In the US, prescription drugs seem to come with a facts insert, but much of the text is identical, either in form or substance, with every other drug insert I’ve seen. Practically every drug tells you that if you miss a dose, you should take it as soon as you remember, but that if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and take the next one, and that one should not take a double dose. I can’t remember EVER seeing an insert where this was not the case.
Are there any drugs where double-dosing is ok, or recommended? I.e. if you are supposed to take it twice a day, once around breakfast, and once at bedtime, and you forget the breakfast dose, so you take two doses at bedtime.
Birth control pills will generally instruct you to take two pills the day after you miss a day, two pills each day for two days if you miss two days, and not to double up if you’ve missed more than that (but use backup birth control until the end of that cycle).
I have had doctors prescribe horse pill sized Motrin as a pain killer. Essentially something I could achieve with taking a larger dose of the over-the-counter stuff.
I bought the more expensive prescription Motrin that was no different that the OTC Motrin because insurance covered it.
Welcome to the absurdities of healthcare in the US. (Very recently a $10-15 drug was granted a monopoly to a drug company who will now sell it for $1500/dose…you can scream now, welcome to US health care).
I’ve seen some that say you should not take it as soon as you remember, but actually just wait until your next dose. I’ve also seen some antibiotics that tell you to go ahead and take the missed dose, and then wait a certain amount of time before taking the next dose.
My mom has a prescription drug book. She raised me to read about every medication before I take it.
My doctor says that for coumadin, only the long term average matters much. So while I would not take a double dose if I missed one, I might take an extra half pill for the following day or two. Since I take 1 1/2 pills twice a week already, this seems safe.
But I think that for most meds, especially if you are taking them twice or more every day, suggesting that they are fairly quickly eliminated, this is not a good idea.