Many people don’t realize that there are foods and drinks that can interact and interfere with medications. There are some your senior might have heard about, like avoiding grapefruit juice if she takes calcium channel blockers. But there are other interactions, too, like green leafy vegetables interfering with how aspirin works. Understanding your senior’s medications and possible interactions as thoroughly as you can helps you to take better care of her. Adding skilled nursing care services can assist you in doing so.
Talk with Her Doctors and Her Pharmacists about Her Medications
Skilled Nursing Care Boca Raton FL – How Can You Stay on Top of Food and Drug Interactions for Your Senior?Your elderly family member’s doctors and her pharmacists are the best sources to start out determining if there are any food and drug interactions for her to be aware of, especially when she starts new medications. When looking at food and drug interactions, you need to also include drinks, supplements, vitamins, and over-the-counter medications to be as thorough as possible. This helps you to know what your senior needs to avoid in order to be safe.
Update Her Doctors When Your Senior Experiences Symptoms
If your elderly family member starts to experience symptoms, side effects or worsening of the conditions she’s taking medication to manage, her doctor needs to be aware. It could be that the medication isn’t working for her as expected. But it could also be that there are other things your senior is ingesting that are causing the medication to not work well.
Read the Patient Leaflets for Each Medication
Every medication your elderly family member takes should come with a detailed patient leaflet every time the prescription is filled. While these leaflets can feel like too much when she’s taken the medication for a while, they’re important to read. There can be updated information within those leaflets that is vital for you and your senior to know about, so make sure you read them each time the medication is refilled.
Avoid Mixing Medications into Foods or Drinks
Sometimes people really dislike taking medication so they try to hide it in a food or drink that can disguise the taste or make it easier to take. That’s a bad idea for a lot of reasons, including the fact that some medications don’t react well to hot foods and drinks. If your elderly family member really hates taking her medication in a specific form, talk with her pharmacist about other formats the medication might take.
Get Some Extra Help with Managing Medications with Skilled Nursing Care Services
It’s also possible that your elderly family member starts to need additional help taking her medications. Skilled nursing care services ensure that your elderly family member has the medical assistance that she needs, even with taking medications properly. Skilled nursing care providers can keep tabs on how your senior is responding to her medications and make sure that she’s as safe as possible while taking her medications.
Taking medications properly is vital to ensure that your elderly family member is benefiting from them and not endangered by complications that might arise. Avoiding interactions between foods and medications is a lot easier with experienced help from home health care professionals.
If you or a family member need to hire Skilled Nursing Care Services in Boca Raton FL, call the caring professionals at Star Multi Care today at (954) 870-4770. We provide service in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Coconut Creek, Deerfield Beach, Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Lauderhill, Margate, Pompano Beach, and Tamarac.
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