How to Know When You’re Too Sick to Work

how to know if too sick to work

If you’re like many Canadians, you or someone you know felt icky, yucky, or downright gross over the holidays. An early start to cold and flu season caught us off guard, allowing illness to spread at parties and festive gatherings.

On a positive note, the holidays are ideal for getting needed rest. But, if you become sick during the traditional danger zone from January to March, deciding what to do can be much more difficult.

So, should you tough it out at work or stay home?

The answer depends on many personal variables, of course. But here are a few things to keep in mind that might help you decide (don’t forget: a lot of sick days can be avoided if you simply get the annual flu shot).

When To Go In:

If you have a mild sniffle or slight cough, it’s usually okay to head to work. Just be sure to let your coworkers know you aren’t feeling 100%. That way, they won’t be surprised if you refuse a handshake, avoid a social function, or choose to eat alone.

While at work, wash your hands often, disinfect them regularly, and use disinfectant wipes several times per day to clean your workstation. You don’t want to risk being known as ‘patient zero’ at the office this year. And be sure you have some tissues on hand, too. Ah-choo!

When To Stay Home:

If you feel worse than somewhat under the weather, it’s a good idea to stay home for at least a day if you can. This includes if you’ve suffered from moderate symptoms persisting for more than a few days. There are also a few red flag symptoms to watch out for.

If you have any of these symptoms, you’re better off staying home if you can:

1. Fever: Running a fever of over 37.5°C (100°F) is the number one sign you should stay home from work. It’s likely you have the flu and the next 36-48 hours will be pretty tough. You can get ahead of the game by jumping into bed straight away. But see a doctor if your fever rises over 39.5°C (103°F), persists for over 24 hours, or is accompanied by severe sweating or chills.

You should also remain home from work at least one extra full day after your fever breaks. Feeling rejuvenated? This can be a great opportunity to work from home.

2. Sore Throat: Ahead of other traditional cold symptoms, a sore throat is a red flag that you should consider staying home. To start, if your job involves speaking (and most do), this will be uncomfortable and could prolong your symptoms. More importantly, a sore throat is a potential symptom of laryngitis, mononucleosis, strep throat, or tonsillitis.

Take the day off to monitor and treat your symptoms. If your throat feels no better by the afternoon, and soothing teas or cough drops don’t seem to help, consider heading to a nearby clinic.

3. Coloured Mucus: To be completely clear (no pun intended), if you’re coughing up considerable amounts of phlegm, no matter the colour, you should consider staying at home if you can. In addition to several other very good reasons, nobody wants to hear all that ruckus at work.

That said, keep a close eye on the colour. If your mucus is distinctly green or yellow, it could be a sign of infection. At the very least, it shows your body is fighting off something nasty.

Final Thoughts…

The old tale that you aren’t contagious when your symptoms are at their worst is pure malarkey. But the surprise for some is that you’re actually contagious with either cold or flu for up to a week after symptoms disappear.
If your child is sick, especially if they show a red flag symptom, consider keeping them home from school. If they’re very young and you can’t find someone to be home with them, consider taking the day off work, if possible. Their teachers, classmates, and your fellow parents will thank you.

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Want more advice on when to go to work and when to stay home?

Check out this LD Expert video of Pharmacist Gianni Del Negro on Global News with Sonia Sunger.

Here are a few of the helpful cold and flu-related health products discussed in the video, available at London Drugs in-store and online:

Note: Please consult your pharmacist before taking any cold or flu treatments.

Antiviral Mask: If you’ve never tried one of these before, you might feel slightly self-conscious wearing what appears like a surgeon’s scrubs from the neck up. But you’ll be glad if it helps you avoid catching or spreading a cold this year. These masks are especially great to wear in large crowds or shared public spaces, such as transit, stores, or airports.

LD Expert says: “If you are concerned about getting sick or you want to prevent someone else from getting sick, you can put a mask on to prevent those droplets from going into the air.”

Saline Nasal Rinse: Again, some might feel unsure about using one of these products for the first time. “The water goes where!?,” they ‘ll say. But many of those who have tried a neti pot for themselves absolutely swear by the results. It involves rinsing out your nasal cavity with what is essentially warm, salty water and it can make all the difference when you’re stuffed up.

LD Expert Says: “If you’re really congested, it’s hard to breathe and you’re not going to get a good night’s sleep. Using a saline product like a neti pot helps relieve some of that congestion and makes it easier for you to breathe and function.”

Cough, Cold, and Flu Relief: There are a wide variety of off-the-shelf treatments for cold and flu symptoms. They feature numerous active ingredients and can be taken in many different ways, including everything from pills to fruit chews. But know that none offer a true cure or a proper substitute for needed bed rest. Still, they can make you feel a bit better in the meantime.

LD Expert Says: “The old stand-bys in terms of helping with cough, nasal congestion, those sorts of symptoms. Keep in mind it’s really important that you do talk to your pharmacist about these products before you use them.”

Five Services You May Not Know Your Pharmacist Provides

Recognizing the increasing role pharmacists play in the Canadian health care system on National Pharmacist Day, January 12, 2017

January 12^th marks National Pharmacist Day. For many years, Pharmacists have been taking on expanded roles in the Canadian health care system, working more closely than ever before with patients, their families and collaborating with other frontline health care providers to deliver team-based patient care.

While most Canadians are familiar with visiting their local pharmacist to pick up prescriptions, many people are still unaware that they also provide convenient access to a range of health care services.

Five Services You May Not Know Your Pharmacist Provides

1. Vaccinations and Immunizations

London Drugs’ Certified Injection Pharmacists are able to administer vaccinations right at the pharmacy.

Travel and Immunization Clinics are hosted at many London Drugs pharmacies to help prepare patients for international travel. Pharmacists review a patient’s immunization history and make sure vaccinations are up-to-date according to provincial, national and even international immunization programs. They can suggest and administer additional vaccines depending on planned travel activities, previous immunization history and the local conditions at many common destinations. For example, International Health Regulations require Yellow Fever vaccination for travel to countries in sub-Saharan Africa. South America and Saudi Arabia requires proof of meningococcal vaccination travel during certain dates.

London Drugs’ Certified Injection Pharmacists are also able to administer influenza vaccinations, as well as the Zostavax vaccine for Shingles.

2. Emergency Prescription Refills, Prescription Renewals & Drug Modifications

Traditionally in Canada, the authority to prescribe medications has rested with doctors but as part of Pharmacists’ expanded scope of practice in Canada, Pharmacists in many provinces now have the ability to provide emergency prescription refills, renew or extend prescriptions, modify or adapt drug therapy, change drug dosage and even have independent prescriptive authority (in Alberta).

As the most accessible health care professionals in Canada, Pharmacists make significant contributions to the quality of drug therapy and patient outcomes by initiating, monitoring and adjusting drug therapy. For example, Anticoagulation Clinics are offered at some London Drugs pharmacies for patients taking the drug warfarin. Pharmacists can administer international normalized ratio (INR) tests which provide valuable insight about the effectiveness of the medication. Based on the immediate test results, pharmacists can adjust medication dosages right away resulting in improved patient care.

Pharmacists’ Expanded Scope of Practice in Canada (pdf)

3. Medication Adherence Support Programs

Beyond preparing and dispensing medications, London Drugs pharmacists play a critical role in helping to improve medication adherence through a number of programs and services.

Through Medication reviews pharmacists provide personalized consultations to patients to examine and discuss issues around medication use, side effects, interactions, and anything else related to medication therapy, with the goal of ensuring safe and effective treatments.

London Drugs Certified Diabetes Educators assist patients through individualized Diabetes Management Clinics. These customized one-on-one consultations focus on blood sugar testing, medication management, preventing low blood sugar, foot care, eating well and getting enough physical activity.

4. Convenient Access to Preventative Care and Wellness Coaching

Health is often a part of many Canadians’ New Year’s resolutions, and London Drugs pharmacists are equipped to offer guidance. Patients can meet one-on-one with a pharmacist for any of the following screening clinics and preventative health services:

5. Health Monitoring Services

London Drugs pharmacists help equip patients with physician-prescribed portable monitors like the Holter Monitor, which is a wearable EKG (electrocardiogram) device that continuously records a person’s heart rhythms, and Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor which measures blood pressure over a 24-hour period, giving healthcare providers the most clear and thorough picture of the body’s response to working, exercising, eating, and sleeping. Both monitors help physicians diagnosis critical health issues.

Are you a pessimist or an optimist?

I’m a person who is always trying to find the bright side of things so most days, I try to think of something that can “up” my mood, such as the thought that there are now four years left until the next American election turmoil.

In other words, I would describe myself as an optimist and that’s a good thing because optimism has been linked in several studies to better health outcomes.

But what about the flip side?

What if you’re a pessimist, someone who feels the glass is never full enough?

Does that harm your health?

Well, according to an 11-year-long Finnish study of nearly 3,000 people, people who were judged to be pessimists based on psychological testing at the start of the study had a 2-3 times higher risk of dying from heart disease over the course of the study than did the rest of the study participants.

On the other hand, though, and frustratingly for me, optimists did not have a lower risk of dying during the study although I am optimistic that this latter finding is actually a mistake and to that end, another recent study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology did find that those study participants judged to be optimists when the study was launched did in fact live longer than those not as hopeful (the only caveat is that this was a study on only women, but hey, I’m very optimistic that the same thing holds true for men, too.

Anyway, the big question is can you change your personality and pass from the darker side to the lighter side?

This is very hard to answer from currently published studies – and if you’re a pessimist, I suppose you will say it can’t be done – but I believe you can work on your temperament and if not totally eliminate pessimistic feelings, at least temper them.

For some of us, it takes work for sure, but I am very hopeful that it can be done.

Happy holidays.

The Dreaded Winter Cold: Understanding the Difference between a Cold and the Flu

It’s cold and flu season once again and odds are that you will come down with at least one such infection this year, and if you’re unlucky or a parent – kids bring these viruses home very regularly – you might even get sick two or three times.

You can, of course, easily lower your risk of getting the flu by getting the flu shot. Although it’s still early days, it appears that the current vaccine is a decent match against this year’s flu strain.

Unhappily, though, there are still no vaccines against the many different viral strains that cause colds. An experimental “cold vaccine” developed in the US seems to be working well at preventing colds in macaque monkeys, and although it’s a huge step from other primates to humans, this is still hopeful for the future.

Keep in mind that frequent hand-washing also seems to lower the chances of coming down with colds, the flu, and some gastrointestinal viruses too, so wash your hands often.

But if you do get sick, how can you tell the difference between a cold and the flu and does it even matter to know whether you are sick with one or the other?

The second part is easy to answer: a cold doesn’t do much damage but “the flu” can kill, especially the most vulnerable such as the very young, the very old, those with immune system problems, and others.

So yes, it does matter to know the difference if only to be much more aware of trying not to pass on the flu should you get it.

However telling the difference between the two isn’t easy.

In very general terms, although both viral infections produce somewhat similar symptoms such as a sore throat and cough, colds are milder infections that may drive you crazy because of your blocked nose or sneezing but unlike the flu, colds don’t usually lead to high fevers or more generalized symptoms such as aches and pains.

As I said, though, this is a broad generalization and there is a large symptom crossover between colds and flus.

Final question: how should these viral infections be treated?

Lots of fluids (as a Jewish man, I swear in the benefits of frequent large bowls of delicious home-made chicken soup), rest (I also believe that people who are sick with what they believe to be the flu should stay home until they feel better; and if they can’t stay home, they should at least wash their hands as often as they can) and judicious use of medications for symptoms, although if you do decide to use drugs for symptoms, please do yourself a favour and consult your pharmacist about possible side effects from these drugs and especially how these drugs may interact with other drugs you may be taking.

If you’re sick of being sick then London Drugs has everything you need to take care of your health. Click here to shop our collection of cough, cold and flu relief, or learn more about getting the flu shot at London Drugs here.

Get Your Flu Shot From a London Drugs Pharmacist

For reasons that are too strange for me to understand, the flu vaccine is surrounded by more myths than Donald Trump has come up for why Hilary Clinton is more popular than him.

So if you’re hesitant to get a flu vaccine this year because you’re someone who has bought into one of those myths, especially the myth that the flu vaccine can give you the flu – it simply cannot. Period – let me try to change your mind by offering you a couple of simple but I think compelling reasons to get a flu vaccine this year.

First, getting vaccinated against the flu lowers your risk of getting a nasty bout of that very common winter-time infection, an illness that not only lasts for 7-14 days but which also produces pretty unwelcome symptoms.

How effective is the flu vaccine?

Well, the effectiveness varies year-to-year depending on how accurately the experts were when they decided which strains of flu virus to include in that year’s vaccine.

Sometimes they miss badly, of course, but last year, they did quite well so that last year’s flu vaccine was about 60% effective at preventing the flu, and hey, 60% effectiveness is nothing to sneeze at, I think you’d all agree.

But just as important as its overall preventive ability is that the flu vaccine is also quite effective at reducing the potential complications that can accompany the flu, such as pneumonia, which can, of course, be a life-threatening infection.

But for me, the overall main reason to get you all to get a flu shot every year is that widespread use of flu vaccination reduces the number of people who get sick with the flu, which in turn also reduces – obviously – the number of people who can pass the flu on, especially to people who are very vulnerable to flu complications, such as seniors – me! – and infants – my new grandson, who is still too young to get a flu shot.

So hey, do everyone around you a favour and get yourself a flu shot this year.

All the little ones and the old ones you come in contact with will be grateful to you for your effort.

To learn more about getting the flu shot at London Drugs or about booking an appointment, visit: http://www.londondrugs.com/flu.

How’s Your Bone Capital?

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Your bones are like your bank accounts: the more you put into them when you’re still young, the more “bone capital” you have to draw on when you get older and you need harder bones.

And the reason you need to make your bones as hard as you can while you’re still young – this is done through eating well and doing weight-bearing exercise such as jumping and skipping and running, activities that come naturally to kids who are allowed to just play. Something that is becoming rarer and rarer, alas, in this new overly-scheduled, wired and connected era – is that bones start to get steadily weaker (we often refer to this as softening) from the age of about 25 on.

And if the bones weaken enough, you end up with osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis should never be ignored because bone fractures – no matter where they occur – can leave you with a pile of huge problems including lifelong pain (such as in fractures of the spine, for example), loss of function of parts of limbs (in wrist fractures, for example), loss of independence (such as through fractures of the hip) and even premature death.

In fact, one study found that any fracture in a person over the age of 50 doubles the risk of premature death, although no one is sure about why there is that link.

One other very important thing of note about osteoporosis: it is often referred to as a women’s disease but in fact, men get it, too, although not quite as frequently.

The bottom line is that you need to do something – actually a few things – about osteoporosis if you don’t want to suffer some if its potentially debilitating effects.

This starts with prevention, of course: weight-bearing exercise throughout life, healthy diet, not smoking, knowing which medications can raise your risk, and so on.

And if you already have osteoporosis, it’s very important to inform yourself about a few issues: the extent of the condition, what you can do on your own to slow down its progress, what you must do to prevent falling, which is of course, the major reason that bones break, and most important, the pros and cons of the medications you might be asked to consider taking.

Take a proactive approach to protecting your long-term bone health by attending a London Drugs Osteoporosis Screening Clinic*. During the 45-minute, one-on-one consultation, your Patient Care Pharmacist will provide you with a one-on-one screening to measure your bone strength with an ultrasound bone measuring device and assess your risk for falls and fractures. You will be provided with an assessment, tips on how to minimize your risks and a personalized action plan to fit your wellness goals.

Book your appointment online at London Drugs’ NEW pharmacy website.

*A small fee applies for this service, for which a tax deductible receipt will be issued.

World Pharmacists Day – September 25, 2016

pharmacists

World Pharmacists Day is designed to raise awareness about the role of pharmacists in providing care to the public. This year’s theme is “Pharmacists: Caring for you”. The theme reflects the increasing role pharmacists play in the provision of health care services and the tangible benefits they bring as health care providers. Pharmacists are the most accessible health care providers for Canadians, yet many are still unaware of the range of health services they are able to provide.

For many years, pharmacists have been taking on expanded roles in the Canadian health care system. Today’s pharmacist is highly respected as the medication management expert of the health care team. They collaborate with patients, their families and other health care providers to deliver a range of innovative services, including medication reviews, chronic disease management, immunization services and wellness programs.

London Drugs Pharmacists: Caring for you

World Pharmacist Day is an opportunity to remind Canadians about the health care services easily accessible through their pharmacists. At London Drugs, these services include:

Medication reviews to ensure drug therapy is appropriate and effective. Pharmacists are trained and knowledgeable about medication issues.
Administration of vaccines by Certified Injection Pharmacists, including the Zostavax vaccine for Shingles.
Individualized diabetes management programs withour Certified Diabetes Educators.
Chronic illness management.
Ability to prescribe for minor ailments/conditions (in select provinces).
Renew and/or extend prescriptions (some medication restrictions apply)
Assisting patients find solutions to everyday health issues around allergy, cough & cold, pain management, stomach health and eye care.
A variety of Health Clinics offered at select times throughout the year, including:

London Drugs pharmacists are committed to being an important part of our customers’ health care team. To learn more, speak with a pharmacist at any location or visit our NEW pharmacy website.

How to Know When You’re Too Sick to Work

So, should you tough it out at work or stay home?

When To Go In:

When To Stay Home:

Final Thoughts…

Want more advice on when to go to work and when to stay home?

Five Services You May Not Know Your Pharmacist Provides