.” [Italics ours.]  Note the term “healthy children.” Probiotics don’t have any proven effects on treating chronic diarrhea, Crohn’s Disease or other chronic illnesses.

When a mother cannot breastfeed, special probiotics can be introduced to the formula that will help to replace the natural ones found in breast milk.  Ask your pediatrician about this before trying these products.

Where do you get probiotics?  They are available over the counter in drug stores and healthcare departments of grocery and discount stores.  They come in foods or as supplements.  Buy from a manufacturer you trust, remembering that probiotics are not regulated the same way prescription drugs are.

As always, eat a balanced diet, which is the best road to gastrointestinal health.

© 2014, MBS Writing Services, all rights reserved

Whooping cough–don’t take it lightly

Whooping cough.  It sounds like one of those old-fashioned diseases that shouldn’t be around anymore.  In reality, it’s as modern as today’s news, and more common than you might think.

The good news is that it’s mostly preventable and treatable; the bad news is that it’s still a dangerous disease, especially for the very young.

A few confirmed cases of whooping cough (pertussis) in the Scott County Schools have spurred us to remind you of the dangers of this disease.

Whooping cough is a bacterial infection whose most striking symptom is described in its name—a loud, persistent cough that doesn’t easily go away.  In an older child, there is a “whooping” sound made as the child tries to catch her breath between coughs.  Infants may not “whoop,” but you should call the pediatrician if your infant has a persistent cough that seems to exhaust him, and his appetite has decreased.

This disease affects the lining of the bronchial tubes , and is very contagious because the vigorous coughing disperses the bacteria into the air.  Anyone of any age can get it, but it’s most dangerous among the very young.

Infants and young children, in particular, can develop life-threatening illnesses from whooping cough, including pneumonia. Hospitalization is often required.  This means that they, and the people around them, should be immunized.

          We cannot stress enough the importance of getting the appropriate immunizations at the right agesThe pertussis vaccine doesn’t last forever, and must be taken at intervals to be effective.

  • Children should have a total of 5 pertussis (whooping cough) vaccines before they start school.
  • The youngest children are at highest risk and the most vulnerable to this disease, and should have vaccines at 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months of age.
  • Booster shots are given at 12-18 months, and
    again at 4-5 years of age.
  • The College of Gynecology and Obstetrics recommends that pregnant women receive a pertussis vaccine with each pregnancy to reduce the chances of whooping cough in their newborn.
  • Caregivers and other adults who live or work with infants should also be re-immunized, because they’ve lost immunity from their childhood vaccines.  They may not even realize they have whooping cough, because symptoms are not as severe.  It may simply feel like a lingering cough from a cold, but they can transmit it to the children in their care.

When should you bring your child to the pediatrician for whooping cough?  If he has cold symptoms, and you notice that the cough is worsening at about the time when it should be getting better, call our office for an immediate appointment.

There is a test we can do in the office, but it has to be sent to a lab, which takes several days.  In the meantime, if the pediatrician suspects pertussis, your child will be started on a five-day course of antibiotics.  The child is considered contagious and should not return to school or daycare until the five-day course has been completed.

To read more, check out this article from the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Also, see our Facebook November 8 reposting of an article from two years ago by our own Dr. Hambrick.  The experience of one of his own children having been made dangerously sick by this disease makes him particularly diligent in trying to keep your child healthy.artwork by Macy

 

 
artwork by Macy

© 2013, MBS Writing Services, all rights reserved

To use or not to use antibiotics

So your child has been coughing and sneezing for a week, has a bit of fever, a little green mucous coming from the nose, and has missed school or childcare, which causes you to miss work.  You see the pediatrician to get a prescription for an antibiotic, but you walk out disappointed.  Why didn’t they prescribe what you wanted?

Since penicillin was first manufactured in the 1940s, antibiotics have been quite successful in treating bacterial infections, reducing the spread of disease, and saving many lives.  In the last few years, though, it’s been determined that overuse of antibiotics has led to the growth and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

Check out this article at USA Today.

Even so, your child’s pediatrician will not shy from using antibiotics when they are warranted.  Here’s the thing:  antibiotics are completely ineffective against colds or other viruses.  Your child may sometimes feel better after taking antibiotics, simply because the virus began to subside on its own as the body fights back.

Research continues to create new antiviral drugs that will work against viruses (with much success in the area of influenza).  In the meantime, don’t forget that antibiotics work only in the fight against bacterial infections, and also with some funguses and parasites.  And if you do take an antibiotic, MAKE SURE YOU TAKE ALL THAT ARE PRESCRIBED.  Stopping the course just because you feel better can lead to drug-resistant infections later on.

Corinne, age 5

Corinne, age 5

 

© 2013, MBS Writing Services, all rights reserved