A NEW WAVE OF CARE
Anita Gribbin Pharmacy Helping Patients Improve Emotional Wellbeing with Drug Free Approach
An innovative approach to support patients’ emotional wellbeing is being used with great success at Anita Gribbin Pharmacy in Toomebridge.
The pharmacy uses a micro-electrical stimulation device to apply a low amplitude wave form to the brain via earclip electrodes, balancing the brain’s rhythm back to its natural state. It works by stimulating the vagal nerve to rebalance the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Known as Alpha-Stim, the device increases the production of alpha brain waves, which causes a state of focused relaxation. Encouraging this state helps those struggling with anxiety, depression and insomnia to not only feel physically more relaxed, but also to re-access the situations and circumstances that make them feel anxious.
John Gribbin, who runs the pharmacy, says the pocket-sized device is completely safe and works quickly. “When your sympathetic nervous system is repeatedly overstimulated it can cause issues with your health including anxiety, depression and insomnia. Using the device daily allows the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system to be reset so the brain spends the time it needs in rest and recovery mode,” he said.
“It is a drug free option for anxiety, insomnia and depression. We take a Hippocratic Oath to provide the least amount of medicine for the shortest period of time necessary and sometimes I think we forget that as pharmacists,” he said.
Positive patient results
He said they had been offering the service for around two years and patients who used it had seen positive results.
“I particularly love to see it helping the children and the teenagers, especially the ones who have difficulty going into school because of anxiety. We had one mum the other week tell us that her son is now back in school after using the device and is making friends. There is no point giving children antidepressants if there is an alternative.”
Brian McCloskey is one patient who has used the device. He said: “Having been told about Alpha- Stim by John, I decided to give it a try. Having suffered from sleeping issues and anxiety I needed to explore different drug free options to help with these issues. John’s recommendation was to use Alpha-Stim for four to five weeks, once a day. After the first few days I started regaining a better sleep pattern and within three weeks anxiety levels had disappeared. Alpha-Stim was a simple drug free product and easy to use. I couldn’t recommend the product enough to those that are experiencing similar issues to myself. I would happily say that Alpha-Stim is a fantastic product.”
The pharmacy came across the solution because one of the team has a special interest in homeopathy. Someone in her network knew of a doctor using the device at their clinic.
“My initial attraction was that we don’t have enough contact points on a daily basis for people with longer-term or chronic anxiety. This gave us an option to allow people to take care of their emotional wellbeing in their own time, without using medication. You go to the dentist regularly for a check-up but you still brush your teeth in between. You should treat the brain the same way and regulate your mental and emotional wellbeing,” said John.
A rental programme
The pharmacy gives patients the option of trying the device in branch but as they need to use it daily the patient can then rent it from the pharmacy at the cost of £30 a week. The pharmacy says some patients will use it for a couple of weeks and then go on to buy their own. John said the pharmacy had in place a simple rental agreement which people sign up to so they know that if they don’t return the device after the rental period the cost of the device will be charged to their card.
“I think this is a lovely model that all pharmacies can embrace but very few actually do at the minute. I know of only one other pharmacy in Northern Ireland offering this service. I know there are a number of therapists that use the device for patients but community pharmacies are ideally placed to offer this service,” he said.
“I particularly love to see it helping the children and the teenagers, especially the ones who have difficulty going into school because of anxiety...”
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