Ask a doctor: ‘Is it ever OK to take someone else’s prescription medication?’

Dr. Janette Nesheiwat weighs in on dangers of skipping doses. Most of us have, at some time or another, asked a friend or family member for some over-the-counter medicine to treat a headache or an upset stomach, as the dosage and directions are fairly universal.

But is the same protocol appropriate when it comes to taking someone else’s prescription medication? The resounding answer from medical doctors is an emphatic "no." MEDICINE CABINET MUST-HAVES: 9 ESSENTIALS EVERY HOUSEHOLD SHOULD HAVE ON HAND There are specific reasons why. "Taking someone else’s prescribed medication can be very harmful," LaTasha Perkins, M.

D., a family physician at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

, told Fox News Digital. Doctors agreed that sharing prescription medications with others is a bad idea. (iStock) "You need to take only your own medicine and not someone else’s, because so much goes into figuring it out.

" Numerous considerations are involved in prescribing medication to a patient, Perkins said — including health status , medical history and blood work — which can be completely different from one person to the next. Even if you take the same medication as someone else, the other person may be on a different dose of it, the doctor noted. TRAVELING INTERNATIONALLY? IT COULD BE ILLEGAL TO BRING ALONG THESE MEDICATIONS, ACCORDING TO A PHARMACIST "A lot of medications also look and sound the same, so you have to take what was specifically prescribed to you," s.