Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Cold & Flu Season is almost here - Prevent it Now! - APRIL 2015

What is a Cold?
The common cold is caused by  a viral infection and commonly effects the nose, throat and respiratory system. There are dozens of different cold viruses, once the body is exposed to one, generally, in a healthy person, that virus would not case an infection a second time around. However, because there are so many different types of viruses that cause the common cold or flu this is why we may be subject to acquiring a cold once or twice each year.

How can I prevent a Cold?
The common cold is generally passed on from person to person via droplet infection. This means that person that has a cold may cough or sneeze and droplets from this may come into contact with another person’s nose or respiratory system and this is how the virus is spread.

Practical ways to prevent contracting and passing on a cold include:

  • Wash our hands regularly with soap and water and/or use hand sanitiser gel
  • Minimise contact with people that may have cold or flu symptoms
  • Keeping your mouth and nose covered when coughing or sneezing to help prevent the virus being passed onto others
Help boost your immune system to reduce the severity and duration of cold & flu symptoms by doing the following:
  • Get plenty of rest. The body and immune system can function better on a good night’s sleep which usually consists of 8 hours each day
  • Diet - eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Keep well hydrated by drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day
Important supplements to support your immune system during the winter months include;
  • Zinc - an integral mineral in the functioning of the immune system efficiently and effectively
  • Echinacea - herbal supplement shown to help enhance white blood cell activity in the body, it may assist in reducing the severity and duration of cold and flu symptoms
  • Vitamin C - an oldie but a goodie. Vitamin C is a potent anti-oxidant along with enhancing immune response.
  • Vitamin A - helps to support a health surface barrier for the respiratory and digestive tracts
  • Olive Leaf Extract - another potent anti-oxidant with antiviral properties.
Should I see the Doctor?
If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms you should consider seeing your GP as soon as possible:
  • Breathlessness or chest pain
  • An increase in asthma like symptoms
  • Ear-ache or facial ache
  • Rusty coloured or blood-stained mucous from the nose or chest
  • High fever (fever 38 degrees Celsius or above)
  • Cough which persists for greater than 1 week
Did you know?
Should you be unwell and unable to attend work, Calanna Pharmacy can provide you with a Medical Certificate for Personal Leave for up to two (2) consecutive days!

No need to book an appointment - pop in or call - quick easy and only $20.00


Written by Matthew Calanna - Pharmacist - Calanna Pharmacy Group

"Change appears to equal "Better" - APRIL 2015

Over 100 years ago, GK Chesterton wrote:

Now this is the attitude which I attack. It is the view that because we have got into a mess we must grow messier to suit it; that because we have taken a wrong turn some time ago we must go forward and not backwards; that because we have lost our way, we must lose out map also and because we have missed our ideal we must forget it

We are bombarded today with problems, fears, information and research that continue to increase our financial, emotional and physical security problems.
Experts and supposed leaders encourage us to believe that the total answer lies in creating more rules and charging more taxes to ‘make individuals’ conform and behave as the exports believe is right.

Over the last 30 years society more has acquired more diseases, more emotional and more financial insecurity than ever before. Despite the enormous innovation in communication, health, inventions and other technology - we continuously are bombarded with “change.”  We must ‘change’. 
Change’ is inevitable. You must find new ideas to stay ahead. We need more time saving devices so we can have a better life balance.

Change appears to equal Better

Despite all this Change- there is more fear, more worry, more scarcity, less hope, less ambition, less belief that we can choose how we think and act.

We change Governments, employers, businesses - to find something better. Instead of working on ourselves and planning a better life and making the changesthat suit us, our family, our health and our finances.

Over the past 30 years Governments of all types have worked on the same ideas and dabbled in asset sale, higher, taxes, amalgamations, interest rates, borrowing to achieve a surplus and to increase jobs. 
Sadly, we are still in debt - our welfare increases - as does our poverty.

Perhaps the changewe need is to look back on better times. See why they were better and adjust our mindset and policies so that we can apply them to today.

We must have taken some wrong turns to get to where we are. And we will never achieve the harmony, justice and security we are entitled to unless we re-access our present dilemma with an eye on how this has occurred.

Perhaps it is time that as individuals, we read and take note of what Chesteron wrote 100 years ago. Perhaps it is time to rethink our values, behaviour and priorities and make the turns that will lead us back to the ideals and with wisdom that worked so well 30-50 years ago.


Take care, Mario

Written by: Mario Calanna
CEO Calanna Pharmacy Group