For most of my life, medicines have simply been a part of who I am.

Like many people living with long-term health conditions, I learned to take what I was prescribed and trusted that the people prescribing it understood the benefits and the risks.

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It was only much later that I began to realise how difficult it can be to see the whole picture.

Over the years, medicines change. Doses change. New symptoms appear. Another medicine may be added to deal with another problem. Different doctors may be looking after different parts of your health, and each appointment can focus on what is happening at that particular moment.

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But who is looking at the journey as a whole?

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That question became increasingly important to me.

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My children have Fetal Valproate Spectrum Disorder (FVSD), caused by exposure to sodium valproate during pregnancy. Understanding what had happened to my girls led me to begin looking back at my own treatment and asking questions I had never thought to ask before.

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When did this symptom begin? What medicines was I taking at the time? Had the dose changed? Was another medicine added? Could health problems that had been treated separately actually be connected?

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My involvement in the European Medicines Agency then later the Valproate Stakeholder Group at the MHRA also taught me a great deal about medicine safety. I began to understand how medicines are regulated, how risks are identified and communicated, and how important the experiences of patients and families can be.

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At the same time, I began to look much more closely at my own prescribing history.

I had previously been prescribed sodium valproate at doses as high as 5,000 mg a day. Years later, another experience with metformin showed me just how important it is to look at medicines alongside the whole person's health, rather than considering each condition or prescription in isolation.

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I had been prescribed 3,000 mg of metformin a day for a prolonged period. What followed was far more complex than simply experiencing a side effect. I developed hyperlactataemia, while other serious health problems were also unfolding. Graves' disease had not been recognised, hypercalcaemia had not been diagnosed, and my insulin levels and blood pressure became dangerously high.

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For me, the consequences were profound.

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Looking back at what happened raised difficult questions about the dose I had been prescribed, the significance of my raised lactate levels, whether my treatment should have been reviewed or stopped sooner, and whether the effects of metformin contributed to other important clinical signs being harder to recognise.

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I have been left greatly disabled, I am no longer the person I was.

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These experiences changed the way I thought about medicine safety. A medicine cannot always be considered on its own. Symptoms, blood results, doses, other medicines and changes in someone's health can form part of a much bigger picture.

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I realised how valuable it would have been to have kept a simple record along the way.

What was my dose? When was it increased? When did my symptoms begin? What did my blood tests show? What changed? Who reviewed the medicine? What happened next?

Those are simple questions, but having the answers together can be incredibly important.

That experience helped shape the Medicine Safety Series.

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Turning experience into something practical

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I cannot change what happened to me, but I can use what I have learned to make things easier for somebody else.

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That was the starting point for the MS Series.

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I wanted to create practical resources that ordinary people could use to become more involved in their own medicine safety. Not complicated medical forms, but somewhere to record what is happening and gradually build a picture over time.

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The resources can help you keep track of your medicines and doses, record symptoms or possible side effects, prepare for appointments and medication reviews, and write down questions you want to ask.

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They can also help when several medicines are being taken together, when treatment changes, or when different healthcare professionals are involved in your care.

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You don't have to use everything. You can simply choose the resources that are useful to you.

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This is not about being frightened of medicines.

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Medicines can save lives. They can control serious conditions, relieve symptoms and give people a quality of life that might otherwise not be possible.  Without medication I would have died many years ago.

The Medicine Safety Series is not about telling people to stop taking medicines or to distrust their doctors.

It is about being involved in your own wellbeing.

Know what you are taking.

Know why you are taking it.

Keep a record when something changes.

Ask when your medicines should be reviewed.

And if something does not feel right, write it down and talk about it.

Patients and families often hold pieces of information that may not be visible in a single appointment or medical record. Our experiences are part of the medicine-safety picture too.

Looking back, I wish I had recorded more of my own journey.

Today, I understand just how valuable those records might have been.

My involvement with the MHRA taught me a great deal about medicine safety.

My own experience taught me why it matters.

I cannot change my experience, but perhaps something I have learned from it can help somebody else.

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That is why I created the Medicine Safety Series.