Are Prescription Patches Better for You?

If you are like most people you can have a hard time remembering to take prescriptions. Even if you do remember, taking them on time can be a big issue as well. We live busy lives and anything that can save us time is a welcome product.

Our medicine works for the best when we take it the way it is prescribed. Patches are one off the easiest way to have our medicine delivered. Nicotine patches are the type of treatment that most people associate with patches.

There are numerous common prescription drugs that can be delivered by patches making getting our medicine on time in the right dosage easier. Here are three common conditions you can receive patches to deliver your prescription.

Menopausal Symptoms

You can get a patch to receive estrogen alone or progesterone and estrogen to treat menopausal symptoms. HRT therapy patches can be worn a number of places they cannot be seen such as the abdomen or buttock. You avoid hormonal spikes because you receive a steady does of hormones to relieve your hot flashes and symptoms of menopause. Some patches can be worn up to three days.

This is actually a safe delivery method for HRT because unlike pills the hormones are not processed through the liver reducing the amount of triglycerides that are produced. Triglycerides contribute to heart disease and blood clots.

Depression

You can get a patch with the MAO inhibitor drug called Selelgiline for the treatment of depression. The advantage of this method of direly for this drug is the fact that you can so control levels of dosing you can reduce side effect like a rise in blood oppression's.

The down side of this particular drug delivery method is MAO inhibitors can interact with a large number of other drugs and foods. You must be diligent to avoid things that interact with an MAO inhibitors on the oral or patch version of this drug.

ADHD

They now offer a patch with methylphenidate to treat kids six to twelve years old with ADHD a very common condition in American school age children. This patch is applied to alternating hip cheeks in the morning. The steady delivery of this drug can be better control the amount entering the system cutting down on symptoms like chattiness and sleeplessness. The risks are the same side effects as the oral version of this drug. Another benefit is that the child does not have to go to the nurse's office during the school day to receive additional dosages saving any possible embarrassment the child may feel about taking the drug.

Patches are a great way of receiving medicine for a great many people . Make sure you always find out where the patch should be applied on your body before you leave the pharmacy. Some people will have a skin irritation from prolonged placement of a prescription patch. To avoid this try to have more than one place you can place the patch. Avoid using creams and lotions on the skin area that you're planning to apply the prescription patch to. Residue from creams and lotion might cause the patch not to adhere properly interfering with the delivery of your medicine.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/28/health/main1355144.shtml story on patch for depression.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/41254.php

article on patch for treatment of ADHD

http://www.menopauselifestyle.com/blog/using-hrt-patch-may-be-safer-than-pills/

article of HRT patches