i go into a lot of different homes doing my job.......i am absolutely floored by how many people ask me what their different meds do!!!! they will have a plastic basket FULL of meds and not know what one-fourth of them are for......

these are all elderly patients and i know that memory is a problem but from my questions, most of the time i see that a doctor just prescribed it and they went and got it and are taking it......one didn't even know he was on an anxiety med. makes me wonder if their children check the meds or the nurses talk to them or WHAT???????

end of rant.....

It's a shame the docs aren't required to write it down in clear language what the drug is for and when and how to take it. It would help the patient and any caregivers. I wonder too if they know when to stop a med or when one med replaces another.

My parents chose to not share those things with me. I don't even know what their illnesses were. When asked my mother would rant about foreign doctors being hard too hard to understand, fees being highway robbery, blah blah blah. They lived across the country (their choice) and when they visited sometimes I could sneak a peek but that was it.

Ya just never know the situation.

I'm glad they are comfortable asking you.

[nothemama8]

Been there done that, one of the girls here is on 23 pills a day she is on 2 meds for anticonvulsions alone (she has no seizure disorder) napreson (sp) 2 daily, prilosic daily, 6 gabapin daily (sp) 2 DDAVP she has Diabetis Insipadus, and doesn't know what her meds are

blows my mind. i research everything that is even suggested to me and i always did for my parents. it's scary........

[Juliana]

I remember all the pill bottles that my now-deceased Nana had on her kitchen counter. I lived with her for a year when I was in college. I looked at all the labels and put all of her pills in one of those daily pill managers for her because I was afraid she would accidentally double up on a dose -- there were SO many pills. She didn't know what they were for. She didn't ask her doctors any questions. She felt that doctors knew EVERYTHING and if a doctor told her to take something, she just took it. She was going to so many different doctors, though, for so many different conditions, I was afraid of drug interactions. I just had to trust that the pharmacist was paying attention. This was about 14 years ago, so I didn't have the internet to do any research on all the pills she was taking. It scared me. I wonder if it's a generational thing -- some elderly people just trusting doctors implicitly and not asking questions or doing any research.

Just wanted to say that some anti-seizure meds like Gabapentin (Neruontin) are prescribed for off-label uses. Neurontin is used off-label for neuropathy, post-surgical pain, anxiety to name a few. I have no seizure disorder but used Nuerontin for anxiety and sleep problems; it was great in how it helped me fall asleep very naturally and it made me sleep through the night, waking refreshed with no hangover effect.