Medical Oncologist
Supportive medicines
A medicine list to take to your oncologist
Everything belongs on it. Prescription tablets, injections, inhalers, drops, creams, anything bought without a prescription, and every ayurvedic, herbal, vitamin or protein preparation in the house. This is the simplest step on the whole subject and the most effective one.
NG
Medically reviewed by Dr. Naresh GunduConsultant Medical Oncologist · MBBS, DNB (Internal Medicine), DM (Medical Oncology, AIIMS) · last reviewed September 2026, next review due September 2027
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The short answer
What should go on the list I give my oncologist?
Everything. Prescription tablets, injections, inhalers, drops, creams, anything bought without a prescription, and every ayurvedic, herbal, vitamin or protein preparation in the house. With the name as printed on the packet, how often you take it, and roughly how long you have been on it.
This is the simplest thing on this whole subject and the most effective. A complete list handed over at the planning appointment prevents more problems than any precaution you could take afterwards.
Bring the boxes as well as the list
Names are misremembered, strengths are omitted and similar-sounding medicines get confused. A carry bag with every strip in it takes ten seconds to hand over and removes all of that guesswork at once.
Write it once, then photograph it
Keep the photograph on at least two family phones. The person taking you to a hospital at midnight is often not the person who goes to your appointments, and that is exactly when the list matters most.
Update the list every time something changes, and put the date on each version. An out-of-date list is worse than none.What belongs on it
The six groups people forget
- Tablets from another doctor
- For blood pressure, sugar, thyroid, heart, cholesterol, epilepsy, thyroid or tuberculosis. Families often assume the oncologist only needs to know about cancer medicines, which is the wrong way round.
- Anything bought over a counter
- Painkillers, acidity tablets, laxatives, sleeping tablets, cough syrups, eye drops, skin creams. These are the least mentioned and among the most likely to matter.
- Ayurvedic, herbal and homeopathic items
- Churnas, kashayams, liver tonics, immunity syrups, ashwagandha, giloy, wheatgrass, noni. Whatever a relative brought. Bring the bottle so the ingredient list can be read.
- Vitamins and protein powders
- Including anything described as an antioxidant or immunity booster. High-dose preparations are a genuine question during a course, and the tin needs to be seen rather than described.
- Occasional and as-needed medicines
- The inhaler used twice a month, the painkiller taken for a headache, the tablet kept for acidity. Say the honest frequency rather than leaving them out because they are not daily.
- Injections given elsewhere
- At a clinic, at a camp, or by a visiting nurse. People list only what they swallow at home, and anything given by someone else disappears from the record.
Not sure whether this applies to you?
Ask an oncologistThe card
What to write on one sheet
- Your full name as on your hospital records, and your age
- Your hospital registration number and treating doctor
- The line: this person is on chemotherapy
- Each medicine, exactly as printed on the strip
- How many times a day, and roughly since when
- Which doctor prescribed each one
- Every supplement, herbal item and powder, separately listed
- Any medicine that has ever caused a reaction or rash
- Other conditions: sugar, blood pressure, heart, TB, hepatitis
- Your hospital's day-time and out-of-hours numbers
- The date you last updated the sheet
Where it earns its keep
The four moments the list pays for itself
Each is a moment when reciting your medicines from memory goes badly.
The planning appointment
Hand over the bag and the sheet together at the start rather than answering questions one at a time. Ask for a written reply saying what continues, what changes and what stops.
Ask for back
- What continues, changes and stops
- Which painkiller is safe for you
An emergency at another hospital
At night, or away from home. The doctor seeing you needs your medicines and your conditions immediately. This is the use that most often changes what happens next.
Any other doctor or dentist
Before anything new is prescribed and before any procedure. Hand over the sheet rather than trying to remember, and make sure the chemotherapy line is at the top where it will be read.
Always say
- That you are on chemotherapy
- That your team should be told
At the pharmacy
Using one chemist who can see your whole list gives you a free second check against duplication and clashes. Very few families think to use it that way.
Leave a number, we will call you
One field. No form to fill in, and no charge for the call.
Making it last
Keeping the list honest and current
A list is only useful while it is true. Medicines change during a course — doses adjusted, a tablet stopped around a low count, something added for sickness — and a sheet that stopped being accurate in cycle two is actively misleading by cycle five.
Give it one owner
Usually the attendant rather than the patient. One person updates the sheet, fills the weekly pill box and carries the bag. Shared responsibility for medicines reliably produces missed and doubled doses.
Do not leave things off because you are embarrassed
Alcohol, tobacco, a herbal preparation a relative insisted on, a medicine borrowed from a family member. None of these will be met with a lecture, and all of them change what is safe to prescribe. The omission is what causes harm.
Include reactions, not just medicines
Anything that has ever caused a rash, swelling, breathlessness or severe sickness, even decades ago and even if you are unsure which medicine it was. Write what you remember rather than leaving it blank.
Put it where it will be found
One copy in the treatment bag permanently, one on the fridge with the emergency numbers, and a photograph on two phones. A sheet in a drawer at home helps nobody in a casualty department.
Ask for the list to be written in Telugu as well if that is what the household reads. It is a routine request.Commonly believed
Four reasons lists end up incomplete
"The oncologist only needs to know about cancer medicines."
Interactions do not respect specialty boundaries. A common acidity tablet, a tuberculosis medicine, a blood thinner or a herbal tonic can all change how a chemotherapy drug behaves. The whole list is the point of the list.
"An over-the-counter tablet is not really a medicine."
Several common painkillers are hard on the kidneys or affect platelets, and one can mask the fever that is the single most important warning sign during a cycle. Being sold without a prescription says nothing about its effects.
"I take it only occasionally, so it does not belong on the list."
Occasional is enough to shift a drug level or a platelet count in the wrong week. Write it down with the honest frequency and let the doctor weigh it. They cannot weigh what they do not know about.
"The hospital already has all this in their file."
Their file is not available to a casualty doctor elsewhere at midnight, or to a dentist, or to a pharmacist. The copy in your bag is the one that works when you are not sitting in your own hospital.
Questions we are asked
Common questions about the medicine list
When should I hand the list over?
At the planning appointment, at the start rather than the end, along with the bag of strips. Then again to any other doctor or dentist you see, and at every emergency visit.
Do I really need to bring the actual boxes?
For the first appointment, yes. Names get misremembered and strengths omitted, and mixed herbal products need their ingredient list read rather than described. After that, a photographed list is usually enough.
Should supplements really be on it?
Yes, every one, including vitamins, protein powders and anything herbal or ayurvedic. Several affect the liver or the way drugs are broken down. List them separately so they are not lost among the prescriptions.
What if I cannot pronounce or read the names?
Photograph each strip and each bottle label instead, and show the photographs. Nobody needs you to pronounce anything. The packet is better evidence than a name written from memory.
How often should the list be updated?
Every time something changes, with the date on each version. Doses get adjusted through a course and tablets get stopped around low counts, so a sheet from cycle two is misleading by cycle five.
Who should keep it?
Give it one owner, usually the attendant. One person updates the sheet, fills the pill box and carries the bag. Shared responsibility for medicines reliably produces missed and doubled doses.
Should I list alcohol and tobacco?
Yes, honestly and with the real amount. Both change what is safe to prescribe and how your liver results are read. Nobody will lecture you, and a minimised answer produces advice meant for somebody else.
What should I ask for in return?
A written reply saying what continues, what changes and what stops, plus which single painkiller is safe for you and who to call with a medicines question. Ask for it before you leave the room.
Meet the Specialists
17+ senior cancer specialists. One panel for your case.
Trained at AIIMS, Tata Memorial, and leading international centres. Combined 150+ years of experience. Every complex case is reviewed by 3+ of them — together.
Medical Oncologist
Dr. C. Raghavendra Reddy
MBBS(Gold Medal), DNB(General Medicine), DM(Medical Oncology)(Gold Medal)
Medical Oncologist
Dr. Bharati Devi Gorantla
MBBS, MD(General Medicine), DM(Medical Oncology)(Adyar,Chennai), ECMO, MRCP SCE(UK)
Medical Oncologist
Dr. Owais Mohammed
MBBS, MD (General Medicine), DrNB (Medical Oncology), ECMO, MRCP SCE (Medical Oncology) (UK)
Medical Oncologist
Medical Oncologist
Surgical Oncologist
Dr. Muralidhar Muddusetty
MBBS (AIIMS), MS (Surgery) (AIIMS), DNB (Surgical Oncology), MRCS (Edinburgh)
Surgical Oncologist
Surgical Oncologist
Surgical Oncologist
Dr. Vinay Mamidala
MBBS, MS(General Surgery), M.Ch(Surgical Oncology), FMAS, FARIS(Ongoing)
Surgical Oncologist
Radiation Oncologist
Radiation Oncologist
Radiation Oncologist
Hematologist
Surgical Oncologist
Dr. Vajja Sandeep Kumar
MBBS, MS (General Surgery), DrNB (Surgical Oncology), FALS Oncology
Surgical Oncologist
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Sources
- Cancer Research UK — Cancer drugs and other medicines
- Macmillan Cancer Support — Having chemotherapy
- National Cancer Institute — Keeping Track of Your Cancer Care
This page is general information, not a prescription. Do not change or stop any treatment based on what you read here. If anything is worrying you, contact your own treating team — or call our helpline and we will help you reach the right specialist.
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