Taking medicines
It's important to take medicines safely and follow the instructions carefully. Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist if you have any questions.
Follow instructions about taking medicines
Taking medicines at home is a common part of cancer treatment.
The medicines are much more likely to work if you follow the instructions about how to take them. But we know from research that many people don’t take them as they should.
How you take a drug by mouth can affect how much your body absorbs. So, if you don’t take it as you should, less of the drug may reach your cancer.
How to get the most out of your medicines
For a medicine to work as it should, you need to take the right dose and take it according to the instructions.
This is important because it won't work in the way it should if you don't take it correctly.
The way you take a drug can affect how much is absorbed into your body.
Not taking it correctly, may mean that less of the drug reaches your cancer or is available to fight infections or control pain.
A number of things can affect how medicines work.
It's important to take them at the correct times.
You should take them as often as you're told to and at the times you're told.
You should take your medicines for as long as you're told to and you should finish the course.
What you eat and drink and when you take your medicines is also important.
Some drugs work better on a full stomach.
Others need to be taken on an empty stomach.
So, check what you need to do when you take your medicines.
And some drugs shouldn't be taken with certain foods or drinks.
So, check if there is anything you need to avoid. stomach upsets can affect how much of a medicine you absorb.
So, tell your nurse if you're being sick or if you have diarrhoea.
And check before you take extra doses.
Other medicines you're taking can also affect how medicine works.
One drug can affect how much for another is absorbed.
This includes over-the-counter medicines, vitamins and herbal medicines.
So, tell your doctor about any other medications you're taking.
How you store a medicine can affect how well it works.
So, check with your pharmacist how you should keep them.
For example, whether it should be kept in the fridge or at room temperature.
And drugs can go off.
So, don't keep them forever.
Check the use by date and throw them away when it's passed.
All of these things can affect how well your medicine works.
So, what can you do?
Find out when and how to take your medicines so the right amount gets into your body.
Find out how long to take your medicines for.
It may not work as it should if you don't take it for the right amount of time.
Find out about possible side effects and who to tell if you have any.
Your doctor or nurse can help.
Find out what to do if you miss a dose.
Check whether you should take an extra dose or wait until the next dose.
And find out how you should keep your medicine.
To work properly it needs to be kept at the right temperature, free from damp and it should be taken before the use by date.
And remember ask your doctor pharmacist or nurse if you're unsure about how you should take
your medicines or if you're having problems.
What affects how medicines work
Several factors affect the absorption of a drug and how well it works.
Drugs stay active in the body for a particular length of time, from a couple of hours to over a day. This is why you need to take different drugs at different intervals of time.
The time it takes for the body to absorb a drug and be most effective also varies.
You must take your medicine at regular times to make sure you have the right level of the drug in your body. If you forget or miss a dose, it can take some time to get back to the right level.
This is the same for drugs that control symptoms or that treat your cancer. For example, painkillers work best if you take them regularly. This way the drug maintains its level in your body and keeps pain under control. Cancer drugs work in the same way. So, if you maintain the cancer drug levels it will act much better on cancer cells.
Everyone forgets to take tablets sometimes. What you need to do if you forget a dose depends on the medicine you are taking. Missing one dose is unlikely to be a problem. But missing several doses could mean the treatment doesn’t work as well as it should.
Tell your cancer doctor or specialist nurse if you have missed several doses in a row.
It is important to keep taking a drug for as long as your doctor has told you to. This could be weeks, months or even years.
For example, the hormone therapy tamoxifen for breast cancer is a tablet you may take daily for 5 years. It reduces the risk of the cancer coming back.
For drugs to work, your body must break them down and absorb them. When you take medicines by mouth as tablets, capsules or liquids, this process happens in the gut.
A full stomach absorbs some drugs better, and an empty stomach works better for others. Follow the instructions from your doctor, nurse or pharmacist about this. It will also be on the information sheet you get with your tablets and on the label on the box.
Some foods affect how much of a drug you absorb, which could stop it from working as well as it should. For example, grapefruit and grapefruit juice interferes with several drugs. This information will be part of the instructions you get with your drugs.
Check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist if you are not sure if you should take your drugs on an empty stomach or not.
Having diarrhoea or being sick might affect the amount of the drug that stays in your body. You might not be absorbing as much of it as you should.
Tell your cancer doctor or nurse if you have diarrhoea or are being sick. They need to know how your cancer treatment is being affected. And they will also be able to prescribe medicines to help.
Some drugs can affect each other, changing how much you absorb. Tell your doctor about any other medicines you are taking. Particularly if you are taking vitamins, and alternative or complementary therapies.
Supplements or therapies can interfere with how well medicines work. For example, St John’s Wort can affect the absorption of drugs. And laxatives can make a drug pass through your system more quickly.
Check with your cancer doctor before you take any medicines that you have bought yourself.
Like food, some drugs can go off. Some you need to keep in the fridge and others at room temperature. Follow any instructions about where and how you keep them.
Many people keep medicines in the bathroom cabinet. But because the temperature varies a lot in bathrooms and the air may be damp, it's best not to keep medicines there.
All medicines have expiry dates. Always make sure any medicines you have are within the expiry date.
You take some cancer medicines in treatment cycles. This means that you take the drug for a set period of time, followed by a break. For example, you might take a drug every day for a week and then not take it for 2 weeks. This 3 week period in total is one cycle of treatment.
Take your cancer drugs exactly as your doctor, specialist nurse or pharmacist has told you to. The break from treatment is important too. For many cancer drugs, it allows your body to recover.
Problems with taking medicines correctly
There are many reasons why people don’t take medicines in the way they’ve been told to.
Understanding how to take your medicine
Research shows that people sometimes don’t understand exactly how to take medicines. Or that the instructions are too complicated. Ask your doctor, nurse or pharmacist to explain again. It might help to ask them to write it down.
It's also important to understand why you are taking a particular medicine and what it will mean if you don’t take it. If you don’t understand why you are taking a particular medicine, you are less likely to carry on taking it.
Difficulty swallowing tablets or opening packets
You might have difficulty swallowing tablets or can’t open the bottle. Let your doctor, nurse or pharmacist know. Some drugs are available as liquids, or you can have them in a different type of container.
Side effects
Some people may stop taking a drug if they find the side effects difficult to cope with.
There are ways to control side effects. Let your doctor or nurse know if you have them. They can look at ways of helping you cope with any problems.
Tips
There are things you can do to make sure you are taking your medicines as you should.
Finding out about your medicines
Find out why you are taking each drug. If you know what it’s for and how important it is, that will help you to remember.
You also need to know:
- how you should store it
- how long you will be taking it for
- what the side effects are and who you can contact if you have any problems
- what to do if you miss a dose
Make sure you know how you should take each drug. You should know:
- what time to take it
- whether you can take it at the same time as other drugs
- when to stop taking the drug
- whether you need to take it with a full or empty stomach
We all forget to take medicines sometimes. It can help to write down when you need to take them, along with any instructions you need to follow.
Using a pillbox
If you have several different tablets to take, a pillbox can be helpful. They have compartments for each day of the week. There are smaller compartments for different times of the day.
You fill the box up once a week with your tablets, or you can get someone to do it for you.
The boxes are sometimes called monitored dose boxes. You can buy them from most pharmacies. The pharmacist will be able to offer advice.
Setting an alarm
Some things can help you remember to take your medicine on time, such as:
- setting an alarm on your watch, clock or mobile phone
- downloading a reminder app on your mobile phone
Making a chart
You could make a chart with all your drugs and drug times listed if you’re taking more than one medicine a day. This can help you to remember if you have taken your medicines. You or your carer can tick off the medicines as you take them.
