Our Authors

Tracey Sullivan

Pharmacy Features Writer

Tracey has a varied background as a pharmacist. She has worked in community and hospital pharmacy both in NZ and the UK, in regulatory affairs for a drug company, and as a pharmacy auditor for the Ministry of Health. While working for the Pharmacy Guild she represented community pharmacy to DHBs, PHARMAC and government Ministries. She is now enjoying combining her role as mum to her young daughter along with freelance writing on health and pharmacy-related topics.

Articles by this Author


Hearing Loss – is it an inevitable part of aging?

Many people assume that hearing loss is an inevitable part of aging. Adopting strategies to protect hearing as early as possible can help.

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Scalp Conditions – Psoriasis and Dandruff

It is normal to shed skin from your scalp, but there are two common scalp conditions that cause the skin cells of the scalp to shed quickly.

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Know Your Numbers

The start of a new year is a good time to review your health and wellbeing and may be a catalyst to make some long-term changes....

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Once thought to be a childhood disorder that disappeared in adulthood, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (AD..

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Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis is the most severe form of an allergy and can be life-threatening. It occurs when the immune system overreacts to a substance...

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PMDD

Pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) has been described as “PMS on steroids”. It is a hormone-based mood disorder...

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Covid still….

It appears that New Zealand is experiencing a new wave (the fifth to be exact but who’s counting…) of Covid infections.

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Live Brave Mana Ora “Do Blue Day”

Live Brave Mana Ora Do Blue Day aims to raise awareness and support for young Kiwis with Type 1 diabetes.

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Men's Health

The health statistics for New Zealand men aren’t ideal…one in four Kiwi men die before they reach retirement age.

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Immunisation Schedule for Adults

Many parents are aware of the Immunisation Schedule vaccinations for their children, but there are also several that are funded for adults.

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Immunisation Schedule for children

Compared to other countries, New Zealand has a low childhood immunisation rate.

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Cervical Screening Changes

From the 12th of September 2023 some significant changes to cervical screening services in New Zealand will take place.

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Change in COVID restrictions

The final COVID-19 mandates have now been removed, including mask wearing and isolating, which are no longer a legal requirement.

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Immunisations available from pharmacies

There are now over 450 pharmacies providing vaccination services around Aotearoa and this number is continuing to grow.

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Winter Lip Care

If you thought summer was the worst time for dry, chapped lips, think again. Winter can actually be the time more of us suffer...

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Medicinal cannabis

Medicinal cannabis or ‘medical marijuana’ is the term used to refer to all forms of cannabis used in the treatment of medical conditions or dise..

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Changes to Abortion Law in NZ

It wasn’t until 24 March 2020 that abortion was decriminalised in New Zealand. On this date Parliament voted for radical reforms to abortion legis..

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Menopause in the Workplace

In the New Zealand workforce there are approximately 400,000 women in the menopause age bracket, and in a recent study it was revealed that 70% of t..

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Autism

Autism affects 1 in every 100 New Zealanders, however, this may be a conservative estimate. Internationally, the rate of autism appears to be rising..

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Insomnia

“Innocent sleep. Sleep that soothes away all our worries. Sleep that puts each day to rest. Sleep that relieves the weary labourer and heals hurt ..

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Rosacea

Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory skin condition causing facial redness that looks like a blush or sunburn, and doesn’t go away. It affects the ti..

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Talk Peach

Over 400 New Zealanders die from one of five gynaecological cancers every year, and most women don’t know that some of these exist. Talk Pe..

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Pancreatic cancer

The pancreas is a small, pear-shaped gland located in the abdomen. It produces enzymes that help with the digestion of food. It also produces hormon..

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Skin Cancer

Skin cancer begins when the skin cells are damaged and become cancerous. 90% of skin cancers are caused by too much exposure to the sun.

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Neurodiversity

All human brains are powerful, magnificent and unique. Neurodiversity is a term used to describe the way some of our unique brains work – thinking..

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Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer. In New Zealand, around 4000 men are affected each year, and around 700 will die from the ..

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Daffodil Day

Tautoko Te Ra Daffodil/ Daffodil Day is held on the last Friday of August every year. The beautiful daffodil flower has become an international symb..

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HRT for perimenopause and menopause

Menopause and the lead-up to it (called perimenopause) is a time of huge change for women, both physically and mentally. While some women sail throu..

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Cervical cancer

Nearly all cervical cancers are caused by infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV). This virus infects cells on the cervix and causes changes t..

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Bowel Cancer

Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer in New Zealand (lung cancer holds first place), but it doesn’t need to be as it is one of the can..

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Folliculitis

Thanks to my dear little four-year-old niece, who pretty much lived in her plastic outdoor swimming pool in Auckland over this hot summer, I know al..

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Iron Deficiency Anaemia

Iron is a very important mineral in the body as every cell needs it to function healthily. The medical name for low iron levels is anaemia which mea..

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Food poisoning – how to avoid and how to treat

Nothing ruins a summer holiday quicker than a tummy bug. The vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps that come with a bout of food poisoning (gastroe..

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Excess sweating (hyperhidrosis)

Our body’s way of cooling us down when we get hot, stressed or after exercising is to sweat. Sweat is a weak, salty solution produced in sweat gla..

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Chicken Pox

Chicken pox is a common childhood disease caused by the varicella virus. It causes small itchy blisters to form on the skin and also makes people fe..

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Burnout

Burnout is a term that is cropping up more and more. WHO formally acknowledged burnout in the International Classification of Diseases...

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Headlice (aka cooties, riha, utu, kutu bugs, nits or pediculosis…)

Hopefully the holidays put a stop to the headlice cycle at your child’s school. If you are one of the unlucky ones, the frustrating, time-consumin..

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Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)

Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV is not a new virus, but in fact a very common, very contagious virus that infects the respiratory tract. It can ..

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Ear infections

Middle ear infections (also known as otitis media) occur when there is inflammation or infection of the air-filled space behind the eardrum. The inf..

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Whooping Cough

Whooping cough is caused by a bacteria called Bordetella pertussis that infects the lungs and airways. Whooping cough is very contagious and is pass..

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Veins

Veins are part of our cardiovascular system whose function it is to move blood and transport nutrients to the cells in our body.

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Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a viral illness most common in children under the age of 10. It seems to be seasonal and often occurs in the ..

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School sores

Also known as impetigo, school sores are a common bacterial infection mainly affecting school-age children and more common in warmer months of the y..

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Croup

There will be many parents familiar with the seal-like bark of croup and its alarming tendency to hit children in the early hours of the morning. Wh..

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Prickly heat (sweat rash)

Now that summer is finally here, prickly heat or sweat rash can sometimes make life a little uncomfortable. When we are hot, our bodies activate our..

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Bursitis

The human body contains over 160 bursae, whose function is to provide a thin cushion between surfaces such as tendons, muscles, ligaments and skin a..

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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) includes respiratory diseases such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, certain types of bronchiectasis an..

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OSTEOPOROSIS

World Osteoporosis Day is on Tuesday 20 October this year. The aims of this day are to raise awareness of how to prevent, diagnose and treat osteopo..

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Warts and Verrucas

Warts and verrucas appear as small lumps on the skin and range in size from 1mm up to around 1cm. They can appear on their own or in clusters, with ..

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Chilblains

Chilblains (also known as pernio or perniosis) are itchy, sore, red or purple bumps that occur on the skin as a reaction to cold. Painful inflammati..

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Bacterial conjunctivitis

Bacterial conjunctivitis occurs when bacteria infect the transparent protective membrane that lines the eyelid and covers the white part of your eye..

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Endometriosis

Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease that affects about one in ten women. It happens when tissue similar to that found in the uterus lining (end..

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Anxiety

The medical definition of anxiety is “a feeling of apprehension and fear, characterised by physical symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, and f..

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Coronavirus

Please follow the latest updates on the Ministry of Health website. COVID-19 UPDATE New Zealand is the 48th country to have a confirme..

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Hair Loss

It is normal to lose between 50 and 100 hairs a day. Even though it may look a lot on your brush, when you consider we have around 100,000 hairs on ..

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Preventing getting sick when travelling

There is nothing worse than getting sick while on holiday. After weeks of planning and much anticipation, you want to be feeling in top form when ou..

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Nosebleeds

Nosebleeds are a fairly common occurrence, particularly in children, and are usually treatable at home without any medical intervention. They occur ..

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Breastfeeding Awareness Week

Breastfeeding Awareness Week runs from the 1st to the 7th of August this year. It is part of an annual global event that celebrates breast-feeding a..

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Coughs

A cough occurs when the throat or airway has been irritated, usually by mucus or foreign particles such as dust or smoke. It is the body’s way of ..

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Cold & Flu

Many people say “I’ve got the flu” when really they have a cold. While a bad cold can make you feel pretty miserable for a few days, you will ..

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Allergic rhinitis in children

Allergic rhinitis is the most common allergic disorder in both Australia and New Zealand and affects 10 to 20% of the world’s population. While no..

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Scratches, bites and stings

Ahhh summer, here at last. Long sunny days, bare feet, beach swims and staying up late to roast marshmallows after dark. All things that make wonderfu..

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Oral Contraceptives

Oral contraceptive pills have been available since the 1960’s as a way for women to prevent pregnancy and have control of their fertility. They were..

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Shingles

Shingles is a painful skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. Anyone who has previously had chicken pox – and most of us caught ..

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Vitamin C

Vitamin C – it’s the vitamin we’ve all heard of and we all know we need it in our diet to stay healthy. But what does it actually do and why do ..

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Acne

Acne is a very common skin condition – in fact most people will be affected by it at some stage in their lives.

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