All the Ways that Medication Management Can Help You
When you are prescribed multiple medications, begin taking a new medication or lessen medication intake, it can be challenging to remember medication dosage and frequency. Medication management is an effective tool that helps clients keep medications organized and up to date during the length of the prescription.
What is medication management?
Medication management is exactly what it sounds like – managing the various prescriptions you’ve been given and taking the time to familiarize yourself with each medication. Most often, medication management is performed under the guidance of both your psychiatrist and pharmacist.
Your psychiatrist can knowledgeably prescribe medications to help alleviate your symptoms. Your pharmacist, with their knowledge of prescription medications, can ensure that your medications are compatible and won’t cause complicated or unpleasant side effects.
What are the benefits of medication management?
Medications for symptoms like depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions can be potent and dangerous if used improperly. Therefore, there are many benefits to medication management. These include:
- Understanding each medication’s intended effect as it relates to treatment conditions;
- Knowing how each medication is meant to be taken;
- Remembering for how long each medication is prescribed;
- Keeping track of how frequently to take each medication;
- Understanding which medications need to be taken on a religiously tight schedule and which ones are only on an “as needed” basis.
When it comes to managing medications, there’s a lot to keep in mind. It’s best to work closely with a pharmacist and to craft your own plan on how you can best manage your medications.
How do I manage medication?
When you develop a medication management strategy that works for you, managing medication can be relatively straightforward. While you might come up with the best plan for you and your goals, here are some medication management tips to help get you started.
- Buy a compartmentalized pillbox. These handy little boxes can come separated into morning and evening compartments Monday through Sunday, so you can lay out your pills a week ahead of time and always know whether or not you took your medicine for that day. If you like to plan out even further, certain pillboxes even have enough space for multiple weeks.
- Fill out a chart. You can design your own chart, work with your psychiatrist to design one personalized to you or find templates online. These charts can help you remember things like medication frequency, refrigeration requirements, refill conditions, and potential hazards of medication combinations.
- Develop a routine. If you take your prescriptions at different times each day, it will be difficult to keep track of dosage requirements. However, once you develop a routine you’ll find it easier to remember to take your medications at the correct times. As long as you have your prescriptions planned out, all you have to do is take your medicine when the alarm goes off.
- Use a helpful application. Believe it or not, there are lots of medication management mobile applications. These can be used to set reminders to take daily medications and will alert you when one is low, needs a refill or approaches an expiration deadline.
If you have any questions
Medication management can be overwhelming, especially if it’s a new concept. However, it doesn’t, and shouldn’t, have to be a cause of stress. Because there are many medication management tips, you are guaranteed to find a method that works best for you and your prescriptions.
In addition, keep in close contact with both your psychiatrist and pharmacist. Ask them any questions you might have, be honest with them about medications you don’t feel comfortable with and keep an open flow of communication. For more information on medication management specifically for addiction treatment prescriptions, or to speak with someone about questions or concerns you might have, reach out to October Road today at 888-715-8798.
