Giving Gifts This Christmas

Christmas is nearly coming. People are now busy thinking of best gifts to give to their loved ones. There are plenty of great ideas out there. All you got to do remember is what will your special someone will surely like. 

In buying a gift for someone, you have to think of that individual in a more personal level. You just don't grab something you first see in store and wrap it. You must choose a thing that you know he can use or will like. It is surely the best way transmit your thoughtfulness. 

Just for instance, if your friend is a music and loves to play around with music, vestax mixers at Guitar Center is the perfect gift. You can also see there other music related gadgets that you will surely enjoy too. 

At the end of the day, the cost doesn't matter. Whether you buy a gift or make one on your own, "It's always the thought that counts." 

Dreams Can Come True at Any Age

As people approach retirement age, they start thinking what they are going to do with all of their spare time in addition to thinking about the dreams they have never fulfilled. They know they will have extra free time on their hands and they start thinking about hobbies they want to start. With this new-found freedom, many senior people are going back to college. Some individuals are attending community colleges and some are even going to equine colleges in CO.

It is never too late to learn a new skill and fulfil the childhood dream of becoming whatever you have always wanted to become. Colleges take all ages of students, whether you are 16 or 80 years old. Retiring from one job does not mean you can’t go and learn a new one. Your brain is a muscle and if it is not used, then it will atrophy and become useless, just like any other muscle in your body. By staying active and striving towards a goal that is exciting and interesting, you are also helping yourself to stay healthy and your brain to stay sharp.

The old adage of “you can’t teach an old dog a new trick” is not true: both animals and human beings are never too old to be taught something new. The brain is still functioning and therefore it is able to always learn something new. When you take interest in something that excites you, there will usually be a new spring in your step and spark in your eyes.

Whether you want to be a nurse, teacher, carpenter, or horse trainer, now is the time to get off the couch and take the steps to make your childhood dreams come true. Community colleges and technology schools are seeing a rise in the age of people attending their programs. These older students are breaking the old stigma of grandma and grandpa sitting at home watching TV and working in the back yard. Grandparents are now going to colleges and learning new skills to fulfil their dreams and remaining active in the community.

How to Take Care of Your Ears

Everyday, we are expose in different sorts of noise. There's a big possibility of losing your sense of hearing little by little due to these noises. But there are numerous ways to prevent it.

1. Avoid using cotton buds, towels or anything foreign to clean your ears. These materials can damage your eardrum. 

2. If you can avoid noisy places, do so. If not, use earplugs to reduce the noise coming from your environment.

3. Always ask your doctor or local pharmacist before taking any medications. Some drugs can affect your hearing. 

4. Use earplugs or earmuffs when working with tools or appliances producing loud sound. Have at least an hour of break from a noisy workplace. 

5. Reduce volume when listening to music. Use great quality headphones suitable for you just like those head phones at musicians friend . These types of headphones are manufactured on high degree of excellence and complied to standards

Get Better Eyesight with Surgery

Not everyone who uses glasses or wears contacts is eligible to be a candidate for lasik eye surgery. To find out if you are, you will need to be examined by a professional, who can then tell you what the likelihood of success will be with the surgery if you are a candidate.

Eyeglasses

For those who are not candidates, the good news is that eyeglasses are fashionable. The hot librarian is in fashion, and even people who do not need glasses are wearing them with clear glass. Even if eyeglasses were not fashionable, those who wear them would still have some eye protection from random flying objects, which is pretty cool.

The bad news is that even with advances in plastic that create lighter lenses, glasses are still a burden on your face, and if they are not adjusted correctly, they can create marks on the bridge of your nose. For those who enjoy 3D movies, glasses can be a nuisance because the person will have to wear two pairs of glasses to see the movie clearly.

Contacts

While contacts do not provide the eye protection that glasses do, they are preferred by some people who don’t think that they look good in glasses. Of course, contacts have their own issues. If you leave them in too long, your eye could suffer serious damage, and don’t ask anyone about the time that there was something on the contact that then got into the eye.

The good news is that people who wear contacts may have a better time dealing with eye surgery because they are used to putting their contacts in. Having a finger that close to the eye is an easy indicator that a person can handle the psychology of surgery adjustment.

Surgery

LASIK is a procedure that has been done for a long time. The kinks have all been worked out, so there is a relatively small incidence of anything going wrong. The best part is that those who can have the surgery often experience eyesight improvement that is better than that of normal eyesight. It’s like getting a super power.

Exempt Dangerous Drug Preparation

Exempt Dangerous Drug Preparation are any substances containing one of regulated drug internationally controlled referring to Schedule III and IV of 1971 Convention on Psychotrophic Substances. The quantities to be prescribed and dispensed are established by Dangerous Drug Board. 

Ampule

EDD Preparation are those drugs that has one ore more than one narcotic agent in it. 
Examples of drugs under EDD are the following

• Phenobarbital
• Clonazepam
• Diazepam
• Pseudoephedrine
• Flurazemam
• Alprazolam
• Midazolam

Prescribing and Dispensing

In case of EDD or Exempt Dangerous Drugs, ordinary prescriptions are accepted in drugstores and hospitals provided that the following information are written in such scripts.

• current date
• name and address of the doctor
• licence number of the doctor along with the PTR number, and narcotic license (S2)
• details about the drugs such as the generic name and quantity prescribed
• relevant details of the buyer or patient
• signature of the doctor

How to Keep Your Cool While Golfing

There’s nothing more relaxing than spending a morning on the golf course, but when your game starts going south, there’s nothing more infuriating. Many golf clubs have been destroyed by angry golfers who just shanked a shot. Whether you’re a thrower or a ground basher, losing your cool on the golf course is not only off-putting to those you’re with, but it can also become an expensive habit. Even those who golf regularly with memberships with Pacific Links International will find their temper rising from time to time. Golf is as much mental as it is physical, so there are a few mental tricks to help you remain calm.

Deep Breaths

After making a mistake that would usually cause you to throw a tantrum, take a few deep breaths first. The moment immediately after the swing is when you’re the most upset and the most likely to do something stupid. Every breath you take and every second that passes, you’ll find your frustration melting into mild disappointment, and you’ll at least have the rationale to not overreact.

Even Pros Make Mistakes

If you’re ever feeling bad about making the occasional mistake, just watch professionals play and you’ll see that even they make mistakes. Many sports are said to be games of inches, but golf is a game of centimeters. A fraction of an inch can be the difference between a great shot and a complete shank. So the next time you have a bad shot jeopardize the best game of your life, remember that you’re not a pro, and even if you were, mistakes are still possible.

Gratitude

Whenever you’re feeling upset or are wanting to complain about anything, including golf, gratitude can help. Instead of dwelling on the poor shot you hit, take an instant to remember where you are. You’re on a golf course, playing a sport you love. This is your leisure time, so don’t let a few poor shots turn what was supposed to be an enjoyable activity into a stressful one. Whether you’re a beginner or somebody who plays weekly, these tips will help you remain calm, which will help to prevent you from hitting more shanks.

Medicines You Should Have This Holiday

The coming of festive season means so much to us. Delicious food prepared by your mother are so tempting that you can't help but to enjoy every bit of it. Forget about the diet for a moment and let your cravings take you in different level. Okay, go on then but make sure to stock the right medicines because you may not find an open pharmacy to serve you of what you need. 

Christmas Meal

Medicines You Should Have This Holiday

• Paracetamol (for headache, fever and minor pains)
• Aluminum/magnesium antacid (I prefer Gaviscon)  (for heartburn and indigestion)
• Loperamide (for acute diarrhea)
• Diphenhydramine / Citirizine ( for allergies)

These are only few important drugs to keep in our medicine cabinet this Christmas holiday. Make sure to ask your local pharmacist for generic equivalent or brand available. These are all OTC products. Prescriptions are not required in buying them. Just remember to take the drugs when needed and as instructed or as written in the packaging. If not sure about it, always as the pharmacist before taking home the medicines with you.

Happy Holidays!!!

The Role Environment Plays in Addiction

Addiction to drugs, alcohol, or even dangerous eating habits can be very frustrating to deal with. Whether you want help yourself or a family member, it can be difficult knowing where to start. If you’re trying to understand an addiction, a great way to start is by looking at the impact that environment has on an individual’s addictions. No man is an island, our behavior is influenced by where we are just as much as it is by who we are. A person’s environment plays an important role forming addictions and in the likelihood of relapse.

Drug Addiction

Forming Addictions

In many cases, a person’s environment plays an important role in the formation of their habits and addiction. If a person has siblings or friends that encourage the addiction, they are more likely to become addicted. Spending time in a bad neighborhood, surrounded by people pushing or indulging in addictive substances, can spell disaster for individuals who otherwise would have been unlikely to form addictions. One of the reasons addiction spreads from generation to generation is that many don’t have the means to escape their poor environments.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation centers serve as a clean environment where people suffering from addictions can recover. It is a place where somebody who has built up a drug dependence can be weaned off the drug in a safe setting. It’s also a place where individuals are surrounded with support. They don’t have to worry about working and other daily chores, so they can focus on getting better physically and mentally.

Relapse

Environment plays a huge role in the likelihood of an individual to relapse. Many individuals show great progress throughout an inpatient rehab center stay, only to relapse a short time after it ends. This is because people go back into the same toxic environments that led to their addiction in the first place. Whether you want to prevent a child from getting mixed up with drugs or you want to make sure you or a loved one don’t relapse after a stay at rehabilitation centre, make whatever positive changes to your environment that you can.

Dangerous Drugs

Dangerous Drugs are preparations referred to as either Prohibited Drugs or Regulated Drugs. These drugs require a special prescription from which is highly monitored by Dangerous Drug Board Philippines. 

The Dangerous Drug Board of the Philippines is composed of 17 members. At the moment the chairman of the board is Hon. Antonio A. Villar Jr. The chairman and two more are considered permanent members chosen by the President of the country. The rest of the members are coming from different departments of the government along with two regular members coming from Integrated Bar of the Philippines and NGO. 

Cannabis Sativa leaf

What are included in Dangerous Drugs?

All drugs listed in schedules annexed to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs as amended by the 1972 Protocol are considered Dangeorus Drugs. Most of these drugs are narcotics and hallucinogenics. When you say narcotics, these are agents that are used to relieve moderate to severe pain leading a person to insensibility. While hallucinogenics are drugs that can lead to severe psychotic states, literally causing hallucinations.

Some of the drugs included in these schedules are the following:

• Cannabis (Indian Hemp / Marijuana) and Cannabis resin 
• Coca Leaf and it's derivatives specifically cocaine
• Fentanyl
• Morphine
• Opium (Papaver somniferum)
• Oxycodone
• Codeine
• Heroin

All drugs listed in 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances are also considered Dangerous Drugs. Psychotropic drugs are those substances such as tranquilizers, sedatives, stimulants and anti-depressants. 

Some of the drugs included in these schedules are the following:

• Amphetamine
• Pentobarbital
• Alprazolam
• Barbital
• Diazepam
• Midazolam
• Phentermine

Dispensing and Recording

Dangerous Drugs are only dispense using an official PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency) Form 1-72 also known as the Yellow Prescription Form. Written in the form are the following details:

•  identification of the buyer
• current date
• details of the prescriber such as the License number, Privilege Tax Receipt (PTR) number and narcotic license (S2)
• dangerous drug information namely the generic name and quantity
• signature of the doctor or prescriber

A valid identification of the buyer must be presented along with the Yellow Prescription to make sure that you are dispensing to the right person. 

In order for the DDB to monitor the in and out of the dangerous drugs in a particular drugstore or hospital, record books are maintained by the registered pharmacist.

• Dangerous Drug Book
• Opium Book
• Additional Opium Book (For EDD Preparations)

Just to share with you, in Europe, some dangerous drugs must be taken in front of the registered pharmacist rather than taking the drugs at home. 

Let the Creative Team Be Creative

The development of the web is an amazing thing. You can do almost anything in the virtual world, and many of those things were relegated to pencil and paper just 10 years ago. Things really started to change when Pixar showed what could be done with computers in 1995 with Toy Story. It took some more time after that for the public versions of the web to catch up, but now companies everywhere can get sophisticated and interactive websites for a fraction of what the development of Toy Story cost. There are many different platforms to choose from like Java and dot net. It just takes a good conversation with a web development team to find the right programming platform for what the company needs.

Good Old Days

It’s really starting to feel and look like Christmas everywhere. When you stroll around the mall or walk along the high streets, colorful decorations are there to guide you. Christmas trees, lights, different ornaments and the Christmas songs remind us of how lovely and amazing this season every year. 

carolers

Philippines Regulatory Classification

If you're a patient and wondering why a pharmacist is so meticulous in checking your prescription, this is because pharmacists are in charge of monitoring what medicines to dispense. It's for your own safety too. Proper prescription must be used and accurate details must be written. Otherwise, the drugs will not be handed to you.

Prescription Only Medicines