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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. I'm joined by GP Eleanor Galvin, who's here to talk about some of the health problems and issues that can crop up at this time of the year. Hello, Eleanor.
Good morning, Clare, how are you?
Lovely to have you with us. So these are things that we never really think about, I would risk saying. So medicines that don't behave well in the sun and in the heat, firstly.
Yeah, and I think we think about those maybe... when it's a little too late, when the sun comes out, we don't expect it. We've had a fabulous bit of great weather. And I suppose it's to remember that sometimes people might maybe keep their inhaler in their car for asthma and they can explode when cars get hot. Or they may not work as well when you go to use them the next time.
Well that's a big danger I mean exploding obviously not good but if you use something and you continue to take your prescription and it's not effective that's you're in a danger zone there right?
Yeah and there's things that people know to hold in the fridge like insulin but then they might be bringing it with them somewhere else And it's to not leave these things, places where they get warm, to read the labels that come on medication or come in leaflets really well to know how you're to store them properly.
If you're storing something in the fridge, you store it in the middle of the fridge, not in the door of the fridge, because that would be maybe different temperatures. And the heat can break down the active ingredient in it. And if you have a worry about something like that, don't use it.
So if a tablet looks maybe a bit more crumbly than it should and you think, God, maybe I have been leaving that sitting inside in a hot window, a cell, you know, think about it twice or if you have something that looks not quite right, have a think about it.
So if people have to transport something like insulin on a plane or on a long journey, how do you advise them to do that?
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Chapter 2: What health issues can arise from medication in hot weather?
The medication itself is kind of protected with bubble wrap or a cloth. And always, if you're travelling with any medication, you would bring it in your hand luggage and that you would leave it in the boxes or in the packaging it comes in so that your name is on it. So it doesn't look like you're taking medicine for somebody else on a plane. Of course, because you could get in big trouble.
You could get in big trouble. And it's a kind of a wise thing to do to bring a copy of your prescription with you or for some medication specifically. to bring a letter from your GP explaining why you're on it. And that may not be so big for going to places like France or Spain or in Europe.
But if you were going to the United Arab Emirates, Bali, Thailand, Turkey, even, there's a lot of what we would call kind of normal enough stuff that people would be on.
like anti-anxiety medication, sleeping tablets for certain things, ADHD medication and painkillers that are banned in those countries, which in some of those countries you need to get prior permission and you should always check with those sort of countries what you can bring in and what you can't.
I'd say there's an awful lot of people who don't know this.
There is every year. And then it's very hard in retrospect to be sending over the documents over there and then not to be suspicious of it because it's seen as It's a criminal offence. So they make a huge distinction between prescription medication for you prescribed and stuff that you're just carrying in. So leave it in its package. Have an explanation for it.
Declare it when you're going through. into the airport if needed, but be sure that you have your ducks in a row. So it'd be very easy if you were a newly diagnosed ADHD person to chuck your tablets into your bag and off you go to a foreign country and then suddenly find yourself in a little bit of trouble. Painkillers like salpidine, some countries even have problems with those.
So some people might just throw in a pack. That just to be cautious about those sorts of things. So ask your friendly GP for a letter. Are you a pharmacist? Anybody for something that explains or makes it sure that this is clear that this is prescribed for you and not something that you if you were stopped over there, that's not something you bought over there.
Yeah, that's very good advice that I think might be overlooked. Now, it is hay fever season as well, so people will be on their antihistamines. Any advice on that? Because I hear different things every year, like you shouldn't be on the same one for more than a couple of weeks, that your system will get used to it, you should change brand. Is there anything in any of that?
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Chapter 3: How should you store medications during summer travel?
Yeah, it takes some paracetamol. But if your temperature goes, you know, above 39 or something, go down to your doctor or to somebody for a little bit of health and advice.
Duvet day is the prescription. I would think that would be mental health day. But that person has that for three days. So maybe the time is now to go and have it checked out.
Yeah, I think that three days, if you feel really rotten still in three days, you're not on the turn. Go and have it checked out.
Eleanor, thank you very much for all of that advice.