People take prescription medication for different purposes. It can be for a condition as simple as the flu or more complex ones like mental illness. These small pills and capsules contain a synthetic blend of ingredients that can restore balance to your body or repair any damage to your organ systems. However, one crucial requirement in experiencing these effects is consistently taking your medication.
People can miss a few doses here and there, mostly due to forgetfulness. Sometimes, this doesn’t lead to major health complications. However, it can have severe consequences if you’re not mindful of what you’re taking it for.
The importance of regular dosages
A prescription medication doesn’t always provide an immediate effect, especially if it’s for treating a complicated condition. Unlike pain medication that offers an almost instantaneous effect, some medication regimens need consistency to work effectively.
Skipping multiple doses can affect you in different ways, especially if you’re purposefully doing so. Missing the best window of time can lead to adverse reactions, depending on your condition. For example, pain medicine for arthritis is a necessary preventative measure before symptom tart. Without it, a patient’s experience with pain will be much harder to mitigate.
Besides managing conditions, your treatment toward recovery can fail if you don’t receive your prescribed antibiotics regularly. This can lead to the infection in your body staying longer with prolonged and more severe effects. Additionally, incomplete treatments can make you resistant to a particular brand of medicine. For this reason, it’s necessary to finish your regimen even if you start feeling better.
The dangers of skipping medication
Different medicine will have varying withdrawal effects once you stop taking them in the prescribed dosage. For example, antidepressants can trigger adverse chemical changes to your brain, leading to anxiety, headaches, and flu-like symptoms. Besides medical conditions, you may be more vulnerable to a viral disease if you give it a chance to gain resistance to treatment. This makes infections harder to control.
These adverse effects can range from giving slight inconveniences to fatal conditions. For example, missing your intake of blood pressure pills can put you at severe risk of experiencing cardiovascular complications. Heart attacks, kidney failure, and even a stroke can become more common. Even over-the-counter-medication can be dangerous by letting your condition rebound to incite more severe symptoms.
The right response when skipping your medication
There are two general guidelines when it comes to missing your medication. If you are only 2 hours within the appropriate window, you should still be able to take it. Afterward, make sure to adjust your doses to an adjusted time. However, if it’s been past the 2-hour mark, you need to check your frequency of taking your medication.
Medicine you need to take once or twice daily should be safe to take since it has long intervals in-between consumption. However, it’s safer to wait for your next dose if you have to take it three times or more within the day. Since different medicine will affect you in varying ways, it’s best to consult your physician if the general rules above will apply to your situation.
Conclusion
Taking your medicine regularly is crucial in treating your condition, no matter how minor or severe it is. This is why you need to be mindful about taking the right dosage at the right time. Thankfully, you can use modern apps to help you get reminders and notifications for your daily medication.
You can avoid missing out on your meds with the help of modern technology. MedManage is a cloud-based medication log app that helps patients and caregivers maintain their daily medication. Download our app today to experience a simple and convenient way to keep track of your meds!