{"id":19043,"date":"2021-03-24T15:39:52","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T20:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepapergown.zocdoc.com\/?p=19043"},"modified":"2023-03-06T15:17:29","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T20:17:29","slug":"how-to-get-better-at-taking-medication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/guides\/how-to-get-better-at-taking-medication\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get Better at Taking Medication"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re prescribed a new medication, how much do you learn about it before taking your first dose? It\u2019s smart to be inquisitive: While medications come with label warnings, the precise meaning of instructions like \u201ctake with food\u201d or \u201cavoid sunlight\u201d isn\u2019t always clear. Plus it\u2019s helpful to understand how to deal with common medication slip-ups, such as missed doses, before they happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

The doctor who prescribes you a medication, as well as the pharmacist who fills it, can both educate you on the specifics of taking that drug. All you need to do is ask. Here\u2019s a breakdown of common medication challenges and what patients need to know to get ahead of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What can be challenging or confusing about taking medication?\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Instructions about taking a medication with or without food: <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span>When the label says \u201ctake with a meal,\u201d a small snack will suffice for most medications, says <\/span>Charmaine <\/span>Rochester-<\/span>Eyeguokan<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>a<\/span> professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy<\/span>. But some medications do require a larger amount of food. Others have specific requirements about the types of food or drink they need to be consumed with, or shouldn\u2019t be paired with, which may or may not be written on the label.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some patients face food insecurity and are unable to predict when they\u2019ll be able to get food next, says pharmacist <\/span>Christina M. Madison<\/span><\/a>. In that case, you might resort to taking medication without food or skipping doses altogether, despite recognizing the potential health risks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Patients also interpret \u201ctake on an empty stomach\u201d in different ways. Patients have told <\/span>Rochester-<\/span>Eyeguokan <\/span>they skipped doses because they accidentally ate something, when they could have waited two hours after their meal and then taken their meds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instructions about what to do before or after taking a medication: <\/span><\/b>If you\u2019re instructed to \u201cavoid sunlight\u201d for as long as you’re on a medication, does that mean you need to avoid going outside entirely for weeks or months? Not quite, says Rochester-Eyeguokan. Instead, it means you need to limit exposing your body to sunlight by taking stricter skin protection measures, such as wearing long sleeves, hats and sunscreen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike the sunlight directive, if a label says to \u201cavoid alcohol,\u201d experts recommend avoiding alcohol the entire time you’re on the medication. For someone on the antibiotic <\/span>metronidazole<\/span><\/a>, a drop of alcohol can bring on nausea, vomiting or an elevated heart rate<\/span>. They’d also need to avoid other meds and food products that contain alcohol or propylene glycol (a type of alcohol).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While not every drug that mixes poorly with alcohol causes such a severe adverse reaction. But even an over-the-counter-medication like Claritin requires you to be alcohol-free while you\u2019re on it. That’s because it makes you feel drowsy and uncoordinated, and alcohol exacerbates the effects. But you probably wouldn’t need to avoid all meds and food products with propylene glycol listed as an ingredient.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what if you’ve take your last dose \u2014 can you finally have a glass of wine? Again, it depends on the medication. For metronidazole, you need to wait three days after the last dose before drinking. For Claritin, your doctor or pharmacist might advise waiting a day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instructions about timing: <\/span><\/b>It\u2019s not uncommon for patients to misinterpret timing instructions. For instance, Rochester-Eyeguokan says a patient might think \u201ctake every four hours\u201d requires waking up at night to fit in a dose. Or, if the label says, \u201ctake four times a day,\u201d a patient might cluster doses together, instead of spacing them out evenly. In many cases, doses need to be spread out to ensure stable levels of medication in the body all day long.<\/p>\n

Sometimes medications work better, or are tolerated better, when taken at a certain time of day, even if their labels don’t tell you that. Antidepressants in the SSRI family are one example. Patients are often told to take SSRIs in the morning so they don’t interfere with sleep.<\/p>\n

Then there are quick-release and extended-release medications, introducing another factor into the timing equation. Quick-release meds are often taken for rapid management of a specific symptom. For example, migraine medication acts immediately to relieve pain, so it needs to be taken as soon as the headache sets in for maximum effectiveness. The longer you wait, the less effective it becomes.<\/p>\n

An extended-release drug is usually taken once per day, ideally around the same time each day so that medication levels don’t dip too low. This is important for an epilepsy medication, like <\/span>Levetiracetam XR<\/span><\/a>, to prevent seizures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What to do when you miss a dose: <\/span><\/b>If you miss a dose, closely adhering to the set dosing schedule is more important for some medications than others, says Rochester-Eyeguokan. For drugs like oral contraceptives, most antibiotics and the cholesterol-lowering statin atorvastatin, if you forget to take a dose at your scheduled time, you should be fine taking it two or three hours later, as long as it’s not too close to your next scheduled dose. You might need to skip the missed dose entirely if it trails too closely behind the next dose, to avoid double dosing.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if you miss a dose at a certain time for <\/span>sulfonylureas, a medication that lowers blood sugar levels, you may need to be more cautious about whether and how to take the missed dose. If you\u2019re doing a physical activity or unable to consume any carbs, it’s probably better to skip the dose entirely, to prevent blood sugar from plummeting too low.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to know if a side effect warrants concern: <\/span><\/b>Sometimes a patient who experiences common side effects from a new medication is advised to keep taking it. Other times, a doctor will recommend somehow changing the medication regimen. This might include modifying the dosage or taking it at a different time of day to prevent interactions with other drugs, says Rochester-Eyegoukan.<\/span><\/p>\n

How can you sort out these issues before you start taking a new medication?<\/h3>\n

Ask questions during your visit and\/or when you pick up your medication: <\/b><\/span>Ideally, when a doctor prescribes you a new medication, they\u2019ll lay out the need-to-know info right away, says Dr. <\/span>Katrina Firlik<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>cofounder and chief medical officer of HealthPrize Technologies<\/span>. If they don\u2019t, initiate a Q&A session yourself. Here\u2019s a list of suggested questions, courtesy of Rochester-Eyeguokan, Madison and Firlik, to get you started:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n