Micaela: How people feel – Long-term impact of multiple medicines (2)
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Micaela
Female
Age at interview: 38
Number of medicines: 21
Cultural background: Anglo-Australian
Micaela sometimes feels that doctors are quick to take risks with her body by trialling medicines without offering the necessary information so that she can make a considered decision.
Sometimes I think they [doctors] also don't think about the interactions themselves. They may know, very well, that you are on, say, something ... an antidepressant and there may, in fact, be an interaction, but they're prepared to ... and the risk factor may be very low, but they're still prepared to take that risk, even though it's your body [laughs], without necessarily informing you that that might be the case. Again, I can handle the information. I know ... some people may panic and not take it well and I know some people are quite hypochondriac as well, but I think there's a lot of times when patients are completely disregarded in their treatment.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.