Medication dedication...

[MarkJT]

Morning all,

I have just taken my meds and it's just occurred to me how does everyone take theirs? I take all my tablets in one go (6/7) and swig them down with water. How do you take yours?

[Barnclown]

In swallowing sessions throughout the day...some meds need timed gaps before & after, some musn’t be combined with others, some are best taken with food, others mustn’t be taken all in one go and have to be taken at equal intervals over 24 hours etc etc. And that’s just my oral meds...then there are the topicals including eye drops, which involve similarly varied protocols.....

I mostly swallow oral meds with water...but if a med tastes bad, i use a mix of 1/2&1/2 still + sparkling water...and when a med is hard to swallow i sometimes take a bog spoonful of yogurt as i gulp it down

Some tabs are huge, which is tough cause i have chronic early onset dysphagia...i’ve learned to stand or sit up very straight with my neck extended when i glug these tabs down... like a heron swallowing a big fish

I’m aware i tend to be highly compliant to treatment plan regimes when these have proven to TRULY consistently help me a lot. - as all my current prescrip meds have been & do currently. If a med gives bad side effects i’m ready to alert my medics for their advice & even stop taking it.

I’m curious:

how many of us aren’t impressed with the effectiveness of our meds, so don’t always comply with instructions re meds taking, even though the prescribing medic insists on compliance - eg do any of us skip the odd dose, or combine meds that instructions say shouldn’t be?

Also, how many of us read meds’ info & instruction sheets?

Am glad you posted, Mark...following your thread will be v interesting. Thanks 🍀🍀🍀🍀 Coco

[PMRpro in reply to Barnclown]

Spot on BC!!

Like pred and calcium shouldn't be taken close together - and patients do notice a difference when they have a couple of hours space. That can apply to a whole range of things besides these two. Some medications are better absorbed from and empty stomach, others need food to create the right environment. Or they are to create a better environment - PPIs are best taken 1/2 to 1 hour before the situation for which they are prescribed: reflux after a meal, take the PPI on an empty stomach before the first meal but if it is night time reflux taking it at breakfast time won't achieve much, then it needs to be either twice daily or taken at night if daytime reflux isn't a problem.

It can lead to complicated dosette boxes and phone alarms being required. But it may well mean you get a better result - and even manage on lower doses.

[Barnclown in reply to PMRpro]

THANKS! i can easily get so confused & anxious about all this, especially when adding on a new med, that i make sure i have a friendly pharmacist i can turn to for help sorting out when to take what & how etc...i am very lucky: at the mo i have 2 lovely local pharmacists who are great communicators + very kind sweet people. It is what it is! XOXO

[MarkJT in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks PMRPro - I didn't realise calcium tablets and pred shouldn't be taken too close together. Do you know what the reason is for this and what if effect it has?

Mark

[PMRpro in reply to MarkJT]

Lord - I can never remember which way round it is!!! I think one reason is that pred reduces the uptake of calcium - and that is why it is claimed it causes osteoporosis. It doesn't always - my BMD hadn't changed in 7 years of pred. However, the main reason is that the use of antacids can reduce the absorption of various corticosteroids from the stomach - so the pred becomes less effective. We always say pred for breakfast, calcium/vit D for lunch and tea/dinner. PPIs may have a similar effect of course.

[MarkJT in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks, that makes sense.

[MarkJT in reply to Barnclown]

Wow, lots to think about there, Barnclown. One of the reasons I take mine all in one go in the morning is that I don't think I could keep proper track or remember at other times of the day - but I do wonder whether putting so many tablets into my system in one go is not right for me. Luckily, I don't have an issue with swallowing (yet!). To answer your question - I don't think I have ever read the instruction sheets!

Best wishes,

Mark

[Barnclown in reply to MarkJT]

Some of us are totally allergic to reading info sheets...they can totally spook us....i’ve learned to take them with a pinch of salt...but i do take my repeat meds listing to see a friendly pharmacist now & then just to check am taking everything ok....

am 65 and increasingly forgetful even though my meds improve my AID-related cognitive impairment...so i’ve taken to keeping a bit of card on which i jot down the time i swallow what during the day...OMG would i be taking stuff twice if i didn’t (i can’t bring myself to rely on a dosette box yet)

Taking so many meds now & responding so positively with no apparent bad side effects to them feels very weird...cause until, say, 8 years ago when my infant onset lupus diagnosis was recovered, i literally hated taking all the meds medics prescribed cause they didn’t really help much and had such nasty side effects...well, hey: NOW i love my meds and am happy to do what i must to manage all this swallowing etc...

[PMRpro in reply to MarkJT]

Daily dosette box and alarms on the phone...

[Joy_1 in reply to Barnclown]

I'm a complete nerd when it comes to taking my meds - tee hee! Comes from being a scientist no doubt.

One day a couple of years ago my consultant told me that I was considered their best patient. Why I said. Ah because you take all your meds at the right times, and you do a whole bunch of things to help yourself. I thanked him but inside I was very annoyed.

Why? because many a time if you don't ask about how/when to take your meds and what you can take with what then you are in the dark. PIL's do not have all the answers.

[Barnclown in reply to Joy_1]

Yep...am similar...but definitely not science trained! my medics seem to like my consistent compliance a lot...which always seems weird...

And yep: no way do any of my medics show the inclination to discuss any details about taking meds...in my early years this shocked me (they ARE prescribing these meds) but then i got the hang of finding friendly pharmacists who seem really pleased to get into my complexities + 8 pages of repeat prescrips. However, now my hyperreactivity is officially acknowledged, my medics are v quick to add any med i’ve reacted badly to onto my allergies listing...EVEN when that med helped as much as it harmed, and i’d be pepared to take it again....

On the other hand, the birth defects + regular colposcopies etc due to my being exposed in itero daily for 5 months to the internationally notorious endocrine disrupting artificial oestrogen diethylstilbesterol (DES) do predispose me to be an ultra wary dedicated reader of medication lit!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die...

[Lupiknits]

I’m pretty much like Barnclown. The right combination timed through the day. I read the sheets too, so I can tell whether a new med is causing problems. Oh, I take some with a “yuck” face, too. A couple can easily get stuck at the back of my throat and taste foul.

The only thing I’m disorganised about is my BuTrans patches. Because they get switched every week, it sometimes takes a night of pain to realise I haven’t done it.

[Penguintaz]

As soon as I get given a new medication I read the booklet, mainly possible side effects. I take all my medication after breakfast and I actually use the milk left over from my cereal to swallow them down! (Except aspirin which needs a cup of water to dissolve in). If I am not having cereal I have a cup of milk to take them

[Krazykat26]

I'm the same with taking meds..I always read the info sheet when starting a new med so that I have some idea what I'm swallowing. I take them throughout the day..morning evening n night time. I also have to sit up very straight n do a big gulp to get some of my meds down n I have had problems with reflux like my body won't let me swallow them..awful!! I now take my meds slowly n methodically and I take them with milk which makes the swallowing that much easier n has eased the reflux problems x