Coughs and sneezes...

We are all coughing and spluttering in my house at the moment. The children get it, then the adults get in, then the children get it again, and on it goes. Only the dog seems to be immune!

It is that time of year. There are more than 200 common cold viruses spread when we cough and sneeze. A normal cold passes through three distinct phases and usually include a sore throat, congestion and a cough.

The nice people at Benylin have come up with a symptom checker on their website which helps you decide which product is best suited to your needs. There is a huge range of cough and cold products available and new ones are added to the market every year. It is hard to keep on top of it and that is what I do for a living!

So although you may know what you want and that you want it now, please remember that the staff in the pharmacy are trying to help you find the most appropriate product for you by taking into account what other medication you may be on or what conditions you may have.

Did you know, for example, that  most oral decongestants may affect your blood pressure or that some cough medicines will not be suitable for diabetics or people with asthma. So when my staff ask you some questions, they are not prying or trying to hold you up. It is their training to ask the following questions every time:

• What are the symptoms?
• Who is it for?
• How long have they had them?
• Action already taken?
• Medicines being taken for other problems?

So, if you have a cough a cold or even flu, the staff at Barnton Pharmacy will help you find the right product for you and your family and keep you well this winter. Don't forget we can also help you avoid flu, with a flu jab and discuss other products such as echinacea to help boost your immune system at this time of year.

Joint Pain and Pernaton

As you probably know by now, I am pretty good at telling you about things after they have happened! So true to form, last Friday was World Arthritis Day.

This year's campaign asked people to Wave for Arthritis and take a picture to upload to the site. As of today, more than 58000 people from 84 countries have taken part. Impressive numbers, I'm sure you'll agree, but the campaign is about more than just one day and all year round the organisation aims to help and support people with  rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMD) by:

• raising awareness of RMDs amongst the medical community, people with RMDs and the general public
• influencing public policy by making decision-makers aware of the burden of RMDs and the steps which can be taken to ease it
• ensuring all people with RMDs and their caregivers are aware of the vast support network available to them.

One of the main features of these conditions is pain and so these patients are very well known in the pharmacy because we dispense their pain medication. In fact about 80% of the 10 million arthritis sufferers in the UK will take pain medication every day.

Lots of people are also looking for alternatives to painkillers and we are having lots of good reports about Pernaton Gel.

Pernaton Gel is a natural product which contains green lipped mussel extract - which contains a naturally occurring glucosamine as well as menthol and pine need oils. One of its main advantages over other gels we sell is that it is safe to use in addition to other painkillers.

The company claims that 91% of a panel of testers they tried the gel on found that it eased the discomfort in their joints.

We thought we'd use our own testing panel in the pharmacy, so Willie has been using the gel for a couple of months on his stiff and aching fingers and he has certainly become its biggest fan!

"It goes on really well and feels nice and cool" says Willie. "If I don't use the Gel for a couple of days now, I certainly notice the difference. I'm not a big fan of painkillers, so Pernaton is great for me."

If you have sore or aching joints, why not come into Barnton Pharmacy to ask Willie for a sample of Pernaton Gel.