{"id":144846,"date":"2025-12-29T21:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T02:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/?p=144846"},"modified":"2025-12-29T21:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T02:07:12","slug":"family-living-focus-use-medications-as-directed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/family-living-focus-use-medications-as-directed\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Living Focus: Use Medications as Directed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gail Gilman, Family Life Consultant, M.Ed., C.F.C.S. and Professor<\/em>
\nEmeritus, University of Minnesota<\/em><\/p>\n

Prescription drugs help millions of people live longer and healthier lives.
\nIf you do not take your medicines as directed, or if you take someone else’s
\nmedications, the results can be deadly. Unfortunately, prescription drug
\nabuse is all too common in the United States.<\/p>\n

Misuse of prescription medications affects people of all ages and races.
\nMedication abuse can affect ordinary people as well as celebrities.\u00a0 A
\nsurvey found that about 1 in 5 people ages 12 and up said they had taken a
\nprescription drug for nonmedical purposes at least once in their lifetimes.<\/p>\n

People abuse prescription drugs for many reasons, including to get high,
\nlose weight or build muscle but this abuse carries a serious risk of
\naddiction.\u00a0 And it can lead to other health problems, including irregular
\nheartbeats, seizures, breathing problems, and personality changes. Car
\naccidents and physical injury are other concerns.<\/p>\n

There is a myth that prescription drugs are safe because they come from a
\ndrugstore, but when people take them outside of a doctor’s supervision, they
\ncan be dangerous to our health.\u00a0 A dose that is perfectly safe for one
\nperson who’s taken the drug for a long time may be potentially lethal for
\nanother.\u00a0 And when you combine drugs with other substances, like alcohol,
\nyou are taking a significant risk.<\/p>\n

The three categories of drugs most commonly abused are stimulants,
\ndepressants, and painkillers. Stimulants are often prescribed to treat
\nattention deficit hyperactivity disorder.\u00a0 Depressants are used to treat
\nanxiety, panic attacks, and sleep disorders.\u00a0 When taken exactly as
\nprescribed, prescription painkillers can effectively manage pain and rarely
\ncause addiction.<\/p>\n

Studies continue to learn more about prescription drug abuse and who is at
\nrisk for addiction and to develop better treatments for pain that might be
\nless addictive or less likely to be abused.<\/p>\n

If you have prescription medications, take them exactly as directed.\u00a0 If you
\nhave prescriptions for commonly abused drugs, maintain control of them so
\nthey do not tempt visitors.\u00a0 Many people who are abusing prescription drugs
\nare not getting them directly from physicians.\u00a0 In many cases, the drugs are
\nobtained from family or friends who have prescriptions.<\/p>\n

Make sure to use prescription medications the right way, just as the doctor
\nordered.<\/p>\n

Take Your Medications Properly<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Always follow prescribed directions.\u00a0 Read all the information
\nprovided by the pharmacist.
\n*\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Never stop taking or change your medication doses without first
\ndiscussing it with your doctor.
\n*\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Be aware of potential interactions with other drugs.\u00a0 Tell your
\nhealthcare professional about all the medications and dietary and herbal
\nsupplements you are taking.
\n*\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Never use someone else’s prescription.
\n*\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Safeguard medications by keeping track of how much you have and
\nsafely disposing of drugs you do not need.<\/p>\n

Watch for more Family Living Focus information from Gail Gilman, Family Life
\nConsultant, M.Ed., C.F.C.S. and Professor Emeritus – University of Minnesota
\nin next week’s paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gail Gilman, Family Life Consultant, M.Ed., C.F.C.S. and Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Prescription drugs help millions of people live longer and healthier lives. If you do not take your medicines as directed, or if you take someone else’s medications, the results can be deadly. Unfortunately, prescription drug abuse is all too common in the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-05-01 21:05:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144847,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144846\/revisions\/144847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}