Know thy medications

Dear food allergic, anaphylactic and/or asthmatic tribe, open up your medicine cabinet, purse, back pack or where ever you keep your medications, I’m talking both maintenance and/or rescue and quickly answer these questions:
1. Are these kept at the right temperature so they will work when you need them?
2. Are they expired?
3. Are they kept away from moisture or extreme dryness?
4. Can you get at them EASILY if you are in a full-fledged panick?
5. Are you remembering to take maintenance medications at the right times?
6. Do you carry your rescue medications EVERYWHERE you go?
7. Do others around you know how to assist you with your rescue medications?
8. Can those around you recognize when you need these medications?
9. Lastly, are YOU and your medications friends? Do you feel good about taking them?

So….if you answered no to any of these, maybe it is time to consider some new ways of medicine life?!  Remember, we take medications for a reason, be it Oriental medicine, Over the Counter or prescription medications, we take these to improve or maintain our life.  Therefore, if they are important to us, well then we need to give them the respect and care they deserve after all.
We just tossed out of our home medicine cabinet a 1.5 year old bottle of ibuprofen! Oops.  How did that happen?

Let’s talk about…
Temperature:
Per Dey, who makes our beloved Epi Pens®, tells us on their website to keep them at room temperature with “excursions” from 58 degrees to 87 degree.  Just what does excursion mean? Four hours, 2 hours, six hours? They also advise us that they are light-sensitive too..keep away from extreme light or heat. I interpret this as saying, “keep them protected and OUT OF YOUR CAR’S GLOVE BOX or sitting in the sun at a picnic!”
Per Twinject®, they say the same exact thing on their website too that Dey states about the storage of epinephrine…down to the excursion question as well. They did mention to look at window displaying liquid medications seeking discoloration or precipitates, which are solids.
Expired:
This is a no brainer, if it is expired. Replace it. Even though I know some drugs can still work for a short time after the expiration date, I strongly suggest you follow protocol. I would hate to discover myself that I waited too long to replace and my rescue medication is not going to rescue me. This is would be devastating and not worth the risk for me!
Moisture or extreme dryness:
Do you live near the beach? After spending a few weeks near the beach visiting family, I discovered my son’s inhaler covered in sand, but more worse: bits of mold were growing on it!  EEW!!!! We live in an extremely dry climate where if you make a sandwich too slowly, the bread starts to dry out. Therefore, keep your medications protected in extreme natural elements.
Easy Access:
Do you keep your rescue medications easily accessible? I am talking about not a box inside a box inside a bag inside a zipper… Count how many steps it would take you to get hold of your Epinephrine or rescue inhaler.  Can you grab your meds in an instant?
Maintenance medications:
Is taking your maintenance medications part of your daily ritual? Do you need to write it on the calendar or tape them to your toothpaste?  Whatever your method, just do it! Trying to take maintenance medications when you are sick won’t work. You need to be taking them before you sick to help move along the illness or most of all prevent it!
Carrying those rescue medications:
This is life saving, hence the word rescue.  Since my invincible teens, I’ve learned that bad things do happen and they happen to everyone.  Period.  So, let’s be ready and take on those bad things straight up. Look at how you carry your rescue medications and make sure you can get them instantly, such as reaching into a purse, pocket or belt holder. If you are not breathing due to an anaphylactic reaction or an asthma attack, stopping to try to find them probably won’t work out too well in your favor either. Keep them in the same place always and keep them very, very close by–please, it could save your life.
Assistance:
Don’t hide your food allergies, bee sting or other allergies and/or your asthma. Simply let your friends that you have these and that you carry rescue medications in case of an emergency. A simple, “by the way, I want you to know that I have food allergies and/or asthma, I always keep them in a red bag in my purse in case of emergency.  I work hard to avoid needing these, but if I do, I want you know where they are and how I would to use them.” Then take the time to show them how to use them too.
Be one with your medications:
I like a Zen approach towards medications. They are here to HELP us only if we are using the right ones, in the right dosing, as directed and prescribed by our doctors. I personally want my family to take as few of medications as possible, but when we are managing asthma or other life threatening diseases, sometimes we need to bite the bullet and weigh out the risks of NOT taking a medicine.

I used to resist my son’s medications, second guess the physician and make everyone around me crazy.  Once I accepted and made peace with our medications life got easier.  In managing my son’s asthma asthma I realized that sometimes he had to take the drugs with the scary warning labels to get stable.  Then our fantastic physician would work towards reducing the asthmatic events that caused him to take the big scary medications in the first place.  We are now warriors of reduction!

So….how are you doing with your medications?  Smooth sailing I hope.

Have a marvelous Monday and Happy Beginning of a brand new week-[typography font=”Lobster” size=”18″ size_format=”px”]Caroline[/typography] If you think this may be helpful, please share it…[fbshare url=”http://www.gratefulfoodie.com/know-thy-medications/” type=”button”]