Prescription Protection

With allergies, come prescriptions. My latest is a generic version of Flonase. And with these prescriptions, often come side effects. And these side effects may not always be related to the actual medicine. Identity theft is not usually listed on the label, but every bit of your personal information is.

I fill my prescriptions at my local Target. As far as pharmacy experiences goes, this is the best I’ve had, but their packaging often leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I understand that they want to ensure their employees can easily access information to help ensure that you and only you are picking up your prescription, but if you’re not careful when throwing it away you might also be providing this same information easily to identify thieves.

The bag that prescriptions come in from Target contains a label. On this label is my full name, address, telephone, and birthdate. To ensure this information stays between me and my pharmacy, I take a Sharpie to it and block out all information as much as possible. Next is the packaging that the actual medicine is in, this usually contains my full name. And lastly, inside the bag are additional labels. These labels also contain my my name, address, telephone, and birthdate. I take a Sharpie to them all.

The next time you fill a prescription read all the labels to not only take as directed, but to also ensure you’re not allowing anyone else to do the same to you.

A Reminder

I am the worst at remembering to medication of any kind. Vitamins? Forget it. I have lost count of the number of times I have forgotten to take a vitamin even when it was sitting on the table right in front of me.
A big part of getting over my recent sinus infection has been making sure I take Mucinex and Sudafed consistently. The former only lasts four hours and the later six hours per dose. Now, I am aware that could save myself the headache of remembering to take the medications by using Mucinex D every twelve hours, but I have found that I need more Mucinex than I do Sudafed. I have less side effects from both by take the lower dosages at a time.

Plus, I worked out a way to eliminate the headache in remembering to take these on time. My iPhone has come in handy for many tasks, but I rely on it the most to remind me to take my medications. Every time I take a medication, I change the time of the reminder to the next schedule dosage time. And like clockwork every four and six hours, I can rely on my iPhone to remind me to take what I need.