How to take meds safely

[xks201]

haha I used to have a tackle box of supplements as well.

 

[Carol Blanton]

I'm up to 32 pills per day, now that my Naturopath had me start a few more things. I need to take 2 or 3 without food, three times per day, 1 before bed, some at any time, and the rest with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So I wanted a pillbox with 7 compartments per day, whereas most daily or weekly boxes do a max of 4.

Instead of trying to hunt down something in the Netherlands that would work for me, I went to the hardware store and got the smallest box they had for organizing screws and such. It's got 28 compartments, which is perfect for 4 days worth of pills with 7 sections for each day. And everything fits!

It's not all lined up day by day or chronologically, but I used our label maker to label each compartment. I also used a permanent marker on the top edges of the compartments to outline the separation between each day. Ideally I'd liked get a better color coding on the labels, so I can easily tell one day from the next.

I also have a list printed out of which pills I take at which times per day, and keep in it the cupboard with my supplements so I know what goes where.

View attachment 3468

This is what we called, well organized person, the time is also included, I think you also put an alarm to your cellphone regarding with this stuff, am I right? In case you forgot the time and what to take, your cellphone will remind you.

 

[physicsstudent13]

can taking these supplements cause significant problems like cancer or heart disease? high homocysteine seems to be associated with heart disease
I feel that I might have a methylation problem after significant brain fog was cured by NAC and phosphitadyl choline. I think acne may be a sign that folate is low. but when I take sam-E I feel a bit nauseous sometimes, maybe it's only gastrointestinal

 

[Sparrow]

when I take sam-E I feel a bit nauseous sometimes, maybe it's only gastrointestinal

I believe SAM-e can affect serotonin levels (at least in some people), which can definitely cause nausea. That's why some people use it for antidepressant effects, and why prescription antidepressants have nausea as a relatively common side effect.

 

[physicsstudent13]

raising serotonin can be dangerous to the heart and cause fibrosis, thickening of the walls. I felt really queasy/nauseous after taking vit D, choline, clomid (uro prescribed). so I took 3.6g of NAC and felt better after that like it neutralized the toxins. I'm still trying to get the settings on my bipap working.

I really don't know my liver levels after the 80/260 1 month post op are normal so should I stop the supplements? sam-E in a rat study was shown to help liver repair

 

[Calathea]

The Anabox rainbow pill boxes are great. Sturdy, don't break if dropped, a different colour for each day, and a good size, holding five compartments each. The end one is for "as required" and works the other way with the sliding lid, so I use that for the tablets I take first thing in the morning, when my alarm goes off, I take my basal temperature, and then almost always go back to sleep.

 

[physicsstudent13]

does sam-E really help thinking, math ability? on one study it helped repair the liver over 6 months at 1200mg a day. I don't feel as passionate about life after the trach, lost my sense of taste too from bell's palsy

 

[Valentijn]

The Anabox rainbow pill boxes are great. Sturdy, don't break if dropped, a different colour for each day, and a good size, holding five compartments each. The end one is for "as required" and works the other way with the sliding lid, so I use that for the tablets I take first thing in the morning, when my alarm goes off, I take my basal temperature, and then almost always go back to sleep.

Oooh, those look perfect. Maybe I should retire my hardware box

EDIT: I've ordered one locally, so it's in Dutch. They come in lots of languages Also available in boring colors for those who don't want to become over-excited by the varied hues

 

[Calathea]

I'd never considered the risk of over-excitement. I mean, you could faint or something!

...doesn't everyone else find colour-coding really useful, then? Especially when you're on four-days-a-week meds or similar. We make up my meds boxes on Mondays, so I've set that to red, and I know which day I'm using by the colour. Very handy.

 

[SOC]

Appalling, isn't it, how many pills we take in a day? I'm pushing 60 (!!!) pills a day, 20+ of which are prescription meds, another 20+ are OTC products my docs recommend, and the remainder are other vitamins I take on my own -- multivitamins, calcium, magnesium, etc. It seems nuts, but if it keeps me functioning better, I'm going to do it.

My daughter joked, last time we were filling pill cases, that we should make a photo wall somewhere of ME/CFS patients' hands filled with one day's worth of pills. It would be a sort of message about what we have to take just to function, even minimally. Of course "certain people" (who shall remain nameless) would probably use it to claim we're a bunch of hypochondriacs because we couldn't possibly need all those pills.

Part of my problem lately is the size of some of these darn pills. All my pills no longer fit in my 4 per day "big" case. I had to get 4 gigantic size 7-per-week cases. On the positive side, since it's not one case I distribute them to where I'm likely to be at the correct time of day -- morning and bedtime next to the bed, lunch in the kitchen, dinner next to my chair.

 

[Valentijn]

I'd never considered the risk of over-excitement. I mean, you could faint or something!

...doesn't everyone else find colour-coding really useful, then? Especially when you're on four-days-a-week meds or similar. We make up my meds boxes on Mondays, so I've set that to red, and I know which day I'm using by the colour. Very handy.

Mine arrived today, and is even cooler than I thought. I love how the emptied box gets stuck in through the back, thereby pushing the next day to the front! ... I'm easily entertained

Each slot is big enough for 4 or 5 BIG pills, or quite a few more normal or small ones.

And it's so purdy!

 

[healthystuff]

Thanks for sharing I had a great time reading insightful information.

 

[flybro]

Thanks, great thread.

I've looked at some of the ones with alarms, has anyone tried these?

It must be available in the UK.

 

[rodgergrummidge]

I'm up to 32 pills per day, now that my Naturopath had me start a few more things. View attachment 3468

Hi @Valentijn , love the tackle box! What are you taking? Sound like the naturopath has got you on an extensive med program. Would you mind sharing what meds you are taking and letting us know if they are helping?

Also, for all others in this thread, there is a very easy way to keep track of what/when/dose of meds you are taking without having to resort to complicated spreadsheets, color coded boxes, sticky labels,etc. I use an app called Pill Reminder from drugs.com.

You enter each med, its dose, form (pill, powder, etc), times/days to be taken, refill reminders, and you can even take a pic of the med bottle so that you can keep track of the brand and supplier. Pill Reminder gives a phone chime/buzz each time you need to take a med. Once a med has been taken, you check it off the list and the time it was taken is recorded so forgetting or taking meds twice can be prevented. Most importantly, you can get your complete med history including doses, times and amounts for each med sent to you by email as a excell spreadsheet. That way you have a permanent record of your medications which you can cross check against symptoms, improvements or set-backs. The app is free.

cheers

Rodger