Important to keep medications organized

In Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein,” when Igor (Marty Feldman) steals a brain for Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder), there’s a mix-up and the doc gets a brain from someone named Abby. Abby Normal. When Dr. Frankenstein realizes that he’s placed an abnormal brain into his 7-foot-tall creation, the mix-up sets up one of the funniest films of all time.

Mixing up brains may make for hilarious comedy, but when it comes to your meds, don’t make mistakes that can mix up your brain or worse.

A recent study found that people are making more mistakes with their meds than they used to, and they’re paying a price.

Cases of reported medication errors more than doubled from 3,065 in 2000 to 6,855 in 2012. Over 400 people died from those mistakes. The most common medicinal mix-ups that caused serious health problems were with cardiovascular drugs and painkillers such as aspirin and acetaminophen. Most common mistakes: taking the wrong dose, the wrong drug or a double dose.

So get your meds in order: Eighty-seven percent of Americans 65 or older take an average of four different meds daily! To make sure YOU get your dosing right:

1. Read dosage instructions on prescription bottles carefully.

2. Make sure each medication is labeled if you move your meds from a prescription bottle to a pillbox.

3. If you need help organizing your medications, ask your doc, a neighbor or a family member for help. You also might be able to contact a visiting nurse service to arrange for a weekly appointment to assist you.