You take medications every day. Even if you are used to your medication schedule, you still need to take them according to your prescription to avoid problems.

What Do These Medications Do?
These medications are very common and perform very important functions:

• Coumadin is a blood thinner that prevents blood clots. It is used by people who have certain types of irregular heartbeat, people with replacement or mechanical heart valves, and people who have suffered a heart attack. Taking too much Coumadin can lead to severe bleeding that can be lifethreatening.
• Coumadin is used by people with diabetes to help regulate their blood sugar. Too much insulin can lead to dangerously low blood sugar.
• Coumadin is used to treat heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias). Too much digoxin can cause dizziness, vision changes, or drowsiness.

Talk with Your Physician
If you take any of these medications, ask your physician to make sure that you are taking the right dose at the right time. He or she can make sure that your blood levels of these drugs are safe. In addition, ask your physician about other medications, foods, or fluids that you should avoid if you take one or more of these medications.

Click here to learn more about these and other medications.

Have a Request?
Is there a general health topic that you would like to see in Good Medicine? Send a postcard with your ideas or requests to Good Medicine, c/o Horizon BCBSNJ, MTM Program, 3 Penn Plaza East, PP13Q, Newark, NJ 07105.