I have an family member who is on several medications; a very complicated regimen. Keeping track of her medications is a big deal because her health depends on it. Recently her health was in decline. Much of it was related to her conditions, but some of it related to her medications….she was taking them incorrectly.
This wasn’t her fault, but rather due to the complexity of her regimens. She was on multiple medications (over 10) and took them three times per day. Now, this would be a difficult issue to coordinate for anyone, but as we get older, it becomes increasingly a challenge. Also, with the use of generic medications, the pills tend to look similar and come with labels that are less clear….each medication has two names, the branded name and the generic/chemical name. It is confusing.
So….I would ask you to look at your own regimen of medications and make an effort to minimize your confusion. Review your bottles, make sure they are correct, and then set up a system for taking your medications by either using a checklist or keeping a medi-set (pill box) that allows for you to fill it up once a week or once a month. This creates a more stable method for taking and sorting out the medications and required you to focus on the medications just once a week or month as opposed to having to focus on ‘getting it right’ every day of the week.
If you have an older relative on multiple medications, you can review their medications with them or have them bring the bottles in to their next doctors appointment to review them in detail.
We can all benefit from being a bit more intense with monitoring our medications and those of our family members…let’s make the effort.