Just What the Doctor Ordered: Take Your Meds as Prescribed
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It happens a lot: People stop taking their medication as prescribed — or don’t fill their prescriptions in the first place. Maybe it’s cost. Maybe it’s side effects. Maybe you feel better and don’t think you need the medicine anymore.
If you are not taking your medication at the time, dose and frequency prescribed, it’s called medication non-adherence. This can have a short-term and long-term impact on your health.
“A lot of individuals do not realize the damage that a lack of medication adherence can have on their bodies,” says Michael Dulan, MD, a family practitioner with Dulan and Moore Dulan Family Wellness Center in Lebanon, Ohio. “Many think that if they miss taking a pill and their blood pressure or blood sugar is too high, for example, it is not that big of an issue. But it has a cumulative effect on the body.”
Dr. Dulan discusses reasons why people don’t adhere to their medication prescriptions.
Click play to watch the video or read video transcript.
People have a common misconception that when their symptoms go away, it’s all right to stop taking the medicine. There are often additional benefits, however, to staying the course with a prescription.
Before stopping any medication, talk with your doctor about what’s best for you. Some drugs may have a harmful effect if you stop taking them abruptly. Others may not have the long-term success you want if you don’t complete the prescription.
If a medication has a strong side effect or you have an allergic reaction, contact your doctor immediately. Most acute illnesses and chronic conditions have alternative medications you can try. If cost is an issue, your doctor can help work with you, the insurance company or drug companies to find a medication plan that works for you.
Costs and Consequences
If you stop taking medications for chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart failure, you can cause your condition to progress or get worse.
“There is a pretty common misconception that once medication and lifestyle modifications are started, the chronic disease process is healed,” Dr. Dulan says. “Reaching your goal is great, but you need to understand that the disease process is still present. Not continuing to take your medication could cause organ damage, render the medication ineffective, increase cost of care, and add more stress to an individual’s life.”
The cost of not complying with a doctor’s medication prescription for a chronic disease is huge: $100 billion to $289 billion annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). When high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart failure and other chronic diseases are not well-controlled, patients have more doctor visits, emergency visits, hospitalizations and even death.
According to the College of Preventive Medicine, for every 100 prescriptions written, 50 to 70 are filled by the pharmacy, 48 to 66 are picked up by the patient, 25 to 30 are taken properly, and only 15 to 20 are refilled.
If you stop taking medications for chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart failure, you can cause your condition to progress or get worse.
Only about half of Americans receiving treatment for high blood pressure adhere to their long-term therapy, says the CDC. Of people prescribed to take statins to lower blood cholesterol, 25 to 50 percent stop after one year.
Dr. Dulan further discusses consequences of stopping medications for chronic conditions.
Click play to watch the video or read video transcript.
It’s important to take prescription medications prescribed by your doctor as part of an overall strategy to keep you healthy and to control medical issues. Refilling prescriptions also is important for chronic issues. Make sure you get refills in advance and schedule routine appointments with your doctor to monitor your progress and make sure prescriptions are up to date.
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Answer a few questions and we'll provide you with a list of primary care providers that best fit your needs.
Source: Centers for Disease Control; Michael Dulan, MD, Dulan and Moore Dulan Family Wellness Center; Premier HealthNet: Undesirable Side Effects, Poor Education Reasons Many Stop Taking Prescription Medication and Failure to Fill Management Medications A
