Niall: Adjusting to multiple medicines – ‘Getting used to the idea’ of taking multiple medicines
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Niall
Male
Age at interview: 45
Number of medicines: 7
Cultural background: British (Caucasian)
Niall needed time to get used to the idea of having to take medicines for the rest of his life, particularly given his inclination to avoid doctors, an inclination that is shared by many men.
But in some ways, the bigger challenge was psychological. I was like many men … you don't see GPs. You don't go to a doctor, unless you've broken something playing some damn fool game, without sounding ridiculous! I'd certainly not been a user of any medication. Yes, I carried a Ventolin inhaler since I was 10, but that didn't mean I used it more than once or twice a year, most years. I have never been, and still am not, a great user of painkillers, even when perhaps I should. So to go from that, to someone who pops pills on a daily basis.
I mean, I spend a lot of money on meds ... at the pharmacist. The pharmacist does know who I am, because I'm there frequently. It's the way with prescriptions and how these things come in boxes or 30 or 28 or 60. You run out of different things. They don't all run out at the same time. So you're going for one or two ... mind you, given the cost, it's a good thing I'm not replacing everything at once. So that change, from being someone who doesn't take medications to someone who's ... I mean, it's not quite like my father, whose life revolves around the timing of his medications, but this is something I will do probably every day of my life for however long that is. That's a big change!
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.