Your Christmas hamper of drugs

On the Friday evening of Christmas Day, 2009, when I had just finished cooking Christmas dinner and was about to sit and eat with family, my phone rang. It was one of my HIV-positive clients calling to lament that she would soon need more medication.

Though the pharmacy where I work was closed, I assured her that it would be open first thing on Monday. Then the shocker came. She had taken her last dose on Christmas Eve and with the Christmas excitement did not remember to refill her prescription. So, I was at my workplace on the night of Christmas 2009 (since most pharmacies do not stock HIV medication).

Surviving Christmas

As we approach the season of the holly and the jolly, let's do some forward-planning to get through this smoothly. Christmas can be bad for your health. At Christmas in general, we overdrink alcohol, overspend, overeat, and overindulge. It is safe to say that there will be an increase in accidents and mishaps, kitchen burns, stomach problems, belly pain, alcohol-induced hangovers, sexually transmitted infections, unintended pregnancies, and aggravation of health conditions due to abstaining from taking prescribed medications. And then, there is cholera, dengue, and seasonal flu to consider.

For those of us who are taking prescribed medication daily, check your 'stock' to ensure that there is enough to last through the holidays since most pharmacies will be closed. This stock check is even more important if you are spending Christmas away from home, and it is also crucial for those who take oral contraceptive pills. Refill medication by Christmas Eve.

Ensure these measures are taken:

Prepare a first aid kit with a selection of regularly needed medicines like antacids, diarrhoea medicine, rehydration salts, painkillers, plasters, bandages, dressings, antiseptics and anti-allergy drugs (anti-histamines), cough, cold, and fever medicine.

If you are sexually active, plan ahead and keep condoms with you.

If you have unprotected sex and do not intend to have a child, post-coital (after-sex) contraception is available without a prescription. It is best taken as soon as possible after sex but may work up to five days after.

There is life after Christmas

Let's make healthy eating and drinking choices, abstain from casual sex, and practise safer sex. The best way to avoid a hangover is not to drink alcohol at all. For those who will still drink alcohol, try to do so after you have eaten, and try to drink a glass of water for each alcoholic drink you consume.

Check with your pharmacist if your medication is likely to react with alcohol. If you are unsure, it's best not to consume any alcohol at all. To stop medication consumption in order to drink is not a good idea.

Since there is life after Christmas, let's practise these preventive activities to preserve good health right through to 2011.

Dahlia McDaniel is a pharmacist and final year doctoral candidate in public health at the University of London; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.