How to keep an up-to-date medication and supplement list

• Name of the medicine or supplement, as printed on the box
• Dose and how often it is taken
• What time of day it is actually taken
• Who prescribed or recommended it
• When it started, and when it stopped if it stopped

Vitamins, herbal products, protein powders, antacids, and over-the-counter pain relief all belong on the list. Clinicians ask about them for good reasons, and leaving them off makes the list less useful than an incomplete one honestly labeled.

1. Update the list the same day anything changes, before you leave the pharmacy.
2. Review it once a month against the actual boxes in the cupboard.
3. Bring it to every appointment and let the clinician correct it out loud.