A Guide To Medication Adherence For People With Diabetes
When your doctor diagnoses you with a medical condition, the first thing you must do is adhere to their prescription. If they require you to undergo treatment or take maintenance medication, you must follow their orders if you wish to get better fast.
You will need to face medication adherence or, simply put, taking your prescription drugs correctly. When your doctor tells you to take specific medication, you should remember to keep a stock at home based on your prescription to avoid running out of medicine.
Knowing how and when to take your meds and learning their proper dosage is also necessary. When you follow your doctor’s orders and stay consistent with your medication, you have greater chances of getting better, which is vital if you have diseases like diabetes. Keep reading below to learn more about medication adherence to help control your condition and let you focus on a healthy life.
Non-Adherence to Prescribed Medication
Medication non-adherence is more than the fact that some patients prefer not to take their prescribed medications because they don’t want to do it. Instead, it could involve many factors, some of which may be out of their reach.
If it’s unintentional non-adherence, it could be because of socioeconomic reasons, a poor-quality healthcare system, or medical complications. Non-adherence could be in the form of initiation or when a person doesn’t fill their prescription and start their treatment right away.
It may also be through implementation or when a person delays taking their prescription or consumes the drugs in the wrong dosages that they end up becoming ineffective. Persistence can also be non-adherence or a situation where the patient begins their medication on the right foot only to become inconsistent with it to the point that they stop taking it altogether.
Importance of Adherence to Therapy
When a patient adheres to therapy, they take their doctor or healthcare provider’s advice concerning their medical condition by performing actions that will lead them to better health. They could involve taking proper medication, following a diet, and making lifestyle changes.
Patients with type 2 diabetes are highly encouraged by their doctors to undergo a healthy diet and regular exercise routine and take early medication to prevent their condition from worsening. They could take their prescribed medication orally at first, but later on, it could become injectable, depending on a patient’s case.
As part of therapy for people with type 2 diabetes, they should also take medication to prevent their blood pressure from rising and control their dyslipidemia and other disorders. Typically, a patient with diabetes can face more than three recurring conditions.
How to Improve Medication Adherence of Patients
Patients and healthcare providers must work together to enhance medication adherence. The medical industry could find ways to make therapy for patients less complicated, such as providing fixed-dose combination pills or making dosage requirements more manageable.
Doctors could strive to prescribe their patients with medication containing fewer side effects, including hypoglycemia or weight gain. Other ways to get more people to adhere to their medication intake are educating patients about their health condition, improving healthcare and communication, and offering social support.
Conclusion
People with diabetes often struggle with medication adherence for numerous reasons, some of which could be out of their hands, lack support, or have a streamlined process. However, people need to adhere to the medication their doctor prescribes them because it’s the only way to get better, reduce the symptoms of their medical condition, and live a healthier life free from ailments.
Community Care Pharmacy is striving to make patients’ lives better to increase medication adherence, eventually saving more lives down the line. For a free one on one consultation with a licensed pharmacist that can assist you with many programs and specialized offerings geared toward medication adherence please get in touch with one of our team members today at 1-855-962-5198.