Tag: smilingpharmacist

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The Friday Tune Up Ep.1

 

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Welcome to the blog version of our new podcast titled The Friday Tune Up (click for audio)

We talk: health hacks, books, films, food, and favourite quote of the week!

In bite-sized form, here we go!

My current health hack –

The Fitbod app Available from App Store

Ever gone to the gym wondering what today’s workout should be? Wonder no more! Using smart algorithms, this app will track which muscles are sore from your last exercise and target fresh muscles for your next session. It’ll even give you count-down timers for break time so you don’t slack off too long on social media. My work outs before the app were approx 1hr or more, nowdays I can smash out a full workout in 46 miuntes.

New restaurant I dined at –

So earlier this week my fiance and I had the pleasure of taking our good customer-turn-friend, George, to Mr Wong’s in Sydney. A very fancy (but not fine dining) experience at an historical NAB bank building that burned down long ago and retrofitted with georgous decor, a vintage vibe with old wooden beams and low lit light making you feel like you’re in a gangster’s Chinese restaurant straight out of a James Bond film! Peking Duck Pancakes are a must try; everything else you can save your money for your local diner lol.

What I’m watching on Netflix –

Dr Sleep, the film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. I gotta say I was never a fan of thriller until meeting my fiance. I realise most of them have pyschotic wives chasing their cheating husbands with knives in hand (Girl On Train, Gone Girl). But King keeps you guessing at every twist of the plot and I’ve come to enjoy his storytelling. Long film but will have you on the edge of your seat!

Quote of the week –

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same.”― Rudyard Kipling from his full poem

What I learned here was a man whose luck in life was up and down, from loss of his daughter due to pneumonia, to winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, to the loss of his son in WW1…Life is tough, keeping an even keel helps. I’m forced to remind myself of this when I have difficult customers (embarassingly).

What I’m reading –

Currently reading Tour de France 7x winner, Lance Armstrong’s biography: It’s Not about the Bike: My Journey Back to Life Good Reads

Here’s a man who obviously went through a lot: growing up as a loser kid, proving himself on a bicycle, topping his sport, and getting taken down by scandal at the end of his career. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m halfway through the book and it’s detailing his battle against testicular cancer. Cancer of the balls-enough to decimate the manliest of men. Most people die. He’s survived it out of sheer force of his will to live, determination to seek the best doctors, getting second and third opinions when others casts doubt on his chances. For that alone it’s worth a read.

Hope you enjoyed the very first episode! xoxo Smiling Pharmacist Vien

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GERD: Gastro Eosophageal Reflux Disease

Today we had a customer with chest pains complaining that it wouldn’t go away..

Handing me two scripts: one for Gaviscon and another for Somac…I put on my detective hat and asked her about any history of stomach issues starting with the questions:

  • Do you think this is related to any foods you eat? (No I eat very healthy)
  • Do you drink much coffee? (I used to but now just 1 cup a day)
  • Are you bowel motions regular? (Yes, every day)

She appeared lean and told me she is super fit as in: plays soccer twice a week and gyms every other day.

Hmmmm

At this stage it hasn’t quite clicked in my mind yet so I’m digging and digging…I really like solving puzzles like this…someone so young and fit shouldn’t be having symptoms that more often are seen in someone overweight and eats crap.

Now lets not get ahead of ourselves..the doctor has prescribed an antacid and a proton pump inhibitor (PPI). So there must be a diagnosis here…

So now I’m suggesting to her that perhaps it’s worth investigating for bacteria if her symptoms persist. In my mind I’m thinking perhaps it’s Helicobacter Pylori….but part of me is resisting the diagnosis. First because it’s too early..she’s only had persistent chest pain over the last three days…and secondly because she is so young and fit.

To reaffirm this thought…The customer interjects that she’s been on the diet and routine for ages and never has this occurred before.

I suddenly recall a condition called GERD ….not goat…but GERD: gastroeosophageal-reflux-disease. A mouthful I know! It’s basically when people suffer heart burn and chest pains for no apparent reason. Well actually the medical definition is the reflux of stomach contents up the food pipe thereby causing irritation and the physical symptoms of pain. Anyway I never really liked this diagnosis as the treatment always revolved around fluffy ideals like: stress less, lose weight, cut cigarettes, cut alcohol, cut spicy and fatty food. Heck this patient doesn’t have a problem with any of these!

But hang on, she does stress….stress in the physiological sense. She has been exerting herself in soccer matches and at the gym non stop basically….and GERD does have stress as one of the triggers. Still very fluffy but its in the definition……I hold that thought in mind…..

I loop around to the fact that she drinks coffee and ask her:

What time do you have it? (Timing is important see..) What do you know? She has it at 7.30AM-first thing in the morning BEFORE her Weet-bix; which by the way is my favourite breakfast cereal (with honey).

Suddenly I have a light bulb moment! Hang on….if she has coffee, it’s most likely to have gradually irritated her stomach lining to the point of inflaming it.

To test this hypothesis of mine, I ask her questions to see if there are OTHER signs of inflammation:

Do you suffer from break outs (aka acne) or cold sores ever?

Legit as soon as I said that I noticed what looked like a cold sore on the corner of her top lip. She says…YES! I have two cold sores, one right here as you can see (points) and three ulcers at any one time over the last few weeks!

BINGO!

I excitedly explain to her that despite her diet being on-point, the fact that she is under so much physical strain means perhaps her body is running a deficit of nutrients during those exact times….and as such is manifesting these symptoms in her mouth: ulcers and cold sores AND the stomach pain.

It makes sense when you think about the body’s fastest growing cells being those lining your stomach, and the skin in your mouth and hair on your head. Those undergoing chemo often lose their hair first and suffer terrible nausea as these cells are the most demanding in terms of nutrients and so if supply cannot keep with demand…you have problems.

if supply cannot keep up with demand…you have problems.

Before I get to what I finally recommended her lets touch on GERD….

GERD is represented by symptoms of

  • acidic taste in the mouth
  • heart burn
  • bad breath
  • chest pain
  • vomiting

Alarm symptoms that demand immediate GP attention include:

  1. difficulty swallowing
  2. bloody stools
  3. weight loss
  4. anaemia

So to my final recommendation:

I told her to start a multi-vitamin.

Guess what: she just started one that day!

Good on her! I told her to continue that as the extra nutrients will act like a buffer especially during times of physical stress (soccer/gym).

Think of it this way: if the recommended dietary intake of Vitamin C is 75mg daily and she obtains this through her diet..fantastic. But what happens when you are training 7 days a week? You’re probably going to need more in reserve. Hence why I suggested she start that multi-vitamin, to increase her reserves.

Go for goal!

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