Managing your medications

While your doctor may decide which treatments are best for you, it’s your job to see that you use and store the medications safely. That might be harder than it sounds if you’re juggling multiple prescriptions.

A simple chart such as the one that appears below can help you keep track of your medicines. You can make your own, or your doctor or pharmacist may be able to give you one. It’s important to include any supplements, herbal remedies, and over-the-counter medications that you use, so your doctor and pharmacist can evaluate whether they could interact with your prescribed medications.

Many drugstores also sell pill organizers that have labeled compartments (for example, marked “Lunch” or “Bedtime”) that can help remind you to take your medications at the right times, as well as calibrated spoons or syringes to help you dispense the correct doses of liquid medicines. Reminder charts that let you check off dosages might help, too. If you need a stronger reminder, you may want to buy containers that beep or blink when it’s time to take a medication. Some containers have a cap that counts how many times a bottle has been opened to help tally daily doses. Check with your pharmacist to be sure that the dispenser you prefer won’t compromise the strength of your medicines by exposing them to moisture, light, or oxygen.

Follow these steps while taking any medication:

• Keep the original container, and remove pills or tablets only when you want to take a dose or load a medicine dispenser. Follow instructions on how to store the medicine.
• Ask your pharmacist before crushing or dividing tablets. Some pills must be taken whole.
• Discard drugs that have expired.
• Tell your doctor about side effects.
• At least once a year, show your doctor all of your medicines, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs and herbs or supplements. Ask if you should still be taking them.
• Always carry an updated list of your prescription and over-the-counter medications. This helps enormously if you unexpectedly need medical care. You also should show it to any doctor or specialist you see before further prescriptions are written.
• Keep all medicines out of reach of children, who might mistake brightly colored pills for candy.

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Americans are living longer and taking more medications than ever before. To learn more about medication safety and other ways to help you stay independent in your later years, read Harvard Health Publications’ Living Independently in Your Later Years.

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