According to Northwestern Medicine, a proper daily schedule can help improve stress levels, sleep, diet, physical activity, and time management. However, time-sensitive prescriptions and daily medications can throw off a daily schedule.
Managing vitamins, probiotics, and supplements can be a nuisance to your daily schedule, even if you are not one who takes prescribed medications on a regular basis. For those who do have medications that they take regularly, there are some extra steps that need to be accounted for in order to manage a prescription routine.
Let’s discover some tips on finding important information about your prescriptions, managing your medications, and sticking to a daily schedule.
Finding Important Prescription Information
Being prescribed a new medication requires you to gain knowledge about that treatment. Apart from the name, brand, dosage, and refill information, there are some extra pieces of information that you should consider:
- What time of day are you supposed to take the medication?
Discovering what time of day you are supposed to take your medication(s) allows you to efficiently plan out your day. This information can also insure that you are properly taking your prescriptions, which makes them more effective.
- Can you take the medication on an empty stomach?
If you cannot take your medication on an empty stomach, you know that you have to eat something beforehand. Perhaps you can take your prescription after a meal or a time that you normally snack during the day. It is also important to know the side effects that you can experience if you do take the medicine on an empty stomach.
- Do you have to take the medicine a certain amount of time before or after eating?
Similar to the last point, it is important to know the time sensitivity of your prescriptions. For instance, you may be instructed to take a prescription 15 minutes before a meal. If you did not know that, you may improperly take your medicine.
- Are you allowed to consume certain foods and beverages while taking the medication?
Sometimes, medications do not react well with certain foods and beverages. You can read information about possible interferences on the script for your prescription to make sure you are in the clear.
- Are there any possible side effects?
Knowing the potential side effects of your medications allows you to be aware of how your body is reacting to what you’re putting in it. Perhaps you feel a bit nauseous from your medication and are concerned that you are getting sick. However, nausea could be a common side effect of your prescription. Being aware of this could give you peace of mind and allows you to know that your medicine is doing something!
Though just a small portion of what you should know about your medication, these items can impact your daily routine.
Managing Your Treatment with Routines
Creating a daily routine can help you remember to take your medications at the same time every day.
Finding the constant parts of your day can allow you to find a good time to take prescriptions. Sometimes, the only consistency, especially on busy days, is your mealtimes.
Planning your prescription schedule around when you eat meals can be a simple and effective way to create a good routine!
For example:
Have prescriptions that need to be taken with food? Pair your medication with a regular meal like breakfast!
Perhaps you have other daily medications that are not as time-sensitive. Taking this medicine alongside more urgent treatment will better ensure that it is taken when needed. This time would also be great to get in your daily vitamins and supplements!
Remembering Your Medications
Creating a solid routine for your day and prescriptions is only the first step in accurately taking your medications. If you have a handful of prescriptions to take, it can be challenging to keep track of all of them.
Luckily, you are not the only one in this situation. There have been products designed for people who take a handful of medications and need a space to put all of them.
The most common product is a pillbox:
Every week, you can place your pills in their respective daily slots. You can sit down one day and refill your weekly containers. You can also make a list of every medication you have and check each one off as you put it in the pillbox to know it is not forgotten.
The pillbox is also helpful for knowing if you took your prescriptions. If you see the specific day in your pillbox is empty, you know that you already took your medications!
There are also pillboxes such as this one that are helpful if you take medications at different times throughout the day. Perhaps one pill is supposed to be taken in the morning and another at night – this box allows you to separate the two. It can also be useful if you take multiple doses of the same medication in one day.
Medication Management Assistance Through WFC
Though we have just provided you with resources to stay on top of your daily medications, you do not have to do it all alone.
Westchester Family Care offers Medication Management services to help you and your loved ones. We offer a variety of services, including medication management, that can be discovered on our website. We are ready to help you as best as we can!
Contact us for an immediate family need or when planning for future needs: info@westfamilycare.com, 914-223-8067, www.westchesterfamilycare.com