Get the Most From Your Prescription Medications

June 7, 2006 — -- The prescription medicine you're taking may not be doing its job effectively, because of other things you're taking with it.

According to Marketplace Morning Report, studies suggest that about half of all prescriptions never get picked up, and of those that do, about 50 percent are not taken correctly or completely.

In addition, a 2002 survey found that an estimated 19 percent of Americans took at least one supplement like ginkgo balboa or Saint-John's-wort. Many people don't tell their doctors about natural remedies they are taking, believing these remedies will not harm them in any way.

All these factors can combine and lead to people inadvertently harming themselves.

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In their book, "You: The Smart Patient," Drs. Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen write that every year about 40,000 people die and 1.3 million get seriously hurt from medication mishaps, including taking the wrong dose, getting the wrong prescription, mixing the wrong pills, or sometimes all three.

The doctors provided some tips for people to make sure they take their prescriptions correctly and not mix them with natural remedies that can either negate the medications' effects or cause a bad reaction.