Around 70% of Americans take at least one prescription medication, and around half of people in the U.S. take at least two prescription drugs. Depending on their health status and conditions, some people may take far more medications than that, including some that must be taken multiple times per day.
Although these medications may be responsible for keeping debilitating symptoms at bay or even saving their lives, they can be dangerous when they aren’t taken properly or responsibly. Some medications can amplify or nullify the effects of others, while some may have synergistic effects, producing new symptoms and complications.
Patients who take multiple medications also run the risk of forgetting which medications they’ve taken and either skipping doses or doubling up. This mistake can be potentially life-threatening, especially with certain types of medications and illnesses that require intensive drug therapy.
If you take multiple drugs, you can protect yourself from potentially deadly mistakes by:
- Separating your pills into a weekly pill organizer—Taking pills straight from their bottles can make it easy to forget if or when you already took a dose. Setting up a weekly pill organizer ahead of time significantly reduces this risk.
- Setting alarms on your phone to remind you when to take your medications—If you take pills at different times of day, it can be helpful to have alarms set on your phone that go off when it’s time to take another dosage.
- Dropping medications whenever possible—If you can make lifestyle changes to drop medications, do so. Losing weight and exercising can help you reduce the need for certain blood pressure and diabetes medications, for example. However, never stop taking a medication without consulting your doctor first.
At Ferrer Poirot Feller Daniel, our drug injury lawyers know that sometimes, bad medication outcomes and serious injuries happen to even the most conscientious patients. When they do, it’s our job to help them get compensation. Contact us today for a free consultation.