Managing Your Medications

Before your cancer diagnosis, you may have had to keep track of only one or two medicines you were taking. Understanding their purposes and coordinating dosage and time schedules wasn't too difficult.

Now you may be juggling a tray of pill bottles plus other forms of drugs, such as injectableor liquid pharmaceuticals. Even without the added stress and fatigue you might be feeling from treatment, it's easy to miss a dose or confuse medicines when you're dealing with several.

Here are good ways to take charge of your medications and support your treatment outcome:

• Build a list of all the drugs you are taking, including their names (commercial and generic), dose amount, the time to take them, and any other related information (take with meals, take before bedtime, etc.). To help you get organized and compile your list, use the Caring4Cancer Personal Health Record.
  Include on your list over-the-counter (OTC) medications and herbal supplements you're using, if any. Be sure your doctor knows about these.
• If you need help organizing your dosing schedules or have questions about your medications, talk with the nurse, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant in your doctor's office.
• When you're prescribed a new medicine, be sure to find out the drug's name, how and when to take it, if it will interact with other medications you're on or with certain foods and drinks, what side effects might occur, and what to do if you miss a dose. Write down this information to add to your record. Learn how to make sense of drug package inserts.
• Do not skip scheduled doses. Pain medicine should be taken at regular time intervals to prevent chronic pain, so use a clock to determine when to take a dose. (For breakthrough or sudden pain, follow your doctor's recommendation.)
• You can buy pill cases with compartments that let you put each day's doses into sections by time of day. Check with your doctor or pharmacist that your medicines will not deteriorate by sitting out of the bottle. Pill cases are not usually childproof or petproof, so store them safely. There are also dose trackers that fit on top of pill bottles.
• You might want to set up reminder alarms on an electronic device (watch, cell phone, computer) to prod you when it's time to take a dose. Some pill containers beep to remind you.
• If possible, buy all your medication from one pharmacy. Then your records will be together. And be sure to readand savethe patient information attached to your prescriptions.
• Store medication away from heat, humidity, and light--which means not in the bathroom, where it can deteriorate quickly.
• Read the label each time before taking any drugs. If you're feeling confused or can't see well, have someone else check what you're taking.