Your doctor, your pharmacist and anyone treating you in an emergency need to know what you take, and the people you live with join that group only if you choose to tell them. A new prescription you have just collected, and mentioned to nobody at home, does not have to be shared with anyone there. A written list of your medicines still has to exist, and the box still needs a cool, dry spot out of children's reach. With both in place, you can decide how you would get help if a reaction began while nobody at home knew what you were taking.
Who at home has to be told what you take
Taking a prescription safely involves your doctor and your pharmacist, and a housemate only if you choose one to hold a copy of your list. Keep a list of every medicine, vitamin and other supplement you take, and make sure your doctor knows about all of them. Take each one as the label directs or as a doctor or pharmacist has told you, and if you do not understand the label instructions, talk to your pharmacist or doctor before you take it.
Put your questions about the medicine to those two as well. When you get a prescription, ask what the medicine is called and check that the pharmacy gave you the right one, and make sure you understand how often to take it and for how long. If you do not know why you are taking it, what its common side effects are, what to do if you have side effects, or whether you can take it with the other medicines and supplements on your list, ask your health care provider or pharmacist. Those are some of the questions worth asking, and you can ask every one of them without anyone at home hearing the answer.
What has to be written down, and who reads it
A list of everything you take is the record to keep on paper or on a screen, for your own tracking and for the doctors, pharmacists and caregivers you share it with, including whoever treats you in an emergency. It holds your emergency contacts, your allergies and your prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins and supplements, with details for each that include:
- the name of the medicine
- its strength
- what you take it for
- when, how and how much of it you take
Include any over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, supplements and herbs, and list the medicines you are allergic to or that have caused you problems in the past. A medicine that once made you ill belongs on it even if nobody ever called it an allergy. Take the list with you every time you see a health care provider, and make sure all your providers, including dentists and hospital staff, know about any drug allergies you have.
A current list helps health care professionals know about your current health and keep down medication errors and harmful drug interactions, and a doctor's office, a laboratory or a pharmacy may ask you for it at a visit. If you are taken to a hospital, it could help the staff there know which medicines you should go on receiving while you are in their care.
The format is up to you: a simple list on paper, an app on your phone or computer, a form downloaded and filled in, or a template from your own health care provider. Whichever you choose, review and update it often, especially when something changes, for example a new prescription, a different dosage or a medicine you have stopped.
Who gets a copy of your list
Keep one copy of the list with you. It does not have to be a sheet of paper on the kitchen counter: you can take a picture of it on your smartphone, keep it in an app, or carry a paper copy with your health insurance card, so you always have it for a doctor, a pharmacist or an emergency.
Give another copy to a trusted relative, friend or caregiver, such as someone who goes with you to medical appointments or would speak for you in an emergency. They do not have to share your address.
The list matters most when you cannot talk. A medication list could be lifesaving in an emergency, especially if you are unable to communicate, because it could help paramedics and other first responders make better-informed decisions about your emergency and your treatment. Your own copy travels with you, and the person holding the other one can speak for you once they are reached. When you update your own copy, send them the new one as well, or theirs will go on listing a medicine you have stopped.
Where to keep the box so it stays potent, away from children and out of sight
Store medicines in a cool, dry place, such as a dresser drawer or a kitchen cabinet away from the stove, the sink and any hot appliances; a storage box, a shelf or a closet also works. The bathroom cabinet is the place to avoid, because heat and moisture from the shower, bath and sink may damage medicines, and a damaged medicine can become less potent, or may go bad before its expiration date.
Wherever the box goes, store it out of reach and out of sight of children, in a cabinet with a child latch or lock. A dresser drawer meets the cool, dry part of that advice; whether it keeps the box from a child depends on how high the drawer is and whether a child can open it. A drawer or cabinet of your own also keeps the box out of a housemate's sight, which a shared fridge cannot do, so a medicine that has to be kept cold is harder to keep private. In the fridge it still needs a spot that a young child cannot reach or see (see Move the weight medicine off the fridge door if young children visit).
Keep the medicine in its original container, and take any cotton ball out of the bottle, since cotton pulls moisture in. Some medicines come with storage instructions of their own, so ask the pharmacist at the pharmacy that filled yours whether it has any. If a medicine kept out of sight is easy to forget, put it back in the same place each time and set timers or reminders to help you remember to take it, or try a reminder app.
What someone at home would have to do if something went wrong
Spotting a reaction and getting you help are the two steps, and a housemate needs the name of your medicine for neither. Most drug allergies cause minor skin rashes or hives, and the symptoms may come on right away or hours after taking the medicine. Common symptoms of a drug allergy include hives, itching of the skin or eyes, a skin rash, swelling of the lips, tongue or face, and wheezing.
If you are taking a medicine and seem to be having a reaction to it, contact your provider, such as the office of the doctor who prescribed it. Anaphylaxis, a severe, acute allergic reaction, has symptoms that include:
- difficulty breathing with wheezing or a hoarse voice
- hives over different parts of the body
- abdominal pain or cramping, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea
- dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting
- confusion
- a rapid pulse, or feeling your heart beat
Hives over different parts of the body, and difficulty breathing with wheezing or a hoarse voice, are how two of the common symptoms show up in anaphylaxis. Difficulty breathing, or other symptoms of severe asthma or anaphylaxis, are an emergency: go to an emergency room, or call 911 or whatever the emergency number is where you are. So is swelling of the lips, tongue or face that comes with difficulty breathing. Neither set of symptoms is complete, so one missing from them can still be part of a reaction.
Most side effects of medicines are not an allergic reaction, and many people confuse an unpleasant but not serious side effect, such as nausea, with a drug allergy. Nausea like that, without other signs of anaphylaxis, is one to tell your provider about rather than a reason to call 911.
Confusion or fainting can leave you unable to call 911 yourself. Whether anyone at home would know to call 911 for you is the part your privacy decides. If you tell nobody, keep your copy of the list on you, so the people treating you can see what you take even if you cannot tell them. If you would like one person at home to be able to step in, you can tell them what the emergency symptoms look like and that you want them to call 911, without telling them what the medicine is.
Through NicoCares, a physician licensed where you live reads the answers you give in an online health questionnaire and judges whether treatment is clinically right for you. A NicoCares patient can tell the care team about a new allergy, or a prescription from another doctor, in a secure message rather than out loud at home: patients write to the care team through Spruce Health, which hosts that messaging and emails each patient an invitation to set up an account. A rash or itching that may be a reaction can be reported there too. NicoCares does not run an emergency service, so difficulty breathing or any other sign of severe asthma or anaphylaxis means an emergency room or 911, never a message.
