If you have to choose between killing one person to save the lives of 5 others, and doing nothing even though you knew that 5 people would die as a result of you doing nothing – what would you do? What would be the right thing to do? That is the hypothetical scenario that is becoming more relevant in today’s society and is a moral & ethical dilemma that most nations are facing when deciding on what policies to implement in the COVID world.

Side-line observation tells me that the pandemic strategies our government has been employing since our first lockdown a year ago were a mixture of Utilitarian and non-utilitarian approaches. In the case of a pandemic, utilitarian policies focus on looking after younger, healthy people as it’s most likely to produce the best outcomes. Non-utilitarian approaches focus on protecting everyone equally, it’s not just about the consequences but rights, duties and obligations. Now, the reason that I’m exploring this is so that I can make some sense of the decisions that the government is making and why there is an ever-increasing division within the society. It is not intending to criticise the government’s approach to pandemic management, however, what I’m trying to achieve is to figure out which option will do the best overall not just for individuals but also for society as a whole.

As much as we would like to believe we are living in a society, where all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities, there seem to be no egalitarians in a pandemic. The scale of the challenge the pandemic created for our healthcare system means that there is an ineluctable need to prioritise the needs of many due to the lack of resources.  Take the capacity of our ICUs and the availability of ventilators for an example of a moral dilemma that the frontline staff in the hospital are facing. What if, knowing that there are only 10 ventilators available but there are 11 patients admitted who require its use. How would you decide who should get the treatment?

In a situation where money and resources are abundantly available, the argument is simple – everyone has an equal right to access ventilators, and therefore it is wrong to prioritise some over others. We cannot simply abandon our most vulnerable to save more lives, right? Yes, that is very true and should always be our goal to strive towards. However, does the ‘non-utilitarian approach still apply when resources are scarce? At some point, people will have to think about how they can do the best with the limited resources they have, and that means prioritising those people who have the best chance of recovering and living a long and healthy life. Although we are lucky enough to not need to make such dire decisions of who gets a ventilator or not, our government is very well aware that we do not have the necessary resource to cope if a widespread pandemic occurs. This explains the adaptation of a more or less ‘utilitarian’ approach when distributing medical resources like medicines and PPE. However, when it comes to deploying the lockdown strategy, a non-utilitarian approach was at the forefront. The logic to this approach is rather easy to understand: The decision of going into lockdown was purely based on the fact that not only do we need to prevent the number of infection cases and mortality rates from rising but also our healthcare system cannot cope if a widespread community transmission is present. At the initial phase of the pandemic, such strategy makes a lot of sense and it did serve its purpose in controlling the transmission rate within the community while preventing our already stretched healthcare system from overloading.

Some of you might ask, considering that the case-fatality rates of COVID-19 are sitting globally at around 2% (in comparison to 1% of the influenza virus), and the hospitalisation rate and death rates heavily skewed towards those 85 years and older  Then why do policymakers still believe reducing and suppressing the number of cases and case-fatality rates should be the end game we all strive towards? Even at the expense of 5 million people’s freedom and putting the economy on the line for a virus that can be detrimental to a smaller group of the population? Not to mention the repercussions of the lockdown on our mental health and wellbeing. One of the reasons being is that we do not have enough information to know how the virus behaves over time. And time has proven that virus mutation does exist and hence a more contagious delta strain emerged earlier this year. The second reason is that we did not have the vaccination available to us for protection. We all know that there is nothing utilitarian in the lockdown approach at all. However, it is the best strategy available at the time to cope with the pandemic. Hence, the need to sacrifice the many to protect the minority.

So how should countries decide when to implement stringent social restrictions, balancing preventing deaths from COVID-19 with causing deaths and reductions in well-being from the cause of lockdowns? I have to reiterate that I’m not trying to argue that utilitarianism is the only relevant ethical theory, or in favour of a non-utilitarian approach. What I do believe in is that each approach has its place in time and the government should be fluid enough about the approaches they use depending on the given situation.

One of the determinant factors on deciding on the type of approach that policymakers consider when making decisions that affect the nation is a cost-effective analysis. It is extremely likely the government has run their numbers in terms of the cost of letting the virus spread freely in the community versus the cost of implementing strict lockdowns hoping to stomp out the virus. At the initial phase of the pandemic, it makes so much sense that a short burst of lockdown may be the answer that we are looking for before a mass vaccination to protect the population becomes available. It does not cause a significant impact on our economy while at the same time stamping out the virus to reduce the burden on our already stretched healthcare system and reducing the ongoing cost involved with managing and treating patients with COVID. The strategy did prove its success where we did enjoy a fair bit of time in level 1 last year after the success of the initial level 4 lockdown.  However, is this still relevant when the virus can no longer be contained or stomped out?

Unfortunately, the amount of money spent on maintaining our economy during the lockdowns, while not forward-thinking to revamp our healthcare system with the necessary resources to cope with the pandemic– really, this leaves us with not much of an option but to carry on lockdown until the majority of us are vaccinated.

Ever since the government announced the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination program, I’ve been pondering this question – could we have done this more efficiently? Have we missed the crucial window to vaccinate that would have allowed us to avoid the lockdown we are in at the moment?  Being a front-line healthcare professional, seeing first-hand how our healthcare system operated during the pandemic, and the kind of resistance and bureaucracy that I’m seeing in action, yes, we could have done a lot better. However, in hindsight, being a small country at the bottom of the world and with limited financial capability in comparison to mega countries, maybe that is the reason why we are still in lockdown, maybe we have already done the best we can. Who knows?

Hindsight is 20/20. What makes it powerful is that it allows us to make better decisions for the future. There is no doubt that minimising the loss of lives due to COVID-19 is important. Equally, if not, more important, is the well-being of all people – both with and without COVID-19 – which must be balanced and should not be dismissed. There is huge attention to quantifying the number of cases of COVID-19 infection and the number of consequent deaths. However, our government should also place more attention to the possible consequences of lockdown measures for everyone. There is no doubt that lockdown measures themselves will have a direct effect on morbidity and mortality due to the denial and delay of medical treatments. The tremendous amount of pressure and stress generated by the lockdown will have a long-term effect on people’s mental health the many years to come. Besides the direct implication on our health and wellbeing, lockdown measures also have indirect effects through an economic recession. We simply do not know the number of job losses with associated loss of well-being and death.

Policy is often driven by politics or popular options, not ethics. Choosing an appropriate approach is not an easy task regardless of whether it is utilitarian or non-utilitarian. It requires that we choose the best course of action that will benefit the majority of the population to the greatest degree. There is no doubt that there will be a minority of people who would rather bear the consequences of their own decisions than to comply. However, those in the minority must be safeguarded by the policy that protects them as much as possible with full transparency so that they can be as autonomous as possible. I agree that no matter what approach the government takes, there is no win in the court of public opinion. However, what the pandemic has taught us in the last 20 months is that successive governments have neglected our healthcare and hospital systems for decades, sequentially explaining why our health system cannot cope with the burden that the pandemic has created. We have also observed significant mismanagement, injustice, and infringements of rights over the past 12 months which resulted in a divided nation.  Sometimes is easy to put our own agenda forward while neglecting people’s wellbeing and their right to autonomy. That is why it is more important than ever that our government must fill the gap of effective management that was missing throughout the pandemic and start making decisions by not only taking into consideration the pandemic itself but also the wellbeing and livelihood of its people.

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The amount of uncertainty ahead of us is alarming and knowing that everything we build over the years can simply vanish overnight with a situation like we are experiencing right now – it makes sense to feel helpless and things have never been out of our control like this. The question is: do we simply take life as it is? Just like what President Trump said in his interview with the Australian Journalist last week about his theory of how America is stacking in the COVID pandemic against the world – “It is what it is” and his ignorance was his attitude. This makes you wonder if this the kind of mindset we all need in our darkest hour? Taking life as it is? Or we can start making progress and working towards digging ourselves out of the giant hole?

If we focus on all the things that are out of control, I can guarantee you that we’ll feel more vulnerable. Most importantly, we’ll lose faith in our ability and start doubting our importance and self-worth. This is not a place we want to be in. So, the number one thing that we all need to do is to shift our focus onto the things that are in our control. Some of you might say – Chris, that is easier said than done, how can we not think about how much we have lost since April? The answer is simpler than you think – just don’t think about it! That’s it. We all tend to think too much, discussing, strategising, and debating. Sometimes all we need to do is to think about the things we can do right now to improve the situation. This is a big thing for me and I remember saying this to a friend of mine years ago about relationships and it changed his whole perspective – do not spend time with people that don’t make you feel good. This can easily be translated into “do not spend time worrying about things out of your control”.

A patient of mine asked me the other day about how I feel in general about life and the whole situation we are in. He had lost his high-paying job and was quite pessimistic about the future especially with the economic downturn that we are going through. As much as I want to inspire you all, I wanted to be as transparent with my thoughts as much as possible at the same time. I told him that I’m actually feeling optimistic. And I don’t want to be coming across as tone-deaf because there has been so much difficulty and sadness going around in the last 6 months. He quickly interrupted me and asked how do I stay that way. Look, I strongly believe that the optimism trait is in the DNA, meaning certain people are born with it. The second thing is that it’s nurtured by parenting. I think both my mum and dad have had a huge impact on the way I see the world. They both instilled a level of self-confidence in me which made me the person I am today. Mum provided me with her philosophy on life and dad is more of a practical guy – I’ve seen him been through countless difficulties in his business life and he never dwells on any one of his setbacks. Rather, he stands up stronger each time which contributed to his success today.
The next thing – and I believe is the most important of all – is to try to train yourself to see things from different angles.

One of the things I try to tell people is that you can’t blame your circumstances due to not being in control. There are many circumstances and you can take any circumstance and see the bad and the good in it. Sometimes you just need to think it through and have conversations about it so that you can rewire your perspective. Once you start seeing things in a different light, everything starts to fall into place and your life will never be the same again. I also believe that optimism can be trained. Just like your muscles, the more weight you lift, the bigger it’ll get. Optimism is no different, try to see a situation whether is a good or a bad one from a different angle. A lot of the time when we start to shift the angle, we see the problem as a little bearable, and makes us wonder if it’s necessary to react the way we wanted to initially.

Staying optimistic also requires gratitude and perspective. Believe it or not, sometimes the only way for us to be grateful is by losing it all. It’s very harsh but is the fastest way for us to gain perspective of things. A simple way I gain appreciation and gratefulness is that every morning when I wake up I treat it as the best day ever because all of my loved ones are still here. Meanwhile, the pharmacy is under pressure, I have 7 employees I feel responsible for, a patient asks to un-dispense all their medicines which you have spent the last 20 minutes doing – running behind the scenes talking to the doctor and sorting out the correct dose so that it is safe for him to take. There are a bunch of problems that we need to deal with daily but if you are grateful, you’ll see beyond your problems with a bit of clarity and appreciation. The fact that many people out there compare themselves to others they perceive as better off than them. They think that their problem is much bigger than the problems that someone with a multimillion-dollar business on the verge of failing due to the COVID crisis because they have a nicer home to go back to. This makes me feel sad. Gratitude does not belong to a wealthy person. It belongs to everybody in society.

There’s this interesting thing that running through my mind over and over again in the past 4 months. Not until my conversation with my patient did it trigger me to give a deep thought about it: many people have been affected greatly both financially and emotionally from COVID-19  and they are not willing to take a step backward for a giant leap forward for the rest of their life. I realised so many people are miserable with their golden handcuffs because they were making substantial earnings and had mortgages, fancy car repayments, and lavish lifestyles. Now they need to make some painful adjustments because the business is not surviving well or job losses. They are worried about what other people may think if they downsized the home and drove a Toyota instead of an Audi. Literally, they are not willing to take a step backward because they care too much about other people’s opinions and are willing to let other people’s judgments ruin their next 40 years of life is the stupidest thing they could do to themselves. The only thing that stops many of us from moving forward is the stigma of losing and going back to zero.

One thing that I always do when I don’t feel happy or in control is to switch on the water tap. It is a tremendous blessing to be able to do that because there is an entire continent where people walk miles to get clean water. So, stop pondering and holding on to any unnecessary baggage. Move forward by slowly making progress day by day until you reach a place where you feel comfortable with tremendous gratitude.

To your best future yet,

The post Take a step backwards for a giant leap forward to a fruitful life appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.

It doesn’t help especially when stubbornness is a prominent feature of mine. Let me put it this way, at times, my stubbornness during our arguments is equivalent to splashing kerosine to a campfire. There is this part of my stubbornness that whenever I believe something to be true then I’ll defend it. We both bottle up issues like a pressure cooker over an extended period of time. The real reason most people choose to bottle things up is that they are wary about saying things that could hurt others. Speaking the truth is something I’ve been talking about frequently in recent years but it’s probably the hardest thing to follow myself. It is a constant challenge because it’s so easy to use words in a way that pays off in the short term and circumvents the problem.  Despite how difficult it is, I still believe it’s better to face things early on and to get to the bottom of the problem before it is too late for any reconciliation. As a health professional, I have to present myself in that manner too if I want to be a useful pharmacist as well. Not that I’m the kind of medical professional that tells people they have only months to live. But it’s still unpleasant to tell patients that they have scabies – it hurts their feelings and upsets them. Nonetheless, if you don’t deal with it now, then perhaps they will scratch themselves and make things a whole lot worse.

What I realise is that of the augments we had over the years, every time we still manage to come out of it as nothing has happened. Most people would think that we have comes to terms with each other’s temperament and we have developed the muscles to forgive. I contest that though because in an ideal world if you truly have forgiven someone, future arguments and conflicts can often be prevented. The fact we continue to have such conflicts on a regular basis could only point to the fact that we deceive ourselves into thinking we have forgiven each other, but in fact, we only have forgotten about the conflict. Forgive and forget are two very different things. There is something fundamentally wrong about “forgetting” a problem. This is because forgetting doesn’t involve reflection and reconciliation. Forgetting is acknowledging that there is a problem, knowing that there are things that I should be doing and that I must do it to resolve the conflict. However, I’m not willing to do anything about it. Hence, shuffling it under the mat seems to be the easiest way of dodging the responsibility of trying to figure a way out.

Forgiveness, on the other hand, is driven by the proper reflection of the problem and laying out the rationale. There is usually a sense of genuine urge to reconcile by trying to understand why the person did this and what they’ve learned from it. However, forgiveness is difficult in part because evolution has endowed us with the motivation to avoid being exploited by others. We are constantly in a defense mode.

Forgiveness is a personal decision and is the one that requires both parties’ understanding and input before it can happen. Sometimes we have to come to terms that people have irreconcilable differences, and there’s nothing that can be done. This is partly because there is a tendency of people to simply not want to admit what they really want. And when people don’t communicate and tell each other the truth, conflict generally boils up. What I’ve learned from this friendship of mine is that telling each other the truth not only will increase the probability that we can maintain our relationship in a stable manner but it also enables us to forgive, reconcile and move forward. Although you may or may not be ready to forgive despite the truth been spoken, one day you’ll find yourself less resistant to the idea and starting to align yourself toward it. When that time comes, you’ll most certainly feel lighter, and generally relieved that the burden of hatred is no longer resting forcefully on your shoulders.

To a more forgiving world,

The post Just because you’ve forgotten doesn’t mean you’re forgiven appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.

From my observations over the years as a pharmacist, I found many people are generally hesitant about sharing both good and bad news about their life. Hence, I was really surprised that she so willingly shared the good news about her life with me. It’s a sad truth that society primes us into keeping things to ourselves. I guess as our society is becoming more complex, people are wearier about “sharing” because sharing your life usually involves exposing ourselves to others and immediately opens ourselves up for comparison and judgement. We need to be very careful about comparison and judgement. It often leads to a toxic cycle of jealousy. The person we usually compare ourselves to are mostly people we don’t know much about besides their shiny outside.  The truth is that we don’t really get to see the reality of their life.

I’m sure many of you living in St Heliers and Glendowie areas can relate to this. I often see someone revving up their engine and speeding along Tamaki Drive in a Porsche. I think to myself, “Oh man, What a lucky guy.” However, the truth of the matter is that he’s thinking about drifting his expensive car off the road and burring himself into the ocean on the next tight corner. You just can’t tell. People have hard lives, relatively privileged people have hard lives too. I have a friend who is always troubled by jealous thoughts and constantly compares himself to the other person that he is fixated on. The funny thing is that the person he compares himself to is not me. And I said to him, if you compare yourself to me then you’ll be a much happier person. The problem with him is that the ideal he is mirroring himself to that made him jealous and resentful is in reality merely an illusion that’s created by his own mind.

I am fortunate enough through the nature of my job to have known a diverse group of people. Some of them are unimaginably wealthy, and most of them made their money through their intelligence and hard work. When you get to know them better, you realise their burden and responsibility is so huge that would probably crush me and any other normal person. They are constantly working, easily 80 hours a week and they have hundreds and thousands of people dependent on them, they don’t take holidays. They certainly have their money and status. However, most people would jump to the conclusion that they are privileged without realising there is usually a price to pay for what they have. They usually don’t see their family often enough, and as a result, miss out on seeing their children grown up. Hence their relationships are usually compromised. We often don’t see the other side long enough before we start judging. If we were to know what is at stake, we would probably be more careful of who we are jealous of.

As I’ve recently been reflecting on my two years of continuous writing, documenting my life, and looking back at my younger self, I have grown and learned so much (particularly about myself) that I would not have if I haven’t started on this journey. My experience interacting with my patients, being a husband to my wife, a father to my son, and a son to my parents has taught me that everyone is different from other people in their unique way and you shouldn’t be comparing yourself to them because you are not like them. You are experiencing life differently. Writing a completely different book with a different storyline and characters. They don’t have the same experience as you and they certainly don’t have the same temperament as well. They don’t have your problems and your abilities to solve them. The only person that has those is you and that’s why a much better game to play is to compare yourself to the yesterday you rather than someone else today.

Focusing on other people’s games often leads to disappointment and that’s what I’m observing regularly when I’m interacting with people. On the contrary, a game you can win is your own game you have been playing since day one. Because you can be a little better than you were yesterday if you chose to.

Two years ago, I embark on his journey of writing my way to become a better version of myself because I took stock of where I was, my strengths and weaknesses, and where I wanted to be… I started with a little humility and projected myself on a path of incremental improvement to be the person I wanted to become. Two years is relatively short in the scheme of things, but I’ve seen myself come a long way and I’m on the right trajectory to leading a virtuous life.

Are you playing your own game?

The post Playing your own game appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.

Initially, my patient thought it was just another health blog amongst tens of thousands that are already out there. However, he found it fascinating – in a good way – that I not only talked about health but also my perspective about life in general, which he certainly didn’t expect from a pharmacist. This is not the first time someone has mentioned this.
However, it’s not always positive feedback I receive, one time a patient emailed me saying I should stop sending my emails because he finds them annoying and he made a point about what gives me the right to tell people what to do. This comment hit me hard.

I have to admit that I have been writing less about health topics since the birth of my son, and also during the COVID pandemic. I’ve been diving into topics about life, its meaning, and mental health quite frequently because it fascinates me. I’m glad you are all still here along with me and haven’t been tempted to click on the “unsubscribe” button yet.

I think many people misunderstand my intentions of writing about life. Look, I’ve not experienced life enough to be able to give “advice” about life as such and certainly not to tell people how to live their life either. I mean, after all, I’m only 36-year-old turning 37 – what do I know about life right? I guess the reason I write is to allow me to document and share my journey as I navigate through the rough sea of life. Life is tough. It’s even tougher when you can’t be open to sharing about it. As with everyone else, I’m still pretty much a “work in progress”. If my writing can in any way resonate and inspire others then, by all means, that’s an upside for me. I’m hoping that people do find my writing useful. I hope it can alleviate some unnecessary suffering. There’s a lot of suffering out there, a lot of people are suffering, and either we’re not aware of it or simply we don’t care enough to pay attention to it.

To another two years of writing (and hopefully many more!),

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I tend to overanalyse situations sometimes and I understand that it doesn’t have to be a bad trait, but it’s often is a double-edged sword. Take an incident that happened to me this week, I found out about something that could potentially jeopardise a project I have been working on for the past year and a half. The news struck me like a lightning bolt and it changed my mood for the rest of the day. Without realising it, I carried my thoughts into my sleep and woke up at 3 am several times wiping sweat off my forehead. I was catastrophising as my mind was revving to 8000rpm like a naturally aspirated sports engine – analysing all the possible outcomes – especially the bad ones.

I’m sure all of you can relate to this. All of us can jump to the conclusion of the worst-case scenario at times. Your friend didn’t reply to your text and your fear that they got offended. You make a mistake at work and worry that it can compromise the reputation you’ve worked hard on building. You argue with your spouse and you fear that they are going to leave you. As a pharmacist, I’ve come across many people with anxiety disorders. One thing that I’ve learned from people with anxiety, depression, or substance use abuse is that the reasons they get anxious are usually not mysterious at all. I mean, everybody has a reason to be anxious. We all have the ultimate reason to be anxious because we know that we’re vulnerable creatures and we have the intellect to realise that we’re all going to die one day. There is plenty of reasons for us to drown our consciousness in alcohol too and that’s why there is a strong link between anxiety and alcohol or substance abuse. People find relief when drinking alcohol is because it is a very powerful anxiolytic agent. I do enjoy a glass of wine now and then, and what I noticed from my own experience this week was that having a glass of red did take the edge off – temporarily.

Now I fully understand why many people with high levels of anxiety are prone to drinking alcohol. It is because when we are catastrophising and caught in the grip of fearful thoughts, we want to immediately break free, and alcohol usually does the trick quite nicely.  But a simple glass of wine that we think will be a simple fix turns out to be a vicious cycle that we naively think is okay to enter. So how do we stop anxiety or catastrophic thinking without resorting to alcohol? What I found to be useful this week was recognising what’s happening and laying out what I was anxious about in detail. What is it that I’m afraid of? What might happen? Then I deconstruct it into small manageable problems and expose myself to situations that I was afraid of. What I noticed from this exercise is that I don’t necessarily get less afraid but instead I get braver. The two are completely different things. Because if you get less afraid, it’s like realising that the world is not as bad as you’ve once thought. On the contrary, becoming braver means that you acknowledge that the world is just as bad as you thought or even worse. However, it turns out that there is something in you that is strong enough to take on a voluntary challenge and as a consequence, grow and thrive along the way.

Obviously, it is not easy to move forward into the unknown. It takes a lot of convincing and courage. But knowing that you have the courage can be the elixir we’re all after that could help you sleep a little better at night rather than those damn sleeping pills. It certainly did comfort me when I woke up at 3 am several times this week.

The other thing I realise is that sometimes the real catastrophe we fear isn’t necessarily being afraid of what will happen or the fact that we are overwhelmed and not capable to deal with it. But rather fearing that the outcome might not be the one that we set out to achieve. That was bothering me this week as I was too focused on not achieving the ideal outcome that I fixated heavily on. Chances are that many people who don’t achieve their ideal outcome might give up after weighing up the costs and benefits of continuing to pursue the same path. The problem with this is that many of us do not realise that there is a cost and benefit of not doing something as well, and sometimes the cost of not doing something is far worse than the cost of continuing pursuing the same path even if the path seems risky.

The ultimate lesson that I’ve learned from my personal experience so to speak, to help break anxious and catastrophic thoughts is to realise that there are risks no matter what you do even if you choose to do nothing. This can help us break loose from our shackle of anxiety and start taking some risks that we don’t normally do but know we should be taking.

To find your way to diminishing your anxious and catastrophic thoughts,

The post How I deal with fear, anxiety, and catastrophising thinking appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.

As a pharmacist, I’ve come across many people with anxiety disorders. One thing that I’ve learned from people with anxiety, depression, or substance use abuse is that the reasons they get anxious are usually not mysterious at all. I mean, everybody has a reason to be anxious. We all have the ultimate reason to be anxious because we know that we’re vulnerable creatures and we have the intellect to realise that we’re all going to die one day. There is plenty of reasons for us to drown our consciousness in alcohol too and that’s why there is a strong link between anxiety and alcohol or substance abuse. People find relief when drinking alcohol is because it is a very powerful anxiolytic agent. I do enjoy a glass of wine now and then, and what I noticed from my own experience this week was that having a glass of red did take the edge off – temporarily.
Now I fully understand why many people with high levels of anxiety are prone to drinking alcohol. It is because when we are catastrophising and caught in the grip of fearful thoughts, we want to immediately break free, and alcohol usually does the trick quite nicely.  But a simple glass of wine that we think will be a simple fix turns out to be a vicious cycle that we naively think is okay to enter.

So how do we stop anxiety or catastrophic thinking without resorting to alcohol? What I found to be useful this week was recognising what’s happening and laying out what I was anxious about in detail. What is it that I’m afraid of? What might happen? Then I deconstruct it into small manageable problems and expose myself to situations that I was afraid of. What I noticed from this exercise is that I don’t necessarily get less afraid but instead I get braver. The two are completely different things. Because if you get less afraid, it’s like realising that the world is not as bad as you’ve once thought. On the contrary, becoming braver means that you acknowledge that the world is just as bad as you thought or even worse. However, it turns out that there is something in you that is strong enough to take on a voluntary challenge and as a consequence, grow and thrive along the way.
Obviously, it is not easy to move forward into the unknown. It takes a lot of convincing and courage. But knowing that you have the courage can be the elixir we’re all after that could help you sleep a little better at night rather than those damn sleeping pills. It certainly did comfort me when I woke up at 3 am several times this week.
The other thing I realise is that sometimes the real catastrophe we fear isn’t necessarily being afraid of what will happen or the fact that we are overwhelmed and not capable to deal with it. But rather fearing that the outcome might not be the one that we set out to achieve. That was bothering me this week as I was too focused on not achieving the ideal outcome that I fixated heavily on. Chances are that many people who don’t achieve their ideal outcome might give up after weighing up the costs and benefits of continuing to pursue the same path. The problem with this is that many of us do not realise that there is a cost and benefit of not doing something as well, and sometimes the cost of not doing something is far worse than the cost of continuing pursuing the same path even if the path seems risky.
The ultimate lesson that I’ve learned from my personal experience so to speak, to help break anxious and catastrophic thoughts is to realise that there are risks no matter what you do even if you choose to do nothing. This can help us break loose from our shackle of anxiety and start taking some risks that we don’t normally do but know we should be taking.

To find your way to diminishing your anxious and catastrophic thoughts,

The post How I deal with fear, anxiety, and catastrophising thinking appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.

I was talking to a friend over the weekend and it seems that resentment and regrets are quite common at this time of the year for pharmacists. She said to me how much she hates being constantly accused of ripping patients off simply because they charge the $5 government tax. Yes, I understand how she feels, I get a fair share of being called a “con” every now and then. I can tell you that comments like this often ruin the rest of my day at work. It’s a terrible feeling to have such an accusation thrown at you when merely 15 minutes ago, I was treating them just like my own family – making sure that whatever was prescribed for them was of the right dose that doesn’t kill them.  People just don’t know…
She said studying pharmacy and being a pharmacist is the worst decision she ever made and she regrets every minute of it. The worst part was that she felt like she was nothing but a glorified drug dealer.

I understand where she is coming from. Pharmacists like to joke about being “legal drug dealers”. But despite the joke, I am quite certain that there is a part of every pharmacist that feels like nothing more than a glamorised drug dispenser.

Even after practicing as a pharmacist for more than 13 years, I still wake up every day naively think that my day would be filled with verifying prescriptions, assessing the appropriateness of the medicines prescribed, talking to doctors on optimising patient’s health outcomes. In reality, I’m in constant battle with patients when it comes to calling the doctors. Is it important or urgent enough to have to make them wait? Especially for those disgruntled patients just wanting to get their prescription and leave. You know what, instead of picking my battles, I always end up calling the doctor despite how annoyed the patient was towards me. I just simply can’t lower my standards because they’re frustrated and wondering why they need to waste 10 minutes for a pharmacist. I can tell you for sure that I have made many patients angry during my time as a pharmacist.

If you think the misery just ends from the patient’s front, that’s wishful thinking. Because even if I call, the majority of the time I leave a message with the nurse instead. Hence, my mission of optimising a patient’s health is usually dashed away when I can’t even get to talk to the prescriber. I am very fortunate that I get to work alongside very respectful doctors. However, sometimes you get odd ones from other practices who disregard my concern without a second thought – comments like “that’s fine” or “it’s always how we do things here” can often strike and pierce your heart like an arrow.

My friend asked me whether I feel the same regret about being a pharmacist. I have to be perfectly honest; I have good days and bad days. However, overall, I don’t regret it at all. Let me put it this way, I don’t so much regret choosing to become a pharmacist as a career, despite all the ugliness and resentfulness within the industry. What I regret is not doing enough to change people’s perspectives towards us. Not advocating enough that our knowledge and time are not penniless, at least I see it as more than the $5 government tax that you pay.

Every profession has a defining moment that can either make or break someone. If you can ride it out while remaining naïve and optimistic, good for you. But you certainly not a hero. On the other hand, if you can’t tolerate it and quit, you’re not a loser either. There are certain things in life that we desperately want to change and cannot. Sometimes, we actually have zero control. But life isn’t really about having ultimate control of every aspect of it. It’s also not about condemning ourselves for making an irrevocable decision, leading us to a terrible consequence either. And without a doubt, it surely isn’t about living a life without any regrets. Here is the thing – if we have goals and dreams and we always strive to do our best, we should feel pain and resentment when things go wrong. But the point is to not hate ourselves for having those feelings. We have to understand that some of our regrets are not as ugly as we think they are.

The lesson I learned from my bad dream this week is this:

A dream is only a dream. Reality is more malleable than you think. Of course, you can learn to sculpt out the flaws and imperfections to minimise your regrets. But that’s not the point. The point is to have the capacity to forgive ourselves for creating them. Regrets don’t always only remind us of how terribly we did or the things we didn’t do. They also remind us that we can do better and most importantly, there is still time to accomplish that.

To a future of good dreams and an even better reality,

The post Living in a bad dream appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.

I was talking to a friend over the weekend and it seems that resentment and regrets are quite common at this time of the year for pharmacists. She said to me how much she hates being constantly accused of ripping patients off simply because they charge the $5 government tax. Yes, I understand how she feels, I get a fair share of being called a “con” every now and then. I can tell you that comments like this often ruin the rest of my day at work. It’s a terrible feeling to have such an accusation thrown at you when merely 15 minutes ago, I was treating them just like my own family – making sure that whatever was prescribed for them was of the right dose that doesn’t kill them.  People just don’t know…
She said studying pharmacy and being a pharmacist is the worst decision she ever made and she regrets every minute of it. The worst part was that she felt like she was nothing but a glorified drug dealer.

I understand where she is coming from. Pharmacists like to joke about being “legal drug dealers”. But despite the joke, I am quite certain that there is a part of every pharmacist that feels like nothing more than a glamorised drug dispenser.

Even after practicing as a pharmacist for more than 13 years, I still wake up every day naively think that my day would be filled with verifying prescriptions, assessing the appropriateness of the medicines prescribed, talking to doctors on optimising patient’s health outcomes. In reality, I’m in constant battle with patients when it comes to calling the doctors. Is it important or urgent enough to have to make them wait? Especially for those disgruntled patients just wanting to get their prescription and leave. You know what, instead of picking my battles, I always end up calling the doctor despite how annoyed the patient was towards me. I just simply can’t lower my standards because they’re frustrated and wondering why they need to waste 10 minutes for a pharmacist. I can tell you for sure that I have made many patients angry during my time as a pharmacist.

If you think the misery just ends from the patient’s front, that’s wishful thinking. Because even if I call, the majority of the time I leave a message with the nurse instead. Hence, my mission of optimising a patient’s health is usually dashed away when I can’t even get to talk to the prescriber. I am very fortunate that I get to work alongside very respectful doctors. However, sometimes you get odd ones from other practices who disregard my concern without a second thought – comments like “that’s fine” or “it’s always how we do things here” can often strike and pierce your heart like an arrow.

My friend asked me whether I feel the same regret about being a pharmacist. I have to be perfectly honest; I have good days and bad days. However, overall, I don’t regret it at all. Let me put it this way, I don’t so much regret choosing to become a pharmacist as a career, despite all the ugliness and resentfulness within the industry. What I regret is not doing enough to change people’s perspectives towards us. Not advocating enough that our knowledge and time are not penniless, at least I see it as more than the $5 government tax that you pay.

Every profession has a defining moment that can either make or break someone. If you can ride it out while remaining naïve and optimistic, good for you. But you certainly not a hero. On the other hand, if you can’t tolerate it and quit, you’re not a loser either. There are certain things in life that we desperately want to change and cannot. Sometimes, we actually have zero control. But life isn’t really about having ultimate control of every aspect of it. It’s also not about condemning ourselves for making an irrevocable decision, leading us to a terrible consequence either. And without a doubt, it surely isn’t about living a life without any regrets. Here is the thing – if we have goals and dreams and we always strive to do our best, we should feel pain and resentment when things go wrong. But the point is to not hate ourselves for having those feelings. We have to understand that some of our regrets are not as ugly as we think they are.

The lesson I learned from my bad dream this week is this:

A dream is only a dream. Reality is more malleable than you think. Of course, you can learn to sculpt out the flaws and imperfections to minimise your regrets. But that’s not the point. The point is to have the capacity to forgive ourselves for creating them. Regrets don’t always only remind us of how terribly we did or the things we didn’t do. They also remind us that we can do better and most importantly, there is still time to accomplish that.

To a future of good dreams and an even better reality,

The post Living in a bad dream appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.

Last year we had a record number of people getting their flu shot – it’s probably one of the few good things to happen as a direct effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year is more important than ever to get one. People, in general, are more receptive to the flu vaccine and understand the benefit of getting vaccinated. Together with social distancing and personal hygiene, it’s made a tremendous difference in controlling and keeping the flu season in check. I would say, last year was the best year I’ve seen in my career where I only came across a handful of cold and flu cases.

Within the next few weeks, many more of you will be getting vaccinated and the vaccination programme is open to everyone under 65 years of age at the beginning of May. This week I thought I would cover what you need to know before you get your flu shot. Hence, I have compiled a list of questions that might be on your mind already and I’ll answer them so that you’ll have a better understanding of what you have signed up for.

What is in the flu shot?

The 2021 flu vaccine you’ll be receiving contains the following four influenza strains, the first two are new to the 2021 vaccine:

• A/Victoria/2570/2019 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus
• A/Hong Kong/2671/2019 (H3N2)-like virus
• B/Washington/02/2019-like virus
• B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus

How does the flu vaccine work?

The flu vaccine works by introducing your body to parts of different inactive flu viruses. The aim of this is to awaken your immune system to figure out a way to destroy these foreign virus fragments that shouldn’t be in your body. Along the process, your immune system will produce antibodies for it to learn and remember how to destroy the virus if it crosses your path in the future.

Can the flu shot give you the flu?

The answer is no! It is just a myth. The flu vaccine does not contain the actual live strains of the virus but rather the deactivated form of the virus. Meaning that it cannot give you the flu. However, you can experience flu-like symptoms similar to the flu but in a milder intensity – which isn’t entirely a bad thing because it just tells you that your immune system is functioning well.

What can I expect after the flu shot?

Although most people will not experience any side effects from a flu shot. It is not uncommon to feel a little run down after receiving a flu vaccine. Most people may feel pain, swelling, or redness around the injection site. It usually settles within a few days. You could alleviate the pain by placing a cold, wet cloth or an ice pack where the injection was given. Leave it on for a short time. However, do not rub the injection site.
It is also quite common to feel slightly feverish, have headaches or some muscle aches for the first couple of days after receiving the flu vaccine. Make sure you dress lightly, keep the room cool and drink plenty of fluids. Tell your doctor if the fever persists.

Can I still get sick after getting the flu shot?

Yes, it is possible to still get the flu even if you have been vaccinated. This is because:

1. Your immunity might take some time to return to full capacity after the vaccine. This is because it usually takes 2 weeks for your body to develop the necessary antibodies to protect against the influenza virus.
2. You may be exposed to a flu virus shortly before and after getting vaccinated.
3. You may be exposed to a flu virus that is circulating but is not included in the flu vaccine.

Why is a flu shot needed every year?

Yearly flu vaccination I required for two reasons:

1. Protection from the previous vaccination lessens over time – as our antibody levels may decline over time.
2. The circulating strain of flu viruses may vary each year due to the changing virus pattern.

When will the flu, season begin and when will it peak?

Flu season in New Zealand typically occurs between April and October and peaks between July and August.

If you are indecisive about getting a flu shot, please do not hesitate to contact me or my team. I strongly suggest that my patients get vaccinated because it is our best protection against the flu. Also, who wouldn’t want to do their part to stop the spread of influenza around our community right?
You can get vaccinated at your GP practice or you could also get vaccinated at a pharmacy with an accredited pharmacist vaccinator just like myself. Please contact your GP or your local pharmacist if you are planning to get vaccinated.

To getting your flu shot and doing your part to keep the cold and flu season in check,

The post What you need to know before you get your flu vaccine appeared first on Eastmed Pharmacy.