ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – More than 131 million Americans (or 66 percent of adults) take prescription medications. But not everyone uses their medications correctly. Every year between 7,000 and 9,000 people die due to medication errors.
If you’re like most Americans, pills are a part of life.
“I now take up to four different medications for my blood pressure,” Ann Gwin said.
“Medicines can be difficult to take. They can be complicated to take. Especially the more medications someone is prescribed,” explained Dr. Daniel Muñoz, a cardiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
But if you use your medications incorrectly, you could be putting yourself in danger. In a recent report, more than nine million American adults said they had tried to reduce costs by skipping doses, taking fewer medications or delaying filling a prescription.
“The more medications someone is prescribed and they pick them up at the pharmacy, the higher their out-of-pocket costs will be,” Dr. Muñoz said.
But not taking certain medications on time can be dangerous. For example, skipping beta blockers can cause an increase in blood pressure, which can put you at risk for a heart attack. Another mistake: doubling the dose if you miss one. Many times, you should skip the missed dose if it is almost time for your next dose. Another misstep is to stop taking your medications. You should always take the medication for as long as your doctor tells you to.
“I set out my little boxes and then I line up the pills, the morning pills and the afternoon pills,” Gwin said.
Some medications, such as antidepressants, can cause harmful withdrawal symptoms if you stop taking them cold turkey. Sharing medications with another person is also a mistake. Your medications are prescribed taking into account your particular height, weight, age, and medical condition. With medication errors to avoid.
According to UC Davis, every eight minutes, a child experiences a medication error at home. The most common mistakes are giving the wrong medication, giving medications to which the child is allergic, or taking the wrong dose.
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