How to Ensure You Don’t Run Out of Medication

Oct 2013
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Whatever your ailment, when on a course of medication, it’s always important to stick to your treatment plan. Whether you’re recovering from an injury or treating a chronic condition, getting the right support from pain relief can sometimes make all the difference. Similarly, if you’re receiving maintenance treatment for a certain condition, it’s important to adhere to your medication schedule as skipping a dose may cause a flare-up.

So making sure you have enough of your prescribed medication is vital. But, as we all know, sometimes life can get on top of us, and it can be quite easy to forget to order more from our pharmacist or prescriber. Here are some simple steps you can take to ensure you don’t run out:

Always Know How Much You Have

It’s tempting once we’ve got our supply for a month or two to just forget about it for the time being. But you should always be mindful of when you’ll need more – so work out how much medication you have, and how many days it’s going to last you, if your pharmacist hasn’t already. And then…

Make a Note of When You’ll Need More

Jot down the date of when you’ll need to re-visit your pharmacist or doctor, to get more treatment or review your dose. If you have a calendar in your phone, make a note in there, and set yourself an alarmed reminder if you can.

Organise Re-orders

Talk to your pharmacist. Do they have an automatic re-ordering service? If they do, use it. If they don’t, ask them what the procedure is. Some pharmacists will require your doctor to send through a repeat prescription via post or fax as and when needed. Others may need to source your medication from external suppliers, and this might take days to organise and require advance notice. Be clear on what you have to do and when you have to do it, so that you aren’t rushing around when your supply is starting to run low.

Keep It Somewhere Safe

Once you’ve got your medication, keep it somewhere secure, and where you know you can find it. The last thing you want to do is lose your medication, and have to visit your doctor and then your pharmacist to get a replacement.