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Introduction to combination therapy - June 2008
Contents.
Adherence.
Adherence tips
What if I forget my pills?.
Adherence tips
Tips to help...
-
Choice of treatment. Get all the
information on what you will need to do
before you start treatment:
- How many tablets? How big are they?
- How often do you need to take them?
- How exact do you have to be with timing?
- Are there food or storage restrictions?
- Are there easier choices?
- Plan your timetable. For the first few weeks mark off each dose and the
time that you took it.
- Contact your hospital or clinic if you
have difficulties with side effects. They
can prescribe additional medication
to help. They can also change the
treatment if necessary.
- Use a daily or weekly pillbox. Then you
can check if you have missed a dose.
- Use a pill beeper or alarm watch for
both morning and evening doses.
- Take extra drugs if you go away for a few days.
- Keep a supply where you may need
them in an emergency. This can be in
your car, at work or at a friend's house.
- Get friends to help you remember
difficult dose times. Ask them to remind
you when you are out at night.
- Ask friends what they do and how well
they are managing. Most clinics can
arrange for you to talk to someone who
is already taking the same treatment.
- Ask your doctor for a supply of
medications to control nausea and
diarrhoea. These side effects are the
most common when starting therapy.
- Many combinations are taken once a day. This usually means taking
them every 24 hours. Twice-daily drugs
need to be taken every 12 hours.
- Completely missing a once-daily combination
may be more serious than forgetting
a dose from a twice-daily combination.
Adherence is especially important with
once-daily combinations.
Contents.
Adherence.
Adherence tips
What if I forget my pills?.