How to keep a family medication list

Write down every medicine the person takes, prescription or not: the name and strength, what it's for, and when and how much, copied from the label. Add vitamins and supplements. Date the list, and change it the day anything does.

This is for whoever keeps track for a household. It's a record of what the labels say, not advice about doses, and your prescriber or pharmacist is the one to ask when a label and your list disagree.

The list, filled in

You're at a desk with a form that says "current medications" and a pen that's running out. You know the little white one is for blood pressure, or possibly cholesterol. A list you wrote last week takes that guess away. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says a medicine list should have four things for each medicine: its name, its strength, what you take it for, and instructions for when, how and how much.

An example for a made-up person, Grandpa Joe, not a suggestion for anyone to take anything. Above it, in bigger type: "Allergy: penicillin (rash). Checked against the bottles 09/20/2026."

How to write it

1. Line up everything the person takes: prescriptions, inhalers, eye drops, creams, patches, over-the-counter pills, vitamins and herbal products. The FDA says to include the ones used only some of the time.
2. Copy the name and strength from the label, letter for letter. If the label says "500 mg," write 500 mg.
3. Copy the directions the same way. Don't shorten "with food" to nothing.
4. Write what it's for in the prescriber's or pharmacist's words. If you don't know, ask them at the next visit and leave the space empty until then.
5. Put allergies at the top, and say what the reaction was.
6. Write today's date on the page, and the words "checked against the bottles" if you did.
7. When something stops, move it to a separate line marked "stopped" with the date, and take it off the list you hand over.

When to update it

A list goes out of date without telling you, and an old list at a desk is worse than no list because it looks right. The FDA's advice is to review and update it often, including when a medicine is stopped or a dose changes. The schedule below is ours.

1. The day something changes

   New prescription, new dose or a stop: update the page that day.

2. Before any visit or form

   Look at the bottles and correct the list.

3. Every few months

   Read it against the bottles, even if nothing changed.

4. When a list is replaced

   Recycle the old copy so two versions don't exist.

What goes wrong

Copy, don't paraphrase. A list that repeats the label is easier to check than one you've rewritten from memory, and a child's liquid medicine is where this counts most: copy the amount and the unit exactly as printed, and don't convert it. If a label and your list ever disagree, the label and your prescriber win. Call the pharmacy and ask.

Don't keep two lists. One in the drawer and one on the phone will drift within a month. Pick one home, and take a photo or printout of it for the bag. The FDA suggests carrying a copy, whether a photo on your phone, an app or a printout, alongside your insurance card.

Common questions

What the Companion does with the list

Family Health Binder gives each person a medication list with name, dose, how often and a start date. "Stopped taking it" moves a medicine into a Stopped fold and takes it off every printed page. "This list is right today" stamps the date you last checked it against the bottles. The list prints on the forms sheet, sitter sheet, emergency card, visit page and intake summary. There's no "what it's for" field, so add that to the name if you want it. It doesn't remind you, or check doses or interactions. See the Family Health Binder.

What to do next

Once the list is right, read what to bring to a new doctor appointment or the doctor appointment prep checklist. The same facts go on an emergency contact sheet. For dated notes about how someone has been feeling, see symptom notes for a doctor visit. Next step: gather the bottles onto one table tonight and write the first line.