Medicines

Some medications have side effects that can cause a person to feel drowsy, confused, unsteady or dizzy.

To help reduce the risk of a slip, a trip or fall, regularly review any prescribed medications and:

• Keep a list of all your prescription and non-prescription medicines and talk to the doctor about any supplements being taken to ensure there are no contraindications.
• If it is necessary to take many different medicines, ask the doctor about a home medicine review with the pharmacist to help sort them out.
• To ensure the correct dosage is taken at the appropriate time, ask the pharmacist about using a specially designed pack for people who are blind or have low vision.
• Follow the instructions on the labels of medicines and clean out the medicine cupboard once a year. If you have difficulty reading the labels, ask for help.
• Tell the doctor about any concerns or unusual side effects when a new medicine is started – medications can affect different people in different ways.
• Alcohol can react with some medicines, so check the labels or ask the doctor or pharmacist.