MedNotes

Exactly 13 days ago, after a delicious family Christmas dinner, my father sat down on his chair and suffered a massive stroke. Seven days after that, at home already, he suffered another stroke. On the counter of my parents' kitchen, sits a very large plate now that contains all of the medications that my father is on…there were nine at the last count. NINE. All that have to be taken at different times of the day, some with a meal, some before the meal, some at bedtime. My mother is managing all of this and discovering doctor errors in the process. It's been tough.

The good ladies at MomCentral have introduced me to two websites that will prove to be a lifesaver for my mom and the rest of our family. Drugs.com is a great resources of pharmaceuticals. On this site you can research all different drugs by both names and by condition. I plugged in "stroke" and found a bunch of the medications that my dad is currently on. They provide you with all the information you could possibly need on this drug. A really great feature for those with elderly parents or teens is the Pill Identifier. Here you place the description of the drug into the search engine and it provides you with the name of the drug. This is great when you find a stray pill on the counter of your parents' house or, God forbid, you find something in your teen's laundry. Drugs.com has the latest in FDA news and alerts, the newest drugs, and clinical trial information.

They have also just launched a new site called MedNotes. MedNotes allows you to log every drug each person in your family using. By doing this, MedNotes will show you any potential interactions, pregnancy/lactation warnings, etc. It's like having your very own pharmacist! What a great tool to keep you in charge of your own health.

As soon as I sign off, I will be calling my mom to tell her about MedNotes. This will certainly help her to organize and double-check the many drugs my father is taking to heal from these strokes. I give this a