Part of being an adult caregiver is providing reminders to take medication and ensuring that necessary medicine isn’t forgotten. Understanding the different medications that your loved one is taking requires extra effort, but it’s crucial for keeping them healthy with a high quality of life. While you want to ensure they take their medication, you also want to pay attention to the timing of medication administration and the amount they take. Here's what you should know about why seniors need help with their medication plan and some tips for good medication management. 

Why Might Seniors Need Help With Their Medication?

For older adults, especially those with memory loss, remembering to take medication can be a chore. In addition, many forget whether they have taken their medication yet on a certain day. When there are multiple different pills and vitamins to take, they can easily get mixed up. Therefore, having someone who creates a medication management plan can make the difference between effective medicine and dealing with adverse effects. Many seniors have multiple medications from different doctors, so someone needs to ensure that all the doctors are aware of what the patient is taking.  

How Do You Help Them Take Their Medication?

The first step to medication management is communicating with all the different doctors about your loved ones' prescriptions. Make a list of all their medications, along with when and how much they take, and take the list with you to each doctor's appointment. Try to use only one or two different pharmacies to make refills easy. Set up an organized system for taking medication that works for your loved one. A common system is a daily pill organizer, so you can put the exact medications together for each day. Make sure that only one person is in charge of filling the organizer so that the pills don’t get mixed up.

If you are a caregiver for a loved one and need adult caregiver support, reach out to Memory Care Home Solutions in St. Louis, MO. They offer free expert in-home caregiving training along with memory loss support and resources to help dementia and memory loss patients stay independent for as long as possible. Call (314) 645-6247 to speak with a team member, or visit them online to learn more about their services.