Adverse drug events from taking medications incorrectly

One area that consumers should focus on, when ensuring their medications “do no harm”, is the correct way in which they are supposed to take a medication. Subtle differences in administration technique can lead to serious side-effects. In this review I’ll point out just a few examples to paint the picture of how you need to know exactly how to take your medication(s), or suffer the consequences. Since there are too many examples to list, I suggest reviewing your medications with your pharmacist to ensure you take your medications the correct way in order to avoid potentially serious side-effects.

Several medications have their absorption increased when not taken with food, to the extent that a substantial increase in absorption can lead to serious side-effects. Two examples of rather commonly used medications are Flomax (tamsulosin) and Coreg (carvedilol). When NOT taken with food, each of these drugs can cause a serious drop in blood pressure causing dizziness and perhaps a fall. Always take these medications with your usual meal.

Eye drops, when not administered properly, can lead to serious systemic, or body-wide, side-effects. Depending on the drug, those can vary between dizziness, falls, slowed heart rate, anxiety, generalized weakness, lethargy, depression, and more! The point is that if you take an eye drop that is known to cause effects on the body as a whole, you should use the “double DOT” technique for administering eye drops. This technique is referred to in our article on the systemic effects from eye drops. http://elderdrugs.com/2010/05/eye-drops-systemic-side-effects/. Eye drops that can cause these side-effects are: Timoptic (timolol), Cosopt, Alphagan (brimonidine), Prednisolone, Pilocarpine, among others.

For those that use steroid inhalers, like Advair (fluticasone/salmeterol), Flovent (fluticasone), Pulmicort (budesonide), among others, rinsing your mouth out after each use is critical in order to prevent several potential side-effects. First, swallowing the residual dose of a steroid inhaler can cause bone loss over the long run, that means increasing your risk for osteoporosis or thinning or weakening of the bones, and fractures. You may also experience fungal infections in the mouth, commonly called “thrush”. Lastly, although not common, assuming you use your inhaler later in the day or evening, you may experience insomnia from the steroid, or even anxiety. So, in short, always rinse your mouth out after using a steroid inhaler. And when I mean rinse your mouth out I mean, rinse, gargle, spit and repeat. I know it’s tedious, but once you appreciate the potential for side-effects you’ll work to adhere to that additional step.

So there you have just a few examples of how medications, when not administered properly, can cause side-effects, also called adverse effects. Keep in mind that many medications are associated with serious adverse effects when not administered properly. Have you learned all the right ways in which to take your medications? If not, Ask Your Pharmacist.