Shawna Kraft, Pharm.D.
A guide to understanding adjustments to your prescription medications
Many times throughout treatment, a patient's medications may need to be adjusted or changed. It can happen for a variety of reasons, such as unpleasant or intolerable side effects, how your body is responding to the medication or interactions with other medications you take.
A pharmacist is often involved in assisting with your medication changes.
First the pharmacist will assess all of the medications and supplements a patient is taking. Below is a guide to help you understand some of the issues that cause patient' prescriptions to change and the intended outcome.
Cause (of medication changes) |
Effect (possible outcomes) |
Medication is causing side effects |
- Change dose to decrease side effects
- Change how patient is taking medication (timing or formulation)
- Suggest a medication to treat the side effect
- Suggest another similar medication that may cause fewer side effects
|
Medication may interact with another medication |
- Suggest a similar medication that doesn’t interact
- Adjust dose of one medication to make up for the interaction
|
Medication is not covered by insurance |
- Appeal to insurance company if original medication is best choice for patient
|
Genetic testing of disease requires a change |
- Assist in choosing best medication based on that patient’s genetic sequencing
|
Patient has many illnesses so some medications may cause more harm than
good |
- Assist in choosing best medication that won't interact with patient’s other diseases
|
Have a question for the pharmacist? Email us at [email protected].
Read the Spring, 2017 issue of Thrive
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