Seniors typically need to take a variety of medications to control different chronic diseases like high blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes. However, over the years, memory and vision loss, as well as difficulties in swallowing the pill, are common.
Due to these problems, it is common for cases of overdose or forgetting to take the medication to occur, which means that many elderly people are unable to maintain the treatment indicated by the doctor, ending up aggravating the symptoms and worsening their health status.
To prevent this from happening, there are some simple techniques that can help seniors maintain proper medical treatment. They include:
1. Use a box to organize your pills
Since the elderly take different pills at different times of the day, the use of a box with divisions by times of the day, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner and sleep, is an option to organize the pills correctly. These boxes are easy to transport and their organization helps the elderly person to know which medicines to take at that time of day, without having to change pills or forget about them. These boxes must be organized the night before in order to have all the pills organized for the day.
There are also boxes with divisions by days of the week that must be organized at the beginning of each week with the pills for each day.
2. Crush the pills
In cases where it is difficult to swallow the medicines, an alternative is to crush the tablets and mix the powder in water so that it is easy to take. However, before doing this process, you should read the package insert to see if this can be done.
3. Check for the presence of adverse effects
When taking multiple medications, it is important to be aware of possible interactions and the appearance of unwanted side effects. This can lead to resistance to taking the medication for fear of experiencing adverse reactions, and it is advisable to ask the doctor to modify the medication so that the treatment is not lost.
4. Have medicines in a visible place
It is important to have the pills in a visible and easily accessible place so that the elderly person remembers to take the medicine, and the time to take the medicine is written on the box and the dosage. Pills should not be taken out of the boxes, as this makes it easier to identify the medication and avoids changes.
5. Ask for medication information
When consulting with the doctor or nurse and when purchasing the medication, it is important to ask qualified professionals to calmly and clearly explain the dosages and how to take them, in accessible and simple language. You can also ask to write on the medicine boxes or print a sheet with the necessary explanations so that there are no errors and can be consulted easily.
6. Be aware of the expiration date
The expiry date of medicines should be reviewed regularly, especially in medicines that are used in occasional situations such as paracetamol or ibuprofen. The use of expired medicines can lead to adverse reactions or loss of effect.
