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"How's this for an irony," says Andrew Ettingshausen, known as ET since his footballing days with the Cronulla Sharks. "I've been doing Escape with ET - a TV fishing show - for 8 years.. and I get sea sick. It's embarrassing. Even if it's pretty calm out there I can get as sick as a dog. Not good. And actually I find that a lot of people I take out on the boat are the same. We should be enjoying ourselves and instead we feel ill.
"I've tried just about everything on the shelves. Some so called remedies made me very sleepy and some didn't work at all," explains ET. "Then about a year ago I discovered this concept of the 'compounding chemist'. They're like chemists in the old days who used to make up your medicines especially for you. The difference these days is they've got a lot more to work with. I found Heidi Karonen who's a compounding chemist in Caringbah, Sydney."
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"When Andrew told me his story and how he had reacted to motion sickness drugs in the past, I worked out a formula that I thought would be right for him," says Heidi Karonen . "I tweaked the ingredients. There's one that combats the imbalance with the antihistamines which are commonly included, and used a natural filler to combat the nausea and another product for the tiredness. We mixed these all together and put them into a capsule, taking into account Andrew's weight and height. I've used this compound before for motion sickness - for Caringbah High School if they go on an excursion by bus to the snow for instance." "Once Heidi thought she had the right formula, we put it to the test on me and some of my friends who also get sea sick. We went out in heavy seas and amazingly, I felt a million dollars. Since then I've made trips in monstrous seas off Exmouth WA and I still felt great. We went to Role Shoals off Broome which also gave them a good test in the heavy seas there. It is part of my job going out on the water - and I wanted to feel good about it. Now I know I am going to have a great day regardless of the conditions. Even my camera crew takes the capsules. One dose in the morning does it for me."
"This is a common story from people who use compounding chemists," claims Jenny Giam of the Professional Compounding Chemists of Australia (PCCA), the body which represents pharmacists who maintain and enhance their profession's skills at making up preparations tailored to individuals' needs. "Manufacturers of products on the shelves do a good job of making medications for the average person. But there's no such thing as an average person. We're all individuals with our own peculiarities. Compounding chemists can work with the patient's doctor to prepare a customised medicine or if a prescription is not required, take a history from the person, assess their build and so on and make up a special formulation which is designed for them as an individual."
" We also use compounding a lot for veterinary purposes, paediatrics and sports medicine," says Heidi Karonen . "We make up different anti inflammatories, muscle relaxants for example as treatments for corks where people have not found over the counter products as effective." "It's fantastic," says ET. "It's personalised pharmacy, where they can up or down the dose and customise to a person's own particular needs."
Background
Compounding used to be the main work of high street pharmacists (or chemists). Those were the days before the international pharmaceutical industry developed to the extent it has today. Indeed given the number of medications now available compared to 100 years ago, it would be impossible to hand tailor drugs for every person. But there's no point in having a potentially beneficial medication if there's no way to get it into a person because they can't tolerate the delivery technology (eg tablets/capsules, creams) that they come in from the manufacturer. That's when compounding comes into its own.
Professional Compounding Chemists of Australia (PCCA) represents pharmacists who maintain and enhance their profession's skills at making up preparations tailored to individuals' needs. It provides training and is also a TGA licensed supplier of ingredients for extemporaneous (made for immediate use) compounding to pharmacists who prepare medicines for patients for whom the available commercial products are unsuitable. The Therapeutic
Goods Act specifically allows pharmacists, doctors, and veterinarians to prepare medicines for individual patients when a suitable commercially manufactured product is unavailable. PCCA does not supply or advertise products to the public.
In terms of regulation, The Therapeutics Goods Administration specifically exempts compounded products from having to be approved as they are made on an individual basis for specific patients who would otherwise have to use less suitable medicines, import the product (at great expense) or just be denied the medicine that their doctor recommends.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has published specific Professional Practice Standards for Compounding with which pharmacists are required to comply. The Pharmacy Boards of each state are responsible for regulating compounding since this has always been part of professional pharmacy practice.
Heidi Karonen
Heidi is a Compounding Chemist at BOVA Pharmacy, 304 Kingsway, Caringbah, NSW. |
