10 Money-Saving Tips for Prescription Medication

Consider these additional tips to save money on your prescriptions. Most of these helpful suggestions will work for anyone—in other words, no need to qualify to make most of these tips work for you.

1. Talk to Your Doctor. Tell your doctor if paying for prescription medication is a problem. He or she may have free samples or can tell you about other resources available.
2. Stop Taking Redundant Medication. Talk to your doctor to see if you still need to take all of the medications you are taking. Stopping a medication that is no longer useful is better for your health. It also saves you money.
3. Buy Generic. The generic version of a medication is usually a lot cheaper. In 2004, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores reported that the average price of a generic prescription drug was $28.74, while the average price of a brand-name prescription drug was $96.01—that’s three times more expensive! Be sure to discuss this with your doctor to find out if a generic version of your medication is right for you.
4. State-Sponsored Drug Assistance Programs. Check to see whether you are eligible for drug assistance programs in your state. Go to NeedyMeds.com to see what programs your state has at http://www.needymeds.com/ state_programs.taf
5. Senior Citizen Discounts. If you are a senior, be sure to ask your pharmacy for any senior discounts available.
6. Organizational Discounts. If you belong to an organization (like AARP), be sure to ask your pharmacy for any discounts available.

Additional Resources for Saving Money
The Web sites listed here all offer valuable information to help you find ways to save money on your prescription medications.

1. www.crbestbuydrugs.org/ This site contains important information from Consumer Reports about saving money on prescription drugs.
2. www.needymeds.com This site lists information about state programs, discount drug cards, federal poverty guidelines, and patient assistance programs and also includes copies of the forms.
3. www.helpingpatients.org This site has resources for patient assistance programs run by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Written by: Jeffrey B Brown, MD. FACP

If you appreciate this article, I’d like you to do one simple thing for me right now:

• Click the Share/Save button below to retweet or post on Facebook so this article can be shared with others – Thank You .

Can You Get Cancer from Drinking Soft Drinks?

A study conducted by scientists at UCLA found that pancreatic cancer cells grew faster when “fed” with fructose (a type of sugar) as compared to other forms of sugar. Fructose is a simple sugar found in vegetables and fruit. Most soft drinks are sweetened with this type of sugar which comes in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. Between 1970 and 1990 consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in the U.S. rose 1,000 percent!

The researchers of this study also concluded that fructose would likely speed the growth of other types of cancers in the body as well. The bottom line is all forms of refined sugar (fructose, sucrose, and glucose) have very few health benefits and all if consumed in excess lead to a variety of health problems such as obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease and etc.

I know controlling your ‘sweet tooth’ is hard, but battling with some disease or even cancer as a result is much harder. So start today to begin to limit and ultimately eliminate refined sugars from your diet. But be sure to give yourself time – you didn’t developed your desire for sweets overnight nor should you expect it to go away overnight. A great place to start is to begin seriously cutting back on the number of soft drinks you drink a week, and if you can, eliminate all soft drinks from your diet which contain high-fructose corn syrup.

More food for thought: When the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey measured where most of our calories come from, they found that the category making up the largest percentage of our calorie intake (7.1 percent) was not a food at all; it was soda. Yes, not vegetables, nor chicken, nor fish, but soft drinks make up our largest food category!

So what does this mean? This means that if you’re a typical American consuming the typical amount of soft drinks per week, 7% of the calories you consume each day comes from drinking soda, and if you consume on average 2500 calories a day, 175 of those calories come from drinking soft drinks.

Now, here is where it gets interesting; if you were to cut soft drinks from your diet, the number of calories you consume each day would drop from 2,500 to 2,325. This seemingly small difference would equal a weight loss of 1.5 pounds per month or 9 pounds in 6 months!

Written by Jeffrey B. Brown, MD, FACP

If you appreciate this article, I’d like you to do one simple thing for me right now:

• Click the Share/Save button below to retweet or post on Facebook so this article can be shared with others – Thank You .

Do Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer?

Can long-term cell phone use cause adverse health effects and even brain cancer?

The research is split if long-term cell phone use causes adverse health effects or not. Some studies done found no correlation between cell phone use and brain tumors, but yet others have suggested that people who use a cell phone for at least an hour each day over a 10 year period are at an increased risk of developing brain tumors on the side of head used to talk on the phone.

The central issue of concern about long-term cell phone use is the form of radiation that’s produced when a cell phone communicates with its base station. Cell phones work via emitting a radio frequency (RF) – which is a low-frequency form of radiation. This same type of radiation is used in microwave ovens and AM/FM radios. Most of the cell phone’s radio frequency is emitted from the cell phone’s antenna as it transmits back to its base station.

“There is cause for concern,” said Dr. Henry Lai, a professor of bioengineering at the ..University.. of ..Washington.. in ….Seattle…., who has been studying the effects of cell phone radiation on humans since 1980. “But to prove that cell phones cause cancer or other health problems will take more work. At this point the biological research suggests that long term use can have some adverse health effects, with brain cancer being one of those effects.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet issued a warning against using cell phones long-term, but the agency recommends “minimizing any potential risk by using hands-free devices and keeping cell phone talk to minimum.”

The Federal Communications Commission requires cell phone manufacturers to report the relative amount of RF absorbed into the head by any given cell phone. This number is also called the specific absorption rate (SAR). You can find out how to check your phone’s SAR by clicking here.

I’m certainly not advocating trashing your cell phones because they are amazingly useful devices. But I am saying you should get educated about their potential to harm. Also consider severely limiting the use of cell phones in children as their skulls are thinner than adults and their brains are still developing. Point of fact, the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), a governmental body in the home of the largest cell phone maker in the world (Nokia), is urging parents to restrict cell phone use for children and suggesting that parents encourage kids to text rather than talk.

The bottom line is that more studies need to be performed to confirm or deny that long-term cell phone use can cause health problems such as brain cancer. The take-home message for the average person is that we don’t know yet and since we don’t have all the answers yet, don’t take the risk. Limit use of cell phones as much as possible, and always try to use hands-free device like a BlueTooth.

By Dr. Jeffrey Brown

If you appreciate this article, I’d like you to do one simple thing for me right now:

• Click the Share/Save button below to retweet or post on Facebook so this article can be shared with others – Thank You .