Overview of Canker Sores & Cold Sores
Overview of Canker and Cold Sores, Including Treatments Pete Kreckel, microCE Canker sores (Aphthous ulcers) Everyone knows that canker sores are caused by a virus…except they are not!! The herpes virus is well defined by HSV-1 and HSV-2, but there is no virus implicated in canker sores. I often wonder whay we do not have […]
Pharmacy Product Spotlight: Humidifiers
Pharmacy Product Spotlight: Humidifiers MicroCE, 0.25 hours, Pete Kreckel Dr. Jeffrey Rosch, an esteemed allergist who practices in Altoona PA, was doing a presentation on allergies. He is the doctor who said he never gives out cough syrup, because it is his job to find out the origins of the cough. Also, at that presentation […]
Decongestants Overview: Pseudoephedrine, Phenylpropanolamine, Phenylephrine and Oxymetazoline
My first exposure to rhinitis medicamentosa was as a student pharmacist. One of the pharmacists I worked with was “hooked” on Afrin®. Back in those days, the Schering representative dropped off boxes of 12 samples with about 5 ml in a bottle. He had the sample bottles sitting around the pharmacy, and about every 2 […]
Nasal Corticosteroids and Antihistamines Overview
Neti pots were the rage a few years back. We could not keep them on the shelves! I can’t imagine using something that gives me the sensation of waterboarding. Like every other pharmacy, we dispense boatloads of fluticasone from the prescription department. I make sure my patients know exactly how to use this product. I […]
Overview of Cough Management
How well I remember back in the 1980’s buying Robitussin AC®, Robitussin DAC®, Phenergan with codeine® and Phenergan VC with codeine® in GALLON jugs! Dispensing 8 oz of these codeine containing cough suppressants was typical during flu season. Pediatricians would even prescribe Tussionex ® to stop the nighttime coughing! How the landscape has changed! I […]
4P: Overview of Dextromethorphan
Course Opening Up June 16, 2023. Click Here to view the course. Learning Objective: Recognize the potential dangers and interactions of the common over the counter drug dextromethorphan. I have seen three cases of serotonin syndrome. Pharmacists need to be cognizant of the potential interaction between “good old Dextromethorphan” and antidepressants that can lead to […]
Overview of Hepatitis B and
Hepatitis C Treatment
Hepatitis-B rates have declined by 82% since 1990. For the unfortunate 18%, however, we can discuss drug therapy for treatment of Hepatitis-B. Of the chronically infected people, 15% to 25% of these patients develop chronic liver disease. This includes things like cirrhosis, liver failure, or liver cancer. freeCE offers MicroCE opportunities via our blog. We […]
Hepatitis Transmission & Immunization – What Pharmacy Professionals Need To Know
I don’t have a great fear of many viruses, but this one scares the living daylights out of me! I can’t think of another virus that can be infective seven days later. The fact that a blood spill can remain infective for 7 days, this virus has earned a great deal of respect from me! […]
Pharmacist Guide To Hepatitis. History, Medications, Vaccines & More.
I can’t think of Hepatitis-A without thinking of my childhood. My oldest brother was in 6th grade and was extremely ill. The rest of the Kreckel kids were in 5th, 3rd and 2nd grade. He was diagnosed with hepatitis the day before Christmas in 1967. He spent a week in the hospital in isolation. I remember […]
Vaccination Overview: Diphtheria & Pertussis
Pete Kreckel, microCE, 0.25 hours One of the most significant demonstrations of the importance of diphtheria antitoxin was its use in the 1925 diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska. Coordinated emergency delivery of this life-saving antitoxin by the dog-sled relay in the harshest of conditions has left a profound legacy in the annals of vaccinology and public […]