Stepping into college can be both frightening and exciting for a student. It can be terrifying because of the additional responsibilities and more complex subjects that they will face. On the other hand, it is exciting because the students are stepping out of the home to live away from their parents. Overall, college is the beginning of the students stepping out of their comfort zone and managing everything independently.
After living with you since their formative years, your child may find it challenging to look after themselves. They have to cook and do their laundry while balancing the time for their studies. For students who are taking medications, it’s an additional responsibility on their plate to manage their daily medicine intake. As parents and guardians, we wouldn’t want to send our children out into the world without keeping them equipped with knowledge.
In this article, we will share how you can teach your child to manage their medications in college:
Keep meds in sight
It is expected that one can occasionally forget to take their medicine. Even those who take meds daily can have problems with manually managing their medicine intake. With the lack of a medication calendar, sometimes the problem is that they’re not sure whether or not they have already taken the day’s dosage.
A seven-day pillbox is always handy for this problem. However, be sure to remind your child to keep the original bottle or packaging of their medication and bring their prescriptions, especially when bringing medicines outside. Some states do not support the use of pill organizers to avoid the rampant abuse of illegal and non-prescribed drugs.
When at home, it’s best to put their pillbox in areas where they always stay, like their study table or beside things they use daily. By keeping their medicine in sight, it is harder for them to skip it.
Connect with a pharmacist online
Anybody taking medications knows how confusing it can be and how often questions come up such as what is the proper dosage to take, or what are the potential side effects, or what happens if I miss a dose. Our first instinct, especially of the younger generation, is to turn to the internet for answers. However, as we all know, it is difficult to trust and rely on the information you see on the internet. Chances are it is of low-quality, written by an average joe without a medical license. Even if the online source is of high quality and written by a professional, its unlikely to be personalized to your child’s specific needs and context.
There are services available, such as one called Medidex Connect, that enable you to connect instantly with a live pharmacist online to ask specific questions about medications and get personal and professional answers right away. A great tool to make sure your child is aware of while they are away, so they always have the support they need available at their fingertips, even when you’re not around to help them.
Set an alarm
Since children are always on the phone, better yet, let their phones remind them to take their medicines. Teach them to set a reminder in time for their medication and use a distinct tone to their call or message tone.
Meanwhile, there are available apps for taking medicine, such as MedManage. With such an app, they can keep track of their medication calendar, create comprehensive medication instructions, and log other important information.
Warn them about drinking
Talk to your child calmly and explain to them that medicines may react differently to the body when taken with alcohol. You may also bring them with you to the doctor and let the doctor elaborate on your child’s medication and how they would react to different kinds of alcohol. Let your children hear it right from their doctors so that they will listen to the instructions.
Explain the dangers of drugs
This may be one of your worries as a parent, especially when your child is exposed to a new environment. Children might go too far and try things that they should not. But fear tactics may not be the most effective method of education. Instead, explain why it’s terrible for your children to take non-prescribed drugs other than they are already taking. Then, give detailed explanations on how exactly it could worsen their medication and not just say, “It’s bad.”
Conclusion
After keeping your child in your arms for years, it is normal to feel worried, especially when they have special needs or health conditions requiring them to take medications regularly. However, with the help of technology, keeping track of their medication intake should no longer be complicated.
Stop worrying about your child and give them the most reliable medication assistant application. Medication management is made easier by MedManage, a medicine tracker that will remind and keep track of your child’s medication. Download it on your child’s Android or IOS devices. Get in touch with the experts at My Medication Log in the US today to see how we can help!