By Deb Kroon
Fulda Free Press staff writer
According to the American Medical Association (AMA), about one in four new prescriptions is never filled, and about half the time patients don’t take the medications they do have.
The Problem: People give eight basic reasons for not complying.
1. Fear. People may be frightened of potential side effects. They may have witnessed side effects experienced by someone else who was taking the same or a similar medication and believe the medication caused the problems.
2. Cost. People may ration what they have to extend their supply.
3. Misunderstanding. People may not understand the need for the medicine, the nature of the side effects or the time it will take to see results. This is particularly true for those with chromic illness, because taking a medication every day to reduce the risk of something bad happening can be confusing. Failure to see immediate improvement may lead to premature discontinuation.
4. Too many medications. The greater the number of different medicines prescribed and the higher the dosing frequency, the more likely someone is to not take some or any. The Mayo Clinic recently reported that more than 50% of Americans take two prescription medicines and 20% take 5 or more. (www.mayoclinicproceedings.org)
To read the rest of this article – pick up a copy of this weeks Fulda Free Press or subscribe to our e-edition at http://eedition.fuldafreepress.net/sub/account_login.a
