Forgetting Meds

[rareboy]

At my advanced age, I have 5 meds that I take every day.

1 in the morning.

3 in the afternoon before dinner

1 at bedtime.

Of course it becomes habit and reflexive to take meds...and then it seems, just as predictable that 1/2 hour later...you start questioning whether you did or didn't scarf them back.

I did the pill containers for dosing and just got fed up with the task. And then put the morning pill on the right, the afternoon on the left and the nighttime in the middle.

And even though I know I have taken them...there is still a moment of doubt.

What tricks do you use to make sure that your chemistry is in balance?

 

[unloadonme]

The best trick is to steer clear of the quack.

 

[gsdx]

Mine is a little more complicated. I take 4 supplements in the morning (Omega 3-6-9, Calcium Carbonate, Vit. D3 and Vit. B12). My meds are 2 Metformin, Propranolol, Hydrochlorothyazide, Perindopril, and Januvia. In the evening (supper), Omega 3-6-9, Vit D3, 2 Metformin, and 1 Propranolol. Before bed, I take 1 Pravastatin. On Sunday, before I take anything or eat anything, I take 1 Residronate (Actonel).

I have a routine. The Omega and D3 remain on the counter, as do the Metformin and Propranolol to remind me to take them again at supper time after which I return them to their usual storage place. If the bottles are in my meds container, I know I've taken them. If they're on the counter, I know I haven't. The Residronate and Pravastatin are pretty easy to remember.

I used to think, "Did I or didn't I?" I don't do that anymore.

 

[peeonme]

I have 2 pill containers, one is on the island in the kitchen for my morning meds and the other is on my night stand for the evening pills. I only have 3 prescriptions and a few supplements such as fish oil and a multi vitamin.

 

[eddielee]

I have to use pill containers to sort the 24 tablets I take a day. If I don't, I get screwed up and might double take or forget.

 

[Rickrock]

I know what you are talking about rareboy. There have been times when I wondered if I had taken them or forgotten, but I didn't want to double take them if I had already taken them. It's probably better to miss them than take them twice by mistake. I take four in the morning after breakfast and two and eye drops at bedtime. I finally normally remember to take them, but as I am taking them, I move them from the left to the right so I know which ones I have taken at this time.

 

[Kulindahr]

I came up with one that works. The first part is having my med bottles near where I'll be when I'm supposed to take them, not all in one place. Then my system is simple: if the day is even-numbered, I leave the bottle top-up after taking the pills, and if the day is odd-numbered I leave the bottle bottom-up.

I tried one of those daily pill things, but they weren't much help because that didn't put my pills out where I'll notice them. Having my morning pills right where my breakfast juice glass goes is a great morning reminder, having my afternoon pills by the main door works the same, and having my evening ones right by my computer mouse works fine for not-quite-bedtime.

 

[cabinfever]

I do the exact same thing rareboy except I usually start questioning it five minutes after I took them.

My trick is the use the morning/evening pill boxes BUT I take little colored stickers and put the date on them to go with the day of the week which solved the problem for me - I do two weeks at a time in the pill box. It takes a few more minutes to do it but so worth it compared to wondering if I took the pills or not.

It has been over a year now but the damn covid gave me brain fog and apparently it doesn't go away which made my problem remembering even worse. The problem now (again - the damn covid) is that warfarin became the one new addition to my drug collection and I need to take it every day and they change the dosage on me after the INR blood draws to get the right amount and on certain days I have to take double the amount of the rest of the days so I would be fucked without the dates on the outside to coincide with the days of the week.

 

[rareboy]

I do the exact same thing rareboy except I usually start questioning it five minutes after I took them.

My trick is the use the morning/evening pill boxes BUT I take little colored stickers and put the date on them to go with the day of the week which solved the problem for me - I do two weeks at a time in the pill box. It takes a few more minutes to do it but so worth it compared to wondering if I took the pills or not.

It has been over a year now but the damn covid gave me brain fog and apparently it doesn't go away which made my problem remembering even worse. The problem now (again - the damn covid) is that warfarin became the one new addition to my drug collection and I need to take it every day and they change the dosage on me after the INR blood draws to get the right amount and on certain days I have to take double the amount of the rest of the days so I would be fucked without the dates on the outside to coincide with the days of the week.

My WORST period was when I had Shingles on my scalp and had brain fog for over a year...try to switch to Rivoroxaban if you can instead of Warfarin. It has been a godsend for me. There is no calibration of the doasges...I had a very volatile INR and was in twice a week at least for testing but for the last four years......no testing needed at all.

 

[cabinfever]

My WORST period was when I had Shingles on my scalp and had brain fog for over a year...try to switch to Rivoroxaban if you can instead of Warfarin. It has been a godsend for me. There is no calibration of the doasges...I had a very volatile INR and was in twice a week at least for testing but for the last four years......no testing needed at all.

Thanks for the tip. I just made a note and taped it to my phone for when the nurse calls me. I will ask because it is a pain the butt to try to remember to even go to the INR blood draws - would be nice if I could skip them.

 

[Alistair]

Please, no one use warfarin if you can find another option. It’s what killed my dad. When he fell and hit his head he got a hemorrhage between the 2 sides of his brain. There was literally nothing they could do to stop it.

 

[rareboy]

Thanks for the tip. I just made a note and taped it to my phone for when the nurse calls me. I will ask because it is a pain the butt to try to remember to even go to the INR blood draws - would be nice if I could skip them.

I have a brilliant Cardiac specialist who literally made calls across the world while I was sitting in his office to get their thoughts on whether I would be a candidate because I have a genetic clotting disorder. And we went for it.

It makes my sister, who worked in special chemistry for 40 years, crazy, because there is no test for its efficacy....but it has been a life changer.

I don't know what it sells for in the US though. Even in Canada, I paid about $120 for a month's prescription until I hit 65 and now I pay much less. It was easily worth the price of admission though. In my life I have been on Warfarin, heparin, low molecular weight Heparin and Malaysian pit viper venom (Ancrot) and this is the little red pill that has made my life normal.

Still worried about your brain fog though. When I was crawling out of the Shingles horrors, I actually kept a log that I would check off whether I had done certain things and it helped a bit.

I also learned around this time that my anti-acid meds were causing a lot of my issues with memory....so they went down the toilet.

 

[EJMichaels]

Fortunately, we don't currently need a special way to remember the schedule or details, but we do take a lot of supplements and a few prescription meds. Along with the day-of-the-week container with a morning and evening side, we use sauce containers. You can write on the lids with a Sharpie marker and wipe it off as needed. I bought a bunch of these on eBay --

I have the one ounce size, but the two ounce would give you more room to make notes on the lid.

 

[ShadowCat]

I am supposed to take 2 asthma pills a day morn and night and seldom do I ever take them right Even though I make the very best of intentions I've done it all minders on my phone, the 7 day pill keeper, Putting a different color cap on the top after I have taken the morning pill, keeping the bottle in my pocket, and this was before covid and the slight brain fog! I am also to take a puff of Breo every day and for the most part I am pretty good about taking it but there are days I get busy and forget or it gets too late. Problem with that is that I do a full toothbrushing routine because Breo can cause tooth decay and we dont want that! The Allergy pill, multi vitamin, D3, and probiotic are all easy once a day then done. I have also been pretty good with the Diclofenac the podiatrist put me on!

 

[Kulindahr]

^
I tried colored stickers but I'd forget to change them. Turning the bottles upside down has worked great because it's so simple.

 

[eddielee]

If I don't sort out my daily meds into a labeled pill schedule container, I would be completely lost. Likewise, I always carry a complete list of my meds, dosage, and allergies in case I have to go to the ER. No way I could correctly name it all off the top of my head.

 

[ShadowCat]

If I don't sort out my daily meds into a labeled pill schedule container, I would be completely lost. Likewise, I always carry a complete list of my meds, dosage, and allergies in case I have to go to the ER. No way I could correctly name it all off the top of my head.

How much crap are you on lol? Is it like Santas List??

 

[NotHardUp1]

Is the dining hall serving the creamed turnips today, 'cuz anyone overhearing this would want to know before going back to the room to check the pill dispenser.

 

[PrinceCory]

What I have done for several years is to line my meds and supplements in 3 rows on the kitchen counter that represent morning (first row), lunch time (2nd row) and bedtime (3rd row). It would look like a tic-tac-toe board game (3 rows wide - 3 rows deep). After taking my morning meds, for instance, I move the row to the right as I take each med. Later in the day, I can tell by looking at the placement that I have not yet taken the lunch time meds because the row has not been moved over. The next day when I take the morning meds, I move the first row the other direction (left).

I also tried the pill box method and even bought a large box that would hold a months worth. But I found that at the end of the month I always seem to put off filling that damn large pill box again. One of our pharmacy's will put together a month worth of "pill bubble pack" that holds 1 week of pills on a set of 4 cardboard sheets. The see-thru bubbles push open to get your pills that are sorted between morning, Noon, afternoon, evening, and bedtime. They will also include your supplements as long as you buy them from their store. But I'm not willing to pay $5 per month to have this service.

 

[rareboy]

Some good ideas here.