Making Prescriptions Easy: How To Manage Your Medicine

Managing regular prescriptions can feel overwhelming, especially if you’ve recently been diagnosed with a long-term condition or have never dealt with prescriptions before.

It’s not as difficult as it seems to manage your medicines. With a few simple steps, you can make sure you always have the medication you need, when you need it.

At Ricky’s we’re here to walk you through storing prescriptions, ordering them, what to do if your medication isn’t working, and more. Plus, our pharmacists are always on hand to help if you need any advice about your medication in Ewell and Epsom.

How to Store Your Prescriptions

Proper storage of prescriptions is important to make sure that their effectiveness and quality is preserved. Here are some tips for how to store your prescription:

Keep medicine in it’s original packaging if you can: This helps you identify them easily and ensures you have access to important information like expiration dates and dosage instructions. It also means that if you ever need help with your medication, family and care givers can access all the information they need.

Store according to package instructions: Most medications should be kept away from direct sunlight and moisture. A kitchen cabinet or a drawer in your bedroom can be ideal, but avoid the bathroom due to its humidity. Your pharmacist will tell you if anything needs to be stored in a fridge and if it needs to be kept in the fridge drawers.

Use a Medicine Box: Organise your medications in a labeled box or drawer to keep them all in one place. This can also be helpful if you ever need to stay in hospital or quickly see how much medicine you have at a glance.

Keep out of reach of children and pets: It goes without saying but keep all medications stored in a secure location if there are children or pets in your home. Lots of medicines include child locks but pill packets can be opened by small children and pets so keep them safe and out of sight.

How to Order Prescriptions

The key to staying on top of your medication is ordering with plenty of time to spare before you run out. We have a few tips to help you remember to order your medication and also ways to order:

Set Reminders: Use your phone or a calendar to remind you when it’s time to reorder. If you know you’ll see the reminder and ignore it, set the reminder to go off as the prescription line opens if you’re calling in to order or to go off when you know you’ll be able to open the app and order.

Order in plenty of time: It’s not uncommon for some doctors surgeries to work on a 48 hour turn around for repeat prescriptions so try not to leave it to the last minute before you order to avoid running out.

Plan ahead for holidays and bank holidays: If you’re going away, make sure you have enough medication to cover the duration of your trip. Also, take into account bank holidays and how that could impact your order. For example, make sure you have plenty of medication before the week of Christmas where there are lots of bank holidays and regular pharmacy services could be disrupted.

What to Do If Your Feel Your Medications Aren’t Working

If you feel that your medication isn’t working as it should, don’t hesitate to take action. It’s not uncommon to have questions about how tings are working, especially if it’s a brand new medication.

The first point of contact should always be your GP to discuss how your symptoms are changing and any concerns that you have. It could be that your medication takes longer than others to start working or that this particular medication doesn’t work for you. In either case, your GP will work with you to find the solution.

What to Do If You Run Out of Medicines

Even with the most carful planning it’s still possible to run out of medication. Whether a prescription hasn’t been delivered or your other medication expired, the first step is not to panic.

Depending on your medications, you may be able to get an emergency prescription from the pharmacy to help you get access to your medication. Once you have an emergency prescription t’s important that you get in tough with your GP to order your full prescription as the emergency supply is usually only a partial prescription order for a few days.

How To Travel With Medication

When traveling, along with everything else to consider, you need to make sure that you’re planned ahead to manage your medication. The first step is to make sure tat you’ll have enough medication for your trip, with extra in case of delays. If your flights are cancelled or something delays you, the last thing you want to be worrying about is if you have enough medication.

While travelling abroad you need to research ahead of time to make sure you can travel with your medications and get any documentation you need to cross borders with your medications. In some cases a simple letter from your GP is enough to help you clear customs.

When on the plane, keep all your medication in your hand luggage. There’s two benefits to this, one if your luggage is lost you’ll still have your important medication. Two, the hold is often much colder than the cabin so if your medication is sensitive to temperature you shouldn’t store it in your main luggage for the flight.

Ricky’s Pharmacy Is Here To Help In Ewell and Epsom

Whether you’ve been managing prescriptions for years or you’re new to ordering medicine regularly, at Ricky’s we’re here to help. We know how much having a great pharmacy can help you stay on tope of your medication and reduce the stress of managing an illness.

We offer emergency prescription services, repeat prescriptions and prescription delivery across Ewell and Epsom to help you stay on top of your medicine.

If you need pharmacy advice or want to switch your prescription to Ricky’s Pharmacy, contact us online. Or you can visit us at our pharmacy on Ewell high street for advice, we’re always happy to help!