My reply is always the same: the first thing you could be doing to give your immune system a boost is to get a flu vaccine done as soon as it is available. We need to teach our immune system to build weapons to deal with a virus that our body has never seen before. And also teach our immune cells to know what to do when we see the virus again in future.

Let’s put this into the context of COVID-19. So, what happens when you become infected with COVID-19? Firstly, the virus is going to start reproducing inside your body and our immune cells will jump into action to start building specialised troops and intelligence to fight off the virus. There is usually a lag time in this exercise but essentially our immune system will produce a whole bunch of troops (macrophages) and weapons (antibodies). It’s usually around this time when we will be feeling the symptoms of the infection (e.g. sore throat, headache, fever etc.). You’re probably thinking that your body isn’t responding, but what’s really happening is the opposite – our body is actually working to fight off the virus! If we ever get exposed to COVID-19 in the future, our immune system has so many antibodies and memory cells, they are just going to kill the virus before we even realise it. Although, one-way COVID-19 could get around this is by mutating into a slightly different form so that our immune system does not have the right antibodies and white blood cells to fight it.

Now some of you may ask me if COVID-19 is not in the flu vaccine this year, then is there a need to get a flu jab? My answer is simple – of course, you need to. Even though a flu vaccine will not protect you from COVID-19, it can protect you from all other common strains of influenzas that are equally capable of infecting you.  If you had a flu vaccine and still develop symptoms similar to the symptoms of COVID-19, then your doctor will be able to swiftly assist you in getting the necessary care that you need.

The second thing you could do to help with your immunity is by reducing unnecessary stress. Everyone has stress and its part of life. We are living in an era of stress. We have been worrying about the coronavirus for months and now we have to worry about the lockdown at home, grocery shopping, even the stock market! A little bit of stress now and then can act as a motivator to help us rise to the occasion. It also can stimulate our body to produce a short burst of a hormone called cortisol to boost our immunity. However, a consistently high level of stress can take a toll on our immune system. Having too much cortisol can reduce our body’s lymphocytes level and hence our ability to fight off infection. So, the bottom line is to stop stressing! Your immune system does a better job when you’re not stressed. (This is obviously easier said than done but check out my last email for useful tips for coping during this uncertain time).

Thirdly, exercising regularly whenever you can is a gold standard to become immunologically fit. This is because when you exercise, your circulation increases and your white blood cells can provide you with more cycles of surveillance throughout your body and hence increasing the chance of picking up and destroying any sinister viruses or bacteria that could potentially harmful to your body. The ministry of health recommends everyone to be as active as possible with at least 5 hours of moderate or 2.5 hours of vigorous exercise spread throughout the week. My advice for the elderly is to get as much exercise as your body allows because quite frankly anything is better than nothing. I generally advise people to start low and go slow because if you suddenly going for a half-hour run which you are not used to, you could be spiking your stress hormone and compromising your immunity.

Fourthly, getting well-rested sleep is very important to fight off infection. Studies have shown that people who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to contract a cold when they are being exposed to one. Lack of sleep also suppresses your recovery time. This is because when you’re sleeping, your body produces proteins called cytokines which are important when you have an infection to fight off. It’s recommended that most adults require 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night, teenagers need 9 to 10 hours and children need 10 hours or more.

Last but not least, eating a balanced diet is very important. In particularly consuming more fibrous foods such as vegetables and fruits can improve the level of good bacteria in your gut and sequentially giving our immunity a necessary improvement.  They also contain vitamins A and C, which play a crucial role in immunity.

I hope you are all doing well in your bubbles!

Chris
Pharmacist

The post How to build your immune system weapons WITHOUT supplements appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.

As we are slowly entering into Autumn, the chance of getting a cold increase dramatically. On top of normal influenza that we need to deal with, we also need to be wary about and braced for the impact of what the new kid on the block (COVID-19) could potentially be capable of doing to our health and our community. I’m not sure about you, but I have never felt a more of an urge than before to look after my immunity and be healthy.

Before we attempt to take care of our immune system, we must first understand how it works and the type of ammunition we have under our sleeves (or I should say skin!).

I like to use the analogy of a country to describe the three levels of immune defence. The border of this country is surrounded by a tall wall offering protection from outside invaders. There is also police and soldiers patrolling to respond right away if anybody were to ever get close to the wall or breach the wall, they could arrest them or shoot them if they pose a threat. But when you are protecting a country, it is probably more important to have intelligence or spies to spook out any suspicious activities or person of interest or recognise invaders when they come. The same applies to our immune system. Our border wall is going to be our skin. Whenever you come in contact with a virus or bacteria that your body has never met before, the first line of the barrier is our skin. Our skin is made up of many cells providing a physical barrier to viruses and bacteria. The pH of our skin is also very low which makes it quite difficult for bacteria to live there. On top of our skin, we have many bacteria (called normal flora) that are designed to prevent other bacteria to gain entry. We also have different chemicals on the surface of our skin that can disrupt certain viruses and bacteria. One of these chemicals we are talking about is the mucus or snot we produce. Taking the coronavirus for an example, it mainly targets the lung. Hence, the preferred route of entry is either through your nose, mouth, or eyes. Those entrances are the place where we produce lots of mucus to wade off any unwelcome guests. A good example that everyone can relate to is when we are walking along the waterfront during a windy day. Big wind can blow a grain of sand or dust into our eyes. Most of the time, you’ll notice that our eyes became very watery and, in most cases, our eyes will turn red and a thin layer of mucus will be formed on our cornea. This is our first line of defence doing its job to try to wash out whatever particle is in our eyes.

Occasionally when our first line of defence gets breached, the virus will then go head to head with our white blood cells. The first response when we have a breach is inflammation. So basically we have chemicals that are released to tag the areas that our white blood cells need to respond to. A typical example is a sore throat when we contract flu or cold. One of the first white blood cells that’ll be at the scene is the macrophage (also known as the killer cell). The macrophage is responsible for locating the virus cells and eating them. However, the problem with macrophage is that it is not very good at recognising viruses or bacteria and hence they often report to the cleaver ones called the lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are like spies or our intelligence and can recognise if the virus is a frequent visitor and if so, could eliminate it without you even knowing.

Whenever you have a virus whether is a typical influenza A virus or COVID-19. After penetrating your first and second line of the protective immune response, the virus is essentially going to gain entry inside your cells. It’s going to use the resources available in your healthy cell to make copies of itself. And more copies of itself. And eventually, it’s going to destroy the cell and spread off to infect other healthy cells. In other words, what’s happening when you get a cold is that your cells become a virus making machine. In a way, we are in tremendous debt to our immune system because if it weren’t for them, we would literally be destroyed by all the viruses and bacteria that are around us. As our immune system is crucial to our well-being, we must do whatever it takes to look after it and be nice to it.

On my next email, I will attempt to decipher what are the things we could be doing right now in the midst of COVID-19 to improve our immunity and giving us the best chance of survival in the uncertain time ahead of us.

To your health,

Chris

Pharmacist

The post Our immune system fortress appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.

One of the questions I always ask parents is: when your child has a cold and you bring them to the doctor, do you automatically expect a prescription for antibiotics?

From the number of parents, I’ve asked in the past, many of them do. And they’re surprised or maybe even frustrated if they leave the surgery empty-handed. I mean, after all, who doesn’t want their little one to get well as quickly as possible? But from a pharmacist’s perspective, I think your doctor could be doing you and your child a favour by not giving them a prescription.

Symptoms from a common cold such as sore ears and throat, blocked nose and cough are usually caused by viral infections and antibiotic treatment is not considered appropriate. In some cases, there may be bacterial infection present but the majority of infections will resolve naturally.

However, there will always be people who do need antibiotics. For instance, people with increased risk of developing complications such as young infants, frail elderly people and those who have long term conditions such as diabetes, heart, lung or liver disease.

I believe that the most important treatment for winter illnesses is effective communication. Everyone should leave the consultation (either with a doctor or a pharmacist) understanding what illness they are likely to have, how long their symptoms should last, what they should do to manage their symptoms and when to seek a further assessment.

When the first antibiotic was developed in the 1940s, it was a miracle. Humans could finally gain some grounds in curing some illnesses that were once considered deadly. However, what we didn’t realise at the time was that we started a tough and never-ending battle against the ever-changing smart bacteria.

Now, before we can answer the question of whether antibiotics do more harm than good if you don’t have an infection, it is important for you to understand how antibiotics work. There are 2 major types of germs that can make people sick: bacteria and viruses.

Bacteria – are living organisms found everywhere. Although most bacteria are harmful and can cause illnesses, some are beneficial. For example, lactobacillus lives in the intestine and helps digest food.

On the other hand, viruses cannot exist on their own, they must invade other living cells (our body) to grow and cause harm. Antibiotics simply do not work against viruses.

Taking antibiotics for common colds or the flu not only won’t work, but It can potentially cause more harm than good. The following are the reasons why antibiotics should not be used when don’t have an infection:

1) Excessive use of antibiotics inappropriately can cause bacteria to mutate so antibiotics no longer can work against them (antibiotic resistance). This means that bacteria that were once highly responsive to antibiotics have become resistant.

2) Antibiotics are not smart enough to know what is good or bad bacteria. Hence, it can wipe out the good bacteria that help keep the body healthy.

3) Antibiotics can disrupt the good bacteria level in your gut and can cause diarrhoea

4) Good bacteria can produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), which, in turn, promote the development and maintenance of white blood cells. When good bacteria are destroyed, the production of SCFAs is depleted and can compromise the ability of white blood cells from fighting off fungal infections such as thrush.

However, if you or your child have an infection and your doctor prescribed you with a course of antibiotics, it is crucial to take the full amount prescribed and talk to one of our pharmacists to make sure the dose is correct. It is important to understand that antibiotics take time to work, so don’t expect your child to feel better after the first dose. It may take 1 to 2 days to feel better.

One piece of advice I always give to parents is to remember to give your child a course of probiotics with the antibiotic course. This will prevent your child’s good bacteria in their gut from dropping to a critical level. And what’s important is to carry on the probiotic course for at least 2 to 3 weeks after finishing the antibiotics to re-populate the gut with good bacteria.

Once again, if you have any questions about antibiotics, please do not hesitate to contact me personally or one of our team.

To you and your family’s health,

Chris

Pharmacist

The post Can antibiotics do more harm than good if you don’t have an infection?? appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.

Did you see the recent TVNZ Sunday episode regarding a Researcher in Australia exploring the benefits of probiotics in relation to peanut allergy?

The aim of the probiotic and peanut immunotherapy treatment is to try to combat the rising number of allergy cases, and improve the quality of life of sufferers. The results are promising so far and I really hope that the researchers will eventually be able to use the knowledge gained from the trial to find a cure for people with a peanut allergy.

Speaking of probiotics, there is growing evidence highlighting the benefit of probiotics to prevent loose bowel problems associated with the use of antibiotics. Probiotics can give our immunity a boost and inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria in our gut.

It has been clinically proven that a course of antibiotics can have a detrimental effect on the number of good bacteria present in your gut. One of the fastest ways to restore the level of good bacteria in your gut is by taking oral probiotics.

I often come across customers taking multiple courses of antibiotics and worry about the state of their immunity! What’s more concerning is that majority of them are not aware that there something they could do to restore the level of good bacteria in their gut, giving their immunity a significant boost.

I’m a strong advocate of the benefits of probiotic use.

As winter is right at our doorstep, my usual combo that I suggest to my customers to help prevent them from winter illnesses is to:
1. Get the flu vaccine (helps prevent contracting or spreading the flu)
2. Have a course of a bacterial vaccine (e.g. Buccalin) (helps prevent the progression of a cold or flu into a secondary bacterial infection such as chest infection)
3. Take probiotics at least 2 to 3 weeks before winter approaches and continue every day during the winter if possible to boost immunity
4. Increase your natural vitamin C intake (through fruits) and sunlight (vitamin D) whenever possible
5. Eat a balanced diet – every meal should have a balanced amount of carbohydrates, protein and fibre. Try not to overindulge. The key is moderation!
6. Regular exercise.

If you do all of the above, I can guarantee you that your immune system will be much better equipped for what lies ahead in the winter – victories belong to those who are well prepared!

Stay on the lookout of my next email (check your spam/junk folders too!)

Best,
Chris
Pharmacist

The post 6 HACKS TO STAY HEALTHY in the WINTER! appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.