Sue: Adjusting to multiple medicines – Adapting day-to-day life
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Sue
Female
Age at interview: 65
Number of medicines: 16
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian
Sue is sometimes unsure how to adapt certain routines to accommodate her medicines, which can be frustrating.
I've had to accommodate. So for instance there's a tablet that I'm supposed to take before I go to bed. So, I don't know what before I go to bed is, so I make that early sometimes I must say, but it's supposed to be the last one for the day. So that means even the going to bed routine, like cleaning your teeth and so on, everything's delayed until ... is it late enough now for me to have this tablet, does this count as … and that sometimes is a nuisance. I don't like being dictated to by the tablets basically is what I'm saying … The one I have to take after breakfast. Have breakfast, clean your teeth and now take the tablet before you go. Going out for breakfast I'm with a group of friends, we get together and have breakfast occasionally which is always sort of brunch. But then I've got to decide will I have it before breakfast because I'm … you know, for heaven's sake why can't you just go and have it. Yes, so it's just dealing with them as they come up.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.