More than 131 million Americans take prescription drugs, but not all of them use them correctly. Every year, between seven and nine thousand people die due to medication errors.
If you’re like most Americans, pills are a part of life.
“I’m now on up to four different blood pressure medications,” Ann Gwin said.
“Medications can be difficult to take. They can be complicated to take. Especially the more medications someone is prescribed,” she explained. Dr. Daniel Muñoz, cardiologist in 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 cut costs by skipping doses, taking less medication or delaying getting a prescription.
“The more medications someone is prescribed and picked up at the pharmacy, the higher their out-of-pocket costs will be,” Dr. Muñoz said.
However, not taking certain medications on schedule can be dangerous. For example, if you skip taking a beta blocker, you can raise your blood pressure and put yourself at risk for a heart attack. Another mistake is doubling up on a dose if you forget one. Often, you should skip a missed dose if it’s almost time for your next dose. Another mistake is stopping taking your medications. You should always take your medication for as long as your doctor tells you to.
“I set out my little boxes and then line up the pills, the morning ones and the afternoon ones,” Anne said.
Medications such as antidepressants can cause harmful withdrawal symptoms if stopped suddenly. Sharing medications with another person is also a mistake. Medications are prescribed taking into account your height, weight, age and health status, as well as drug interactions that should be avoided.
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.
