Inform Your Doctor about Your Prescription Drug Usage

When you go to the doctor, make sure that he knows all of the medicines you are taking, whether prescription medicines or over-the-counter medicines. The number one medical problem associated with prescriptions is adverse drug interactions, and knowing the drugs you take can help the doctor prescribe the appropriate medicine.

Make certain that the medicine you get from the pharmacist matches what the doctor prescribed. The handwriting of doctors is often hard to read, and mistakes can happen. Determine the medicine that the doctor prescribed, and then make sure that you are, in fact, given that medicine. If the prescription names do not match, ask questions.

Ask Prescription Drug Questions

Ask how many times each day to take each pill, whether it should be taken with meals or between meals, and so on, and make sure that you understand the instructions before leaving the pharmacy. If you look at many prescription labels, you will see that doctors and pharmacists often use old-fashioned Latin abbreviations in their directions and, unless you happen to know that "p.r.n." is an abbreviation meaning "take as needed" or that "b.i.d." means "take twice each day," it is easy to become confused.

Keep your medicines away from children (child-proof caps are a good idea), and keep track of the medicines you have been given. If you are taking multiple medications, a chart or a "day-by-day" pill box might be useful to ensure that you take the pills only as often as you are supposed to. DO NOT ignore the directions for use--take medicines exactly as prescribed, no more and no less. If you believe that the medication is not working as it is supposed to, call the prescribing doctor.

Finally, if you feel that you are having an adverse or abnormal reaction to a medicine that you are taking, call your doctor or an ambulance, depending on the severity of the symptoms. There are so many medicines available today, all of which interact with one another and all of which affect different people in different ways, that an adverse or abnormal reaction may be the first sign of a serious medical problem.