What Happens If I Miss A Few Doses Of My Heart Medications?

— -- Question: What happens if I miss a few doses of my heart medications?

Answer: Well, if you miss a few doses of your heart medications, you're in trouble, so the best thing is to try not to miss a few doses.

Because -- one of the things I always tell my patients is to have a nice pillbox that they lay out for the evening, or they lay out for the morning, and they don't miss. Now, if you do miss more than once, then you need to try and make a reminder of it, because some of the medications are such that they reach a blood level, and that level is important in keeping you free of trouble. If those levels get down, then it's going to result in trouble.

So, my recommendation and my advice would be to look at a disciplined way where you can either have a pillbox -- and there are many kinds of pillboxes available -- or, as some people do, they always lay it out before the breakfast, or they lay it out before they go to sleep, so that these are normal functions in life, and you remember to take them.

But missing them more than occasionally is not very good, particularly if you are on some of the pills that require you to take them on a regular basis.

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