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LIVING LONG: USING MEDICATIONS SAFELY
Although they are lifesavers, medications are a double-edged sword in later life. Because of age-related physiological losses, most are less efficiently metabolized and excreted. A dose tolerated well at age twenty is more likely to be toxic at sixty-five. At the same time, at sixty-five or eighty people are more likely to be taking several medicines. Because people differ so much physically, drug companies can devise only general guidelines for how high a dose is \"too much\" at a given age. To minimize the chance of adverse drug reactions, the National Institute on Aging advises taking these steps when a new medication is prescribed.
Tell your doctor exactly which other over-the-counter and prescription drugs you are using. Also tell your physician if you have previously had any adverse reactions to certain medications.
Ask about the medication\'s side effects. Don\'t be afraid you will develop the symptoms just by hearing about them. Being ill informed is not bliss.
Be vigilant to unusual symptoms during the first few weeks after beginning the drug. If symptoms appear, report them promptly.
Regularly reevaluate the need for the medication. Because new information about drugs and older people is continually coming to light, periodically review your medication regimen with your doctor.
One reason for the high rate of toxic side effects is memory lapses. A woman forgets she already took her morning pill and takes a double dose. A man samples that delicious new cheese at a party, forgetting it is on his list of \"drugs contraindications\". Errors related to taking or not taking medicines multiply when people are taking more than one drug. For instance, in a recent survey of patients at a geriatric clinic, the average person failed to remember 46 percent of the medications listed in his or her chart.
If your drug regimen is at all complicated, remembering what to take when, what foods to avoid, and what medicine has or has not been taken that day can strain the capacities of an Einstein. You must rely on memory aids to help you out. Here are two useful ones.
Post a list of the drugs you are taking next to the cabinet where you keep your medicines. Your record should show the name of each drug, the doctor who prescribed it, and the times of day for taking it. Next to each drug, include a week\'s spaces. For instance, a listing might look like this: Drug X, Dr. Prudent, 3 X a day: Monday____, Tuesday____, etc. Attach a pencil and check off the doses in the appropriate spaces as you take them. Keep a copy of your list in your wallet so you can do the same when you are out. Before you go to bed Sunday evening, erase the previous week\'s record and begin again.
Or buy a pillbox with seven compartments and fill it with the week\'s pills each Sunday evening before you go to bed. If you take a yellow pill three times a day and a red pill twice, place all five daily pills in each of the seven compartments. Then if you are unsure whether you took a certain pill, you will know just by counting how many of that day\'s supplies are left.
Either of these methods will tell you if you have already taken a particular pill. To remember to take your medicine in the first place, anchor your pill taking to another habitual activity. For instance, if one pill must be taken three times a day and the other twice, take them with meals - one at breakfast, lunch, and dinner and the other at breakfast and dinner. Eventually, swallowing your pill will become so much a part of mealtime that you will automatically think \"my medicine\" as you take your first bite.
As a fail-safe measure, put your medication record where you have to see it. If you take pills with meals, tape your list to the refrigerator or leave your pillbox in the middle of the kitchen counter. If you take pills at bedtime and on awakening, place your record in an eye-catching place next to the bed. Also put drug-interaction warnings in an eye-catching place. If you must avoid a long list of substances while on a given pill, post the list in your kitchen and in your medicine cabinet. Keep a copy in your wallet to refer to when you go out.
These techniques are not too bothersome. Once in place they require just the ounce of forethought it takes to look both ways before crossing the street. Both habits may be equally lifesaving.
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GENERAL HEALTH
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