Love Looks Like Asking Questions About Medications

February often centers around love. Cards, flowers, and gestures meant to show care. But when it comes to health and aging, love is rarely about grand displays. More often, it shows up quietly in the questions we ask, the conversations we are willing to have, and the moments we pause to take a closer look.

For older adults and their families, medications are one of the most common and least examined parts of care. Prescriptions accumulate over time, often added during hospital stays, specialist visits, or periods of acute illness. What begins as appropriate treatment can slowly become a complicated regimen that no one has stepped back to reassess.

Asking questions about medications is not a sign of distrust or defiance. It is a sign of care.

Why medication conversations matter

Many older adults take multiple medications every day. Each may have been prescribed with good intention. When combined, medications can interact in ways that affect balance, cognition, energy, and overall quality of life.

Families often notice changes such as:• Increased fatigue or sedation• Dizziness or unsteadiness• Memory changes or confusion• Mood shifts• Falls or near-falls• New symptoms that do not quite add up

These changes are frequently attributed to aging itself. Medications, however, are often a contributing factor and in many cases a modifiable one.

Medication safety is not only about what is prescribed. It is about how medications work together, how the body changes with age, and whether each medication still aligns with current health goals and priorities.

The emotional side of advocacy

One of the most overlooked barriers to medication review is emotional. Families may hesitate to speak up because they do not want to seem difficult or ungrateful. Older adults may feel reluctant to question medications they have taken for years, even when they no longer feel like themselves.

These hesitations are understandable. Healthcare relationships are built on trust, and questioning care can feel uncomfortable. Silence, however, can allow risk to go unnoticed.

Advocacy does not have to be confrontational. It can be thoughtful, respectful, and rooted in curiosity. Love, in this context, means paying attention when something feels off and being willing to ask why.

Medication safety as shared responsibility

No single provider sees the full picture. Primary care physicians, specialists, hospitals, pharmacists, caregivers, and senior living staff each manage a piece of care. Without intentional coordination, medication regimens can become fragmented.

Medication safety conversations often begin with awareness, not action.

Helpful questions include:

• Why is this medication still needed

• Has the dose been revisited as health status changed

• Could side effects be contributing to current symptoms

• Are there duplications or medications prescribed to manage side effects of others

These questions create space for safer and more aligned care.

Creating space for conversation in senior living communities

This February, GeriatRx is spending time with a senior living community to facilitate open and approachable conversation around health, aging, and medication safety. The goal is not to direct care decisions, but to create understanding.

Senior living communities are uniquely positioned to host these discussions. Residents are often navigating complex medication regimens. Families are balancing concern with uncertainty. Staff are supporting daily wellbeing while coordinating with outside providers.

When education happens in a familiar community setting, fear decreases and clarity increases.

Education before action

One of the most important principles of medication safety is that awareness comes first. Not every conversation leads to a change. Not every medication needs to be adjusted. Every person, however, deserves the opportunity to understand what they are taking and why.

Educational conversations help:

• Normalize questions about medications

• Reduce stigma around deprescribing

• Improve communication between residents, families, and care teams

• Support shared decision-making grounded in individual goals

Medication safety is not about removing care. It is about aligning care.

Looking ahead

As healthcare continues to evolve, medication safety and deprescribing are becoming essential components of aging well. Communities that prioritize education and thoughtful dialogue help residents preserve independence, dignity, and quality of life.

Love, in this context, looks like attention. It looks like asking thoughtful questions. It looks like creating space for conversation, even when answers are not immediate.

And it looks like working together to ensure care remains intentional, supportive, and centered on what truly matters.