Rules for taking medications safely. Taking medications carries risks and even more so if they are abused, taken inappropriately or not stored according to instructions. Because prevention is better than cure, take note of this decalogue of basic tips to avoid mistakes with possible adverse effects on your health.
Rules for taking medications safely
No medication has zero risk and medication errors are more common than we think. To use medications safely , always read the package insert , always ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions, and follow these 10 golden rules :
- Do not alter the pharmaceutical form
Medications can be ingested , injected , inhaled, inserted rectally or vaginally, applied to the skin or mucous membranes. In any case, unless the pharmacist tells you otherwise, the pharmaceutical form should never be altered since it is the vehicle designed for the active ingredient to reach the target organ where it should exert its effect. If we alter the pharmaceutical form we will prevent the medication from working correctly. That is, pills and capsules, in general, should not be crushed, broken, cut, or opened. Dermal applied patches should not be trimmed. And liquid or injectable solutions should not be frozen.
As with everything, there are exceptions to the rule and there are many tablets that can be broken or crushed and capsules that can be opened to dissolve their contents. In the case of tablets, only those that have a score are designed to be broken in half and thus facilitate swallowing. In any case, if in doubt, consult your pharmacist.
- Store the medicine according to the instructions on the packaging
There are medications (such as insulin) that indicate that they must be stored between 2 and 8 °C, this means that they must be put in the refrigerator and never in the freezer. Others indicate that they must be kept at temperatures below 25 or 30 °C. And in other cases no type of indication appears, which means that they can be stored at room temperature without problems. Now, that does not mean that it is advisable to store medicines in the bathroom, a basement… or even on a terrace. Please note that extreme light, temperature or humidity conditions may affect its quality and effectiveness. It is best to store them in a drawer or closet out of the reach of children.
- Do not double the dose when you skip a dose
When we forget to take a dose, we should not double the dose at the next dose. It is advisable to wait for the next shot and continue normally.
- Look at the composition and avoid medication errors
Check the active ingredient(s) contained in your medications to avoid duplication and other medication errors. Many of the medications we take, whether prescription or over-the-counter, have different brand names, but if we pay attention to the active ingredients they contain, we will see that the composition of each is very similar or even identical .
An example: “Couldina with paracetamol” effervescent tablets, which have the same composition as “Bisolgrip powder for oral solution”. Both are anti-flu medications that contain the same active ingredients. If we take them simultaneously we would be doubling the dose with the risk that this entails.
- Do not take medication because someone you know advises you to do so
Many times our family or friends recommend to us, with the best of intentions, medications or herbal remedies that have worked well for them. We must keep in mind that medications are never harmless , that they all produce adverse effects and that, depending on our state of health, the same medication can behave differently in two different people.
- Be careful with herbal remedies
We must ensure that the herbal remedies or medicinal plants we take do not interact with our medication. There are many herbal products that are not marketed as medicines but as food supplements but that have pharmacotherapeutic properties and can interact with our usual medication. With all of them we must make sure, asking our doctor or pharmacist , whether or not we can take them.
- Dispose of medications at the SIGRE point in pharmacies
Leftover medications should not be thrown away. You must take them to the pharmacy and place them in the SIGRE containers provided for this purpose. Medicines must be eliminated from the environment through appropriate channels, otherwise they can end up contaminating our environment and passing into drinking water.
- Keep your medication list up to date
If we take medication chronically , always keeping an updated list of the medications we take with the name of the active ingredient, dosage, number of doses and the times at which we take them is highly recommended. In this way we can show it to any health professional who requests it at any time, for example the dentist, in the emergency room, the pharmacist, etc.
Furthermore, if several people at home take chronic medication, it is very important to have it identified and store it in an orderly and separate manner . Accidents happen and if we leave in a hurry we can end up taking the wrong medication.
Measurer
Date of Expiry
- Measure the liquid forms with the meter that comes in the box
Oral syrups and suspensions always come with a dispenser inside the container that marks the exact measurements that appear on the package insert. It is advisable to always use this dispenser, instead of using the coffee spoon or teaspoons that we have at home as a measure. In case we lose the dispenser we can always buy a small dosing syringe at the pharmacy.
- Check the expiration date regularly
The expiration date is always indicated on the packaging and blister packs of medicines. It is important to review, at least once a year , the dates of those medications that we have in the medicine cabinet at home , and those that are expired should be taken to the SIGRE point .
OCU Salud subscribers have at their disposal the OCU Salud Line , a free telephone service attended by experts where they will guide you on any questions you may have regarding general medicine. You can call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
