EDU: How to Manage your Medication

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How to Manage Your Medications

From Stacey Lloyd, www.about.com

Get Organized, Reduce Medication Errors:

Managing your medications can be quite a challenge when you are taking

several different medications everyday, each requiring different time

schedules for administration. Some medications may be pills, while others

may be powders or solutions you inhale. The purpose of your medications is

to help your ailment, not increase your stress. So here are a few tips for

managing your medications:

FACT: All branded medications have a brand name and a generic name.

PROBLEM: You can't rely on your memory for recalling these names.

SOLUTION: Ask your doctor to write down both the generic and brand names of

all the medications you are taking. If possible, have him write down how to

pronounce them. This will help during telephone conversations with the

doctor's office and pharmacies.

FACT: You take several different medications requiring different

administration schedules.

PROBLEM: You can't rely on your memory for knowing when you need to take

each medication even though the information is on each bottle. Reading each

bottle each time your due to take a medication, can be frustrating and time

consuming if you have 10+ pills to take.

SOLUTION: Make a chart (or ask a family member or friend) showing what to

take, the dose of each medication, what it's for, and when you need to take

it (e.g. after eating, on empty stomach, with water, etc.). Have your doctor

or family member look over the chart to make sure it is accurate and

complete.

FACT: Prescription closures, such as bottles, are difficult to open,

especially with arthritic hands.

PROBLEM: Fidgeting with bottle caps all day can be painful, frustrating and

time consuming.

SOLUTION: Buy a pill container that has dividers for each day and

subdividers for morning, afternoon and evening.

Taking your medications doesn't have to be a chore. With just a few simple

steps, you can manage your medications easily and reduce the possibility of

missing a dose or mistakenly taking a dose.