As Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) enter retirement and the Medicare system, developing chronic conditions, related to aging, is a primary concern. Even though many of us do whatever we can to stay healthy – eat well – stay active – a good portion take one or more medications. Medication adherence is key to overall health and wellness but isn’t always easy.
Prescription drugs and harmful side effects
We’ve all seen drug commercials that list endless and scary side effects. Adverse reactions are sometimes caused by the drug itself but also when certain drugs are taken together. In some cases, drugs become a deadly cocktail. Add alcohol or substance abuse to the mix and “Houston, we have a problem.”
Healthcare miscommunication
The healthcare system is complicated and sometimes specialists don’t always communicate with each other as well as they should. I noticed this when my husband was ill with brain cancer. Patients and/or advocates need to stay on top of it and make sure that each doctor knows what the other one is prescribing.
Medication adherence prevents needless deaths
Medication non-adherence leads to 125,000 deaths and 10 to 20 percent of hospital and nursing home admissions every year. We’ve heard about celebrities like Prince who have died from prescription drug overdoses from opioid medications. Most opioids are prescribed for pain and are generally safe when taken in the correct dose and not mixed with the wrong formulations.
Not taking medications as prescribed
Studies show that a third of patients do not take their medications as prescribed and nearly 50 percent of patients with chronic conditions stop taking their medications within the first year of diagnosis. They may simply forget or stop taking their prescriptions deliberately. Some choose to try a natural approach but may not realize that herbs and supplements could have harmful side effects as well. It’s always best to check with your pharmacist before taking anything, especially if it hasn’t been prescribed by your doctor.
Dealing with multiple maintenance medications
It’s confusing for anyone who takes multiple prescriptions for chronic or temporary conditions.
Food and medication
Certain foods can have adverse reactions to drugs such as grapefruit. It’s always best to talk to your pharmacist about mixing foods with drugs that could compromise the effectiveness of the drug.
Allergic reactions
Doctors do their best to make sure a drug will not cause an allergic reaction but it’s also a good idea to check with your pharmacist. They will alert you to potential problems you may experience and how to deal with reactions safely.
The benefits of pharmacist counseling
Research shows that face-to-face counseling by a pharmacist is two to three times more effective at increasing patient adherence than other interventions.
For more tips on how to handle medication, click here.
I try to minimalize the amount of medicine I take and I take it at the same times every day. Even then, though, I sometimes forget so I can see how it would be even harder as I age. Something else to look forward to I guess.
The less you have to take the better. It also gets hard when you’re managing medication for someone else. My dad was taking 18 pills a day at one point.
I’m a fiery grandma, age 60 and take zero meds, never have. My grandma taught me at a young age to use herbs and vitamins to avoid drugs. She was right. I’ve remained healthy throughout my lifetime. However, I have witnessed the effects of not paying attention to one’s body through my parents and in-laws. Just because doctors prescribe a medication does not mean that we blindly take it. It is your body, only you know how that med makes you feel. If something isn’t right, you need to tell the doctor and then he can take appropriate action. If he doesn’t then find another medical professional who will listen.
Good for you that you don’t have to take meds. I don’t either but many other Baby Boomers do. And they take care of parents who do. You’re right about being proactive about your health and what you choose to put into your body.
I strongly agree with all the points in this posts. Nonadherence to your medication can cause you a lot of burdens. I also agree with the comment above by the fiery grandma Carla Gardiner; you should not just take what is ordered to you by the doctor blindly. I was a nurse before, and I say that intelligent patients or those who have managed to increase their health literacy are more conscious when it comes to maintaining their health, especially if it involves medications. That way, they were able to check with their doctors the drug-drug interactions of what is right to take together and what’s not. Improving health literacy is very important. Doctors and other medical practitioners have to be almost perfect all the time, but they are still humans, prone to make mistakes. And our part as their patient is to ask them questions and improve our health literacy to be able to come up with a more personalized management plan for your health.
Back to nonadherence to medication, it can cause you loads of money as the status of your health decline (instead of improving). As a consequence, you’ll spend much of your retirement funds on health care expenses. If that happens, let’s hope that Medicare and Medicare supplement plans could withstand the costs, if not, be ready to face the retirement expenses that can make you cry – outrageous out-of-pocket healthcare costs.
You make excellent points, Leandro. Doctors are human. That’s why it’s good to have a pharmacist to watch your back just in case. But I also agree that we have to take control of our own health and not necessarily take medications blindly because they have so many side effects.
I wonder sometimes if we really need all the medications prescribed to us. My husband is going into hospital next week and we had to list his medications. My goodness, I never realised he took so many!