Tag Archives: medication

Welcome to Kimber Westmore, inventor of the PillMap a new and clever item to simplify life and travel. Read how the PillMap solves a problem for people taking multiple medications with a management system that easily updates as medications change. This could be a lifesaver!

Article by Kimber Westmore

PillMapTM – Don’t Fly Without it! 

Did you know that 43 percent of Americans take at least one prescription medication each day? Seventeen percent take at least three. And even people who pop as few pills as possible typically pack extra medication in anticipation of out-of-the-ordinary circumstances. For instance, you may not regularly take allergy meds but carry them as a precaution when traveling to a new city. Or, it may be a good idea to pack anti-nausea medication if you’re heading somewhere with an unfamiliar fare. With so much medication to manage, make sure you take extra care when it comes to packing and traveling with pills. The inexpensive, easy solution for managing medications on the road or at home is PillMapTM.

Flow chart pills to box PillMap

PillMap

Before Your Trip-Up Date Your Pillmap

  1. Gather all of your medications, including extras that are not part of your normal routine.
  2. For each med, add the generic name of the drug and purpose under the line on each cardboard card. For example, under Prodaxa (which is the manufacturer’s name), write “Dabigatran” and a description, such as “blood thinner.”) This will help in the event replacements are necessary if your travels take you to another country.
  3. Once you have completed the card, take a picture of the front and back of it to send to family members. This will help if they need to speak to doctors or pharmacists on your behalf in the event of an emergency.

The PillMap Speeds Up Travel

  • Speed things up at TSA. Up your game by presenting agents with a completed PillMapTM. TSA and Customs’ agents can use the card to cross-check any pills you might be carrying in baggies or pillboxes. Bring a list of your prescriptions, as well, to further speed the process.
  • Reduce stress. Travel often involves ever-changing time zones, demanding schedules, mentally draining meetings and even much-needed relaxation by the pool. All of these can lead to the perfect storm in terms of thoughtful medication mismanagement. Keep PillMapTM in your hotel room for easy reference.

About PillMapTM

PillMapTM takes the guesswork out of medication management. It is easily customizable to fit patient and caregiver needs, including maintaining consistency and safety in hand-offs between multiple caregivers. We’ve poured our learning and our care into PillMap™. We want you to put your time and your attention to the one you love, instead of pill bottles. Don’t take a chance with your loved one’s health. Order PillMapTM today.

Medications change? No problem. PillMapTM is easy to re-customize with new meds or routines. With a pocket for a visual sample pill to make sure the meds are correct, PillMapTM was designed for once-a-day meds or multiple medications throughout the day. You customize it to your needs! It is simple to use, highly affordable, and puts you in control.

PillMap Helps First Responders

During an emergency first responders and medical personnel need to know which medications a patient is on. Rest easy knowing you, or your loved one just need to hand over the PillMap to the first responder.

First responder using PillMap

 

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Is you travel destination safe

  Travel Medications to Pack

 

What is the difference between a travel medicine physician and a general practitioner?

While your regular doctor may have knowledge about what diseases you may encounter when you travel, healthcare professionals at travel clinics are specifically educated on the many various health problems you may encounter around the world. Travel clinics specialize in vaccinations for Meningitis, Polio, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever to name only a few plus medications for diarrhea, malaria, tuberculosis and more. The decision to vaccinate in some cases needs to be weighed versus the risks of the vaccination. That is where the value of a travel medicine doctor comes into play.

If you’re visiting somewhere tropical, subtropical or if you have any chronic health condition such as diabetes or kidney disease, a trip to a travel clinic could provide life-saving recommendations that your general practitioner may not be aware of. Beyond medical concerns, the clinic may also counsel on precautions regarding food, beverages, insect bites, and even pickpockets. They can also clarify which over the counter medicines to pack are best according to your destination.  Of course, all this good advice depends on the doctor and clinic you visit. Lastly, depending on your health insurance a trip to a travel medicine doctor is often covered.

To underscore the issue regarding the decision to vaccinate, here’s an enlighting article by Julian Klapowitz, MD illustrating how and why a doctor skilled in travel medicine could be a good health care partner to seek out when it comes to understanding recommended vs. required vaccinations.

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Should Overseas Travelers Get a Yellow Fever Vaccination?
The Benefit vs. The Risk

Julian Klapowitz, MD

Internal Medicine and Travel Medicine

www.travelsurenyc.com

Professor Martin Gore, a leading UK cancer scientist, died on January 10th, reportedly as a result of a Yellow Fever vaccination he had received.

Unfortunately, all vaccinations may have life-threatening side effects. Severe allergic reactions/death can rarely occur after all shots. In our NYC travel vaccination clinic, we review these risks verbally and with VIS’s.

The issue with the Yellow Fever vaccine, in particular, is that:

  1. A) It can also cause severe neurologic and multi-organ side-effects (in addition to allergic reactions).
  2. B) The actual risk of getting yellow fever disease during travel is not always easy to determine and is sometimes not much higher than the risk of the vaccination.

The Disease: Yellow Fever is a potentially life-threatening mosquito-borne viral illness. An estimated 15% of people infected with Yellow Fever will develop severe illness and up to about half of those people die of complications. The vaccination is nearly 100% effective at protecting against the disease.

The Risk of Getting the Disease: Generally, in West Africa, 50 per 100,000 travelers having a 2-week stay will develop severe illness and, for South America, it is 5 per 100,000. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). The risk varies significantly, though, with the specific location, length of trip, activities during the trip, and whether or not there is an outbreak of the disease.

The Risk of the Shot: The risk of the severe/life-threatening side effects from the vaccine is approximately 1.1 per 100,000 people vaccinated for age under 60 and 3.4 per 100,000 in ≥60 (Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, 2018).

So, if the risk of the disease is very low (for instance, traveling to a country in S. America for a few days where Yellow Fever is present at low levels), the risk of the vaccine is close to the risk of getting the disease, particularly if a traveler is older.

Other factors that need to be taken under consideration: a traveler’s health, what medications they take (immune suppressants), and whether or not the Yellow Fever vaccination is REQUIRED for the trip (as opposed to RECOMMENDED…I will address this subject in a later post).

Bottom line: The Yellow Fever shot, and all other vaccinations, carry risk. Thoroughly reviewing what is needed on your trip with a Travel Health Care Professional will not eliminate that risk, but it will help ensure you are getting only the shots you need. As with Yellow Fever, in particular, the decision to vaccinate for travel is not as simple as it may sometimes seem.

Doctor Klapowitz has more interesting and important information you can find here:

www.travelsurenyc.com