Adverse drug reactions are usually related to the dose of the medications and its effect on body systems. This is compared to an allergic reaction, which can occur with minute amounts of medication due to the body’s sensitivity to the drug.

A common cause of adverse drug reactions is the interaction between two or more medications that a patient may be taking. These drug interactions can cause medication levels to increase leading to side affects due to higher drug levels in the system.

Older patients are especially prone to these problems due to the fact the average patient over 65 years is on three or more medications, some prescriptions and some non-prescription. In addition, one of the causes is that patients are often taking multiple medications from multiple health care providers. These include their family physician, their specialist, their podiatrist, dentist and often medications from urgent care or emergency room visits. The prescribing physician may be unaware of the many medications that the patients are also taking.

To prevent this problem, patients on medications must be more knowledgeable about what medications they are taking, including the dosage as well as the reason for the prescribed drug. I strongly recommend patients carry with them on a wallet-sized card the names and dosages of all of their medications as well as the prescribing physician’s name. This information should be re viewed at each office visit with their family physician as well as with any health care provider who is also prescribing medication. Discussing this with your pharmacist also can be very helpful.

As with other health problems, the patients must take a more active role and this is certainly the case in preventing adverse drug reactions.

Dr. Balon did his Internship and Residency at Rhode Island Hospital and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. He now has an Internal Medicine practice in Cumberland.