MedifocusHealth

Some very important reminders regarding medications include:

• Take medication as long as your doctor recommends
• Never discontinue a medication without consulting the prescribing physician since mediations must be tapered off under supervision
• If side effects develop that are hard to tolerate, don't stop taking the medication. Ask the doctor if you can try a different medication or if changing the dose would reduce the side effect that is disturbing. Never stop a medication without the doctor having substituted another drug in its place.

It is very important for the patient to participate to the degree he/she is able in gathering information about their condition. For the patient with positive symptoms, negative symptoms, or cognitive dysfunction, it can be difficult to understand what the doctor is saying, to remember what the physician said, or to relay the information to a member of the patient's support system (family member, friend). Some of the ways patients can help themselves gather information includes:

• Bring someone you trust to your medical appointments so that they can confirm or correct what you understood from the meeting
• Go to your appointment with a list of questions which you have thought about and written ahead of time so that you don't forget them
• Write down the answers to those questions so that you can refer back to them if a question arises. If you cannot write the answers, ask the person who is with you to take notes for you.
• Feel free to ask anything you want to know about your condition and your treatment. It's important for you to be an active participant.