![\"IMG_5312\"](\"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2015\/08\/IMG_5312.jpg\")
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After my husband\u2019s father passed away in 2013, we were faced with the daunting task of cleaning out his house. Steve\u2019s sister handled most of the clean-out since she lived in Florida near where his home had been, but we did a preliminary clean during our last visit. One of our tasks was getting rid of the medicines. When I say task, I mean TASK. We\u2019re not talking about three or four pill bottles neatly arranged in a cabinet. There were shelves, drawers, baskets, tables filled with medications.<\/p>\n
We knew Dad\u2019s medication system had some shortcomings, but I\u2019m not sure either of us appreciated just how chaotic the situation was until we unearthed all these drugs. We found current and expired medications for existing and past conditions: Arthritis, blood pressure, hip replacements, heart attack.<\/p>\n
Medication management probably tops the list of problems for seniors and their families. It\u2019s a process that has many steps. You need to remember to take the medication at the prescribed time, you need to take the right meds, and you need to actually get them into your body (not just to a cup on the table or in your mouth momentarily). Any or all of these parts can be incredibly stressful for a family caring for an aging loved one.<\/p>\n
Missed medications is a common issue, but we\u2019ve also seen clients who take their medications too frequently (and end up sleeping all afternoon) and clients who get the pill to their mouths but then just suck on them or have trouble swallowing.<\/p>\n
The first step, if you\u2019re a family member trying to help make sense of the chaos, is figuring out what pills Dad\u2019s supposed to take and when. Go to the doctor with him, bring his medications, and set up a system for organizing them\u2014pill reminder strip for weekly meds, pill drawer for clearly labeled meds (label the tops of the bottle if you can\u2019t see the side labels)\u2014and discard the medications you\u2019re not currently using. (For instructions on how to dispose of medications in household trash, see the town\u2019s instructions for recycling and trash disposal. The Swampscott Police Department annually participates in the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, which is September 26 this year.).<\/p>\n
Throwing out old meds can be tough\u2014for all of us. I admit to holding onto a bottle of prescription ibuprophen \u201cjust in case.\u201d But the better, SAFER choice is to get rid of all of it. If you need a medication again, your doctor will prescribe it; taking something old may negatively affect something new you\u2019re on now.<\/p>\n
That was our big worry with my father-in-law. Every time he\u2019d come home from the doctor, he\u2019d cart in a new bag of drugs, never disposing of the old. I\u2019m pretty sure his physician had no idea all the meds he was currently taking\u2014or how and when he was. It had gotten to the point with his medications that we didn\u2019t know where to start, so, like so many things, we put it off. Going back, I wish we\u2019d had a drug purging party every time we visited.<\/p>\n
If remembering medications is a problem, use a medication reminder alarm or locked dispenser that only opens when the alarm goes off. Your loved one\u2019s pharmacist may be willing to pre-fill the dispenser each week so you don\u2019t have to. If you\u2019re the family member trying to manage someone else\u2019s medications, a daily checklist might be helpful\u2014especially if you\u2019re administering medications in different forms (pills, syringe, liquid). It\u2019s easy to forget one step or one medication if they\u2019re in different forms, and a checklist will help other caregivers know just what medications have been taken.<\/p>\n
Maybe organizing and remembering medications isn\u2019t a problem, but your loved one has a problem actually taking them. Sometimes, it helps to put hard-to-swallow pills in applesauce or pudding, but always ask your physician first to ensure the food won\u2019t negatively affect the medications. Same goes for crushing\u2014you can buy a pill crusher at any pharmacy but you want to make sure you\u2019re not crushing something that\u2019s meant to be time-released, for example.<\/p>\n
Proper or improper use of medications can have a major impact on all aspects of your loved one\u2019s life and on yours as their caregiver. Many challenges that seem to come along with aging\u2014incontinence, confusion, anxiety, depression, agitation, fatigue\u2014can actually be tied to the misuse of medicines, so getting a handle on Mom\u2019s medications might help you improve her life in many ways\u2014and it will likely improve yours, too.<\/p>\n
Molly Rowe owns FirstLight Home Care with her husband, Steve Rowe, and lives in Swampscott with their two sons. FirstLight provides non-medical in-home care to adults in Swampscott, Marblehead, Nahant, Lynn, Salem, Peabody, Danvers, Beverly, and Lynnfield. For more information and help caring for your loved ones in the comfort of their own homes, please visit FirstLight\u2019s website at <\/em>www.salem.firstlighthomecare.com<\/em><\/a> or contact Molly at <\/em>781-691-5755\/mrowe@firstlighthomecare.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After my husband\u2019s father passed away in 2013, we were faced with the daunting task of cleaning out his house. Steve\u2019s sister handled most of the clean-out since she lived in Florida near where his home had been, but we did a preliminary clean during our last visit. One of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-caring-for-aging-parents","category-medication-management"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}