Helen: How people feel – New diagnoses and medicines regimes
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Helen
Female
Age at interview: 58
Number of medicines: 10
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian
Helen is coming to terms with the complexity and cost of her medication regimen, as well as what it means to be on an increasing number of medicines.
Sometimes I feel like I'm a walking bottle of pills, and they seem to be … the number of medicines I'm taking seems to be increasing dramatically. I guess sometimes I think that's part of ageing. It's also part of past lifestyle catching up with me. Sometimes I think I've lived a very good life and not worried, perhaps, about my health enough when I was younger, and now I'm dealing with the consequences. That's a bit of an issue. It's very, very costly. I have to remember to take things at particular times. If I don't remember, I'll end up in pain. So I get reminded pretty well that I haven't complied with my own regimens. I sometimes for … take part of my medication and forget to take other parts of it. Remember later on and think I've already left home. Oh dear, what am I going to do? I find it quite complicated, and as the number of medications increases, it becomes more and more complicated.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.