Why You Can Develop Medication Side Effects After Years

Medications play an important role in keeping you healthy. They can do everything from stopping a minor muscle cramp after exercise to managing chronic diseases successfully for years.

Some medications come with unwanted side effects alongside treating medical issues, and these symptoms can suddenly occur even if you’ve taken the medicine for years without problems.

 Thomas Nguyen, MD, of Nguyen Medical Group in Boynton Beach, Florida, explains why medication side effects can emerge after years and what you can do if it happens to you.

What causes medication side effects years later?

All medications come with potential side effects. What you might not know is that these side effects can start at any time, even when you’ve been taking the medication for a long time without experiencing any previously.

There are many reasons you can develop side effects from medication later on. Some of the most common reasons include:

Interactions with a new medication

If you have a chronic condition or multiple medical needs, you might take more than one medication. Medications you take simultaneously can interact with each other, causing unpleasant or potentially dangerous side effects that they wouldn’t have on their own.

You don’t need to be prescribed new medication for it to interact with your prescriptions. Even standard over-the-counter medications you can buy from the pharmacy can have interactions.

Changes to the dosage

The amount of medication you take can be adjusted as your condition or needs change. Medication that didn’t cause side effects at one dosage can at another, especially when your dosage gets increased.

Metabolic changes

The way you metabolize drugs can change over time. Your metabolism can change from making lifestyle changes, weight gain or loss, aging, or developing a condition that changes how your kidneys or liver process what you ingest.

Changes to your metabolism impact how your body processes drugs, which can lead to new side effects.

Differences in taking the medication

Taking your medication at a different time of day, forgetting or taking too many doses of your medication, or changing whether you take your medication with or without food are all examples of changes in medication-taking habits that can cause side effects.

Determining and managing medication side effects

It can be hard to tell if new symptoms come from medication side effects, a medical condition, or another reason entirely. Signs your medications could be the culprit include:

• The symptoms happen within 1-2 hours of taking the medication
• You started taking new medications 
• Your medication-taking routine recently changed
• You were just diagnosed with a metabolic disorder

Let our team know if you have new symptoms. We perform an examination and diagnostics to determine if your medications caused side effects.

When new side effects start, a change to your medication brand, dosage, or how you take the medication is often all you need to stop uncomfortable issues. We ask about your medications and make changes as needed at an annual physical or other check-up. 

If you have one or more chronic medical problems, we recommend regularly monitoring your medications at chronic disease management appointments. At these appointments, we review any changes to your condition or medicines and ensure you’re taking them correctly.

Side effects to medications can come on at any time and cause discomfort or worse, life-threatening problems, but simple changes often make immediate positive results. Contact us to make a medication management appointment.