If you or someone in your care is taking a lot of medication, consider asking your primary health care professional, the specialist who has prescribed the majority of your medications or your pharmacist to conduct a "brown-bag checkup" for you. This is a safety measure to ensure all the medications you are taking won't cause any potential problems and don't need to be adjusted to meet changing health needs. Here's how it works:

• Gather all prescription medications, over-the-counter drugs, herbal or natural products and vitamins or minerals you use, place them in a bag and take them to your health care professional and your pharmacist.
• Your health care professional will review all of them to ensure they are the same as those listed on your medical record; your pharmacist will double-check them against your pharmacy profile.
• They will screen them for potential duplication of therapies, side effects or interactions.
• They will ask you how you take each medication to ensure you fully understand the instructions. Click here for more on medication safety.