In August of 2015 Community Services of Stark County merged with Quest Recovery Services to create CommQuest.  Together they provide a broad range of services to the residents of Stark County to provide a continuum of care for behavioral health issues in our county.  This includes addiction and recovery services. Ohio’s opiate epidemic is a crisis of unparalleled proportions with devastating, often deadly, consequences. Opiates include both heroin and prescription pain reliever medications. Today our guests discuss the epidemic and the CommQuest Addiction and Recovery Symposium on Wednesday, August 2, 2017 in downtown Canton. 

CommQuest's President and CEO Keith Rochadel and Fund & Business Development Coordinator Sara Stone discuss the opiate and heroin epidemic 

For many Americans, summer means fun in the sun.  The kids are out of school, adults are on vacation and it’s time for outdoor activities like swimming, riding bikes and outdoor barbecues.  However, summer is also the time of year consumers are most likely to be injured.  June, July and August are peak months for Emergency Room visits.  If you are wondering how to avoid being a summer statistic and how to keep your children safe and healthy please listen in as Andrew Bolgiano, RN, ENT-P, EMS and Trauma Coordinator at Mercy Medical Center and Brad White R.Ph. discusses tips for a safe, healthy summer.  

The percentage of children with obesity in the United States has more than tripled since the 1970s. Today, about one in five school-aged children, ages 6–19 has obesity. Children with childhood obesity miss more days of school compared to children of normal weight, they may suffer from lower self-esteem and in the long term, childhood obesity is associated with having obesity as an adult which is linked to serious health conditions.

Changes in the environments where children spend their time—like homes, schools, and community settings—can help children achieve and maintain a healthy weight by making it easier to eat nutritious foods, get at least 60 minutes of physical activity daily, watch less television, and eat fewer foods and beverages high in added sugars or solid fats.

Today we will discuss healthy eating for children and how to include healthy eating habits as part of our summer meal planning.  Our guest today has some great information to share, and we are glad you joined us. 

Sereen Zawahri Krasuna
Program Coordinator
Sereen Zawahri Krasuna, MS, RD, LD, is a registered and licensed dietitian as well as our program coordinator. She has worked in clinical and wellness settings. She is bilingual as our Arabic speaking team member. Sereen attended The University of Akron where she earned her bachelor’s degree in dietetics. She completed her master's degree in nutrition from Kent State University where she wrote her thesis on organic food. In addition to helping others achieve their goals, Sereen enjoys traveling with her husband, being involved in her church, and spending time with her family. 

Wound care is essential to healthy living. Most of us have experienced scratches or scrapes that healed naturally, but sometimes there are wounds that just will not heal. Other health issues—diabetes, circulation problems, radiation and many more can complicate the healing process, and turn the simplest wounds into complex, non-healing health issues that can cause big problems. Thanks to science, we know wounds need oxygen to heal properly, and when the body isn’t getting the oxygen it needs, there are other steps that can be taken to impact the healing process. In this segment of Health Matters, Kim Landsberger, hyperbaric wound treatment expert at Mercy Medical Center Hyperbaric & Wound Center discusses treatment options. We hope you enjoy.

Heat-related disease and illness affects people of all ages. From toddlers to teens and seniors, summer temperatures are a major factor in health issues. This week Mark Adams, environmental health director for the City of Canton, is our guest on the Health Matters program. Mark discusses the importance of hydration in people with chronic illnesses as well as mosquito-born diseases and how to safely remove ticks. The Medicine Center Pharmacy focuses on patient health, and whether you’re spending the weekend camping, swimming, fishing or gardening, we want our listeners to stay healthy this summer.

When we think of “kidney stones,” the image of a typical patient is

usually not a child. But surprisingly, kidney stone disease in children and

teens has increased five-fold from the late 1990s to the early 2000s and now

accounts for 1 in 685 hospital admissions for children. Many experts believe

the increase in incidence and prevalence can be attributed to major dietary

and environmental changes in the United States. Research indicates the rise

in pediatric kidney disease is a result of children drinking much less water

and milk than previous generations and consuming more sodium through

processed foods. It's a growing problem, and we are eager to share more

information with our audience.  Today we welcome Dr. Kirsten Kusumi from Akron Children's Hospital.

Know your Pharmacist, Know your Medicine! That catchy phrase

sums up the very important relationship you have with your local

pharmacist. In a recent poll of U.S. individuals 65 years old and older who

use medications, researchers found that 51% take at least five different

prescription drugs regularly, and 25% take between 10 and 19 pills each day.

57% of those polled admit that they forget to take their medications. ….

Medications don’t work in patients who don’t take them! Authors of a

recent study on patient compliance found that a patient’s sense of

connectedness with their pharmacist or pharmacy staff was the survey’s

“single strongest individual predictor of medication compliance.” So, get to

know your pharmacist by name and let us help you know your medicine.

Today and everyday, we offer you both our expertise and our concern.

Join us live on 1480 WHBC as we discuss Dentistry from the Heart with Dr Farah.

Some people think tooth decay is just for children, but did you know

you are at risk your whole life? Untreated dental disease can lead to serious

health problems such as infection, damage to bone or nerve and tooth loss.

Dental infections that are left untreated can even spread to other parts of the

body and, in very rare cases, can be life threatening. The good news is that

dental disease is preventable. You can practice preventive dentistry on

yourself by adopting healthy habits.

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month. The goal is to raise

awareness about hearing and speech problems, encouraging people to

analyze their own hearing and speech, and to take action if they think there

might be a problem. Treatment can then be given to improve the quality of

life in people with communication problems. 40 million Americans have

communication disorders. Today we will talk about speech therapy.

At least 40 million Americans suffer from chronic, long term

sleep disorders each year, and an additional 20 million experience

occasional sleeping problems. These disorders and the resulting sleep

deprivation interfere with work, driving, and social activities. Today we

will learn talk about risk factors and treatment of insomnia.

Many people struggle with seasonal allergies, brought on by the incoming spring weather. If you are dealing with a runny nose, itchy, watery eyes or constant congestion and a runny nose you know how annoying the symptoms can be.

Harvard's Health Blog gives several ideas for treatment including:

• Oral Antihistamines (Claritin, Allegra XYZAL and others)
• Nasal Steroids (Flonase or Nasacort)
• Decongestants (Sudafed or Afrin)
• Home Remedies (Neti Pots or Supplements)

You can always ask your pharmacist or doctor which treatment you should try - every person has different needs. 

Pharmacist Brad White R.Ph.

Lets not fool ourselves here, none of us have the perfect diet. Vitamins are a nutritional supplementation that you can add to your daily diet. It is difficult to make specific recommendations that fit for all people; you may be a teenager, a man or woman, or dealing with a heart condition or diabetes; each person has special health and nutritional needs. Below are several options that may suit your nutritional needs.

Multivitamin

There are a few basics that everyone can take, simple and cost effective.  Take a simple (or complex) multivitamin every day.  A multivitamin daily dose could be from 1 to 6 tablets depending on the brand you choose.  I would recommend that you take a multivitamin with food and try to spread multiple tablet dosages out over breakfast, lunch and dinner.  By the way, if you will only take one vitamin supplement, this is the one to do because there is documented evidence that even the most basic multivitamin will reduce your risk of getting the common cold by over 20 percent!

Fish Oil

EPA and DHA are the abbreviations for eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid.  These two fatty acids are essential to our health and life.  Just because the word fat is there doesn't mean it is bad for you.  In fact the EPA and DHA in fish oil is responsible for many of the building blocks in tissue repair and growth.   EPA and DHA regulate inflammation and prostaglandin production, improves cardiac risk, lowers bad cholesterol and has hundreds of other documented benefits (look for future posts).  The best way to take fish oil is to consume the oil itself.  Tips on easy ways of doing this include mixing it with your morning protein shake or your salad dressing.  If you can't stand the thought of taking oil itself, capsules or liquigels are manufactured for easy use.  I would recommend that you keep both types in the refrigerator and look for high potency products that are tested for pesticides and heavy metal contamination.   Dosing is usually 1000mg twice a day.

Coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10 is one of the main fuels for the mitochondria in your heart muscle.  Your heart muscle is a busy muscle, and without it operating in top condition there can be problems. I have a 7 out of 10 chance of being right that CoQ10 is right for you.  In the United States 69% of population is over weightand 30% are obese, both conditions are directly related to a deficiency of CoQ10 and as you have seen in other posts, coenzyme q10 is depleted by many classes of prescription mediations, like statin drugs.  CoQ10 can give you an energy boost and improve cholesterol levels.  If you are in perfect cardiac health or have some degree of heart disease you will do well to supplement to overcome deficiencies of coenzyme Q10. Recommended dosing starts at 100mg per day.

Probiotics

Probiotics are the good bacteria that colonize our gastrointestinal tracts and help us with digesting food and maintaining balance to prevent fungal and yeast overgrowth in our digestive system.  Probiotics like acidophilus and bifidobacterium are essential factors in our immune system health.  Supplementing bacteria like these improve gut terrain, and many people can benefit especially if you consume a high carbohydrate diet, carbonated beverages, alcohol ,  and antibiotic therapies.  Probiotics are best taken on an empty stomach with a full glass of non chlorinated water.  Yogurt doesn't cut it, it is not potent enough to provide benefits. Your money is better spent on capsules with 15 billon or more colony forming units taken once or twice a day.

Magnesium

Magnesium is such an overlooked mineral.  Trace minerals are quickly depleted from the soils in the USA and are rarely replaced.  Magnesium is responsible for over 300 metabolic reactions in our body and is essential to good health.  Easily over 50% of the United States population is deficient in magnesium.  Some of the benefits of magnesium in your body are: a muscle relaxant, decrease platelet aggregation, thins blood, blocks calcium uptake, relaxes blood vessels, improves cardiac contractibility, improves glucose handling.  Where can you find magnesium in your diet?  Dark green leafy vegetables.  Your doctor may say that your magnesium levels are fine, but serum blood tests can be normal in presence of magnesium deficiency because serum is stealing form bones much like the blood steals calciumfrom bones resulting in osteoporosis. The best forms of magnesium are magnesium chelate and magnesium gylcinate 200 to 400mg daily.

If you have questions about vitamins, reach out to one of our pharmacists.

This articles's author Brad White, R.Ph

Working as a pharmacist in New Philadelphia for the last 20 years has provided me with an opportunity to meet and learn from thousands of patients. There have been a lot of opportunities to help improve the quality of life of patients, and those experiences have been very rewarding both personally and professionally. There are also those occasions when you are standing across from a person who is so desperate for help, for a solution, for anything that can ease their pain or make them feel better. Those are the challenging times that you wish you had the power and the knowledge to provide a remedy for what ails them.

Just last week I traveled to an educational pharmacy conference that shared developing research on a variety of topics in medicine, and one topic has me really excited! It is called Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN).

What Are Common Health Conditions That LDN Therapy Has Shown Benefits?

• Cancer

• Crohn’s Disease

• Fibromyalgia

• Multiple Sclerosis

• Anti-Inflammatory

• AIDS/HIV

• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

• Posttraumatic Stress

• Psoriasis and Eczema

Over the last several years there has been an explosion in research on LDN to treat a variety of autoimmune diseases. PubMed, a literature repository for the US National Library of Medicine, lists 230 published studies from respected academic organizations like Stanford, Harvard, Penn State, Brown University and the Mayo Clinic. LDN is most commonly used to treat Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Multiple Sclerosis, Psoriasis, and Autoimmune Thyroid Diseases. Additional research is being conducted on over 100 other health conditions.

What is LDN and How Does It Work?

Low-dose Naltrexone (LDN) therapy was developed in 1985 by Dr. Bernard Bihari, a Doctor of Internal Medicine, Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Bihari found that AIDS patients had 20% of the normal endorphin levels of healthy patients. Dr. Bihari’s key discovery was that 1% of the normal dose of naltrexone caused an unusual effect of a 300% increase in endorphin levels!

Endorphins are chemicals that interact with receptors in your brain that reduce the perception of pain. Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, often described as euphoric. This feeling can be accompanied by a positive and energizing outlook on life and a sense of well-being resulting in less pain. Low levels of endorphins are associated with the opposite effect: physical and emotional pain and depressed feelings. Naltrexone has several mechanisms of action that have an effect on opioid receptors that are distributed throughout the brain, spinal cord, nervous system, and digestive tract. LDN appears to enhance immune function and improve the inflammatory reaction.

Why Haven’t I Heard About This Before?

Naltrexone was patented in 1967 approved by the FDA in 1984 for heroin addiction using a 50mg dose and in 1995 the FDA approved it for treatment of alcoholism. Dr. Bihari’s creative application of a medication that is not controlled by a pharmaceutical company has provided a platform for hundreds of independent research projects that may benefit millions of patients worldwide.

The mechanism of action increases endorphin release, and it appears these endorphins can modulate the immune response. More research needs to be done but LDN appears to have promising benefits in a variety of health conditions. On the other hand, higher doses like 50mg doses appear to overwhelm the receptors and negate the immune system effects.

How Is LDN Therapy Initiated?

LDN is a prescription therapy that requires you to work with a physician and your pharmacist. Your doctor will generally begin therapy at a low dose and increase gradually over several weeks until your condition has stabilized and you are side effect free. Doses start generally at 0.5mg and slowly titrate up depending on your health condition and side effect tolerance. Because a pharmaceutical company does not make LDN, prescriptions can only be filled by an accredited and licensed compounding pharmacy.

What Are The Side Effects?

The most common side effects of LDN are sleep disturbances, often due to endorphin response, vivid dreams, or insomnia. Side effects generally resolve in four to seven days. Only 10% of the cases reported side effects for more than a week.

LDN has great potential with clinical research to support multiple immuno-modulated disease states. It is non-toxic and has a low side effect profile. It can be dosed both orally and topically and there is evidence to support use.

LDN doesn’t work for everyone and the slow titration in dose schedule is important, your pharmacist can work with you and your physician to help you achieve the optimal outcome. If you are in a position where you have tried multiple therapies and specialists searching for a solution to your health problems, then LDN may be an option you should learn more about. LDN is a cost effective therapy that promises to evolve in the next decade as more research is done to evaluate the benefits.

How Can I Learn More?

The Medicine Center Pharmacy in New Philadelphia is your resource in Northeast Ohio for LDN information. Brad White R.Ph. is a graduate of Purdue University School of Pharmacy and has experience with customized medication solutions and operates the only PCAB Accredited Compounding Pharmacy in East Central Ohio.

Low Dose Naltrexone FAQ | New Philadelphia Ohio

Compounded Solutions

Medicine Center Compounding Pharmacy in New Philadelphia is PCAB Accredited for preparing Non Sterile Compounded prescriptions. Tuscarawas County, Ohio.