Managing Your Senior Citizen’s Medications
Old people will need a lot of pills.”
One day, the grandson of the granddad observed that his granddad needed a lot of pills. The observation might have been crude, but certainly is a right observation. We find the senior citizens take a lot of medication and pills every day. The medications will be so varied that it could be difficult to keep track of it. That is exactly why the aging people possess a dispenser kit where they keep their medicines for a whole week in a systematic order.
More than the type of medication concerned medicine interaction with the body is important. If you see your parent taking five or six pills or even more pills at a time, the interaction of these medicines with the body might conflict with one another. Medicine if taken in a higher scale becomes an overdose and senior citizens more often find themselves in such a case. They will be prescribed with many medicines from various places and at the end it might not have an effect in the treatment. Consuming alcohol or the country drugs can cause explosive effects on the body
It is your responsibility as a caregiver to ensure that your parent, be it mom or dad, does not consume country drugs or alcohol. Any drug related reaction can lead to hospitalization and sometimes could be even fatal.
When it comes to managing a parent’s medications, knowledge is bliss. Being ignorant about all the medications can cause deep trouble. The pharmacist or the doctor is your key people in case you have any doubts over the medicines your parent is consuming.
If you end up getting different prescriptions from different doctors, the body might not respond to the medicines. Each medicine conflicts in the body leading to no cure. So, make sure only one doctor oversees your parent’s health. Interact with your doctor to know why the medicines are taken and whether it would have any adverse effect on your parent.
A pharmacist can provide the same help as your doctor. Pharmacist is the one who is trained to understand the work of these drugs. Similarly, it is better to choose one pharmacist and stick with him. You can enquire all about the drugs your parents are consuming and ask him for timely advice. A pharmacist will know what the drugs exactly do to a person’s body and how the body might react to It.
Be it the doctor or pharmacist causing problems for your parent, the next important thing is to make sure your parents have the right medicine at the right time at home. Taking medicines at the wrong time can cause potential problems which can damage the body of the elder. Mark the bottles accordingly so that there is no confusion while having the medicines. Keep it simple for your parents if they must have the medicines on their own.
Prepare a good and legible timetable for your parent. Buy multicolored bottles to store the medicine. Name the bottles cleanly and neatly. The timetable should be prepared in such a way that the parent can easily identify the bottle and consume the medicine. For example, you can have the schedule saying “4 p.m. take 3 from black bottle, 2 from yellow bottle and 1 from red bottle.” This can help them a lot and prevent confusion. Make it so clear that there will be no room for misunderstanding.
Keeping track of the expiry dates of the medicines is very vital. Use online reorder services and pharmacies to save a lot of money. They can provide you with generic equivalent of the prescription drugs. Also, it is important that you buy the medicines from the right dealer.
By supervising your parent on these medications, you are the brain of the whole operation. Your parent, be it mom or dad, may not have that good an eyesight or can be mentally fatigued so you must absolutely be on top of them to take care of them. Make sure you are always there next to them providing them the necessary medicines at the right time.
Best Wishes, Coyalita
Behavioral Health Rehabilitative Specialist
See Tomorrow: “Quality of Life for Your Senior Citizen”
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