Modern Medication Management with Dr. Seth Haydel

Dr. Seth Haydel discusses medication options with a patient at Life Coast Community Health Center.

If your bathroom counter is crowded with pill bottles, you are not alone. Many adults living with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and other chronic conditions end up with long, complicated medication lists. Over time, that can lead to confusion, side effects and missed doses that put your health at risk.

At Life Coast Community Health Center, Internal Medicine specialist Dr. Seth Haydel focuses on medication management to change that story. Through Life Coast’s Complex Medical Management and Medication Therapy Management programs, he helps patients review their prescriptions, lower risk and build safer, simpler routines.

What Is Medication Management?

Medication management is a structured, evidence-based review of all the medicines you take—not just your prescriptions. It includes:

• Prescription medications

• Over-the-counter drugs

• Vitamins and supplements 

The goal is to make sure every medicine is still needed, safe with the others and doing what it is supposed to do. By looking at the full picture, medication management helps reduce side effects, dangerous drug interactions and preventable hospital visits, especially for people with multiple chronic conditions.

Why Medication Management Matters for Chronic Conditions

If you live with conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or lung disease, your medications often build up over years. New prescriptions are added during hospital stays, specialist visits or flare-ups, but older ones are not always reviewed.

Without a regular checkup of your medication list, you can end up with:

• More medications than you truly need

• Medicines that no longer match updated guidelines

• Combinations that increase the risk of falls, confusion or low blood sugar

  
  

Medication management gives your care team a chance to update your plan based on current medical evidence and where you are in life today—not just where you were when a drug was first prescribed.

How a Medication Management Visit with Dr. Haydel Works

At Life Coast Community Health Center, medication management with Dr. Seth Haydel is not a quick “med check.” It is a focused visit built around you and your daily routine.

Here is what to expect:

1. Bring everything you take

   1. You are asked to bring all your pill bottles, inhalers, eye drops and supplements in a bag. This gives a real-world picture of what you are actually using at home.

2. Go through each medicine one by one

   1. Together, you and Dr. Haydel talk about:

      1. Why each medicine was started

      2. How it makes you feel

      3. How easy or hard it is to take as prescribed

      4. Any side effects or cost concerns you have

3. Review labs, vitals and guidelines

   1. Using your most recent lab results and vital signs, Dr. Haydel compares your current regimen to up-to-date internal medicine and complex medical management guidelines.

4. Build a safer, simpler plan—together

   1. Based on the evidence and your goals, he may:

      1. Adjust doses

      2. Switch to safer or more convenient options

      3. Combine medications when appropriate

      4. Work with Life Coast Community Pharmacy to address cost and access issues

Every change is made thoughtfully, and follow-up visits are scheduled to see how you are doing with the updated plan.

More Than “Stopping Meds”: Safety First

Some patients worry that “medication management” means their doctor will simply take them off medicines they rely on. That is not the goal.

The real goal is to make sure every medication has:

• A clear, current purpose

• The safest possible role in your overall plan

• A schedule you can realistically follow

Sometimes that means reducing or stopping a medicine when risks outweigh benefits.

Sometimes it means adjusting doses or changing to a different option that works better for you. In every case, decisions are guided by medical evidence and by your input—not by a desire to cut the list just to make it shorter.

Modern, Evidence-Based Care Close to Home

Life Coast Community Pharmacy is located right next door to the Life Coast clinic in Houma, making it easy to fill prescriptions and access medication support in one convenient stop.

Life Coast Community Health Center provides high-quality, team-based care for adults in Thibodaux, Houma and surrounding communities, with services that include Adult Internal Medicine, Complex Medical Management and Life Coast Community Pharmacy.

Medication management with Dr. Haydel reflects that mission by:

• Using current internal medicine and complex care guidelines

• Coordinating closely with Life Coast Community Pharmacy to reduce medication costs and simplify regimens

• Addressing real-world factors—like transportation, affordability and health literacy—that impact how well treatments work in everyday life

In one recent example highlighted by Life Coast, Dr. Haydel helped a Medicare patient lower the cost of a key medication from hundreds of dollars to just a fraction of that amount for a three-month supply by leveraging Life Coast’s pharmacy resources and medication management approach.

What Medication Management Means for You

For you, medication management with Dr. Haydel means an ongoing partnership, not a one-time appointment. Over time, that partnership can help you:

• Understand what each medication is for

• Recognize which side effects to watch for

• Keep your regimen aligned with your health goals and lifestyle

• Feel more confident that your treatment is both safe and up to date

When your medication plan is clear and realistic, it becomes easier to stay on track—and easier for your medicines to do their job.

How to Get Started with Medication Management

If your medications feel overwhelming, you do not have to fix it alone. That is exactly what medication management is designed for.

To get started:

• Call Life Coast Community Health Center at 985-360-3755

• Ask to schedule a chronic or complex medication management visit with Internal Medicine specialist Dr. Seth Haydel

• Bring all of your medications and any questions you have

Together, you and your care team can build a plan that is safer, clearer and easier to live with—so your medications support your life, not the other way around.