ZOOM Pharmacy Health Tips

December – Get Your Meds Sorted Early

This Christmas, some of us will be much better organised than others, planning out where the family will be, who will be cooking what food and what presents to buy. On the other hand, the majority may well be running around at the very last minute in panic, and for those of you who take more than a couple of prescription medicines, you know how difficult it can be organising your meds for the holiday period on top of everything else.

It’s really important to take your medicines regularly, and that means over the holiday season as well. But medicines tend to be pushed off the priority list during this period.

Avoid the stress. ZOOM Pharmacy can help organise your meds early and deliver direct nationwide (even to your holiday address), ensuring you are all sorted for this festive season. If you are on 4 or more meds ZOOM can also pack them into state of the art, easy to open sachet packs – perfect for travelling, and you get FREE prescriptions,* sachet packing and delivery as well. It doesn’t get better than that.

If you’re needing to organise repeats before Christmas, make it easy for yourself. Ask your medical centre to fax your prescription to us, or you can freepost it (no stamp required) to: FREEPOST ZOOM, PO Box 90685, Victoria Street West, Auckland 1142. Or just request via your medical centre’s patient portal that your repeat prescriptions are sent to ZOOM Pharmacy.

FreePhone 0508 966 622 Monday to Friday 7AM-6PM to speak to a ZOOM Pharmacist, and get your meds sorted early and delivered direct before Christmas!

November – Travel Medicine

Did you know that when you travel overseas, you have a 50% chance of suffering from a travel-related illness and experiencing poor travel health.

Diarrhoea

The most common illness when travelling is diarrhoea. Reduce your risk and improve your travel health by taking these simple measures around food and water:

• Drink only bottled or boiled water
• Avoid ice in drinks
• Avoid fresh fruit and veggies which may have been washed in local water
• The best fruit to eat are ones with a thick skin e.g. bananas, oranges
• Be cautious eating street vendor food

Malaria

Know what travel medicine you need to organise, what vaccinations are necessary for your planned destination/s and get these well ahead of time.

Malaria is common in many popular overseas tourist destinations visited by Kiwis. You can take antimalarial tablets, but try to reduce your risk further by avoiding getting bitten by mosquitoes in the first place:

• Apply a mosquito repellent regularly to exposed skin
• Apply a mosquito repellent onto your clothes and bedding
• Use a mosquito net
• Avoid perfume or aftershave
• Try to remain indoors between dusk and dawn when mosquitos are most active

Visit your GP or travel clinic

A visit to your GP or travel clinic is a great idea. They can help with planning your vaccinations and travel medicine, and also prescribe you a supply of medicines which could include things like fluid replacement, or medicines for diarrhoea and pain relief.

Medicine sachet packs

On four medicines or more? ZOOM Pharmacy can sort ALL your meds for you, putting them into easy to open sachet packs – so you don’t need to pack in all your medicine bottles, boxes and foils!

Each sachet pack is clearly marked with what medicines are inside, along with the day, and the time to take it. Medicine sachet packs are perfect for travelling. Just tear off the sachet packs you need and take them with you. Easy!

Call 0508 966 622 Monday to Friday 7AM-6PM to speak to a ZOOM Pharmacist and find out more.

October – Corns & Calluses

With the temperature slowly warming up, what better way to spend a Sunday evening than going for a leisurely stroll to relax before the week starts. However, many of you who walk regularly know that when corns and calluses begin to develop on your feet, simply walking can end up being quite a painful experience.

In simple terms, a corn or callus is an area of thickened skin, which can become sore and inflamed due to persistent pressure or friction.

 So what can you do about it?

Prevention of corns and calluses is always easier than treating them so try and treat the cause – here are some quick tips that will definitely help:

• Make sure your footwear is not too tight, well-fitting and comfortable shoes and socks are important
• Take note of how you walk – do you tend to put too much pressure on any part of your foot?
• Try using a shoe insert or insole
• Soak your foot in warm water for 15-20 minutes then use a pumice stone to file down any thickened skin (do not do this if you have diabetes however)
• Corn plasters can provide relief, but do check with your pharmacist first

It’s important to try and get your feet in the best possible condition from the start, then continue to look after them heading into summer. Call 0508 966 622 Monday to Friday 7AM-6PM to speak to a ZOOM pharmacist for professional care and advice.

September – Allergies

Spring is here! For most it is the end of cold winter days and the beginning of new spring growth. But, for those of you who suffer from allergies, the never-ending sneezing, runny nose and itchy watery eyes are just beginning.

During springtime trees, grasses and weeds release pollen into the air. Your immune system treats pollen as a threat, causing a release of a hormone called histamine into the blood, which in turn triggers those dreaded allergy symptoms.

So what can you do about it?

Steering clear of pollen is almost impossible to do, but there are ways to reduce your exposure and minimise allergic reactions:

• Close windows during the day to prevent pollen wafting in
• Clean your air conditioner filters as they could be blowing pollen around inside your home
• Pollen levels tend to be the highest in the morning, so avoid walking outside amongst trees, grasses and weeds at that time
• Use antihistamines

If you suffer from spring allergies, did you know your doctor can simply write an antihistamine prescription for you? You can then send this prescription along with any others you have to ZOOM Pharmacy. ZOOM will dispense then deliver your antihistamines, as well as your other prescription meds, direct to your door. Easy! And a lot cheaper than having to make special trips to the pharmacy to purchase expensive over the counter antihistamines. Call 0508 966 622 Monday-Friday 7AM-6PM to speak to a ZOOM pharmacist to find out more.

August – Dry Skin

As we enter the final month of winter, many will have battled the common cold, some the flu – while others have had their annual occurrence of dry and flaky skin.

Many of you who do have dry skin know how uncomfortable it can be, but why does it always seem to happen during winter? It can be many things ranging from; exposure to cold and windy conditions, spending periods of time sitting directly beneath an air conditioning vent at the office perhaps, having long baths, or even exposing yourself to direct heat from a fire or fan heater.

So what can you do about it?

It is not always possible to avoid cold and windy conditions during winter, nor is it nice to sit in a cold house without heating, as this can lead to other more serious problems! But a couple of different methods you could try are:

• Replace long baths with short showers
• Do not directly expose yourself to heating – let your heating warm your house or room instead
• Get an emollient or a moisturiser and apply it in large generous amounts, especially following bathing or when you are feeling itchy

A good general-purpose moisturiser you can get through ZOOM Pharmacy is Sorbolene Cream with Glycerine. It is cheap and available in bulk without the requirement of a prescription. Want to find out more? Just freephone 0508 966 622 to speak to a ZOOM Pharmacist.