Medication Risk - 5 Questions to Ask Yourself.
Q. I've heard that some people are at a greater risk for having problems with their medications? How do I know if this could be me?
A. Medications are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they can be very helpful at managing and sometimes curing disease. Where on the other hand medications can cause nasty side effects (also called toxicity or adverse effects) that can in some cases, be worse than the disease itself.
Maximizing the benefits of medication and minimizing the risk, is not always simple. It often takes a lot of work on the part of your doctor, pharmacist and other health care professionals.
But an important factor in the equation of your medication risk is you! You can prevent problems with your medication by learning what your medication risk is, and how to reduce it.
Answer these 5 simple questions with a YES or NO response, and tally up your "YES" responses:
- 1) Do you take 5 or more medications regularly?
- 2) Do you take 12 or more medication doses per day? (For example 2 tablets 3 times a day = 3 doses)
- 3) Are you taking medications for 3 or more medical conditions?
- 4) Are you taking any of the following medications?
- carbamazepine
- lithium
- phenytoin
- quinidine
- warfarin
- digoxin
- phenobarbital
- procainamide
- theophylline
- 5) Have your medications, or the instructions on how to take them, changed 4 or more times in the past year?
What was your score? The more questions you answered Yes to, the greater your risk. By "risk" we mean potential for problems with your medication such as side effects, drug interactions, dosage problems or even too many or too few medications!
If you answered yes to 3 or more questions, it would be advisable to ask your pharmacist if you can spend some time reviewing your medications and how you can reduce your risk. Your pharmacist can then speak to your physcian about how to increase the effectiveness and the safety of your medications.
For more information on medication risk... Ask Your Pharmacist!
