Taking prescription drugs is simple right? Just take them as prescribed, and everything should be fine. If only it were so. Making sure you take your medications properly can be a hard habit to get into. Taking new prescriptions can get very complicated. And depending on your doctor’s availability, it can be hard to discuss the things that worry us. What should you do if following the label doesn’t work?
Rules of Prescription Drugs
Rule 1: Talk to Your Doctor
Remember that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When you are talking with your doctor, make sure they know about other drugs you are taking. That includes vitamins, herbals, nutritional supplements and over the counter medications. Many people don’t realize that some of the pills and powders that they use every day can compound or interact with their prescriptions. More than one person has taken an herbal treatment and completely undone what their medicine was helping them with. Share this information with your pharmacist as well, they are another source of expertise on interactions.
It is always worthwhile to ask your doctor what side effects you may experience and what to do if they happen. They may tell you to stop the drug immediately and come see them, or they may tell you about treatments for the side effect, but to keep taking the drug. This is good information to have upfront, if you can.
Getting the right drugs for pain management can be a real challenge. Check out Demystifying The Pain Scale for how to communicate pain to your doctor.
Rule 2: Know Your Drugs
Look into your medicines. When should you take them. How often? What can you combine them with, what should you avoid? Many medications have rules on them: take with food, do not drive, etc… Do not ignore these rules, they are there for a reason. The drugs may not work otherwise, or worse, the drugs may make you sick.
Check online what they are and what they do. Be familiar with the side effects, so that if they happen you can make the connection more quickly. Or so that you can combat them. If a drug causes diarrhea, maybe you need to change your diet. This familiarity with the medication and it’s side effects can help you watch for and prevent them. Pay closest attention when you are taking several medications. If they have similar side effects, such as constipation, you could really have a problem. Taking some preventive steps, such as a stool softener or more dietary fiber can help dramatically.
Rule 3: Know Your Body
Pay close attention to your body’s response to the drugs, and how they are making you feel. Especially with the “As Required” prescriptions that give you some control over when and how you take them. Identifying what works best for you and a schedule around your life makes all the difference, more on that later,
Watch for new symptoms or reactions. This sounds obvious, but because we are often dealing with whatever condition has created the need for the prescription, we often overlook these new symptoms. For example, after I dislocated my knee I was on some painkillers that caused constipation. I was so focused on the knee pain, and all the pre-op appointments for corrective surgery that I did not notice what was happening until it started causing me back pain. When we are distracted by our primary condition, other things can sneak up on us too easily.
How to Take Prescription Drugs
I find the hardest part of taking prescription is remembering. Either I am well enough to continue on with my life and then I just get busy and forget or I feel so bad that I just generally forget. Unless it is my pain pills and then I have a built-in reminder, unfortunately. Over the years I have gotten better at it.
Step 1: Pillbox
If you are taking more than one pill you need a pillbox. You do not want to carry the bottles around with you all the time if
you have a few. There are multiple kinds and for most of us the strip one with a section for each day is enough. If you have a lot of pills I suggest the week one with 3-4 sections per day. You can take the current day with you and still only load the box once a week. That way it is no big deal if you have a few busy days in a row.
Important: It is worth noting that if your prescriptions include a controlled substance (painkillers) you need your prescription bottles to travel. Security and Customs will want proof that they are yours and you are supposed to have them.
Step 2: Schedule
You need to take your pills at the right time, so if you have to take something with food, you have to time it with your meals. Some drugs can’t be mixed with certain foods or vitamins. You don’t take iron with milk, or calcium, but it loves citrus, so you time it at lunch with an orange instead of at breakfast with cereal. You know you can’t drive on pain pills, so you take those after you’ve taken the kids to school.
Have a schedule that makes room for your pills, your vitamins, as well as your favorite habits. Then create reminders to help you remember them. I have an app on my phone. Before smart phones, I used to have a list and a timer, that worked well too, but smartphones are definitely easier.
If you are taking medication “As Required” make note of when you last took it. We have all found ourselves with a raging headache, trying to remember if we took the Tylenol already or if we were about to. The bigger the pain, the worse this will get. I keep my days pills in a little pillbox, so that I always know how many I have taken. It starts out in the morning with six, so it is not hard to tell how many I have had. I also try to mark in phone what time I take it, so I don’t overlap them.
Step 3: Log
This is only necessary if you are taking a number of new medications. I keep track of what I am taking and why, as well as any customizations I have made to the schedule. I review it before I talk to the doctor. It also tells me what need refilling soon and what needs a whole new prescription. I can tell what I will be discontinuing and what I will keep taking. I also note what I don’t like about them, if applicable, so I can mention it to the doctor. Whenever I go to a medical appointment, I take my log; they usually ask me what I am taking, and this makes it easier. Even the dentist needs to know if you are on blood thinners.
Make sure that you list your food interactions. I knew somebody that didn’t touch grapefruit for two years after he stopped taking the medication it interfered with. All because he mixed up which medications had the interaction problem.
Things That Could Go Wrong
No matter how diligent you are about getting upfront information and taking your medication as recommended, there are some things that are out of your control. Here are some things that can result from medications that you should be aware of.
A severe adverse reaction
You could be having an allergic reaction. You could be one of the few people whose bodies don’t respond well to the drug. This could be quite serious. The only solution to this is to see someone right away. First choice would be the prescribing doctor. If your doctor isn’t available, you can go to a walk-in clinic, see your local pharmacist, or call a health hotline. You can even go to the emergency room, if the symptoms call for it. Make sure you have the prescription as well as anything else you are taking. The doctors will want to know the whole story.
A minor reaction to the drug
You still need to look into this. You might be able to do something to counteract the new symptoms. Maybe you can get an alternate medication. You shouldn’t ignore it and hope it will go away; it might get worse. As above, talk to your doctor or a pharmacist, maybe this is less urgent, but it is still important.
Drugs interfering with your life
Drugs can be inconvenient, but know why you are taking them and talk to your doctor before going off of them. Quitting some prescriptions can be dangerous. Not finishing antibiotics has resulted in recurring infections and superbugs. Skipping insulin can put you in a coma. Nonadherence to medication prescriptions is believed to cause 125,000 deaths in the US alone. (Read: The Cost of Not Taking Your Medicine) There is a reason you were given your prescription. Never stop taking your medication unless you know the consequences and discuss it with your doctor.
Pain killers can really interfere with your life. People don’t like how they feel, or that they feel foggy or out of it. They can’t drink, they can’t drive. As a result some people stop taking them. But painkillers have a purpose. Studies show that our bodies don’t heal as well when we have pain. So taking enough that we can heal and function can be important. Find ways to get a balance between function and restfulness.
After one surgery I started taking a new painkiller. I would take 2 every 4 hours, as the prescription called for, but within 15 minutes I would be asleep. It was awful. Then I would wake up two hours later, have one good hour, one bad one and then start the cycle all over again. I checked in with the doctor and he said it would be okay to take 1 every 3 hours. This allowed me to manage the pain and take part with my family. Later I started taking one only at night and replaced the daytime ones with Tylenol or Advil.
Side effects interfering with your life
Many times the side effects of a drug can be extremely inconvenient. Excessive urination for someone who already has incontinence can be untenable. If you can’t live with the side effects, you need to see your doctor about alternate options. Get a second opinion if necessary. Then you may have to weigh your options and decide what you can live with. If it is a short-term treatment, and it will treat the condition, you can probably manage. But if you will be taking the medication for a lifetime, you need to be able to maintain quality of life as well. This should be discussed with your family and your doctor. You don’t want to make your condition worse if it is just a matter of trying a different drug.
Medication does not work
Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. With some drugs it can be hard to tell. Try to find out what you should expect. You want to give it a reasonable amount of time before you go back to the doctor, but you don’t want to suffer needlessly. Ask the doctor how long it should take before you feel better.
- If you have an infection and you don’t start feeling a little better after 2-3 days of taking antibiotics, odds are that you have a resistant infection and it is not responding to the medication. You will have to get a stronger prescription from the doctor.
- Anti-inflammatory drugs can take days to actually start reducing the inflammation enough to reduce pain. Meanwhile if you stop taking them, they don’t work at all. Muscle relaxants can be similar.
- Most pain killers should work immediately, so if they don’t work, taking more is not likely to help. You may need to seek alternative options.
It is possible that you are one of the rare cases who do not respond to the drug. If you think that is the case, go back to your doctor so they can try something else. There are often multiple solutions to a problem, if you ask.
Alternatives to Medication
There are many alternatives to taking certain medications, especially pain medication. If something allows you to cut or stop pain medication, it is usually quite obvious whether it is working. However, this is not a simple equation for other conditions. Diet and lifestyle can resolve other conditions, as can holistic and naturopathic solutions, but do your homework and get a second opinion before you stop taking your medications. Some of these solutions need an incredible level of discipline that can be difficult for some. Other solutions may not be right for every case.
If your doctor is not receptive to your questions about alternative therapies; do get a second opinion, some doctors are hopelessly mired in traditional medicine and won’t consider anything else. But make sure any second opinion is a good one; do the research. For every excellent alternative medicines practitioner, there is a quack who hasn’t done their homework. Make sure you are seeing the first one.
Summary
Know what you are putting into your body and how it should affect you.- Follow the directions.
- Pay attention to how your body reacts and feels.
- Ask questions and follow-up if you are unwell or unhappy.
And finally: Your body, Your health and Your responsibility. Take it seriously, especially when it comes to drugs.
