Beside the evidence
Urgent help
A severe allergic reaction may involve serious breathing trouble or swelling around the tongue or face.
Severe allergic symptoms call for emergency help right away.
Read about severe allergic reactionsKeep help in reach
Know whom to ask about a medicine problem
Before agreeing to a plan, ask how to reach the clinician and the pharmacist. Keep their reply beside the name of any proposed medicine.
Ask about the exact product
Ask the pharmacist to walk through the instructions for the product being discussed.
- Where are its storage instructions?
- Who can explain a label I cannot follow?
- What is the contact route for a concern after delivery?
Beside the evidence
Storage is specific to the product
Storage instructions differ by product; the directions for a particular medicine do not cover all the others.
Use the product’s label and the pharmacy’s instructions to check its storage needs.
See an example of product-specific medicine informationReporting an unwanted effect
Ask the clinician how concerns will be recorded and followed up.
- Who will review what happened?
- How can I share the product label and details?
- What follow-up will be arranged?
Beside the evidence
Patients can report a concern too
MedWatch accepts patients’ medicine reports for the Food and Drug Administration, whose short name is FDA.
Recording a problem in a report does not establish what caused it.
Open FDA MedWatch