One Extra Pill Can't Hurt You | Consumer Health Information Corporation

One Extra Pill Can't Hurt You

Su H. Yang
Doctor of Pharmacy Candidate, 2001
Doctor of Pharmacy Program at Howard University

Gary Kaufman will never forget his answer to his wife Amy when she asked if she could take an extra tablet of her allergy medication for her hives.

According to an article in the magazine Natural Health, Amy had an outbreak of hives and was given a prescription for an allergy medicine. She was told to take one tablet every morning. One night when her hives were still bothering her, she asked her husband, a neurosurgeon, if she could take an extra tablet.

He said, "One tablet can't kill you." She took her medication and went to bed.

The next morning, Gary found his wife lying dead beside him. She had died of cardiac arrest. She was sensitive to a rare but serious side effect and the extra pill of her allergy medicine had caused Amy's heart to stop beating. The manufacturer had printed materials which warned that one extra tablet of this medicine could result in cardiac arrest. Unfortunately Amy and Gary didn't know this. This product was later taken off the market in 1999.

What can you do to prevent such tragedy in the future?

Anyone who takes a prescription medicine should try to find out as much as they can about it. You may be eager to leave the doctor's office but you should take time to ask questions about any medicine you've been prescribed. You may be in a hurry to get home, but you should slow down and take the time to ask your pharmacist about your medications when you pick them up.

Some of the questions you should ask are:

	1.	What is this medicine for?
	2.	How do I take it?
	3.	How long do I have to take it?
	4.	What are the possible side effects?
	5.	What should I do if I have any early warning signs of side effects?
	6.	Is it safe to take with other medicines (including over-the-counter medicines) or supplements such as herbal remedies?
	7.	What foods, drinks or activities should I avoid while taking the medicine?
	8.	How do I store the medicine?
	9.	What happens if I forget to take a dose?
	10.	What might happen if I take an extra dose?

Many doctor's offices have free patient pamphlets explaining how to use medications. More information can be found in the Package Inserts, approved by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Package Inserts can sometimes be found in the back of the ads or in the original package of a medicine at pharmacies. However, Package Inserts are developed for health professionals and difficult to understand due to their technical language. To overcome this, some drug companies are developing patient information sheets called Patient Package Inserts. Patient Package Inserts translate the information into language that the normal person can understand. The Patient Package Inserts are also submitted to FDA for approval. In order to be approved by FDA, the information contains well-explained benefits and risks of a medication.

The next time your doctor writes a new prescription for you, ask for any information you can read about the your medication. Many pharmacies provide one or two-page print outs concerning your medication. Don't toss them in the trashcan! They only take 5 or 10 minutes to read and they contain important information.

According to a report in the Journal of the American Medicine Association written in 1998, more than 100,000 people die from taking prescription drugs every year. Patient education could prevent many of these deaths. No one can force someone to learn something. The decision is yours. Just taking an extra 15 minutes to learn about your medications may save your life. It definitely could have saved Amy Kaufman's.