{"id":872,"date":"2014-02-11T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/?p=872"},"modified":"2014-02-11T08:08:41","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T13:08:41","slug":"be-alert-use-medications-safely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/articles\/be-alert-use-medications-safely\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Alert – Use Medications Safely"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Woman

Be medically alert regarding prescriptions<\/p><\/div>\n

Thanks to modern medicine, Americans are living longer than ever before.\u00a0 The average life expectancy for men is now 75.6 years, and it is 80.7 years for women.\u00a0 Chances are that as you age, your doctor will prescribe medications for you to manage your medical conditions and help you live a longer and healthier life.\u00a0 If you are taking any type of medication, there are some things you should keep in mind.<\/p>\n

First, it is extremely important that you know exactly what medications you are taking and their dosages, as well as if you are allergic to any medications.\u00a0 Write this information down on a piece of paper and stick it in your wallet or purse, or list the information in a “notes app” on your smart phone.\u00a0 You should also give the list to any family member who would be likely to accompany you to the doctor or who would be contacted in the event you have a medical emergency, including your medical alert monitoring company.\u00a0 Any doctor you encounter will need to know this information to properly diagnose your medical issues and to prescribe additional medication, if needed.<\/p>\n

Next, it is very important that as a patient, you advocate on your own behalf.\u00a0 This means that if you have any questions about a prescription, you should ask them.\u00a0 Examples would be:\u00a0 Why are you prescribing this medication to me?\u00a0 What is the proper way to take this medication?\u00a0 What should I do if I accidentally skip a dose of this medicine?\u00a0 Does it matter if you take this medicine with food or on an empty stomach?\u00a0 What side effects might I experience with this medicine?<\/p>\n

Know that your pharmacist is another great resource if you need help.\u00a0 If you have all of your medications filled in one location, their information system will automatically check for any possible reactions from mixing different types of medications, or a medicine\u2019s relation to any of your known allergies.\u00a0 If you have difficulty opening bottles, you can let your pharmacist know, and they can provide you with easy-open tops.\u00a0 Additionally, if you find yourself with questions about your medication that you forgot to ask your doctor, your pharmacist can typically assist with the answers.<\/p>\n

Finally, there is a note of caution regarding the use of over the counter medication.\u00a0 You should check with your doctor before taking any over the counter medication to ensure that it will not cause an adverse reaction with your regular medications.\u00a0 Once you have received approval from your doctor, make sure to carefully follow the recommended dosage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to modern medicine, Americans are living longer than ever before.\u00a0 The average life expectancy for men is now 75.6 years, and it is 80.7 years for women.\u00a0 Chances are that as you age, your doctor will prescribe medications for you to manage your medical conditions and help you live a longer and healthier life.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[15,27,13,114],"acf":[],"modified_by":"ArticlesTips","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7897,"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions\/7897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.medicalalertadvice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}