Making The Most Of Your Medication (NAPSA)—Over 50 percent of Americans don’t take their medication as directed. Take the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Pharmacy Care Quiz at www.GetRxHealthy.com to check your medication IQ and get instant tips on how to partner with your pharmacist to improve your health. It was recently revealed that while this country spent more that $144 billion on prescription medicines in 2000, another $177 billion was spentfixing problems associated with the use of prescription medications. In contrast, a three-year study of nearly 400 patients discovered that when patients partnered with their pharmacists, physicians and other healthcare providers, over 90 percent took their medication correctly as prescribed by their doctors. Of the nearly 400 respondents being treated for high cholesterol, for example, the majority reached and maintained nationally recognized goals for treating their condition. Fortunately, there are five things you can do to stay on the right side of the statistics: 1. If you have a question about your medication, ask your doctor or pharmacist. 2. Get all of your prescriptions filled at the same pharmacy so your complete medical history will be onfile; let the pharmacist know every medication, herbal remedy or vitamin you take. 3. When you get prescriptions Rx Healthy ealt ! Your pharmacist can help you understand how the medications you’ve been prescribed can do you the most good. refilled, make sure the medicine looks exactly the sameas it did the last time. If not, ask why. 4. If you see more than one doctor, let each know what the other prescribes. 5. Read all the information you receive about your medications and learn all the names of the drugs you take. Says pharmacist and syndicated columnist Suzy Cohen, “When people don’t take their medication the right way they put their lives at risk. Taking time to read the label of your prescriptions and know about the drugs you take can keep youwell.” You can take an online quiz to see how much you know about taking medicine, at www.GetRx Healthy.com.
