The original Christmas gifts were reported to be gold, frankincense and myrrh; and while they may not be on everyone’s shopping list, there are, even now, websites offering these three items as “deluxe three box gift sets” from less than $50.

The real value of these 21st century replicas might be uncertain (in common with many products available via the internet); however, there is no doubt 2000 years ago gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh would have been well received.

As well as its value as a precious metal, gold has also been used in healing. In the 17th century, gold cordials (gold mixed with alcohol) were prescribed for such ailments as melancholy, fainting, swooning and fevers. However, there is no evidence that these treatments were in any way successful.

Frankincense, as the name implies, for much of its 4000-year history, has been used for its aromatic qualities. Today it is in use as a component of perfumes and toiletries. Records of its medicinal use date back to the 3rd century, when it was recommended for gout, catarrh, colic and gastrointestinal haemorrhage.

In a pharmaceutical sense, myrrh seems to have the best credentials. As recently as the middle of the last century, Australian doctors prescribed pain relieving mixtures containing tincture of myrrh. In Hebrew tradition, myrrh was often mixed with wine and given to a condemned man as an anaesthetic. These days myrrh is valued in some cultures for its antiseptic, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties.

If you can’t (or don’t want to) get your hands on those Middle Eastern perfumes and pain relievers and you haven’t yet completed your Christmas shopping, health-related gifts might still be an option. If jewellery is on your shopping list, you might consider something that will not only last a lifetime, but might save a life as well – a MedicAlert bracelet or necklet.

MedicAlert is much more than a piece of jewellery. It’s the ultimate in patient protection in emergency situations or unforeseen adverse events.

The MedicAlert service begins with a wrist or a neck emblem individually engraved with critical medical facts and a 24 hours hot-line telephone number. Doctors, paramedics, hospital staff or other emergency responders can work quickly and confidently in the case of an accident or other emergency. They can also call the MedicAlert centre at anytime from anywhere in the world for additional medical details – information that can help avoid life-threatening complications. Check out the website www.medicalert.org.au for more details.

There are other healthy alternatives you might consider at this time as well.

If you or someone in your family has high blood pressure and gadgets are your go-to items for gift ideas, then an electronic home-use blood pressure measuring device (called a sphygmomanometer by the medicos) could be ideal. Meanwhile, for people with diabetes, you might like an upgrade to the new miniature-sized blood glucose meters – about the same size and shape as a mobile phone but at a fraction of the cost and without the bothersome phone calls.

Of course if you must have something near your ear, the electronic ear thermometers, widely used in hospitals and now available for home use, provide a simple, safe and accurate way of measuring body temperature.

Still searching for ideas? How about a first aid kit? There are ready prepared varieties for work, home or keeping in the car; or better still, your pharmacist can help tailor-make one for your own personal needs. And if you already have a first aid kit, make sure the contents are still usable and not out of date. Ask at your local Self Care pharmacy for more advice and pick up a First Aid in the Home fact card. For the location of your nearest Self Care pharmacy, phone the Pharmaceutical Society on 1300369 772 or log onto the website www.psa.org.au and click on Self Care.

It seems, sadly, for many people an essential part of being able to enjoy the festive season is overeating and particularly over drinking.

In fact, despite the known consequences, for some people a culture of drinking to excess is very much a part of every celebration.

So, it’s about this time of year we begin to consider once again whether there might be a cure of hangovers.

An internet search provides more than 500,000 website results for the entry “hangover cures”. It’s an indication that either there are many effective treatments, or on the other hand, nothing really works. Unfortunately, the latter is the case.

Clearly the best way to avoid the problems of an alcohol-induced hangover is to practise abstinence – or at least moderation. However, there are some simple remedies that might reduce the severity of the symptoms of that morning-after agony.

A few years ago the respected US-based business magazine Forbes published an article titled “Ten Top Hangover Cures”. Some were more mythical than medical; they included concoctions such as extract of prickly pear (said to be able to help overcome nausea, loss of appetite and dry mouth) and tripe soup made from the lining of cow’s stomach with the addition of chilli, garlic and other seasonings.

Much more likely to be effective are the fluid and electrolyte replacement products. The reason is because despite being liquid themselves, alcohol–containing drinks (wine, beer and so on) actually take water away from the parts of our body where we need it most. Drinks containing caffeine such as coffee, tea or cola can have the same dehydrating effect.

To help prevent morning-after headaches, alternate your alcoholic drinks with plenty of water. Before going to bed, it can be helpful also to drink a long glass of sugar-sweetened cordial, an isotonic sports drink or, even better, some Hydralyte or Gastrolyte. It may not seem like the ideal beverage at the time, but it could prevent that really awful feeling the next day.

If that pain you feel needs a pain reliever, then products with paracetamol are probably the best bet; they’re less likely than aspirin to cause stomach upset. Nausea and indigestion are also often part of the problem caused by too much of a good thing.

After a rich meal our stomachs have to work harder and pump out extra acid to help digest the food and alcohol. The pain or discomfort that follows this exercise in overindulgence can also occur with stress, cigarette smoking, pregnancy and some medicines.

Apart from that uneasy, queasy feeling, often symptoms of indigestion include belching or burping and heartburn (known medically as reflux). A recent electronic newsletter to Australian GPs identified obesity and barbecues as two of the main factors explaining why we experience regular reflux. Quite clearly, being overweight puts pressure on the valve at the top of our stomach and allows the backwash of acid, whilst fatty meat and spicy sauces are also triggers for reflux.

So, if heartburn is your cause of your festive season discomfort, you might get some temporary relief with a liquid antacid like Gaviscon; and a range of more potent antacids in tablet form is also now available without prescription (Somac is one example). For headache and nausea, the combination paracetamol/metoclopramide (Anagraine or Metomax) might help.

For more advice and information tailor-made to your need to cope with the after effects of the festive season, or morning-after problems at anytime, ask at your pharmacy for one of the Self Care fact cards titled Headache and Heartburn and Indigestion.

They’re available from pharmacies around Australia providing the Pharmaceutical Society’s (PSA) Self Care health information. You can call 1300 369 772 for the nearest location or log onto the PSA website www.psa.org.au, click on Self Care then Self Care Pharmacy Finder.

It has been estimated that, sometime within the past few weeks, the world’s population has ticked over the seven billion mark. It seems we’re populating the world at an ever increasing rate. Fifty years ago there were about three billion of us. In half a century we’ve had to find room for more than twice the number of people within the same available space. So getting fat will become an even less comfortable option.

Of course, being comfortable is probably one of the least of our concerns. Being overweight has some serious health implications

Put simply, the cause of being overweight is too much energy in, and too little energy out. That is too much food, too little exercise.

However, whilst the underlying cause of obesity is much more complex, the resulting problems are well known: most commonly type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease, social exclusion and low self esteem.

Worldwide, diabetes is fast reaching epidemic proportions. In fact, diabetes is the fourth main cause of death in most developed countries. In 1985, the best data available suggested that 30 million people had diabetes. Fast-forward 15 years and the numbers were revised to just over 150 million. Today, just another 11 years on, new data show that a staggering 300 million people are living with diabetes. In the next generation that number is expected to rise by a further 200 million. The latest figures from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Diabetes Atlas indicate that people in low and middle-income countries are bearing the brunt of the epidemic.

However, we Australians are certainly not immune. Studies show that nearly one in four Australian adults either has diabetes or so-called impaired glucose metabolism which is associated with a substantial risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Diabetes is a condition where the body can’t use glucose properly – usually because of a lack of insulin or so-called insulin resistance when the body fails to respond to its own insulin.  Insulin is the chemical messenger or hormone that controls the uptake of glucose by muscles, liver and fat tissues.

In type 2 diabetes, which accounts for about 85% of all people with diabetes, insulin is still produced but for some reason it doesn’t work effectively. While it most often affects mature adults, more and more younger people, even children, are getting type 2 diabetes. It’s very much a lifestyle disease, and more young people are getting type 2 diabetes because more young people are getting fatter sooner.

Clearly achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is important; but being a ‘big loser’ with respect to weight doesn’t mean your new lower weight will be easy to maintain.  New Australian research, published recently in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has shown that, once we become overweight or obese, hormone changes reset what our body thinks is the ‘normal’ weight at this heavier level.

It is much easier, therefore, not to become overweight in the first place. And if you need to lose weight, take it slowly. According to the Australian Diabetes Council website by losing just 5–7% of excess weight and participating in moderate intensity exercise for 150 minutes each week can reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by more than 50%.

To increase awareness of diabetes, its associated problems, prevention strategies and available treatments, World Diabetes Day is celebrated each year on November 14. So, now’s the time to become more diabetes aware.

You can get more advice on diabetes and how to maintain a healthy weight from pharmacies around Australia providing the Pharmaceutical Society’s health information. For the nearest location phone 1 300 369 772 or log on to the Society’s website at www.psa.org.au and click on Self Care and then Self Care Pharmacy Finder.

Modern medicines are a powerful tool for disease treatment and prevention. But along with the anticipated benefits there are frequently risks when these medicines are not used appropriately.

According to Dr Romano Fois, “with over 200 million prescriptions dispensed in Australia each year, potentially harmful medication –related incidents are captured and addressed by community pharmacists every day”. Dr Fois is the principal investigator for the inaugural National Medication Safety Week Project (NMSW).

NMSW is an initiative of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Sydney. The project will encourage pharmacists to not only identify and rectify possible problems, but also to document and report these incidents so as to design safer systems of care.

It’s estimated that up to 3% of all hospital admissions are related to the use or misuse of medicines. Apart from the direct impact on a person’s health, the monetary cost of these mix-ups is also significant – thought to be around $660 million in 2008.

One cause of confusion related to the prescribing, dispensing and use of medicines is the similarity of names of different medicines, as well as the multiplicity of names for the same medicine.

More and more commonly used medicines are coming to the end of their patent life; so more so-called generic (and usually less expensive) alternatives to the original brand will become available – these are the alternatives the government is encouraging us to embrace to maintain a financially sustainable Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

It’s important, therefore, that we know our medicines by their generic name, not just the brand name.

In some instances totally different medicines have quite similar names. This is an issue which has recently been addressed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) with its Tall Man lettering project.

Tall Man lettering uses capital letters selectively within the look-alike drug names (for example, the word DilaUDID and DilaNTIN). This project, developed by the ACSQHC, is the first of its kind in the world and aims to reduce the risk of patient harm from similar sounding and similar looking names of medicines.

Meanwhile, researchers from the University of South Australia have identified medication-related risks, not with similar-sounding medicines, but with medicines belonging to the same group – the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pain relievers (NSAIDs).

Results of the research were published in the 7 November issue of the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA). Using data provided by the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs, information gathered from more than 160,000 veterans indicated prescribing NSAIDs may lead to an increased risk of stroke.

However, in an MJA editorial, David Blacker, Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Western Australia, points out that the population studied was elderly, frequently with existing arthritis and heart and blood vessel disease. “It should be remembered that the conclusions do not apply to younger and healthier populations. Additionally, the absolute stroke risk is small, and may be exceedingly small, particularly if NSAID exposure is brief,” he said.

While the group of NSAIDs studied were prescribed medicines, several are available without prescription as well; and there appeared to be different risks associated with different medicines within the group.

Despite these confounding factors, there is a clear message: seek your doctor’s or pharmacist’s advice before self-selecting a pain reliever, especially if you’re taking other medicines and/or you’re in the over 65 years age group.

In January next year, the Tour Down Under, once Adelaide’s, now Australia’s premier cycling event, will no doubt attract special attention with the amazing success of Cadel Evans in the Tour de France last July. Cycling, not just the professional or the competitive kind, but also cycling to commute from place to place has become increasingly popular – and so has recycling.

National Recycling Week was established by Planet Ark 15 years ago and now has a permanent place on the calendar of Australia-wide events during the second week of November each year.

Recycling in Australia has a long history. The first Australian paper mill to use recycled material was built in 1815. And waste paper collections from households and factories started in Melbourne in the 1920s.

During the first half of the last century, resources were generally not as readily available as they are today; so people valued them more and reused materials whenever possible.

Now, with a greater awareness of environmental issues, recycling has once again become an important part of our more modern society. Of course, recycling some things is especially problematic; and there are some things that should never be recycled, nor should they end up on the rubbish dump. Top of the list of these non-recyclable products are medicines.

Keeping old medicines can be a health risk, and disposing of unwanted medicines inappropriately can also pose a risk to the environment.

We Australians are certainly a nation of hoarders. That may be great for some things – items of furniture perhaps, that might gain in antique status – bottles of wine that mature with age – and there are those unique collectible items such as stamps and coins that appreciate in value as time goes by.

There’s no financial benefit, however, in collecting medicines. In fact, there are some significant problems associated with having old or unwanted medicines lying around the house.

It seems obvious that if your medicine cabinet is “choc-o-block” with medicines there’s a chance of confusion and misadventure – even more so if those medicines are not stored correctly. They must be out of sight, out of mind and out of reach of kids and grandkids.

And while children may be at special risk by swallowing a little (or a lot) of this and that – just out of curiosity, it’s also easy enough for us adults to get confused with a cupboard full of alternatives.

So what do we do to ensure our homes are safe from medication misadventure? Well, what we don’t do is flush our unwanted medicines down the toilet or the kitchen sink; nor do we dispose of them in the household garbage.

We shouldn’t assume that sewage treatment plants can effectively treat all substances contained in medicines and we don’t want fish and other aquatic life suffering the side effects of medicines we no longer want.

The only safe method of disposal is to return your unwanted medicines to your local pharmacy. Medicine collection bins funded by the Commonwealth Government have been placed in every pharmacy in Australia. Once full, they are removed and the contents safely destroyed. It’s all part of the RUM (Return Unwanted Medicines) campaign.

Each month the RUM program helps to prevent about 30 tonnes of medicines from potentially harming our environment or possibly harming us as well.

The second week in November might have passed but there’s still time to give your medicine chest a bit of a spring clean. For more information about RUM or simply to get some advice on how to sort your medicines and manage them better, call into your local Self Care Pharmacy. Phone the Pharmaceutical Society on 1300 369 772, or visit the Pharmaceutical Society website at www.psa.org.au for the nearest location.

It’s now 30 years since the first reported case of AIDS. And despite sustained efforts to eradicate the disease there are still 7000 new HIV infections every day.  In 1988 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared 1 December the first World AIDS Day.  Its aim was, and remains, to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS issues, and particularly the need for support and understanding for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Since then, World AIDS Day has been established as one of the world’s most successful commemorative days. As the “red ribbon day” it is now recognised and observed by millions of people in more than 190 countries.  And the day has also become an opportunity to highlight the need for continued development of education and prevention strategies.

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus.  It is primarily transmitted in blood, semen and vaginal fluids via unprotected sex or sharing injecting equipment.  HIV belongs to a group of viruses called retroviruses known for the capacity to copy their genetic blueprint onto the genes of the host person’s cells. HIV has been identified as the virus that causes AIDS.

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is not a single disease.  It is a broad range of conditions that occur when a person’s immune system is seriously damaged after years of attack by the HIV.  The terms HIV and AIDS are not interchangeable.  It is important to remember that a person who is infected with HIV does not necessarily have AIDS.  However, all people with AIDS have been infected with HIV.

The ability of HIV to live outside the body is very limited and, therefore, HIV is not particularly easy to transmit.  It is a communicable disease, but it is not contagious like air-borne viruses such as influenza.  HIV cannot be transmitted by hugging, shaking hands, coughing or sneezing.  Nor can it be transmitted by sharing glasses, cups or utensils or by insect bite.

There are three main modes of HIV transmission: unprotected anal and vaginal sexual intercourse; sharing drug injecting equipment; and mother to child transmission during pregnancy, birth or breast feeding.

Exposure to HIV contaminated blood is another potential route of transmission. Injecting drug users who share needles and syringes are at risk of HIV infection because there is often a small amount of blood left in the syringe after injection. So there are definitely times when sharing is not always caring.

This type of exposure can also occur during skin piercing and tattooing procedures if equipment has not been properly sterilised after having previously being used on someone with HIV.  Body piercing or tattooing should always be undertaken at licensed studios that use new inkpots for each procedure and disposable needles or anautoclave to sterilise equipment.

At the end of 2010 it was estimated that there were about 34 million people living with HIV worldwide, and although global rates of HIV infection have fallen dramatically, there were still around 2.7 million new HIV infections last year and about 1.8 million people died of AIDS related illnesses. Nevertheless, measures such as improved medical treatment prevented an estimated 700,000 deaths in 2010. Here in Australia, where transmission occurs primarily through sexual contact between men, the number of new cases of HIV infection diagnosed is now stable at around 1000 per year.

Wherever we live we can combat AIDS by “respect and protect”.  By respecting and protecting ourselves and others we can stop the spread of the HIV and put an end to prejudice. Check out the World AIDS Day website at www.worldaidsday.org and two excellent Australian websites www.worldaidsdaynsw.org and www.worldaidsday.org.au

Or you can get more information about HIV and AIDS from pharmacies around Australia providing the Pharmaceutical Society’s Self Care health information. Phone 1300 369 772 for the nearest location and ask for the HIV/AIDS fact card.

Recent research has shown that thousands of Australians are forgoing important dental care because of costs. Apparently even privately insured patients are put off by the possibility of significant out of pocket expenses. Meanwhile, other studies indicate that Australians have lower standards of oral health than almost any other developed country.

This problem is also due in part to a shortage of skilled oral health care practitioners; however there are strategies that we can personally put into practice that will help prevent tooth decay and gum disease occurring.

The most common cause of oral health problems is plaque. Plaque is a thin, sticky film which builds up on the teeth. It is produced by a combination of saliva, bacteria and food. The bacteria ferment sugars in the food forming acids that erode the tooth enamel. Plaque also damages the gums as well.

The plaque can be removed by brushing and flossing, but it quickly reforms. When it stays on the teeth for longer that a few days, it hardens into tartar (or calculus) that acts a reservoir for bacteria. The tarter then needs to be removed by a dentist.

For some good tips on how to keep your teeth long term, and how to keep those tissues that support the teeth healthy as well, get hold of the Fact Card titled Oral Health. It’s available from pharmacies around Australia that provide the Pharmaceutical Society’s Self Care health information.

For a start, brush your teeth twice a day – morning and bedtime – with a soft toothbrush and a fluoride toothpaste. Take the time to brush carefully and gently along the tongue, or use a tongue cleaner, as bacteria can thrive on the tongue, too.

A low fluoride toothpaste is recommended for children aged 18 months to six years, and for children under the age of 18 months brushing without a paste is best.

To completely remove plaque and food from between the teeth we should also floss once a day (rinse thoroughly after flossing) or use interdental brushes. The appropriate flossing technique is detailed on the Oral Health card.

Healthy eating makes healthy teeth and gums. Avoid sweet sugary drinks and snacks; and if you do snack between meals, rinse the mouth with water afterwards. Apples are said to keep the doctor away, but more probably, along with other fibrous foods like celery and carrots, they could keep the dentist at bay. They won’t actually clean the teeth; but these healthy foods don’t increase the likelihood of decay like confectionery; and they do stimulate the flow of saliva.

Saliva (we normally secrete about 1.5 litres a day) assists speech, taste and swallowing and prepares food for digestion. And a good flow of saliva also helps prevent tooth decay and protects against mouth and gum infections.

Saliva production commonly decreases with age; and there are other more preventable factors which reduce the flow of saliva such as smoking, alcohol and caffeine containing drinks (they can be dehydrating), snoring and breathing through the mouth, and also certain medicines.

In fact medicines are the most common cause of dry mouth. If you’re suffering from chronic or continual dry mouth, check with your pharmacist to see if one or more medicines could be the cause. Of course, sometimes these medicines are essential, but there are ways to minimise the dryness. Special gels, sprays, toothpastes, gums and mouthwashes are available.

For more information on keeping your mouth, teeth and gums fresh and clean and disease free, check out the fact cards on Oral Health and Dry Mouth at one of the 1500 or so Self Care pharmacies around Australia. For the nearest location go to the Pharmaceutical Society website www.psa.org.au and click on ‘Self Care Pharmacy Finder’.

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• Dealing with dementia (castletownchemist.com)

The worldwide service of Radio Netherlands recently presented a program all about small things – miniature models, microphotography, insects, seeds and, rather interestingly, smallpox.

Smallpox is believed to have originated more than 3000 years ago in India or Egypt. For centuries, epidemics swept across continents, decimating populations and changing the cause of history – many kings and queens, emperors and tsars of Europe died from smallpox.

The disease, for which no effective treatment was ever developed, killed as many as 30% of those infected; and those who survived were almost always left with severe scaring – deeply pitted pockmarks, most prominently on the face.

Edward Jenner’s demonstration, in 1798, that inoculation with cowpox could protect against smallpox, brought the first hope that the disease could be controlled. It was just a few years later that the term “vaccination” entered the English language. Cowpox was called “vaccinia” being derived from the Latin word for cow – vacca.

Jenner’s prophecy (perhaps at the time, simply seen as a forlorn hope), that smallpox would be annihilated, was fulfilled almost 200 years later following an intense eradication plan launched in 1967 by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In 1977, what proved to be the last natural case of smallpox occurred in Somalia; and global eradication of smallpox was certified by a commission of eminent scientists in December 1979 – an enormous success for medical science.

Vaccines have been shown to be one of the most important and effective public health strategies implemented; and following their success with smallpox, WHO turned its attention to polio.

In the early 20^th century, polio was one of the most feared diseases in industrialised countries. However, soon after the introduction of effective vaccines in the 1950s and 1960s, polio was brought under control and practically eliminated in these countries.

Nevertheless, it took somewhat longer to be recognised as a major problem in developing countries. In 1988 when WHO’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative began, polio paralysed more than 1000 children worldwide every day. Since then, 2.5 billion children have been immunised against polio with the involvement and co-operation of 200 countries and 20 million volunteers. Polio eradication has also become a major initiative of Rotary International.

Today polio is endemic in only four countries – Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan – however, several other countries (chiefly in Africa) have had re-establishment of the disease, often due to the “importation” of the poliovirus. Eradication of the final 1% is proving a major challenge.

In Australia, polio is a disease that had been all but forgotten by our community and health professionals; however, the consequences have certainly not gone. Between the 1930s and the 1960s, there were 40,000 recorded cases of paralytic polio and many thousands more where severe paralysis did not occur but the infection resulted in long term muscle and joint pain, decreased strength and endurance and respiratory and sleeping problems. Polio survivors form the largest single disability group in the country.

During October, Polio Australia will be promoting polio awareness with special events during Post-Polio Health International’s “We’re still here” Week (9-15 October). You can get more information from the website www.polioaustralia.org.au

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease, for which, like smallpox, there is no cure. It can strike at any age, but mainly affects children under five. Immunisation is essential.

In Australia, polio vaccination is included in the National Immunisation Schedule. Check out the Childhood Immunisation fact card available from pharmacies around Australia providing the Pharmaceutical Society’s Self Care Health Information. Phone 1 300 369 772 or check out the website www.psa.org.au for the nearest location.

Over the past few years Europe has been plagued by financial woes with Spain and Portugal, Ireland, Italy and especially Greece decidedly unwell. However, according to a recent study in the Journal European Neuropsychopharmacology, Europe’s illness extends far beyond the collective hip pocket.

The study shows that psychiatric illness is now the biggest source of ill health in Europe. Almost 40 per cent of the region’s population – around 165 million people – experience a mental disorder each year. Anxiety is the most common condition, followed by insomnia and depression.

Meanwhile, in Australia, whilst our economy is in reasonably good shape – at least by comparison – we cannot afford to be complacent with respect to mental health. According to the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (the latest figures available), 45 per cent of Australians aged 16-85 years had at some point in their lives experienced a mental disorder.

As in Europe, anxiety is the most common condition, with women more likely to be affected than men. So-called substance use disorders – involving the harmful use of, or dependency on, alcohol or other drugs – are more common in men.

Of course, it’s normal to feel anxious now and again. We’ve all had that experience of butterflies in our stomach maybe before an exam or a job interview. Anxiety is actually a normal and reasonable response to danger or stress; it’s an emotion that triggers our body’s nervous system to be able to make quick, and hopefully, correct decisions.

Some studies suggest that we inherit the tendency to feel more stress. Other studies describe stress as a response that is learned over a lifetime. In any event, people who experience high levels of stress, tend to hold beliefs which make them feel threatened, ultra vigilant and out of control.

There is no doubt too much stress can be a health hazard; so the first important step in stress management involves being aware of when our stress levels become unhealthy. Once stress overload is recognised there is a range of stress management skills available to address the problem.

We probably don’t need to be reminded about stress, but perhaps we do need to be reminded about how best to manage it. And during Mental Health Awareness Week (9-15 October) each year we are encouraged by the Mental Health Association of Australia to consider how our “overall wellbeing should encompass mental health as well as physical, social, spiritual and community health”. In some states of Australia the emphasis on mental health awareness has been extended from a week to all of October. In fact it’s an issue that deserves our attention year round.

If you feel tense or “stressed out” almost all the time, and anxiety is affecting your everyday activities, then it’s time to have a chat with your GP. You might also benefit from the top ten Stress-Less Tips. Check out the website www.stresslesstips.org.au

Your pharmacist can help too. There is a series of mental health information cards available from pharmacies around Australia as part of the Pharmaceutical Society’s (PSA) Self Care Program.

No doubt throughout life there’ll be plenty of stressful situations for us to cope with. Just how we cope will determine how healthy we stay. So, for a little extra help on how to stress less, ask your Self Care Pharmacist for the fact card titled Anxiety.

There are also useful cards on subjects such as Depression, Relaxation Techniques, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Sleeping Problems. For the location of the nearest pharmacy providing the Self Care information, log onto the PSA website www.psa.org.au and click on Self Care Pharmacy Finder or phone 1300369 772.

Maybe with a little effort we could claim to be a mentally as well as an economically healthy country.

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• Suspect Stroke? Think fast (castletownchemist.com)

Heart and blood-vessel disease, known medically as cardiovascular disease, remains Australia’s number one killer. It affects nearly 2.5 million Australians. Together, heart attack and stroke (maybe we should call it “brain attack”) account for around a third of all deaths in Australia.

This year Australians will suffer more than 60,000 new and recurrent strokes – that’s one stroke every 10 minutes. Statistics indicate that one in five people having a first ever stroke will die within a month and one in three die within a year. Yet, early action will save many of these lives.

A stroke (also called a cerebrovascular accident) is the death of brain tissue resulting from lack of blood flow and insufficient oxygen to the brain.  Another type of stroke (a cerebral haemorrhage) is caused by bleeding into brain tissue.

The signs of stroke could be any one or combination of the following: weakness or numbness, or paralysis – in the face, arm or leg; difficulty speaking or understanding; dizziness; sudden loss of vision; sudden and severe headache; difficulty swallowing.  These signs may last only a few minutes or may last for several hours (called a transient ischaemic attack – TIA).  They are often a warning of an impending stroke and must never be ignored.

Stroke is a medical emergency.  If you experience the signs of stroke or see them in someone else, seek immediate medical attention.  Prompt action can prevent further damage to the brain and help someone make a better recovery.

Think FAST is the message which has come from the recent National Stroke Week. According to the Stroke Foundation (check out their website at www.strokefoundation.com.au ), the FAST test is an easy way to recognise and remember the signs of a stroke and to be in a position to act quickly to get help.

Using the FAST test involves asking yourself three simple questions about the person you suspect might be in danger – and then acting quickly:

FACE – check their face, has the mouth drooped?

ARMS – can they lift both arms?

SPEECH – is their speech slurred? Do they understand you?

TIME – time is critical. If you see any of the above signs, call 000 immediately.

The risk of stroke is influenced by a number of factors: as we get older the risk is greater; men suffer stroke more often than women; and family history of stroke puts us more at risk. There’s not much we can do about these issues. However, there are some simple lifestyle changes we can make which will reduce the risk of stroke and reduce the risk of heart disease, as well.

High blood pressure and high blood cholesterol levels are a major contributing factor to blood vessel disease which often leads to stroke. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels can be managed; sometimes just by sensible attention to diet and exercise; and sometimes by the regular, and usually long term, use of medicines.

If you do need medicines to lower your blood pressure, the possibility is that they will need to be taken forever.  Sometimes that is difficult to accept; especially when, in all likelihood, there are no noticeable symptoms of the blood pressure being raised.  In fact, occasionally the medicines themselves have unwanted effects.  They may make you feel drowsy, dizzy or nauseated. If side effects with your blood pressure medicines do occur, you should tell your doctor and pharmacist.

There are other factors, too, which make stroke more likely – smoking, being overweight, having uncontrolled diabetes or having an irregular pulse (known as atrial fibrillation or AF).

For more advice about treating and preventing stroke, pick up a fact card from one of the 2,000 pharmacies around Australia providing the Pharmaceutical Society’s (PSA) Self Care health information. For the nearest location phone 1300 369 772 or visit www.psa.org.au and click on Self Care Pharmacy Finder.