When to take prescribed medication?

[iBozz]

I'm trying to help an 88 year old take his medication regularly which, at present, he is supposed to do each morning. He lives alone so has no-one to physically remind him.

However, his failing memory means that he often forgets no matter how I try and set things up to remind him. He already has a seven day "tablet dispensing rack" with the day names clearly marked on the boxes yet still fails to take the medication regularly.

He thinks that he would be more likely to remember if the tablet rack were on his bedside table so that he could take them last thing at night, but the chemist's label says that two of the medications need to be taken in the morning.

The BNF agrees with one of those strictures, but is silent on the other.

What would be the effect, good or bad, if all these were taken at night?

The first two labels state that they are to be taken "each day":

30mg Lansoprazole
75mg Asprin Disp

The labels for the other two say "each morning", although only the second is also stated as such in the BNF:

20mg Citilopram
2.5mg Bendroflumethiazide

Is there any reason why these cannot be taken at night? I don't want to say that he should take two of them in the morning and the other two at night as that would prove too complex for him.

He keeps forgetting to ask his GP, so I said I consult the Great and The Good.

So, over to you!

Thanks.

[big-paul]

Bendroflumethiazide is a diuretic so should be taken in the morning otherwise he could be up all night peeing.

Cant see anything about the others that would better indicate time of day to take them.

[greaseweasel]

There should be contact details on the leaflet inside, or at least the company name and look up the contact details on the net. I would ring them for this sort of information, or try the GP when you can.

A forum can only speculate, whereas the GP knows the guys history and why he's specifically on those drugs and what impact a change in prescribing will make.

[iBozz]

Thanks, both. I'll try to get to see his Gp to follow up on this, but he doesn't seem the most approachable person in the world!

[jaguar982]

Any good chemist will tell you

jag

[crazyadi]

aspirin and lanzoprazole can be taken at any time so there is no problem with them.

As big-paul says bendro is a diuretic so taking it at night does cause the patient to be up and down to the toilet, especially as the peak action is obtained about an hour after taking it and then goes on for 6-8 hours.

There is no problems with changing the time of the citalopram in terms of its action, infact some people take it at night as it helps them to sleep. The only problem with citalopram is it has a very long half life of around 36 hours so if the change is made then it would be best over a 2 day period where someone can help, so instead of having it one morning dont take it till the afternoon and ther next day dont have it in the afternoon have it at night, because it takes the best part of 5 days to secrete 10mg of citalopram from the body then potentially he could just completely miss a dose but i wouldnt advise it because i dont know how long hes been on it but if it is long term then his body wouldnt even notice he had missed the citalopram.

have a word with his chemist about a blister pack, he can keep them on his side and take the 3 at night and when he wakes he would be more likely to take the morning one as he would (hopefully) notice the blister isnt popped.