Online pharmacies are all the rage in buying medicine, what with the ease people can get pills over the much-glorified Internet without having to travel a block or so to reach an actual pharmacy. Often, these websites employ their own in-house physicians whose job is to analyze a customer’s condition and prescribe the appropriate medication - a welcomed assist for people who find visiting the local doctor very inconvenient, too costly, or both.

With that in mind, though, all good things do come with an inherent risk tag attached to them. While most online pharmacy sites sell prescription pills only to people with an actual prescription, it is safe to say that there are some that do not enforce that practice. Thus, some people turn to them in order to acquire medication that they otherwise would not have been able to purchase, which can possibly be a dangerous proposition. One also runs the risk of ordering medication from fraudulent online pharmacies that charge payment but do not send the goods. Still, some may encounter very unprofessional sites.

Online Pharmacy Reviews Secures You

Enter the saviors for most online pharmacy customers: the online pharmacy review websites. They act as the watchdogs of the online pharmacy game, scrutinizing each and every one of the pharmacy sites and then relaying their findings to prospective clients through virtual online pharmacy guides. These so-called “guides” suggest the best and most reliable sites to do business with, as well as raise the red flags on those they deem to be inadequate and untrustworthy. The criteria they use for judging online pharmacies vary from website to website, but mostly it revolves around these factors: product quality, shipment, support, and overall reliability.

It is often a good idea to check with these review sites to be able to filter the best from the wide range of e-drugstores on the web. Researches say that since 1998, the online pharmacy industry has been growing exponentially - by 2010, it is estimated that the number of pharmacy sites will rise to around ten thousand.

Online pharmacy reviews are definitely not to be taken carelessly by pharmacy websites. Independent studies generally show that the reviews put forth by these review sites have considerable influences on the consumer shopping behavior. Not just that, most of them employ people who have professional expertise on the field to write the best pharmacy reviews. This is to insure quality for consumers that the review writers possess the necessary qualifications and transparency to back up what they say in their reviews, and are not just random people in the employ of online pharmacy companies seeking to advance business or destroy other websites.

The User Input Factor

However, what probably is the best characteristic of online pharmacy reviews is its ability to convey feedback from those who actually had the experience of buying from online pharmacies. Such information is indispensable, as a reader will be able to decide what site to patronize in light of the writer’s experiences. Granted, not all of the user reviews are perfect - some are just out to tarnish a company’s reputation - but they do help.

This is the reason why the same users are encouraged to become more transparent about their personal information and whether they have actually bought pills from an online pharmacy, so as to assure quality reviews - and most respond positively. Close criticism by independent researchers generally find that user ratings are usually uncannily accurate, although they say that these are just a listing of opinions and should be judged as such. Thus, those who read online pharmacy reviews are advised to consume them with a grain of salt.

You can’t ship pharmaceutical products with just any courier. If you’re shipping pharmaceuticals you’re going to need to be familiar with all of the guidelines and regulations which are involved in their shipping, as well as knowing what steps to take in order to make sure that your product remains intact and useful to the customer. If you’re looking to start shipping these kinds of products, the first thing that you’re going to have to do is find a Dallas courier service that has all the proper licenses, but also who has the right equipment to be able to safely ship your pharmaceuticals to where they need to go. They are not typically shipped in regular courier vehicles.

Temperature is the primary concern when shipping pharmaceutical products, and this creates a responsibility on the behalf of both the shipping company and the courier who is taking the goods to their delivery points. The products must be shipped in containers which are relatively well insulated. Because pharmaceutical products are so sensitive to temperature they have to be protected as much as possible from the outside elements, as they will be transported to and from trucks, perhaps several times during shipping. Inside the truck is far more important though, and courier companies that move these types of shipments have to have trucks with special refrigeration units so that they can keep the drugs at the optimum temperatures. If they get too warm, the delicate nature of the chemical compounds can become altered, which will in effect render the drugs useless.

There are other concerns beyond temperature when you’re shipping pharmaceutical products. Security is something that most people do have to worry about when they’re shipping pharma-products of any kind, because these cargo types are both vulnerable to theft, and can be extremely dangerous if released to the public. As such, they are typically only shipped in reinforced vehicles, and usually with additional accompanying security personnel. Depending on the types of drugs which are being shipped, there may be laws which require certain levels of security to be on hand during their shipping. These only apply to drugs which are extremely dangerous to the populace when used improperly or those which have acquired high street value and so could be extremely susceptible to theft. Your courier company should be able to advise you what types of security options they provide for you so that you can make sure your products are ready for shipment.

Latest Developments:

• On September 18th, 2009 McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the makers of Children’s & Infant’s Tylenol announced that it is voluntarily recalling certain lots of it’s Children’s & Infant’s Tylenol… NOT all of them
• Why were they recalled? A certain type of bacteria was found in one of the inactive ingredients used to make these products. NOTE that the recall is a purely precautionary move and NO bacteria has been detected in any of the finished products
• The recalled lots are those that were manufactured between April and June of 2008
• Be sure to check your stash of kids’ medications to see if you have any of these and if you have any concerns please contact your healthcare provider
• You can find a complete list of the recalled batch lot numbers for each of these Tylenol preparations on our site, just follow the link below and look in the “Drug Blog” section
• To locate the lot number look either at the bottom of the outer packaging box OR on the sticker on the actual bottle itself
• If you find that you have a product from one of the recalled lots, contact McNeil Consumer Healthcare’s customer care center @ 1-800-962-5357 and they will send you a coupon for a new bottle

Guide To Using Pain Medicines Safely

Pain medications are available both over-the-counter and by prescription.

OTC pain medications are primarily used to treat minor aches and pains caused by headaches, cold, flu, fever, arthritis, toothaches, and menstrual cramps and they fall into two (2) main groups:

• Acetaminophen - which is the active ingredient in over 600 OTC products including cough and cold medications as well as pain relievers
• NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) - include medications with the active ingredients aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen; popular brand names include Bayer, Advil, Motrin and Aleve.

Prescription pain medications include:

• Opioids, which are derived from opium and they work by changing the way one experiences/feels pain. They include medications like morphine, codeine, oxycodone and hydrocodone (which is usually combined with acetaminophen or some other non-opioid pain reliever).

When used as directed, pain medications are safe and effective but if they are misused they not only have the potential to be extremely harmful, they can also be deadly.

Potential Problems With Pain Relievers, Who’s @ Risk & What To Do

Acetaminophen:

Taking too much can result in liver damage

• At Risk: those who drink 3 or more alcoholic beverages a day while taking medications that contain acetaminophen
• Be very careful with dosing in children and infants because the concentration of medication in the two formulas is quite different - the infant formula is 3 times stronger than the children’s strength formula
• Signs of liver damage to watch out for include abnormally yellow skin and eyes, light-colored stools, dark urine, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, and in more serious cases, mental confusion, coma and even death.

NSAIDs:

Taking too much can cause bleeding in the stomach

• At Risk: people over 60 years old; people who take blood thinners; people who have a history of stomach bleeding or ulcers; people who have a history of bleeding problems

Taking too much can also cause kidney damage (but this is usually reversible)

• At Risk: people over 60 years old; people who take water pills (a.k.a. diuretics); people with high blood pressure, heart failure or pre-existing kidney disease

Safety Precautions You Can Take In Order To Avoid Problems

• Always follow the directions given for taking the medication(s); for children and infants, do NOT interchange formulas if you can help it and be sure to use the measuring device provided so that they get the correct dose
• Keep your healthcare providers in the loop - let them know what other medications and supplements you are taking so as to avoid drug interactions … some of which can be life-threatening; also let them know if you have a history of substance abuse so that you get the appropriate care and monitoring needed
• Always double-check the active ingredients, especially with over-the-counter pain medications and cough and cold medications; some may be duplicated and this can cause some potentially serious and even fatal incidents.