Typical Prescription Errors that Affect Seniors

Forgetting to take pills is way beyond Quality of Life. Forgetting or over-dosing can be fatal. Prescription caused deaths are on the up-swing For the first time, drug related deaths passed death from traffic accidents.

A good Pill Organizer or Pill box is a big part in lowering the risks of mistakes.

Mom needs a good Pill Organizer to help prevent mistakes. Your Mom, if she is over the age of 65, Probably sufferers from AIMM's (Age Induced Medication Mistakes). This is a typical, normal part of the aging process. It will happen to virtually everyone as the get into the Senior years.

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Here are five of the most common and potentially dangerous medication mistakes to avoid:

One: Over-Dosing

Difficulty: Overdoses are the #1 reason for Death. This is the most common drug mistake according to the Food and Drug Administration. Recommended drugs that have the greatest misuse possibilities are:

• Painkillers

• Anti-anxiety pills

• Stimulants

One can over-do on any form of medicine. Overdoses of the frequently taken pill, Tylenol, has been connected to Nine Hundred deaths in a 12 month period. This was reported in a publication by ProPublica.

Answer: By no means take extra pills than your health care provider told you to. If you are a caregiver, Clues to of prescription drug excesses:

Over-sedation

Mood swings

Running out of pill before you should.

Two: Mixing up one pill with another

Concern: Pills often have names that are simple to jumble up. Examples of confusing medication name:

• Zantac for curing heartburn and Zyrtec for preventing allergies

• Lamictal for epilepsy and Lamisil for fungal infection

• Celebrex for arthritis and Celexa for depression

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People mix up pills when they look apparently the same.

Answer: This is one more case where a pill organizer can be a huge aid. Categorization daily medicine ahead can avert the incorrect prescriptions from being taken.. This matter is grave. The FDA cautiously evaluates medicine names prior to going on sale. The goal is to avoid pills with names that sound too alike with existing meds.. This is meant to put a stop to such oversights by users and prescribe-rs.

Three: Medicine Interactions

Concern: Many medications should not be mixed. Forty Percent of the elderly are taking five or more pills a day. A lot of people are getting them from many different doctors. Often, one Doctor doesn't know what the other doctor has prescribed. This is a recipe for disaster. Consider this a person might have been prescribed an opiate painkiller from a pain MD. At the same time, her other doctor gave her sleeping pills. Each of which would be safe when taken individually in prescribed doses, but which could cause dangerous over-sedation when combined.

Solution: Our doctors and pharmacists are supposed to be on top of this, but mistakes happen, especially when a patient’s various physicians are not communicating with one another effectively. Speak to your pharmacist about all the medication you are taking. Consider using online tools such as Medscape’s Drug Interaction Checker to make sure the prescriptions, supplements and over the counter medications you are taking do not conflict.

Four: Interactions with Food

Concern:: As it’s an ordinary understanding that particular medication shouldn't be used at the identical instant your are eating certain foods. This is not brought up very often. A good example of adverse food/drug interactions is a s follows: a lot of the elderly use an anticoagulant such as Coumadin or other blood thinning pills. Various pills in the statins group can be rendered useless after a person eats foods elevated in Vitamin K. Grapefruit fruit juice can originate potentially hazardous interactions with at least Eight Five medications since it contains a composite that affects the manner the active ingredients are metabolized by the liver.

Solution: Forever be attentive of instructions and warnings on the labels of the medicine. Be sure to pay attention to your pharmacist.

Five: Taking you Pills Properly

Concern: The Food and Drug Administration says that 16% of medicine mistakes are from taking the pills wrong. An example, swallowing pills that were supposed to dissolve under the tongue. The slow dissolve is the best way to absorb the medication. Ingesting it whole my reduce the pills effectiveness. Swallowing a liquid planned for a shot or use as a nasal spray a couple of other area that mistakes are made in.

Solution: Follow every one of the doctor's orders and the labels on the bottles. If you are not sure, ask your pharmacist. A Pill Box or Pill reminder is a great aid. A Pill organizer with alarms or a built in timer is the first strategy in creating your own medication plans.