There’s someone you care deeply about, but that Someone is uninterested in prepping. You intend to help them if trouble comes. How do you prep for someone else’s medical problems?
How well you can do this depends in part on how willing they are to share information with you. It also depends on how much effort you’re willing to invest in research. Here are some approaches.
Know what issues your Someone has
Many people are surprisingly unaware of what their own real diagnoses are, what they mean, and how they’re being treated. If you are unaware of the issues Someone has, there’s very little you can do for them. Now’s a good time for a frank conversation, if they’re up for it. Some supplemental reading on your part might be called for if they’re not clear themselves.
Please choose your information sources wisely. Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins have good information. WebMD tends to overweight the dramatic conditions (It all could be cancer!); and other sites may have their own biases.
Know what medications Someone takes and what they do
She at least got the first syllable or so of each drug right. Some people can’t get that close.
The majority of Americans now take a prescription medication on a regular basis. The majority of older Americans take more than one; and some take dozens. If you’re going to help Someone out when they have to deal when medications change in availability, needs, or both, you have to have some understanding of what each medication does. The basic points are these:
- Some medications stave off acute problems. Keeping their action might be of high importance. Others are meant to protect one from developing a problem. Losing those (especially for a short time) is less critical. For example, in the meme above, the woman could get by without the atorvastatin without short-term risk, but her blood pressure and blood sugar might get whacky right away if she doesn’t get the lisinopril, metformin, and hydrchlorothiazide. How do I know? By knowing what each of those drugs does.
- Some medications are there to reduce the side effects of a different medication. If Someone quits taking the med that causes the side effect, the supplementary med probably needs to be dropped too.
- Medications might have to be altered when the physical circumstances of Someone changes. Some of these concerns are discussed in a post I did earlier that you can find here. You should know what to look out for on behalf of the Someone you’re trying to help … more on that below.
- Know doses, timing, and conditions the drug needs to be taken with too. You don’t want to start handing someone 40 mg of lisinopril when they usually take 20 mg because, hey, it’s the right pill, m’kay?
Know what it would look like if Someone’s needs changed
Knowing when your own medications might need to be changed is a challenge in itself; as you have to recognize the signs and symptoms that arise when your old dose is no longer the right dose. When caring for someone else, there’s an added layer of difficulty: You can’t feel the changes. Here are some helps:
Research the symptoms associated with too much or too little medication for the problems the someone you’re trying to help has. Tell them to let you know if they notice those things, or ask after them now and again.
Know the signs; what the problem looks like from the outside. If your Someone has diabetes, be alert for the mental fog, anxiety, bad breath, constantly running to the bathroom, or whatever other tip-offs are available to the observer. Stock a measuring tool if you can: Blood glucose test strips for diabetes, a blood pressure cuff for blood pressure issues.
Sometimes it takes an outside observer to notice. Medications that affect psychology (such as those that reduce depression or anxiety) can warp the perceptions of Someone so they don’t notice when their mental state changes.
Check out alternatives you can stock
Sometimes this is a possibility, sometimes it’s not. For example, St. John’s Wort actually tests out as useful in well-designed trials for people with mild to moderate depression. Dextropmethorphan (common as a cough remedy) might — or might not — help people with some movement or psych disorders. Over-the-counter ibuprofen and acetaminophen on a rotating schedule actually do better than opiates for chronic pain in many people.
Other proposed substitutions don’t test out well. Now’s the time to find out, when all the information in the world is at your fingertips.
Also consider non-medical alternatives. Exercise works well for many things, in proper dose and type. Meditation has proven useful for dealing with pain and anxiety. I wouldn’t overlook a good placebo, either. Hey, if your Someone is hurting, whatever works, right?
