Know Your Medication

While I was preparing for a trip, searching through my linen closet and medicine chest for small bottles to satisfy the TSA and their 3 oz. “liquid” in a ziplock baggie requirement, I noticed a number of prescription bottles that had been shoved to the back of the closet. I also found a few loose pills that I couldn’t identify as well a bottle of liquid medicine for Kendyll that I had no idea what it was meant to treat.

I suppose if I were the only person in the house it would be easy to remember what each pill was but with so many people of such a wide variety of ages all in one house, there’s no way I could figure out what is what. Certainly, I wouldn’t want to confuse an antibiotic with an OTC like Leptitrex or Excedrin. And yet, I don’t want to toss medications that are still usable, especially with drug prices so high.

While it’s easy to do an internet search on any drug name, either brand or generic, identifying a loose tablet or capsule isn’t so easy. That is, unless you check out RxList.

Just click on the advanced search link and fill out as much information as you can about the pill that you have. Choose shape, color and imprint, then search and look through the results. Both prescription and OTC meds are listed. If you’re not sure which listing is correct, click on one and then find the View Images link to the right of the listing. There, you can see pictures of how the tablet or capsule looks so you can match it up with the unknown pill that you have.

RxList also lets you search for drugs alphabetically and provides both a medical dictionary and a section on diseases. Its most useful feature, though, is the ability to identify loose pills.