The problem of "taking a lot of medicine at once" has troubled many people, especially elderly patients.
Most elderly people often suffer from multiple chronic diseases at the same time, such as hypertension , diabetes , coronary heart disease , stroke , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , chronic kidney disease , etc., and need to take some medicines for a long time.
In addition, the elderly's psychological adjustment ability and physiological functions have declined, so they need to be more careful when using drugs.
The following are the seven things we have summarized when using multiple medications in elderly patients with chronic diseases. We hope it can help you who are troubled by the use of multiple medications!
-
Keep the purpose of medication in mind and monitor the efficacy regularly.
I hope you will ask yourself two questions before taking medication: What kind of medicine is this? Why should I eat it?
I believe that this phenomenon exists among elderly polypharmacy patients: they take a lot of medicines but don’t know what they are taking or why they are taking them. This may lead to a series of problems such as taking the wrong medicine, and ultimately endanger the health of the person taking the medicine. Therefore, we must be managers of medicines and keep the purpose of taking medicines in mind.
In addition, regular monitoring is also very important. This is a very important way for us to understand the efficacy of drugs, and it can also provide a basis for subsequent adjustments to drug treatment plans.
For example, patients with high blood pressure need to daily monitor their blood pressure while taking medication: if the monitoring results are normal, it indicates that the current drug treatment plan is appropriate; if the monitoring results are abnormal, it indicates that the patient's blood pressure is not well controlled under the current drug treatment plan and needs to actively seek medical treatment for adjustments.
2
The medication time should be particular, and missed doses should be remedied in principle.
Taking medication in the morning, before meals, during meals, after meals and on an empty stomach are currently the five main types of medication times. The correct time to take medication can maximize the effectiveness of the medication. On the contrary, wrong medication time may greatly reduce the efficacy or lead to adverse drug reactions.
"Pharmacist, I forgot to take this medicine, what should I do?" Missing medicines is not uncommon among elderly patients with chronic diseases who take multiple medications, but the principle of "it's never too late to make up for it" cannot be completely applied to refilling medicines. It is also not advisable for some people to take the method of "double the dose of the next meal" after missing or forgetting to take the medicine! Although in order to maintain the efficacy of the drug, it is necessary to replenish the drug in the body in a timely and sufficient amount, but blindly doubling it in the next meal may cause the drug concentration in the body to be too high, which will cause toxic side effects and endanger the patient's health.
So, what should you do if you find that you have missed taking medicine? General principle - 1/2 refilling principle: If it is found that the missed dose is within 1/2 of the interval between two doses, the dose should be retaken immediately according to the original dose, and the next dose should still be taken at the original time; if it is found that the missed dose has exceeded 1/2 of the interval between dosing, there is generally no need to retake.
三
Don’t be afraid of adverse reactions, countermeasures are here to help
When it comes to adverse reactions, the first thing that comes to mind may be a bunch of dense words listed in the adverse reactions section of the drug instructions. There are many adverse reactions reported for most drugs, and it is obviously unrealistic to ask everyone to remember them one by one. However, it is still necessary to remember common or serious adverse reactions and their corresponding treatment measures.
1. Hypoglycemia is an adverse reaction that is very common in elderly patients with chronic diseases who take antidiabetic drugs.
Countermeasures: You can always put a piece of candy or chocolate in your pocket. When you experience symptoms of hypoglycemia such as excessive sweating, dizziness, weakness, and pale face, you can take out the candy to give yourself some sugar.
2. Taking some antihypertensive drugs may cause gastrointestinal reactions such as nausea and vomiting.
Countermeasures: If the symptoms are mild, you can improve the symptoms through a reasonable diet, and drink more water to replenish moisture; if the symptoms are severe or persist without relief, you should stop taking the medication immediately and seek medical follow-up.
3. Long-term use of aspirin may cause gastrointestinal bleeding or ulcers.
Countermeasures: Consult your doctor if you can stop taking the medicine.
reminds everyone that there are tens of thousands of countermeasures, and timely medical treatment is the first one!
Four
It is very important to follow the doctor's instructions and take medicines. Do not increase, decrease or stop medication without permission.
The saying "a long-term illness becomes a cure" has its limitations.
Although long-term medication experience may make patients with chronic diseases more experienced in using certain drugs than the general public, it is not advisable to blindly trust experience and increase or decrease the dosage of medication without permission, or even stop taking medication without permission!
Factors such as the complexity of medication for patients with multiple chronic diseases, the variability of the condition, the patient's lack of professional systematic medical knowledge from doctors, and the uncertainty of increasing or decreasing the treatment without permission all indicate that following the doctor's instructions is beneficial to the treatment of the disease.
Please follow your medical instructions and take medication. Do not increase, decrease, or stop taking medications without permission, and be responsible for your own health.
五
If there is a new demand for medicines, attention should be paid to interactions.
Drug interactions refer to the compound effects produced by patients taking two or more drugs at the same time or one after another within a certain period of time. It can enhance the efficacy of the drug or reduce the side effects, or it can also weaken the efficacy of the drug or cause undue toxic side effects.
The use of multiple medications, complex medication, and the need for long-term medication are the three major characteristics of drug treatment for elderly patients with chronic diseases.
Although the patient's previous medication plan has been double evaluated and considered by doctors and pharmacists, and there are no drug interactions that seriously harm the patient's health, in daily life, patients may need to add new drugs for treatment due to colds or certain sudden illnesses. At this time, drug interactions that are harmful to health may occur.
Therefore, if patients with chronic diseases need to use new drugs, they must seek medical treatment in time and cannot take additional drugs at will.
At the same time, you need to inform the doctor of the details of your daily medication when seeking medical treatment to avoid harmful interactions.
Six
There is knowledge in the storage of medicines, and they must be properly stored to avoid failure.
Many patients find it reasonable and convenient to store medicines in the kitchen. As everyone knows, factors such as high temperature, water vapor and strong light in the kitchen will not only cause the medicine to deteriorate and become ineffective, but may even produce harmful or toxic substances, which will have adverse effects on the human body after taking them.
So how should drugs be stored? Generally, drug instructions will indicate the corresponding storage method of the drug. Storage conditions generally involve storage temperature, whether it needs to be protected from light, etc.
When talking about storage temperature, it is necessary to clarify the meaning of four commonly used statements.
1. Normal temperature: an environment with a temperature between 10℃ and 30℃.
2. Cold place: an environment with a temperature between 2℃ and 10℃. The suitable location is the refrigerator compartment.
3. Cool place: an environment where the temperature does not exceed 20℃.
4. Cool and dark place: avoid light and the temperature does not exceed 20℃.
light-shielding requires packaging in opaque containers, such as brown containers or colorless transparent or translucent containers wrapped in black paper. Therefore, after getting the medicine, everyone should carefully read the storage method indicated on the instructions and follow the requirements.
At the same time, you need to pay attention to the special instructions of doctors and pharmacists. For example, insulin should be stored in the refrigerator before opening, and should be stored at room temperature after opening.
Seven
Organize the small medicine cabinet regularly, and deal with expired medicines.
"Can expired medicines still be eaten?" Everyone has different opinions on this issue. Some people think it is okay, and some think it is not. So, does it work?
The drug expiration date that everyone often refers to refers to the expiration date of the drug. It is defined as the period of time that a drug can maintain its quality under specified storage conditions. In other words, after the expiration date of a drug, its effectiveness and safety cannot be guaranteed, so it must not be taken again!
For elderly patients with chronic diseases, who take many medications and generally require long-term medication, they should develop a good habit of organizing their small medicine cabinets regularly, such as every 4 weeks or every 3 months, to avoid taking expired and spoiled drugs, which will affect the efficacy and even harm their health.
In short, use medicine with knowledge and science to ensure safety. If you have any drug or health-related problems before taking the medicine or while using the medicine, you must not deal with it by yourself based on experience. Remember to find a professional pharmacist for help!
(human health)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-