Dr Brendan Beaton: Taking complementary medicines – Views of health professionals
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Dr Brendan Beaton
Main occupation: Haematology registrar/fellow
Years in clinical practice: 10
Qualifications: MBBS
Dr Brendan Beaton, haematologist, says it is important for people to tell their doctors about the complementary medicines they take, because they can interact with other medicines.
I think patients sometimes feel reluctant to discuss complementary medicines. They think that their doctor might not be open to them. Um, and … I guess, I can't speak for other doctors, but I think people do have genuinely bad experiences where their doctor says, 'Oh, I don't know why you're taking that! That's rubbish!' But, regardless of that, I think it's always important to let a doctor know what you do take … prescription, complementary, over-the-counter or otherwise … because there are often interactions that can occur that they may not know about.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in
collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.