Do you have only one physician? Probablynot. You may have a primary physician, a cardiologist, an orthopedist, a urologist, a neurologist, all of whom prescribed meds. Or perhaps you became ill on vacation and visited an emergency medical outpatient center where you received yet another prescription. Most likely all of your prescriptions were not filled at the same pharmacy. For example, you may be taking three medications with different names and strengths for pain, not realizing they all do the same thing. Who oversees all these medications and knows their interactions? Your pharmacist - if you go to only one pharmacy.
To save money, always ask your pharmacist if an over-the-counter, generic or alternative drug is available. Some drug manufacturers have a prescription drug and a lesser strength over-the-counter drug. For example, Clarinex (X30) is approximately $127.70 while Claritin (x30) sells for approx. $7.46. If you cannot afford a medication, there may be a pharmaceutical program to help you.
Ask your pharmacist to do a “brown bag” review of all the medications you are taking, including over-the-counter drugs, vitamins and herbal supplements. Also, take all the drugs that you have “saved because I might need them later” from your medicine cabinet with you.
Throw away outdated drugs! They lose their potency over time. Some outdated antibiotics may even be toxic and cause death. And for goodness sake, don’t keep eye drops! They don’t have many preservatives and may begin to grow organisms. Using them may potentially infect your eyes! Now then…”What’s in YOUR medicine cabinet?”
