Quality mental health care is individual, not one-size-fits-all. Some people manage their anxiety and depression with regular talk therapy visits with a licensed provider. For others, their therapy treatment works best in partnership with prescribed medication.
Do you suspect that prescribed medication could promote well-being in your mental health? Reaching out to a psychiatric provider is an excellent next step and a sign of strength. When you speak with them, they may include medication in your treatment plan after talking with you and assessing your needs. Still, once you receive your prescription, you might find it challenging to keep up with pharmacy visits, medication side effects, and interactions.
We want you to get to feeling like yourself with as little stress as possible. Let’s look at a few tips that can help you manage your medication with ease. Then, we’ll learn how Mood Health can simplify your psychiatric care and prescription management to give you the best mental health care experience.
How To Manage Your Medications
Here are some of our recommended best practices when it comes to keeping track and managing your medications.
Keep a Dispenser in a Memorable Location
Do you struggle to remember where you put important things? Maybe your receipts, keys, or phone go missing quite often. If so, you may run the risk of misplacing your prescribed tablets and capsules.
Let’s say you have a medication that displays instructions to take it in the mornings with food. Losing your medication can mean you’re unable to take your medicine as prescribed. It’s easy to prevent this with a bit of intentionality. Try keeping all your daily prescriptions in a cool, dry place that you see every day. Doing this might help you stay on your prescribed schedule.
Only Take the Prescribed Amount of Medication
Your psychiatric provider knows the right dosage amount to prescribe for your mental health needs. There might be days when you feel you could get away with adjusting your dose frequency for convenience’s sake, but that’s not the best idea.
Following your provider’s prescribed dosage amount is key to experiencing the best results, and taking matters into your own hands may put you at a health risk. Try communicating honestly with your provider if you suspect that your current dosage amount isn’t producing your desired results.
Keep Medication in a Child-Safe Place
Do you have kids in your house? Unfortunately, prescription medications may look like candy to a child who doesn’t know better. Ingesting these substances could lead to severe side effects or even hospitalization for little ones. We won’t dive into all the worst-case scenarios. Just know that it’s vital to keep your medications in a secure location where children can never reach them.
Use One Pharmacy
You might find that picking up prescriptions from multiple locations leaves you confused and takes time out of your day. Plus, you might lose track of which prescriptions belong to each pharmacy. If you manage multiple medications, it’s a good idea to select just one pharmacy for filling prescriptions and refills. Making just one stop means, you’ll be able to get on with your day with much less hassle.
Review Your Prescriptions with Your Care Provider Regularly
How are you feeling? Check in with yourself regularly to evaluate how your medications might be affecting you. If you think one of your dosage amounts is giving you adverse reactions or is too mild, address these thoughts with your provider. Remember that your voice matters in your mental healthcare.
Be Mindful of Side Effects and Interactions
When you’re taking your medications regularly, you may experience side effects. Some effects are mild and manageable. Still, try to note all side effects to discuss with your care provider during your regular check-in appointments. Specific prescriptions may also interact with other medicines, food, or alcohol in negative ways, so make sure to check for any potential interactions before drinking or taking multiple medications at once.
Set Reminders To Remember To Take Medication
Your psychiatric provider may have given instructions on when to take your medication during the day. We know life gets busy. Sometimes you may head out the door for work without remembering to take your prescribed morning medication.
However, skipping your prescribed doses often may inhibit you from feeling your medication’s full benefits. Set a reminder on your phone or watch to experience the benefits of your treatment and stay on schedule.
Keep a Digital Document to Update Your Medication History
Here’s a tip for remembering what’s working for you and what isn’t. Try keeping a digital document on your computer or phone that lists each medication’s name along with your start date, prescribed dosage, and the side effects (if any) that you experience.
Try updating this document each month to log any changes you may experience. As always, relay any changes or adverse reactions to your care provider, who can help you get connected with the right medication for you.
Entrust a Loved One To Help You Remember Details
We know mental health struggles can make everyday tasks feel exhausting. If you find it challenging to keep up with your medication each day, consider asking a loved one for help. A friend or family member can remind you to eat a snack with medicines that you should take with food. They might also help remind you to stay on schedule on your more challenging days.
Have Prescriptions Mailed to Your Door if Needed
Do you often forget to pick up medication at the pharmacy? Instead of missing out on the potential benefits your medication can provide, try a service that mails your prescriptions to your door. When you cut out the trip to the pharmacy, you’ll be able to start your treatment more quickly and get to feeling better sooner.
Call Your Care Provider or Pharmacist With Questions
As tempting as it may be, it’s not a great idea to try to solve medical questions on your own. If your medications bring up any questions for you, don’t hesitate to ask your care provider or pharmacist to help you understand.
How To Know if You Need Medication
Perhaps you don’t currently take any medications for your mental health concerns. How can you know when it’s time to seek additional treatment? Let’s look at ways to find out the next step for you:
Keep track of your symptoms: Have you been feeling restless lately? Perhaps you’re not sleeping well, or you’ve had symptoms congruent with depression or anxiety. Try to log how long you’ve experienced each symptom. Always call 911 or an emergency hotline if you’re in danger because of your mental health symptoms.
Speak to a Psychiatric Care Provider: Speaking to a qualified mental health professional can help you determine if medication could be beneficial for improving your mental health.
How Mood Health Makes Medication Management Simple
Pursuing care for your mental health is a brave step. When you’re looking for assistance managing your anxiety and depression symptoms, you’ll want a psychiatric care provider who can make things easier for you. We wanted to make mental health care more accessible for people just like you. That’s why we created Mood Health.
Let’s look at how Mood Health might benefit you if you’re looking for talk therapy, psychiatry, or medication management for depression and anxiety.
Meet With Your Provider Virtually
Some people feel the need to drive hours round trip to access quality mental health care. What if you could try talk therapy or psychiatric care with a highly-trained provider from the comfort of your home? With Mood Health, you can.
We provide virtual care via video with licensed providers who genuinely care about mental health. As long as you have a stable wifi connection, you can access top-rate mental health care wherever you are.
Pay an Affordable Monthly Rate for Care
Traditional therapy can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on your provider’s rate and your treatment plan. You deserve to access mental health care that doesn’t empty your rainy day savings.
At Mood Health, you’ll pay an affordable monthly rate for service, with your first month being just $45. Deciding to seek mental health care and medication management has never been easier on your wallet.
Medication Ships to Your Door
When you’re in the thick of it, remembering to pick up medication at the pharmacy can turn into another to-do list item. We wanted to make that step more manageable for you. When you begin a treatment plan with Mood Health, your prescribed medications will ship directly to your front door.
Conclusion
When you’re ready to reach out to a psychiatric provider to try medication, it isn’t easy to know what to try first. We know that traditional and algorithmic-based mental health care services don’t always meet the mark. It isn’t always easy finding the right provider for your needs and your budget.
That’s why we created something different at Mood Health. We want people like you to have access to quality mental health care. You deserve to meet with providers who are passionate about mental health and dedicated to finding what’s best for you on a long-term basis. Let’s see how we can collaborate to form a treatment plan that works for your life.
Sources:
8 tips for safe medication management after you leave the hospital | InterMountain Healthcare
NIMH » Mental Health Medications | NIH
Getting a prescription filled | Medlineplus
8 Easy Ways to Remember to Take Your Medication | UofM Health