Keeping track of start dates for different meds?

[ErinENj]

I've been struggling to find a way to document and organize the start dates on all of my meds. Is it important to keep them? I've been thinking that it might be important to know how long I've been on something, or the start and end dates, and through that list, be able to keep track of what I've been on in the past, and maybe somehow make notes on how it worked, any negative side effects, why I stopped it, and any other important details that may come in handy in the future.

I keep all of my receipts and patient information from my pharmacy, so I know I can use them to figure out all of those details, but it'll take awhile to go through all five years of them. So if I need to know that for some reason, it's going to take me or someone else if I can't a long time to get through it all and figure out everything I can from the information I have.

Is this information I should keep track of and keep up to date? Should I have a list somewhere that gives me all of the medications, start dates, side effects, end dates, and why it was switched? If so, how do you do it? Do you just keep a file on your computer with it all in it and then it's easy to update and access? Or is there some other way to do it, like making up a list of the meds I started and/or ended for each year and then filing that with all of my prescription files (they have their own filing box because there are just so many of them!) ? Any thoughts on this? Will there ever be a time when I might need this, like if I'm trying to switch meds to something I haven't tried yet and need to know what I've tried in the past (from before I started with my current doc. The first three years of my CP life were at another doctor, so I don't have those records and can't get them. His practice broke up, in my opinion becaue the other docs in the practice couldn't stand him and were concerned that his horrific and disrespectful bedside manner and treatment plans that didn't treat the patient but treated the disease opened them up to the threat of a substantial lawsuit that would drag them down with him. So when they moved, they sent a letter to all of his patients saying that unless you requested them within two weeks, the records would be destroyed permanently. Unfortunately, I got the letter too late to be able to get them, so I have no records of what meds I was on and when and at what dosages, and why I switched from those three years, when most of my switching was done.)?

I've never seen anyone talk about this, so I'm anxious to see if, while I'm unemployed and maybe while I'm recovering from my epidural in a week, I should be going through my records and getting that all together. Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated! I never know what records to keep and what to toss, so I usually end up keeping everything just to be on the safe side. Some may think of me as a packrat because I keep everything I think I may ever need again. I think of it as resposible record keeping and making sure that no matter what, I'll always have anything I might ever need! ;)

Thanks everyone!!!

[Pharmacist.steve]

Sounds like a good place to set up a electronic spreadsheet - all the information about the drug itself can be looked up on the internet - if you need that info at a later date ... keeping all those PIL ( Patient Information Leaflets) doesn't make a lot of sense.. but the record keeping concept seems to have some merit particularly for someone who has been switched from med to med over the years

[Tbackpain1]

I agree whole heartedly that you should have some kind of record of the various medications that you have been on since starting your spiney journey, and any allergies/negative side effects should be listed in big bold at the top. I have mine on a spread sheet along with current meds and doses listed at the top, going back in chronological order to the beginning.

We've talked about having some kind of data available during emergencies. I have mine on a flash drive that's on my keys with a big In Case of Emergency (ICE) label on it, so that my current medical history is available, as well as a medication list, the most recent set of films for my spine and all the contact information for my various physicans. Heaven forbid I was in some kind of accident where I was unable to give a good history, at least my pertinent info is available to any treating physican.

Theresa

[tiva]

Erin, Two other ideas for getting start and stop dates for your drugs are:

Does your health insurance plan have a website that you can log into? Mine does, and I can look at my medical claims for as long as I've had this plan (several years). The pharmacy claims are separate from (not intermingled with) the other medical claims, and I have to enter a date range for the claims that I want to see.

Do you use one pharmacy? (As part of a disability claim, I've had to list all of the RX's that I've had filled between certain dates before; they asked me to do it from my prescription bottles. This time frame was close to a year... and was going to be tedious. I was looking for another way to do it.) I called my pharmacy and asked them if they could provide me with a printout of the RX's that I had filled in the previous year. I just picked it up when I went to get another refill. I'm not sure how many pharmacies can/will do this, and how far back their records go... but it doesn't hurt to ask... :)

[jane2]

I keep a a medication diary,. It that looks a bit like a monthly calendar with columns different blocks each day to fill in what medications I'm taking. The columns have headers like - long-acting, breakthrough, seizure, muscle relaxers, type of pain, severity, comment.

I started doing as to keep track of how my medications were giving me a rebound headaches. So I would mark if I had a migraine and I would keep track of everything I was taking and how much. You can figure out your own style a chart according to, what your concerns are. I have records going back to 2002.

I When I take a pill I will put the milligrams in the appropriate column and a code for what type of pill it is (v for valium, K for Kadian etc.). As I can't carry my chart around, I put a post at all my pillbox and mark what I take and then fill out my chart when I come home.


This shows I have no life an embarrassing case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but it really has helped me keep track of daily medications and to see the progression over the years.

[BrokenBladder]

Theresa I have the same flash drive and it makes me feel alot more comfortable knowing that if something does happen to me any doctor or hospital could look at it before treating me.
As far as all of the medications I've been on I have a list of those in a notebook. My real reason for keeping track of them is so that I can look at it and tell the doctor "no this medication didn't work because of ......."

[houghchrst]

The American Heart Association site has a medication page. Here is the link, I hope it works.

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=92