How to stay on your Cholesterol- Lowering Medication
Key points
- The first step to staying on your medication is understanding what you are taking and why.
- Daily reminders are often helpful when scheduling your medication doses.
- If you have tried these tricks and still have trouble remembering your medicine, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.
- Try to time taking your medicine around activities that you do daily such as setting your alarm clock, brushing your teeth, eating your meals, going to work, or doing other daily activities.
The first step to staying on your medication is understanding what you are taking and why.
- Ask your doctor what you are being treated for and how each medicine helps. For example: If you are taking a Statin, you should know that it is for lowering your LDL-cholesterol to lower your Heart disease risk.
- Know the side effects of any medications you are taking. You can find this out by asking your doctor or pharmacist.
- Ask your doctor how your medicine works with your other medications and the foods you eat. For example: Some medicines work best if you take them with food, and others work best if you take them at bedtime.
- Ask your doctor what to do if you miss a dose of medicine or have problems with side effects. It is important that you keep your doctor informed of how the medicine is working for you. It may be useful to ask your doctor for help in completing a chart on all of your medicines that includes the name of the medication, what the medication is being taken for, when to take it, what side effects to watch for, and whom to call if you should have a problem.
Remembering to take your medicine is important. Daily reminders are often helpful when scheduling your medication doses. Try to time taking your medicine around activities that you do daily such as setting your alarm clock, brushing your teeth, eating your meals, going to work, or doing other daily activities.
Other ways to help yourself remember to take your medicine could be:
- Set your watch alarm to go off when it's time to take your medicine
- Place a reminder card in a visible place
- Have a family member or a friend remind you
- Use a medication box that will hold your entire day's supply of medicine. This will let you know if you missed a dose of medicine.
If you have tried these tricks and still have trouble remembering your medicine, talk to your doctor or pharmacist. It may be possible to simplify your medication schedule or to put your medicine in special containers called blister packs to help you.
Written and revised by
Gerald Hurowitz, M.D.
Our doctors write and review articles for accuracy and keep them up to date.
health.am provides general information, not medical advice. Always consult a qualified health professional about your own health.
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