Medication list for an elderly parent
Do vitamins and supplements go on the list?
Yes. The CDC's own list asks for every prescription and over-the-counter medicine, vitamin, supplement and herbal product.
The CDC’s list is headed “My Current Prescription Medications, Over-the-Counter (OTC) Medications, Vitamins, Supplements, and Herbal Products,” and says to list “every” one of them.
That includes things that are easy to forget because nobody prescribed them: a daily vitamin, fish oil, a sleep aid, an herbal tea taken for a reason, pain relievers from the drugstore, eye drops and creams. Write them the same way, with “over the counter” in place of the prescriber.
More questions caregivers ask
- What should go on a parent's medication list?
- Who should see my parent's medication list?
- How often should I update a parent's medication list?
- All the questions
From Centis, a free care notebook you talk to. A way to keep the list, not medical advice: questions about the medicines are for the doctor or pharmacist.
Further reading
- My Medications List (opens in a new tab), from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention