What You Need To Know:

• Between 1991-2010, every year on average, almost 1900 people returned to the UK with malaria.
• In 2010 over 70% of malaria cases in UK travellers were caused by the potentially fatal Plasmodium falciparum.
• Essential travel health advice can be accessed right up to the time of travel – it is never too late to seek advice.
• When planning your trip, make an appointment with your GP surgery, travel clinic or pharmacy six to eight weeks before travelling.
• Malaria is avoidable, but it can be fatal if left untreated. It only takes one bit from an infected mosquito to contract malaria.
• There are a number of antimalarials available, including Malarone, Paludrine and Avloclor. Speak to a GP or pharmacist about what is best for you.
• You may not know immediately that you have contracted malaria as the symptoms can take weeks or months to appear.
• Symptoms of malaria are similar to flu symptoms and include: a high temperature of 38°C (100.4°F) or above, sweats and chills, generally feeling unwell, muscle pains, headaches, cough and diarrhoea.

Tips For Travelling in a Malaria Hotspot

Before you travel:

• Make an appointment with your GP, travel clinic or pharmacy to discuss malaria protection for your trip. You should really aim to do this 6-8 weeks before you plan on travelling/
• Make sure you itinerary is clear because you may only need antimalarials for part of your trip.
• Different antimalarials are recommended for different parts of the world due to drug resistance. Your GP or pharmacist can advise you on which is the most suitable for your trip and also for you individually.

During your trip:

• Purchase and use any medication that has been recommended for your trip. Also purchase mosquito nets and insect repellents. You should use insect repellents with 10-50% DEET applied to the skin over your sunblock. You can also spray it on your clothes to offer extra protection.
• Cover up your arms and legs and limit the amount of time that you spend outside at times when mosquitoes are most active, like between dusk and dawn. Sleeping under a mosquito net impregnated with permethrin can help provide you with protection.

After your trip:

• Make sure that you complete your course of antimalarials to receive full protection. Keep taking them once you return for the full length of time that they were prescribed for.
• Initial symptoms of malaria can be mild and difficult to recognise. It is often mistaken for flu. If you start to develop any flu-like symptoms after you return home then seek medical advice immediately and inform them that you have recently returned from a malaria-risk zone.

Pharmacy First have recently launched our Online NHS Prescription Service. We have been working on this and perfecting it to make ordering your prescription from Pharmacy First as straight forward as possible.

Our unique system allows you to order your prescription in the fewest clicks possible with easy instructions and no confusing jargon!

Best of all, all NHS prescription orders qualify for free delivery!

To order your NHS prescription all you need to do is follow the 3 steps below.

Once you have received your prescription from your GP, all you have to do is let us know whether you pay for your prescription or if you have an exemption. If you pay just tell us how many different items are on the prescription. If you don’t pay just tell us the reason for your exemption. It’s as easy as that!

Then just send us your prescription in the post and we will send out your medication straight to any address that you would like.

What is Benadryl Allergy Relief?

Benadryl Allergy Relief is a medicine which is used to relieve the symptoms of hay fever and other allergic conditions such as pet or dust allergies. The capsules contain acrivastine which is an antihistamine that helps relieve allergy symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes.

It can also be used to treat the symptoms of urticaria, also known as hives, where the skin looks blotchy with white raised wheals (bumps) surrounded by redness.

Benadryl Allergy Relief capsules are available in 12 Capsule packs and 24 capsule packs.

Who can use Benadryl Allergy Relief?

This medicine is for use in adults under 65 years old and children aged 12 years and over.

This medicine is suitable for most adults under 65 years old and children aged 12 years and over but a few people should not use it. If you are in any doubt, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.

Benadryl Allergy Relief can have side-effects, like all medicines, although these are rare and are usually mild.

What is in Benadryl Allergy Relief?

The active ingredient in Benadryl Allergy Relief is 8mg Acrivastine in each capsule. Other ingredients include Lactose, sodium starch glycollate, magnesium stearate, gelatin, colouring (El 71) and purified water.

Does Benadryl Work?

Benadryl has a long history of being a trusted hayfever and allergy medicine with a proven track record. Acrivastine is not currently available as a generic capsule over-the-counter which means that it must be purchased as the branded product, Benadryl.

Obesimed is a brand new diet pill bringing a revolutionary new approach to slimming. Obesimed contains Olmtec 19, a highly purified soluble fibre that is able to absorb 50 times its weight in water. This helps to make you feel naturally full, allowing you to reduce your portion sizes gradually without feeling hungry all the time. Obesimed helps you to get your body used to smaller portions making it easier to keep the weight off long term by changing your eating patterns.

Feeling fuller for longer also reduces your snacking, helping you to stick to your diet plans. Obesimed decreases the absorption rate of food keeping it in your stomach for longer. This makes prolongs the satisfaction you get from your meals.

Obesimed has also been shown in studies to reduce cholesterol by encouraging the production of bile acids and it has also been shown to reduce blood glucose levels.

For anyone looking to lose weight from a few stones to a few pounds, Obesimed is the perfect accompaniment to a calorie controlled diet.

According to a 2010 study at the University of Newcastle, 50% of the adult British population are deficient in Vitamin D and 16% of us suffer from a severe deficiency in the winter months. The research identified that the problem was far more prevalent in the North of the UK especially amongst people of Asian and African descent due to the darker pigmentation of the skin reducing absorption of sunlight.

The other contributing factors include staying indoors all the working day, consistent use of sunscreen rather than allowing 20-30mins of allowed exposure and children playing computer games indoors instead of playing outside.

The over use of sunscreen is becoming a real problem with more fair skinned individuals, who need to protect [...] Continue Reading…

What are Do-Do ChestEze Tablets and what are they for?
Do-Do ChestEze Tablets are used to relieve bronchial coughs, congestion and wheezing, to ease breathing, and also to clear the chest of mucus (chesty catarrh) in colds and similar illnesses.
Before taking Do-Do ChestEze
Do not take Do-Do ChestEze Tablets if you have:

an allergy (hypersensitivity) to any of the ingredients of Do-Do ChestEze Tablets
enlargement of the prostate gland,
an overactive thyroid,
high blood pressure,
heart disease.

Also, do not take Do-Do ChestEze Tablets if you are:

taking or have recently taken, anti-depressants called MAO inhibitors.
pregnant or could be pregnant.

Do not give Do-Do ChestEze Tablets to children between the ages of 2 and 12 years of age unless told to by your doctor. Do not give to [...] Continue Reading…

Winter is almost upon us and as usual the cooler weather signals the start of the cold and flu season. Both the common cold and th flu are viral infections and cannot be treated with antibiotics. The symptoms for both can usually be managed by a fit and healthy indivdual with a combination of rest and non-alcoholic fluid intake. Thankfully there is also a wide range of products available to buy to treat the symptoms of both colds and the flu to make your cold and flu season a little more bearable.

Standard Paracetamol 500mg tablets and Ibuprofen 400mg tablets both offer effective pain relief and the Paracetamol also helps to lower high temperatures.
For congestion there are a wide [...] Continue Reading…

People of all ages can suffer for excessive ear wax but it is more common among older age groups. Up to two million people a year seek expert advice on treatment and figures show that 67% of sufferers are aged 45 or over, of whom half are 65 or over.

Research by Dendron, the maker of Otex Ear Drops, has shown that first time sufferers tend to contact their GP, sometimes with associated ear infections, but that on subsequent occasions sufferers usually self treat wil over the counter products.

Otex Ear Drops are clinically proven to reduce the need for syringing, contains urea hydrogen which slowly reacts with moisture in the ear wax, softening it and causing it to break up [...] Continue Reading…

Olbas has a range of decongestant products to help soothe and relieve stuffy, blocked and sniffly noses caused by colds, flu and hay fever. The soothing natural oils in Olbas Oil can also help soothe and relax muscles.

A spokesperson for Olbas said “Olbas Oil is the number one decongestant oil in the UK and it is a trusted, natural familt brand with over 30 years’ heritage. The Olbas portfolio is incredibly versatile – it provides something for everyone, whether that be a product for use ‘on the go’ (inhaler), something for use at home (Oil), something specifically designed for children (Olbas for Children) or something to help keeping breathing easy through the night. This certainly contributes to its on [...] Continue Reading…

Earlier this year, Meda Pharmaceuticals launched a head lice treatment, Linicin Lotion 15 min (dimethicone), for the elimination of head lice and nits. It is clinically proven as safe for use on children from the age of six months, and during pregnancy and breastfeeding. It is also non-toxic and has no known allergens. Linicin works mechanically via its fast-acting ingredient, dimethicone, which blocks the lice’s uptake of oxygen, causing the louse to suffocate and die. It has also been proven in an in-vitro study that it impedes the development of nits – those that were exposed to Linicin did not hatch. Each bottle has an easy-applicator tip and contains 100ml of solution, enough for two applications, and comes with [...] Continue Reading…