Yesterday, I picked up a new antibiotic prescription for my daughter from my local pharmacy.

(We recently adopted my daughter from India where she had recurrent ear infections resulting in severe hearing loss. And, she is about to undergo second of several planned surgeries in order to try to repair damage.)

Before putting her to sleep, I got new medication out of bag, glanced at instructions, and prepared to give her drug according to instructions on label.

Just before doing so, I had a quick double-take.

Something seemed to be wrong. I looked at instructions again, and thought to myself slowly, “What’s going on…this doesn’t seem right.” Then, it hit me that dose seemed awfully high for her.

It took me a minute or two to put pieces together (it had been an unusually tough fight getting her ready for bed, I was tired, I was confident in my daughter’s physician, and I was thinking perhaps less critically that I should have). And then I noticed it. The label had a stranger’s name on it.

After another moment or two, I saw what had really happened.

The medication came in a box. Each side of box had a different label...one label was for my daughter and one label was for a stranger. And, stranger’s dose was more than double what my daughter’s surgeon had recommended.

(This error didn’t happen in a mom-and-pop pharmacy. It happened in a modern new chain pharmacy whose name you would recognize from advertisements on TV.)

I’m not a surgeon…and I’m not a pediatrician…but I am a physician trained in internal medicine and I have spent most of last twelve years writing about, speaking about, and developing systems to reduce frequency of medication error and improve safety of pharmacy practice.

This pharmacy error brought topic of drug safety home to me…literally.

What I can tell you is that this sort of error occurs all too often in United States (and around world). And, that it can have devastating consequences for people involved.

A recent study in New England Journal of Medicine indicated that 25% of patients who take one or more prescription medications will experience an adverse drug event within three months—and 39% of these are preventable or avoidable.

The Harvard Medical Practice Study found reported in JAMA in 2001 that 30% of patients with drug-related injuries died or were disabled for more than 6 months.

We all know some foods are stimulants and some slow you down. But have you tried using these foods to effect your moods?

Getting Vitamins And Minerals one needs is of first concern Most people can get all vitamins and minerals they need by eating

properly. The B complex is an extremely important group of nutrients

that body must acquire through diet or produce via

intestinal flora to enable it to transform food into energy, maintain a

strong immune system, balance many of body's hormones, and perform

a wide variety of other tasks.

Many things can contribute to vitamin B deficiencies. Eating Junk

foods and bread products high in sugar and white refined flour

processed foods (lack nutrients and may contain many additives also

fills one up and leaves no room for healthy foods. ), conventionally

grown produce (are sprayed with pesticides and stored for such long

lengths of time they lack nutrients by time we buy them.), Using

alcohol (more than two drinks a day can deplete B vitamins.),living a

high stress lifestyle, environmental pollution, inadequate digestion,

malnutrition, illness, and a vegetarian or vegan diet can all

contribute.

Due to fact that a good percentage of U.S. population consumes

vitamin-deficient foods raised in vitamin deficient soils along with a

combination of one or more of aforementioned problems, vitamin B

deficiencies have become commonplace.

Some of problems one experiences with deficiencies are:mild to

severe depression,forgetfulness, vague fear, uneasiness to panic ,mood

swings,loss of ability to concentrate, fatigue, insomnia or sleep

disturbances. The richest food sources of B-1 are brewer’s or nutritional yeast,

brown rice, egg yolks, fish, legumes, liver, nuts, peas, poultry, rice

bran, dulse, kelp, spirulina, wheat germ and whole grains. A high

carbohydrate diet will increase need for thiamin and use of

antibiotics, sulfa drugs, and oral contraceptives may decrease

body's thiamin level.

The foods providing highest levels of B-2 are brewer's or

nutritional yeast, almonds, wheat germ, wild rice, egg yolks, legumes,

liver, fish, and poultry. Niacin is found in brewer’s or nutritional yeast, liver, broccoli,

carrots, cheese, eggs, fish, raw milk, peanuts, potatoes, tomatoes,

dandelion greens, and wheat germ. Most fresh vegetables are good sources for B-5. Brewer's and

nutritional yeast, liver, eggs, mushrooms, avocados, broccoli, whole