Pluggers by Rick McKee for January 16, 2019

gee, that’s helpful

Hubby—ask my wife…..

That’s why the doctor asks you to bring along the medications that you are taking, along with any “naturopath” ones as well so he/she/it can tell what interactions to look for.

Don’t know what they do ……. but I eat them :-)

I know what I was prescribed for, but the ‘generic name’ that I got at the druggist is too dam hard to remember. I’m an engineer type, but enough is enough !! Even my doc has to look up what “the equivalent” is that he originally prescribed..(snarl)

My husband to a Tee

“Whatever they are, they don’t seem to do anything.”

That is why my wife and I have it recorded on a medical ID bracelet and on a list. I just bring the list or hand them the bracelet to plug into their computer. i remember the names but not the dosages.

Sometime between 2006 and 2013 there was a Pluggers strip that mentioned the EXACT 3 hypertension medications I was taking (by name). I almost laughed aloud but I was at work.I am taking different meds now.

If you are a repeat/returning patient, we have it on the electronic health record; even then, it still drives clinical people nuts. Fortunately there are several WONDERFUL programs on internet (https://www.drugs.com/pill_identification.html is what we use), that help when the clueless arrive with a baggie of their daily pills/capsules all mixed together! Please take an active participation in your health by simply writing what’s on the label on a 3×5 card (5×8 if needed), fold it and put it in your wallet/purse. Big smiles from us when you do that! :-)

I have to look at the list on the computer screen, as I recognize the spellings but not the pronunciation.

Nowadays the patient’s records are computerized along with all the drugs he has been prescribed. The nurse already has that info. She’s just checking his memory.

I do have a sense of accomplishment just after refilling the pill dispensers every two weeks.

Pills? What pills? I take one half of a tablet daily for my blood pressure. My husband uses a prescription eye-drop. That’s it.And we are both old enough to be on Medicare.

I often went with my father, who, toward the end, had serious memory issues. He, of course, didn’t remember what pills he had taken that morning, far less the whole panoply of medications. The nurse would then ask me and my reply was: “Don’t you know what you have prescribed him?”

My husband keeps a list of what he’s taking and has a copy in his wallet at all times. It includes the name, dosage and what time of day he takes it and why.

Ugh…. the sort of response that plugger is giving is bound to drive a clinician to drink…. and I mean excessively! :)

For several years, I was the primary caretaker of of my in-fragile-health, very elderly mother. I ran her to each and every one of the myriad of clinical appointments she needed during those years (once in a great while, due to my work obligations, my wife would take her to an appointment). But, because the number of medications my mother had was so large, and was constantly changing…. I kept a computer generated table of each medication by trade name and generic name, the dosage, the start date (and end date if removed) of all the medications and had at least three print outs of it at each clinical visit. I updated the list any time there was a change.

Having the list helped enormously. It helped my mother feel less stress (the question to explain what she had been taking used to force her to carry bottles of medicine around with her, which made her nervous), made the clinician more comfortable, allowed the visit to proceed to the more important treatment aspects more rapidly, and gave us all piece of mind.

As we are now more “senorized” , I now keep a similar list for my wife and her medications. Very fortunately, I do not yet have any medications, so I do not as yet need a list for myself.