An Altercation

Something interesting happened this morning. I was with a customer and suddenly there were these voices (a young man and an uncle) shouting at each other. I didn't see the incident before that but apparently a child was playing around while his parents were paying at the cashier and didn't see the uncle pushing a trolley in the adjacent lane and got his head knocked. A very minor incident, not even a bruise... but not for the father. His fists were raised and ready to strike the much older man down.

The younger man ironically shouted that the uncle had no manners and didn't even apologize, and the uncle said back to him in this frame 'as if you should be talking about manners'

To the uncle's credit, he tried to calm the younger man down saying that he didn't see the child running or turning, and the parents should have been more mindful of their child. The younger man got so pissed that it could have been his fault and started shouting at the uncle, that he should be more careful when there are children around.

The 'triumphant' father who has defended his family's honor...or has he?

The whole thing is silly really, it's really no one's fault and accidents happen all the time. So has the young man really won? It would appear so. But then again, what the father is saying indirectly to his child is

1) It doesn't matter if it's your fault, I will bring you their severed testicles on a plate for lunch.
2) It's ok to be rude.
3) It's ok to be disrespectful to strangers, especially the weak and elderly.

Great parenting dad! Watch out for the little one during his rebellious teenage years... you won't be spared.

How Come I Didn't Notice This Before?

A customer was returning some strips of blood pressure medications he had bought from me earlier because there wasn't a need for it anymore. He's one of the very few people who has managed to control his BP and come off the medications.

So I was checking to see if the medications have already expired and I noticed something...

Top to bottom : Spade, Heart, Square, Asterisk, Pentagon

See those symbols next to the batch number? Has it always been there? Why didn't I notice this before? There are 2 sets of each symbol in a box of 10 strips. This is the first time I've seen something like this and I think it's quite cute. Anyone else noticed this?

Some people handle situations...

...some situations handle people.

Recently my staff had a huge personal problem and took a few days off to settle it. Normally my stance towards issues like this is that work and personal issues are two separate entities and should never mix, but in real life that's not always possible. Days turned to weeks and to say that we weren't affected at all would be a lie. Yes, we were short-handed at the office, but more importantly concerned for her. We've all worked together for so long that we know each other quite well. To cut a long story short, she initially decided to 'settle' her problem by avoiding it and thought it will go away by itself, but we know that this can sometimes make it worse and it did. Thankfully she came to her senses much later on, put her foot down and with a couple of police reports lodged, things are heading in the right direction.

You know what they say, that challenges can either make or break you, and I'm glad that it was not the latter. I got to talk to her after that and I can sense the determination and courage in her, qualities that were lacking before. A couple of things I learn from this -

1) Never whine about what a deep mess you're in. Focus your energy instead of solving that mess. I won't go so far to say be thankful for challenges, but you'll definitely be better off one way or another after having gone through it.
2) If something calls for urgent action, ignoring it won't do you any favors. You will still have to face it later on, together with all the additional problems caused by your inaction.
3) It's important to have people you can count on for help and support. No man is a pulau.

I hope I'll remember all this when I'm going through a rough patch.

How I Inspired A Stranger To Be A Doctor

Its the school holidays. Everyone loves holidays. For the adults they can wake up later in the mornings knowing that the roads are not as clogged up as usual. For children, well they can pretty much do whatever they want.

There are a small number of high school students who take up temporary jobs, some I'm sure not by their own decision. There was this girl who had just finished her SPM and was working at the hypermarket in front of my pharmacy. My staff befriended her and they had something of a hi-bye friendship.

After the SPM results came out, this girl told my staff that she was leaving to continue her STPM. She confessed that thanks to us she has decided to pursue medicine after her STPM. My staff wished her well and asked what was it that made her decide to study medicine? Then she said she wanted to study pharmacy initially, but after observing us and seeing how boring it can be in a retail pharmacy, she decided to switch. Furthermore, she was convinced that I was a bit not right in the head because she saw me smiling and grinning to myself at times (I blame various people on my MSN contact list for this). So yea thanks to us...

I've never spoken a word with her before but at least I've influenced others in a way (though you can also argue that an outbreak of genital herpes influences the way people make decisions as well). That happened 3 years ago. I'd like to think that because of us and our example, she's in a med school somewhere. 

You're welcome. 

Increasing Testosterone : Power of Body Language

In my practice, countless men have asked in various ways for help in boosting their testosterone levels. Testosterone affects everything from energy levels to sexuality and who can blame them for seeking help? After all it has been shown that alpha males and people in powerful positions generally have higher testosterone levels.

Besides taking supplements there is another way to increase testosterone levels. The author of this article participated in a study where he was asked to take up different power positions that symbolized authority - putting the feet on desks, doing a hawk pose and all those. Within 15 minutes his testosterone levels doubled. 

Obama - not so much different from...

...this guy

There's almost no practical way I can incorporate this into my practice (huh? you're asking me to put my feet on the desk?) but it does not mean there's no value in it. What I think is more important here is mind/body over matters. If you exude confidence then it shows in your posture and actions leading to a physiological advantage. This is also a reminder that a lot of life's battles are won or lost in our minds even before we enter the battlefield. And even if you have not always felt particularly confident, thank goodness for a way to short circuit your body into believing that you are - just clear those desks!

Heal Me! ...(but not too much)

MR SMOKER : Hey! Thanks for the medicines! Its really helped me a lot!


ME : You're welcome! (This uncle bought some nicotine patches a few weeks back in an effort to quit smoking) So how's the progress so far?


MR SMOKER : Very good! I've stopped already!


ME : Oh, you've stopped smoking? Congratulations! 


MR EX-SMOKER : Er no...I've stopped the medication already.


ME : You've stopped the medication? How come? Giving you some side effects?


MR NOT-YET-AN-EX-SMOKER : Not at all. Its good and helped me cut down from 2 packs to just 1 pack a day. With the patch I can go a day without smoking actually. Really helped me save some money but I think that's good enough. 


ME : Why not continue a few more weeks and then cut down to half pack and then eventually stop? That will save you even more money right?


MR I-STILL-WANT-TO-SMOKE : Nah, its not advisable to change my habit so suddenly. Even my Dr told me its not good to drastically stop like that and said cut to half my consumption ok already... Anyway thanks for your help.


ME : -.-"

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You know I think he was pulling my leg there...either that or we're seeing a master salesman plying his craft. What say you Einstein?

Left Behind

The things that people leave behind at the pharmacy counter... whether on purpose or accidentally.

This is quite common. There are some who loathe carrying small change. 

This one is more of absent-mindedness but happens a lot as well. Paying for medicines and forgetting to take it.

Discarding receipts. Also very common. This is why we only issue receipts if specifically requested. 

Hmm, now this one is a first. I didn't exactly see the customer leaving these behind. What's even weirder is that they were left by two separate customers on two different nights. The garlic came first and then followed by the onion few nights later. I'm wondering if the customer saw something that I should be aware of. Vampires? 

A Life Lost

"Your business is about to f**king swim down the Hudson," Ramsey said to Cerniglia, while offering advice on how to turn his business around.


One must really wonder how much influence the words Gordon Ramsay bluntly said to restaurant owner Joseph Cerniglia in 2007 had on the latter's decision to take his life in that particular manner. If you've watched his shows then you will realize most of the time his lips will be moving but there will be no audio. That's because its mostly profanities.

When he was interviewed by Jeremy Clarkson on an episode of Top Gear, Jeremy brought up the topic of Gordon having received an OBE and jokingly asked if it was for services to swearing. Gordon doesn't just have colorful language but gets angry a lot and is very rude. Well no doubt this helps the show's ratings. The main reason why many people watch American Idol is because of Simon Cowell though no contestant has taken their lives yet. And thats 2 for Gordon! Well I think its because Simon looks like a buffoon anyway and no one takes him seriously.

In our line of work we meet all sorts of characters daily and this is a very timely reminder to never take anything personally no matter how much pressure we are under. The results can really be fatal.

Vegenomics 101

A very common gripe among those involved in retail is the constant threat of a price war with your competitors. On the short term this may benefit the consumers and those who gladly cut their prices, but on the long run this may make the business too competitive and many players will exit altogether. The retailers who remain may find that while they have the volume, their margins are so pitiful that they wonder why do they still want to do whatever they do. It is usually the retailer with the deepest pockets that will survive. As for the consumers, there are less shops for them to choose from and maybe they have to drive further to find the things they want.

But wait...if you think retail is tough - have you been to a market?

I was at the Kundasang Market a few days back and it really got me thinking - how do they survive? If you see the picture below, the 3 red arrows are the same items being sold but by 3 different stalls. The same goes for the blue arrows. Yes - the stalls are really that close to one another.

So lets say the average space between two tiangs (columns) can accommodate 2 stalls. From the picture all the way to the end I can see around 8 tiangs. Given that I took this photo somewhere in the middle of the long market, there are probably around 25-35 stalls in that one long stretch of road. All selling more or less the same thing. *Gulps*

To their credit, most of them offer the same pricing. There were some who after peeking over their shoulders to see if their neighbors were listening, quoted slightly below market rate. There were a few that were more enterprising and sold additional items that the rest did not - flowers, cacti, etc.

However, I should not judge them based on all my preconceived ideas. They may seem to have many challenges, but who knows they do make a lucrative living and are very happy with what they do. The latter one being what I consider as an invaluable resource.

Sobering Up

It was quite late in the evening when this man approached the counter. You can smell him from quite a distance away... he had been drinking quite heavily. Either that or he had been soaking in a jacuzzi full of beer.

Uncle : 'Gi-gi-give me this...er....what is it...you know...the one for flu? Wh-wh-white colour one, quite big tablet, not sleepy wan.'

I showed him Clarinase.

Me : ' This one? Clarinase?'

Uncle : 'No-no-no. Not this one. This is Clarityne. I don't want Cl-cl-clarityne. I want the other one for flu. The bi-big round one.'

Me : 'You sure its not this one? This is not Clarityne, its Clar-'

Uncle : 'Yea yea, not this one. I'm ve-very sure. Hang on let me ca-call... call my wife.'

I left the Clarinase with the box on the counter and attended to another customer while he made the call.

Uncle : '(After the call) Yea my wife said its the big, white round tablet...'

Me : '(Pointing to the box of Clarinase that was still on the counter) Is this the one? Clarinase?'

Uncle: 'Yes! This is the one! Clarinase!'

So... two facts.

Fact No. 1 Alcohol messes up with the brain's cognitive abilities and renders it ineffectual. Its like a train that pulls up a few metres short of the station - no one can get on or off to make use of it.

Fact No. 2 Nothing sobers a man more (and/or faster) than a conversation with his wife.

Take Your Meds

There are many people who refuse to take medicines. I have a customer that comes very frequently to check her blood pressure. As far as I remember her reading has never dipped below 150/90. Initially, my advise for her was to meet with her doctor as soon as possible. After many times, she just refuses to listen. Nowadays, after she finds out what her reading is, she runs away before I say another word. -.-"

This sort of thing is common. If she refuses to help herself, I won't lose sleep over what she decides to do with her health. Unfortunately, I have a close friend who has the same predicament and is equally as ignorant with her health.

Having been diagnosed with hypertension by at least a few doctors a year ago (yes she has had many second opinions done already), she still believes she can get by without blood pressure meds. Frighteningly, her pressure hovers around the 170/100 range. She complains frequently of headaches and eye pain.

I've had many talks with her regarding this. I've tried reasoning with her, warning her of the risks she is taking. Such a high pressure in her system is damaging her organs on a daily basis. She has even taken care of a bedridden family member who has had a stroke - witnessing firsthand the distress and all. So you can say she is pretty well versed in all this. She knows what she is going up against but still decides to treat herself with 'herbs.' It has reached a point where anything more I say will constitute nagging.

A few days back she had such a terrible headache that she could not walk. She vomited in the car on the way to the clinic. The clinic visit revealed what she knew was wrong with her. The doctor tried to admit her to a nearby hospital but he was valiantly turned down. She went home and watched National Geographic.

The Unfinished Portrait

Former US President Franklin Roosevelt famously complained of a 'terrific headache' during a portrait session before he slumped forward in his chair and died of a stroke shortly after. The painting was never finished. I fear my friend may be willingly walking down this path as well. There's really nothing more I can do short of force feeding her the medications . I've considered putting blood pressure medications in her food...but that will mean I have to follow her around daily with a bottle of crushed Norvascs. Worse still she if she credits her improving stats to the 'herbs' which obviously don't work.

Please, all of you who have been prescribed medications, do take them. It would be very foolish to do so otherwise. You can play around with your money all you want, but don't neglect your health. The next words I say to my friend may be a 'I told you so' besides her hospital bed. Even then she may not recognize me anymore.

What's In Your Water? - Six Degrees of Lipitor

A couple of years back, I recall a conversation I had with a friend regarding the many cases of ovarian cysts among our female friends - with some of them requiring surgery.

'I tell you, there's something in the water!' he said...

Well it seems he was right. There really is something in the water. It may or may not be the actual cause of the above mentioned predicament, but then again no one knows at the moment how it affects us. So what is in your water?

It has been discovered that drug residues are increasingly being present in the water supplies in the US. How did it get there?

1) Flushing your unwanted medications in the toilet or emptying the syrups into your kitchen sink.

2) Peeing. What goes in must come out - and some drugs are excreted in the urine almost unchanged chemically, so its just like step 1.

3) Bathing and showering. Imagine lathering on steroid and antibiotic ointments during the day and then washing them off during a shower. Previously a lesser known contributing factor, a recent article is bringing awareness to this route of contamination.

A partial list of the drugs found include birth control pills, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, tranquilizers, antibacterials, antipsychotics, ACE inhibitors, nitroglycerin, steroids, ibuprofen and caffeine.

You may think 'Oh this doesn't affect me, since I have the latest water filtration gadget that costs a kajillion dollars at home and my family drinks exclusively from it.' Do remember that the meat you eat didn't have the luxury of drinking that water when it was still moving. Neither do the vegetables that go on your dinner plate, I doubt if anyone will use Diamond water for their livestock or crops.

So how has it affected us? The worrying thing is that no one can say for sure yet. More research will be needed before a definite conclusion can be drawn. It has however, created a new breed of Fishy-Gagas.

In the 1970s, scientists began detecting pharmaceutical residue in waterways, but in an era when rivers were choking on industrial sludge, traces of drugs seemed a small matter. It would take until the 1990s for that view to change. That was when pharmaceutical estrogens, principally from birth control pills, began showing up in the water too, leading to male fish with androgynous sex organs. Scarily, it did not take much estrogen to affect the fish — just 5 or 6 nanograms, or billionths of a gram, per liter of lake water

Sounds frightening eh? I'm not sure how stringent the testing of water quality is in Malaysia, but I'm guessing this will be a bigger issue in the future.

A Time for War

WARNING: PLEASE DON'T READ THIS POST RIGHT BEFORE YOUR MEALTIMES. COME BACK AGAIN AFTER YOU'RE FULL. BUT NOT TOO FULL - YOU MAY HAVE TO CLEAN UP YOUR KEYBOARD...

Almost 2 years have gone by since we've caught any rats. Though we hardly see the nocturnal pests, they leave behind their wastes to remind us that they had a blast while we were away. Rat glues were set but they did not fall for it this time. The steel cage fared no better.

We were told to adhere to strict rules while preparing the traps - that is you must never ever under any circumstances make any obvious reference to it. Words like 'rats', 'mouse', 'tikus' are forbidden. So we called it 'our friend'. Somehow I think it figured this out too and they didn't bite.

So we gave up. Since they were able to hear us, we verbally told the rats not to disturb our stocks and we won't disturb them. Miraculously for over a year, our stocks went unharmed. Sure, we had to clean up their feces and urine but occasionally they showed some affection and brought over Kit-Kats and Smarties (which we don't sell). Paying their rent maybe... how cute.

Our contract grew sour when they began to make more of a presence. Our stocks were still unharmed, but their colony grew to a stage that our shop reeked of their smell and I truly understood what the phrase 'I smell a rat' meant. So we were forced to act.

Kit-Kats and chicken wings

The hungry fella

Almost immediately, they retaliated.

So we retaliated too...

Seems they've bitten more of my stocks this morning. My staff summed up my thoughts by saying 'Maybe we should let them be and don't kacau them again?' Hmm... maybe, but not without a fight this time. These rodents should be put in their proper place and know who's the boss here. Then after that we can negotiate a re-settlement project or something. Go bother the bakery next door or something!

Empathy

Now, I'm not saying I look forward to being sick but falling ill is sometimes a golden opportunity for us healthcare professionals to be guinea pigs for the medicines that we dispense every single day. It started 2 weeks ago with a sore throat, fever and the sniffles before it morphed itself into a very irritating cough. The cough started to improve last week and could have been completely gone - if only I had resisted the temptation to indulge in some ice cream ('some' being the key word here).

With only less than a week to CNY festivities, I needed to get well ASAP. Desperate times calls for desperate measures as they say.

Being in a trance-like disoriented state for the past few days was a small price to pay in this instance as I have yet to cough today.

There is another plus side to being sick and it is that we can genuinely feel what our customers are feeling when they complain of having coughed their lungs out for 2 weeks. There is something very therapeutic there when the patient sees that we understand and respond empathically to their symptoms and quite a number have expressed their gratefulness.

All in all, its a relief to get the cough over with. I do hope I will never have to empathize with any of my Viagra customers.

One Step Back, Ten Steps Forward

What do you do when you have achieved almost everything that you have aimed for and have performed consistently as the top in the world?

Take a break, of course!

Ferran Adrià, owner of the world famous El Bulli, has announced today that he plans to take 2 years off. El Bulli (a Michelin 3-star restaurant by the way) has been acknowledged as one of the best restaurants in the world and making a reservation is almost impossible as their bookings are always sold out on the day of being officially released.

Ferran Adrià admits that the decision to take a sabbatical will lose his restaurant the 3-star rating. However, he has a reason for doing so. "I need to to decide how 2014 is going to be," says Ferran of his decision to not take any customers for the years 2012 and 2013. "We want the year 2014 to stand out. I know that when I return it will not be the same."

Anyone who thinks that Ferran Adrià will take two years partying will be mistaken as a Ferran has insisted that 'these two years will be devoted to thinking, planning and preparing the new format for subsequent years.'

I would love to take a year off too actually. Who wouldn't? My wife recently commented that 2010 is our 7th year of having stepped into the working world. I know of friends who work 6 years and take a sabbatical every 7th year but that is something not viable for us at the moment. However as we all strive to achieve our goals in life, its heartening to see that ingenuity does not only require persistent hard work to achieve - but requires that we step back and recharge ourselves for inspiration and direction.

Not Quite Right

Appeton is phasing out their boy mascot... If you walk into any pharmacies you should be able to see a new picture instead of this one.

About time I say... I can't really put my finger on it but I think there's something not quite right with the position of his nipples. Hmm...

Your Food May Be Causing You Problems?

Diet Rich in Processed Food Linked to Increased Risk for Depression

November 10, 2009 — Patients who consume a diet rich in high-fat dairy products and fried, refined, and sugary foods are at increased risk of developing depression, whereas those whose diet is rich in fish, fruit, and vegetables are at lower risk of developing depression, a new study shows.

The results suggest that diet should be considered a potential target for the prevention of depressive disorders, said the study's lead author, Tasnime N. Akbaraly, PhD, who completed the study while at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College, London, United Kingdom.

Potential Mechanisms

There are several possible mechanisms that might explain the association between a processed food diet and depression, said Dr. Akbaraly. There is some evidence of a correlation between sugar consumption and the rate of depression.

In addition, the Western diet has been associated with higher risk of coronary heart disease and inflammation, both of which have been reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of depression.

"Many processes such as oxidative stress processes, or insulin resistance processes, could be involved," said Dr. Akbaraly, adding that further research is needed to determine exactly how refined foods might affect risk for depression.

As for how a "whole" food diet might protect against depression, such a diet includes fruits and vegetables that are rich in antioxidants — nutrients that have been shown to reduce risk for depression.

In addition, the diet includes many foods including cruciferous vegetables, leafy vegetables, and other vegetables and dried legumes that are a rich source of folate. Previous research has shown that low levels of folate may affect levels of neurotransmitters that may be involved in depression. This diet also includes lots of fish, a source of polyunsaturated fatty acids that might also reduce the incidence of depression.

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It seems every other day some new study pops up and tells us something we more or less already know - watch what you eat! Or eat more vege and fruits and cut down on fast food and all that processed food like chips or keropok and soft drinks.

Being a fan of fast food myself, I can assure you that there is a way to get around this situation amicably. I believe that if you watch what you eat 80% of the time (as in eat plenty of greens, fruits and healthy lean meat and yes, avoid taking too much refined carbs), then you can let loose 20% of the time.

I once had a dinner with a professional rugby player, and he mentions that 6 days a week he maintains a strict nutritional regiment and 1 day a week he eats to his heart's desire. So assuming you eat 3 meals a day, that's 3/21 x 100 = roughly 15%. So for him its more like 85/15. Obviously we are not athletes and we have no need to follow their strict discipline, so I think we can cut some slack and allow ourselves 75/25. So based on this simple mathematical equation, if I eat KFC 5 times per week, that will mean 5/21 x 100 = 24% only and I still can have some extra wedges on top of that!

Colonel : Come dine with me 5 times a week! Heheheh!

This is something like the Pareto Principle, more popularly known as the 80-20 rule, which states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. An example is 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Or 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients. Or 80% of your illnesses is caused by....errr....hmmm....errrr....never mind. I don't think we need to dwell too much on that.

Small changes make big differences

Customer: I feel the medication I am eating is not effective anymore...Did they change the place of manufacture to China? The new pack looks really suspicious!

Me: Well, it actually still says that it is made in Germany.

Customer: If I am China biz man sure I put made in Germany also mah!

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He did have a point though. The medicine is question was Micardis 40mg. The customer had just bought it somewhere else and he feels its not the real deal coz it looked 'funny'. I thought it was funny - not bwahahah funny but chuckle funny. There is something to this though...

Thanks Boehringer, for taking up more space on my shelf...

The new packing is a lot bigger as seen from the pic above ( I don't have the old Micardis 40 pack anymore, but the 80mg is the same size as the older one). Inside the strip is also bigger as seen in the pic below.

Stevie Wonder can probably read this too now

This is not the first time that a change in medication packaging has caused some confusion and doubt as to the efficacy of the medication. I had a customer who complained that her Norvasc 5mg from the 100's packing was also not as effective as the one she had from the 30's packing, even though the strips and design of the box were identical to every respect except for the size.

Perhaps one of the most recent problems in this area were when there was a drastic change in the packaging for Dalacin T Solution. Both the outside and inside were very different and many regular customers actually avoided buying the new stocks for a while as it really looked so flimsy and cheap when compared to the old glass bottle that they used to be in. This was definitely to cut costs...plastic cheaper than glass.

This is something that I do not really understand well. There are obviously some changes in medicine packaging that can help patients (for eg. incorporating a calender pack on the pack of the blister) but does the aesthetics of the packaging contribute anything? If it doesn't then why not stick to what everyone is familiar with. It'll be like coming home one day and discovering that my wife suddenly has grown a beard overnight. Omg...

Antibacterial soaps better?

With the swine flu threat among us now, it is not surprising to see certain companies seizing the opportunity to promote their products. Antibacterial hand soaps and face masks are high in demand now. Though I have yet to see an advertisement for face masks, the telly has been overtaken by many commercials featuring antibacterial soaps. Hypermarkets also have these products featured prominently in many strategic locations.

Are antibacterial soaps really better than normal ones? Yes, the companies making them want you to believe that they do offer better protection compared to a normal non-antibacterial soap. The answer is actually no. According to an article published in WebMD (LINK) -

Allison Aiello, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, headed a group that analyzed several studies comparing people who washed their hands with regular or antibacterial soap. In all but one trial, she tells WebMD, “there was no difference between groups, either in bacteria on the hands or in rates of illness.” In a single study, people who used antibacterial soap did have fewer bacteria on their hands, but only if they washed for 30 seconds, 18 times a day, for five days straight.

They do prevent illness in health care settings, where patients are more vulnerable to germs. But the antibacterial ingredients in hospital-strength soaps are up to 10 times the concentration of store-bought soap, according to Aiello.

“Also, antibacterial ingredients don’t kill viruses, which cause the vast majority of minor illnesses people experience,” she adds. That includes colds, flu, and stomach bugs.

In fact the article goes on to talk about how Triclosan (present in many antibacterial soaps like Protex and Lifebuoy) is present in the bloodstream of many individuals who use antibacterial soaps, higher amounts are present in people from higher income bracket. Triclosan levels are also detected in streams and rivers, presumably from all the soap flushed down the drainpipes.

Dettol uses another antibacterial agent, chloroxylenol. Both triclosan and chloroxylenol are toxic to fish.

10 times more protection...? Hmm...

Personally I've used dettol before, but I've stopped using it since it made my hands very dry and cracked. Chloroxylenol is also a mild skin irritant, so people with sensitive skin and skin problems should actually avoid using antibacterial soaps which are harsh. Ironically, many people tend to think that their skin disease is caused by some infection and they need to use this strong products - which will make it even worse.

Here are some other links which compare antibacterial soaps to regular ones -
NY TIMES
NEWSWEEK

So if they are no better, why buy it? I guess we know how powerful advertisements can be, especially when they play on people's fear. Sometimes I do use antibacterial soaps as well, like when I am in KFC and I just finished my dinner plate...no choice...KFC outlets all have antibacterial soaps. So the bottom line is this, go for regular soaps...or if you have sensitive skin, try mild cleansers or moisturising ones. They work just as well as antibacterial ones.

Breathe Right: Do they work?

GSK has been very aggressive in marketing the Breathe Right Nasal strips and the sales volume speaks for itself. Its in the papers, on the radio and everywhere you are sure bound to hear about it.

Does it really work? - that's what everyone always ask. Well first of all, it is printed on the box...

Breathe Right Nasal Strips open your nose to
-Reduce snoring
-Relieve nasal congestion
-Breathe better

Despite this, I guarantee you 9 out of 10 customers will come and buy this product to stop snoring. Why? because...that's how it was advertised. The radio ads featured 'Ways to stop your partner from snoring' and this is very effective. The message that consumers hear is 'buy this product to stop snoring'.

I can also tell you that 100% of return customers tell me that this product does not work for snoring (my wife can testify to that too). In fact, this is not a new product. It has been in the market for quite a long time. I remember seeing athletes wearing it a long time ago as you can see from the young Robbie Fowler in the picture below (which was taken in 1998).

That picture was taken from this news report (HERE) which also claims that the strips were ineffective when used by athletes. Having tried out this product myself, I can say that it does open up my nostrils. However, having big nostrils doesn't mean you won't snore right? If its true then all gweilos won't snore...

So the answer is no, it does not work.