So many pills. So little brain.

[mel1]

I have a problem. My memory sucks big time. Not surprising, considering the amount of meds. I'm on: 350 Lamictal, 1.5 klonopin, 150 Seroquel, 50 tramadol, ? not sure how much phenergan (for nausea, unexplained), soma-prn, darvocet-prn, ummmm.....I think that's it. Anyway, I have 3 different pills that come in identical bottles, same shape, size and color. I'm getting confused on whether I took one or more than one, or not at all. Not sure I'm making sense. This morning I almost had a panic attack because i thought i took 2 of one pill and none of the other, but had no idea. It was only 6 am and i'm trying to wake up when i take my pills. How do you do this? It is just recently (yesterday) that this has been an issue because i changed pharmacy, who gave me my rx, and realized this morning i didn't know what the hell i'd taken or not taken. i'm serious. You can not tell these pills apart!!

[meg]

1) we all lose track sometimes, and it sounds like there's no damage done-- so do your best to not worry about it, this is a totally fixable situation so you won't have to worry about another morning like this one, k?

2) GET THEE A PILL ORGANIZER

• do you take all of your meds at one time?
  • yes: get yourself two weekly pill boxes, (different colors! that way you know what week you are on and don't get them mixed up)
    
  • no: I suggest you look at the selection at your pharmacy (or grocery/target/etc.) and find one that fits your dosage schedule ie: monday:am/pm, etc. or monday:morn/noon/night, you get the idea
    

  [*]once you have your pill case, find some time to sit down with only the bottles of meds you take (no old bottles to confuse you) with a list of what dosage you take for each

  • start with ONE medication at a time and fill all 14 days with that med in it's correct dosage
    
  • cross that med off of your list and put it away or aside so you don't have to think about it anymore
    
  • do the same thing with each medication one by one (I make a big emphasis on one by one medication wise because it is SO hard to try and fill each day completely, 14 times, and not make mistakes or go crazy. this way you only have to deal with one pill bottle/color/dosage.)
    
  • put one of the 7day cases up in a cabinet with the rest of your pill bottles, and only leave one week case out on a certain place on your counter/sink/etc (where ever you will see it daily in the morning and have access to water so you can take it right away)
    

tada!

I don't want to make it seem like I'm dumbing this down or anything-- I just know that I find things a lot easier to do if I have a set of instructions to follow that I can check off as I go. It's taken me foreeeever to get my system down, and it takes a while to get into the habit of refilling them, but it's really great because you can figure out a week beforehand if you are going to need refills.

other tips (that you can ignore if they're too 'organizationdork' for ya:

- hang a calander where your pill box is (or use one that you use daily, or hang it inside the cabinet that you keep your meds and spare pill case in) and color code your weeks. ie: you have a blue pill case and a green pill case, mark every other week blue, and every other week green...so you know for sure which pill case you are supposed to be using and there's even less of a chance of mixing them up.

- on that calander, mark in red (or something) a few days before your second pill box (in this case green week) ends to remind you to refill the cases

-refilling the cases a few days early is also a good idea because then you will be able to judge when you're going to have to call in your refills so you don't have any chance of going without. overlapping by a few days is *always* a good thing

OKAY, WHEW! meg is finished her seminar.

thank you for attending, this seminar was sponsored by the med-sun pill box company.

[ShailyHurting]

Okay, wow. I can't believe I never thought of anything so simple as two organizers. That might solve my problem of just not getting around to refilling mine in time. Thank you so much, Meg!

As for pills that look alike? I grabbed a Sharpie and put the first initial of the medication on the lid. Some of them have the whole name there. Last month I took and Ambien instead of an Ultram and had an out-of-body experience. It wasn't pretty. I haven't gone so far as to color code, but I think that's also a good idea.

[Ophelia]

As for pills that look alike? I grabbed a Sharpie and put the first initial of the medication on the lid. Some of them have the whole name there. Last month I took and Ambien instead of an Ultram and had an out-of-body experience. It wasn't pretty. I haven't gone so far as to color code, but I think that's also a good idea.

i keep ambien in the bottle, separate from everything else. the others, i keep in weekly organizers and don't really have to worry so much about what is what.

...that is at least what works for me...

[december_brigette]

hi mel,

of the pills that look identical - at least one of them should have some kind of number or letter "stamped" on it. or a line. or something.

ive had a similar issue and i had to sit down, and really study the pills. so whichever one has "something" on it. then you know YEAH this is XYZ. and then try to figure out the other 2.

yes, too anxious to just ask the pharmacist. plus, with the little brain power i have, i dont think i would have remembered when i got home.

(note that on all my bottles o'pills there is a worded description of what the pill should look like).

good luck!!

db

[mel1]

Thanks for the good ideas. I can't do the pill organizer because I have 2 little ones in the house. The idea about putting initials on the bottles sounds like a winner, though. That's how I remember little things that are important, I put the initial on my hand, and hope I will remember what the initial means. yes, there is no help for me and my brain!

[Zippy]

Even using an Accutab (best med dispenser) and pills that look different, on the day I reload the box I get confused, often have to dump it and refill it again.

This Monday I took my morning meds twice. 450 mg Effexor, 300 mg Wellbutrin, 600 mg Trileptil, 108 mg Concerta. I won't even get into how ill I have felt this week.

Even when you are as careful as you can be, accidents happen.

[dangergirl]

Hey Mel,

Haven't been here in a while....here's what I do:

I keep my Lunesta in a drawer in my nightstand. It is separate from all of my other meds bc I only take it if I need it to sleep. That way, I don't mix it up with anything else. You could do this with other meds too - put them in different places, where you'd only take them if you needed them (the naseau pill with your spices - it would work for me bc it would be with food stuffs).

I then keep all of the other pills together and take everything at once - I line them all up, open one bottle at a time, and put the pill(s) in front of the bottle. I either, close the bottle and put it away, or put the bottle behind the pill. Either way, I know that bottle has been completed. I do this until all bottles are completed. Then scoop up the pills and take them.

I also set alarms to take my pills at a certain time, that way, I don't miss a dose.

It's methodical, which is why it works for me...the pill organizers only work for me when I travel.

[mel1]

DG, you just confuzzled me. But I'm getting better. i just make sure I wait until After I drink my coffee to take pills. I've also kind of gotten used to knowing i have to check and double check when taking pills.

[Rabbit37]

Mel, the kind of organizer that I use has child-resistant (not child*proof*), and I keep it on a high shelf. I found it at the pharmacy, it has 4 sections for each day. I only take meds/vitamins twice a day, but it takes two sections for am and two for pm.

If you can't find a child-resistant one, ask the pharmacist, maybe they can order you one.

[lachesis]

Hi Mel,

If you can afford the small fee the pharmacist can put them in sheet form with blister packs. They set it up according to schedule and then you know if you have missed a dose and are unlikely do double dose. It is much easier and you can keep your prn meds seperate. I think everyone at some point knows what it is like to take double of something by accident. Or you can go by pill box(s). I'm too lazy and put seven days worth of meds in a bottle and keep track that way. Easy enough to count them out if I don't know what day of the week I am at.

Lachesis

[dangergirl]

Sorry Mel, didn't mean to confuse you...I guess the point is to find a system that works for you and make it a habit. I've tried some of the other methods here, but since I was having a problem remembering, I would only open up my case to find that I'd forgotten, so I had to find another method. After a while, there were so many pills, I had to line the bottles up in a row, take a pill out, and move on to each bottle to make sure I'd gone through them all without forgetting one.

Oh, wait, was the confusion bc of my comment about the nausea med? I thought that you took that prn, so I keep my prn meds in an "associative" place...so, sleep meds near bed, things that relate to my stomach near food, things to do with my skin near my makeup/skin care stuff. I know it's really weird, but so am I . I hope you can find a system that works for you - those child safety cases that Rabbit suggested sound like a great idea.