Glenn: The attitudes of others – Taking ‘many’ medicines (1)

Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.

Glenn
Male
Age at interview: 50
Number of medicines: 6
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian

Glenn feels his managers are the only people in his workplace that need to know about his medicines. He developed a polite, but firm, way to deflect questions from other employees.

My employer that I spent nine years with up until August last year, it was almost ... it was a very, very big company, but the branch was very friendly. So there was no problem with me going up to my branch manager and saying, hey, look, I'm just letting you know I'm taking these medications now. The branch manager was very good. He would say, okay, I don't even need to see it. It needs to go into your file and it needs to stay there and no one needs to see it unless we actually have to take it out. That was great in consideration of my privacy.

But yes, I have been drug-tested and it has been picked up and they ask you what you are taking, prior to doing the test. If I explain to them ... and again, the phone's great ... they will then instead of thinking, that's an illegal amphetamine, they will do the double test and work out that it's actually a dexamphetamine and that it is legal and my employer has the knowledge that I take it. I think mainly they're more concerned about what the drug does to you whilst you're working underground. It's not even underground now, it's anywhere. It's occupational health and safety, I suppose ... I've actually had a manager on a job site ask me, who I thought I was doing the right thing and not taking them in front of somebody, noticed and came up to me, ‘What were you taking before? You were taking medication or tablets.’ Their wording was ‘tablets’. I said, yes, it's medication that I take every day. I said, ‘If you need to clarify anything more than that, then you can contact my boss.’ 

I don't need to go into detail with everybody about it and I wouldn't suggest everybody does. But there are some people that you've got to hold close to you and let them know, so they can help you.

 
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The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.