Ask Your Pharmacist

posted 11/07/02

Have you stopped taking a medication because you think it's not working? Do you have difficulty taking your medicines correctly? What can be done to lower the cost of drugs? Perhaps you should ask your pharmacist.

While most of us do not take medications exactly as prescribed, not taking medicine correctly can get you into a lot of trouble. Noncompliance with instructions for prescription medication is estimated to cost as much as $100 billion a year in the United States due to increased hospital and nursing home admissions, other medical costs and expenses. It's also estimated that up to 80 percent of patients fail to take the full amount of prescribed medication.

"Your physician and pharmacist need to know if you're having problems taking your medicine as prescribed," says Dr. Andy Stergachis, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Washington. "Otherwise, they may think the drug is not working and put you on a stronger or more expensive drug."

There are many reasons people may not follow their physician's or pharmacist's advice. For those who take numerous drugs, the daily regimen can be confusing and cumbersome. Here again your pharmacist might be able to help, by getting some drugs switched to one pill daily or cutting down the number of pills and times of day you have to take medication.

"Sometimes patients stop taking medicine because they don't see that it does good," notes Stergachis. "For chronic conditions like high blood pressure or high cholesterol, medication controls, diabetes -- but does not cure -- the condition. Not taking your medicine can lead to hospitalization and other problems."

Newer does not necessarily mean better when it comes to drugs, Stergachis says. "The period immediately after a new drug comes on the market is when people should be most conservative," he cautions. "That's when side effects or adverse reactions with other drugs are more likely to be discovered that weren't noted during previous testing. If you have a choice, you might consider waiting until the drug has a more established track record."

Newer drugs can also be very expensive -- often a dollar or more per pill. And with some drugs, the recommended dose when the drug first hits the market is later learned to be higher than necessary. "Newer medicines are expensive because at first only one company makes the drug and the company tries to pay for all of the research for this drug and thousands of drugs being tested," Stergachis says. "Most drugs that have been tested never get to market." Stergachis offers the following tips to help your pharmacist be an advocate for your good health:

• Take all of your medications -- prescription and over-the-counter -- to your pharmacist. He or she may be able to suggest ways to save money, simplify your drug regimen or possibly find non-drug alternatives.
• Tell your pharmacist if you're having difficulty taking medicines as directed. The pharmacist can help you become more compliant in taking your medications.
• Tell your pharmacist about any allergies you have.
• Tell your pharmacist what over-the-counter drugs you are taking. For example, if you take aspirin for arthritis, it could affect blood-thinning prescription drugs you take for a heart condition.
• If possible, obtain prescriptions from a single pharmacy. Virtually all pharmacies have computer programs that automatically screen for possible adverse reactions between drugs a patient buys there.
• Carry with you a list of all the medications and doses you take.
• If it's not evident from the physicians directions, tell your pharmacist what disease or condition is being treated by the drug. Make sure you understand how a drug should be taken.
• If you develop a new symptom after starting a new drug, call your doctor or pharmacist to report this. It might be caused by the drug.
• Don't take other people's medicine.
• Ask about generic drugs that can save you money.

Source:  Diabetes Digest:  University of Washington's "Health Beat".

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