If you’ve been prescribed a non-insulin diabetes medication, finding a routine can be challenging with dose changes and meds that might not be taken every day. Where can you start?
Before you start taking your medication…
Oftentimes, doses need to start small and be built up over time to figure out what works best for your body. Doses starting low helps to decrease side effects like nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting (super fun, right?).Your doctor should discuss this with you at your initial appointment.
Each dose change will require a new script from your doctor to your pharmacy. Your provider may ask you to call with an update or schedule an appointment after a few months before increasing the dose. This way, your doc can understand how you’ve been feeling and make recommendations with how to move forward with your new med. It’s important to keep up with good communication and appointments with your care team. They can help you navigate side effects, offer support with insurance coverage, and may be changing dosing. Often insurance companies request data from your appointments to keep paying for the medication. Each dose change may need to be approved by the insurance company so making sure your doc has all the information they need to get that approval is lowkey highkey crucial.
One important thing to do to help keep it going, is to make sure you’re filling your medication at the pharmacy. If you’re able to set up automatic refills, that’s a great thing to do! Especially with a mail order pharmacy. Then it’s automatically refilled and shipped to you. Ta-da your medication arrives without you having to talk to a single human. If you’re filling at a local pharmacy, they may still offer automatic refills, you’ll just have to swing by to pick it up.
Most pharmacies also have apps now where you can manage your medications, see when you’re able to refill and set up automatic refills. This is another great use for phone or calendar reminders. “Hey Siri, remind me to refill my medication on the 15th of every month”
Some insurance plans may allow you to fill your meds every 90 days instead of every 30 days. Think about refills 4x a year instead of 12, say less. There may be a cost difference between a 30 day vs 90 day supply too, so it’s worth checking out.
Life happens and we’ve all missed a dose of medication. Maybe it’s because you forgot, there was an issue with the insurance, or a medication shortage; let’s talk about how to get back on track when you’ve missed a dose or doses of GLP-1s. Usually, if you’ve only missed one dose of a weekly med, it’s safe to take it when you can as long as you’re not taking two doses in one week. If you’ve missed one dose of a daily medication, it’s usually best to resume taking it at your next scheduled time on the next day.
If it’s been two or more weeks, reach out to your doctor. If your dose has increased from your starting dose, it may be better to re-start on a lower dose and work your way back up. Starting on higher doses can lead to side effects like nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting.
If your medication in the prescribed dose isn’t available, reach out to your doctor’s office. They may have you bump back down to a lower dose rather than stopping the medication. Or you may be ready for a dose increase. These dose changes will require a new prescription, so it’s important to be in contact with your team if there are drug shortages.
If you have the travel bug, it’s important for your meds to take the journey with you. For injectable medications that need to be refrigerated, it’s important to keep them cool during your travels. You can always call ahead and request a mini fridge for medication at hotels. Make sure you bring enough doses for the duration of your trip and do your best to keep up with the routine.
With a bit of planning and some flexibility, adding a new routine to your med schedule doesn’t have to feel daunting. You got this!