Hints from Heloise

Dear Heloise: I read a hint from a reader who said she asks her pharmacist to type the purpose of each of her medications on the label. (Note: State laws vary – your pharmacist may or may not be able to add anything to the label. – Heloise) This is good not only for your own information, but it makes it easier for you and your doctor, because the doctor could say something like, “Cut your blood pressure medicine in half,” rather than “Cut your hydrochlorothiazide in half.” My what?

Let me suggest that you ask your doctor to do the same: When he or she writes out the prescription, it can read “Take once a day for diabetes,” for example. In a computerized office, it is then there for every refill.

It never hurts, either, to question each prescription. If you ask aloud what a medicine is for, it gives you both a chance to reflect on its usefulness. – Dale R. Hamrick, M.D., Columbia, S.C.