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If you are living with chronic pain or chronic illness, chances are you are taking at least one type of medications, if not more. Even if you don’t have chronic pain, you may be taking a few different medications. And, as we age, we tend to take more medications for more problems.
Here are some tips to stay safe while taking medications, either prescription medications or over-the-counter medications:
- Follow instructions properly. While this may seem like a no-brainer, many people don’t follow instructions properly and either end up in more pain and take more medications or they give up on the medications. Take the recommended amount as often as you are supposed to. If you take an “as needed” medication – take it. It won’t do you any good sitting in the bottle.
- Keep pills in their original containers. This prevents mix-ups. The exception to this rule is if you fill up a weekly container that helps you remember to take your medications. If you do fill up the weekly containers, write down on a piece of paper which each medication is, what times you take them and what the pill looks like. If you take many pills, it may be worth it to tape one pill of each type next to the description.
- Don’t take your pills in the dark. It’s hard sometimes; you need to take your pills because you forgot earlier or you’re having pain now, but it’s the middle of the night and you don’t want to turn on the lights to wake up others or to wake yourself totally. This is very dangerous because it’s easy to mistaken one type of pill for another in the dark. If you can’t keep a night light near where you take your pills, perhaps you can just open your fridge and use the light inside there.
- Be aware of the side effects. Some pills can make you feel light-headed when rising from a lying or sitting position. Until you know for sure how you react, assume that you may be affected and get up slowly. This goes for medications that warn you to avoid getting sunlight.
- Check expiry dates. While pills that have gone past their expiry dates are likely not harmful, they may not be as strong as they should be and therefore, won’t do you any good.
- Be aware of interactions between different medications and different foods. There are some medications that should not be taken with certain foods, such as grapefruit juice, or some that shouldn’t be taken with a certain other type of medication. The person to best advise you of this is your pharmacist.
Do you have any stories to share about medication safety?
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