Managing my prescriptions

When I was first diagnosed with epilepsy my prescription was changing quite regularly. My consultant wanted to gradually increase the dose I was taking and tried different medicines. The doctors eventually got me on the right amount and my final dose.

It did get quite complicated keeping my GP up to date I found it helpful to have a letter from the consultant to give to my GP.

Things that have helped are:

• Putting a reminder up of when to order my next prescription – I write it down and have it in my phone. Prescriptions can take a while to process, prepare and sometimes the pharmacy may have to order your medicine as they may not have it in stock. To be on the safe side I order mine at least a week before I need my next lot just in case of errors.
• In case of emergencies or queries at the pharmacy I keep a picture of my prescription on my phone and update it regularly.
• Before leaving the pharmacy I check everything that’s on the prescription is there. I check all the labels have the right tablet numbers on as sometimes they will put more tablets or take tablets out of a box. There are times when the have pharmacy accidentally forgotten to put items in the bag. It’s much easier to sort out there and then, then discovering a problem when you get home.
• If I’m going away I like to take medicine to cover more days than I plan to be away – a useful backup for delays or changes in plan. I also take copies of my prescription and consultant letters with me, just in case of any issues like losing baggage.

Getting myself organised has taken time, I’ve got better at it. I’ve moved around a bit recently which has meant changing to a different pharmacy and changing the version of my medicine. It didn’t cause any issues for me.