Helen: Taking complementary medicines – The expense of complementary medicines

Helen
Female
Age at interview: 58
Number of medicines: 10
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian

Helen stopped taking vitamins once the number of other medicines she needed to take increased. She also found a single-dose complementary medicine that reduced the high number of fish oil supplements she was taking.

Helen:

I've stopped taking vitamins, once I've started taking … once I've had all of these other medications appear in my life. I don't like the thought of taking too many products. So as I increase the products that I have to take, I make sure I eliminate … or try to eliminate … anything that I see as non-essential.

Jacqueline:

So when did you start stopping taking the complementary medicines?

Helen:

Around five months ago, when I was diagnosed with arthritis and suddenly found there was a list of things that I needed to take. I stopped taking multivitamins at that point, and not long afterwards stopped taking some anti-cramp, over-the-counter medications … But I then read research that said that the amount of fish oil I needed to take was quite massive compared to what I had been taking. I was taking one a day, would you believe, at the beginning. So I then upped that to eventually nine. Then thought this is crazy. I'm not the sort of person who is going to be taking this many tablets a day, I thought. So I wanted something easy. So when I found a product that combined all of that into one, that was it. So I take one a day, instead of nine. With the other things … the Crampeze, I think I stopped taking that because I thought enough is enough. I don't want to be taking yet another medication. I'm already on so many. I don't know whether this one is having any effect. I think I'll drop it off. I just … yeah, resenting taking too many medications.

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