Trident Layers Gum Contains Phenylalanine

After making a trip to Target yesterday, I decided to buy a large pack of Trident Layers strawberry and citrus gum. While at home last night I began chewing the gum. I was immediately obsessed and finished the entire pack in an hour. Today, while cleaning my room, I noticed the empty case of the gum and saw a notice on the pack saying, "PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE." I immediately remembered from organic chemistry that phenylalanine is an essential amino acid. When I began to research the gum today, I read on many blogs that Trident Layers gum also contains aspartame. More research led me learn that aspartame is a sweetener made of two amino acids, one of which being phenylalanine.

Searching for aspartame information on google, I read about some horror stories like how aspartame can cause neurons in the brain to die due to overexcitement. As you can probably guess, it freaked me out and I immediately thought of all the pieces of gum I had previous eaten. Was my brain going to blow up? Was I going to become less intelligent?

With mixed reviews on different sites, I don't really know what to believe. Some people claim that aspartame in foods and drinks is too little to cause tumors in the brain, whereas other people claim to get headaches from drinking one bottle of aspartame containing liquid. I even read some horror stories about people dying from aspartame.

I have decided to finish off the rest of the Trident Layers strawberry and citrus gum that I bought, and NOT purchase it again. That's one less unnecessary chemical that I'll be cutting out of my life, though I must admit, the gum was delicious.

[Source: http://www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/Ajinomoto-brands-aspartame-AminoSweet]

Urine Therapy...Wait, what?!

One of the questions people most commonly ask me is, "Why pharmacy?" And to be completely honest, it was not an answer that was easy for me to share for some period in my life. My passion for pharmacy has rooted from my lifelong struggle with psoriasis. Trying all sorts of treatments, from steroids to creams to light therapy and watching my diet, my psoriasis has never quite disappeared. I have devoted endless hours into researching psoriasis and what causes it and ways to alleviate it, that I could practically write a book on it!

I realized in freshman year at Berkeley that my psoriasis was a blessing in disguise. Now, when people ask about psoriasis I have so much to say and I love explaining the disease and possible cures to people. I want to be a pharmacist not only because I love learning about drugs and diseases, but because I love to counsel others, and because I have this burning aspiration to be apart of research to find the cure to psoriasis sometime in the future. So what does psoriasis have to do with Urine therapy anyway, right?

Urine therapy has been used for thousands of years. It's a type of homeopathy where one uses their natural fluids as medicine to heal them self. By drinking sterile urine, one improves their immune system. Now psoriasis is a disease of the immune system, so studies have shown that drinking one's urine or rubbing urine on the affected skin areas have proven to improve psoriasis. Many people are concerned that urine contains a toxic component called urea, but urine contains less than 3% of urea, so drinking it would not be harmful to the body. I was amazed by the information I found when I researched urine therapy. Here is a treatment that has been around for so long, but I just recently found out about it! And ironically enough, urine is not something you'd be prescribed by a doctor, but au naturel.

So this blog wouldn't really be anything without my personal experience. I was brave enough to try urine therapy myself! I took my morning urine and placed it in a bottle and chilled it. After a couple hours and much thought, I took a sip. It tasted horrible as many can imagine. So since it's safe to say that I won't be drinking by urine anymore, I decided to go on to plan B. I stored my urine in a dark place in my room, contrary to the pleas by my family members to throw it away, and applied it to my affected psoriasis patches after a few days. I began to see some improvements after a few times of doing this. Overall, I don't know if I will be able to upkeep the urine therapy for a prolonged time, but I am glad that I gave it a shot!

So for all you brave souls out there, try your urine once!

[Source: http://www.universal-tao.com/article/urine_therapy.html]

Shadowing A Pharmacist: Part 2

Today was another wonderful day at Central Pharmacy. I had the chance to observe Marjan Yermian doing retail pharmacy. She is so lucky because she gets to not only do compounding, but also retail pharmacy!

I learned how to identify drugs through the NDC (National Drug Code) system. I also learned that all patients picking up drugs must go through consult unless they sign a waiver stating that they don't want to. Consult is just when the pharmacist directs the patient on how to take the drugs. I watched as Dr. Yermian explained to the patient what drugs she needed to take at what time and how much of each. I also watched as Dr. Yermian talked to patients on the phone, patiently answering their questions about different drugs. I watched as Marjan and her team of technicians packed drugs to be shipped to patients. Today, I also learned about different ways pharmacists have cheated the system in order to make money. I was shocked by the stories I heard regarding the measures some pharmacists take to make a little extra money, even if it means harming a person.

At the end of the shadowing, I was so sad to leave! Given the little time I had spent with the people who work at Central Pharmacy, I feel so attached to them because they are all so sweet! I wish that I could start working there tomorrow, but I know I have 6 more years to go! I'm looking forward to my first day of work at a pharmacy in the future. This experience has taught me so much, from the different fields, to different drugs, biology, and communication in pharmacy.

Shadowing A Pharmacist

Today I had the wonderful opportunity of shadowing Dr. Marjan Yermian, a pharmacist who works at Central Pharmacy in Santa Monica. Central Pharmacy is a well known compounding pharmacy that has been featured on shows like Oprah!

I arrived at the pharmacy before 10 a.m. and immediately went through the "employees only" door. I was so excited and couldn't wait to see what I would be doing first. I was introduced to the people who were working there, specifically three clerks, around eight technicians, and two pharmacists. I was greeted so warmly by everyone and felt right at home in the first five minutes. Dr. Yermian also took me on a tour of the pharmacy, which included a compounding lab, the retail area, mailing room, and lunchroom, all of which left me speechless.

After the tour, I went back to the compounding lab, where I got to watch Dr. Yermian doing what I hope to do in the future. Today she happened to be doing compounding, which I learned is a field in pharmacy where the pharmacist creates drugs specifically for each patient. I followed Dr. Yermian as she checked the work of the pharmacy technicians, making sure their calculations were correct so they could continue making drugs. She also showed me different sized capsules where drugs are placed, and how some people take veggie capsules. She directed me to the location where creams are mixed and stored. She even showed me how she labels pill bottles and ointments, and where she inputs data on the computer for the creation of new drugs. I noticed that Dr. Yermian worked on many drugs having to do with hormone replacement therapy.

I was fascinated by the compounding room and by all the work that was completed through the teamwork between Dr. Yermian, the head pharmacist, and the three technicians she was overseeing. Dr. Yermian taught me the importance of triple checking everything, because if a technician makes a mistake that isn't caught, the blame goes on the pharmacist. She also talked about multi tasking, communication, and organization, which I realized are three important skills one needs to have to be a successful pharmacist. Luckily with my superhuman multi tasking abilities and great communication skills, not to mention by borderline OCD when it comes to cleanliness, I will someday make a great pharmacist. I also think that compounding can be compared to baking, except instead of creating delicious goods that may not be so healthy, you are creating medicine that is helping people live better lives!

My experience was truly a priceless one that taught me a lot about the field of compounding. I absolutely loved every moment of being in the pharmacy and can't wait to somebody be apart of this field.


[Image from Central Pharmacy]