Managing meds

[sasha_feather]

Medication management is a whole job. I recently added 3 meds to my regimen, and I'm using 3 different pharmacies. The most efficient/preferred way to communicate with pharmacies is by phone, during business hours: a challenge if you have phone anxiety and a sleep disorder. Right now they are all doing delivery, which is at least convenient.

I mostly take pills, but I also take an injection and use an inhaler. I take over-the-counter meds and supplements too, and today I went to a 4th pharmacy (Walgreens) to restock those. I don't currently have to cut or prepare any of these pills, except for ones that come OTC in blister packs. Those, I open with a scissors and put into a glass jar. I store most of my meds in the same place, except for the one that has to be refrigerated.

Oh, and my dog gets one pill, which comes from yet another place, the vet's office. That one I store and think about separately, as it goes with the dog treats.

If and when I travel, I have to make sure to pack all of these, and make sure I have enough for a trip. Then there is monitoring the side effects, and remembering to take them at the correct times, and those are jobs too. And then there is handling insurance, something which thankfully I'm not having to do a lot of at the moment.

I can be hard on myself when I mess any of these steps up, but wow, it's a lot of work.

I feel like I have leveled up and deserve a Glitch-style badge.

Comments

[lilysea]

Indeed!

I was just thinking about this yesterday and today

I accidentally misplaced 28 tablets of one med and 90 tablets of another med [they're in the house somewhere, but I can't find them with the amount of physical energy I currently have]

so I had to scramble to organise more before I ran out...

Fortunately they're both anti-depressants - I'm sure if they'd been opiate pain meds or ADHD meds it would have been A LOT harder to replace them.

[lilysea]

I get most of my meds from pharmacy #1 which does home delivery, but one med I have to get from pharmacy #2, which doesn't normally home deliver - so I have to cajole them into making an exception every time...

[worlds_of_smoke]

meds management is the worst. I take a ridiculous number of meds and every Saturday evening, I sit for about 20-30 minutes filling up my med box for the week. I long ago gave up on taking my meds at certain times, outside of taking morning meds in the morning and evening meds in the evening. I figure I'm good enough if I take them the number of times a day I should.

(The only exception to this is my thyroid medication. That one stays by my bedside and, when I get up to pee in the middle of the night, I take it then with some water. My pharmacist said that it is very reactive and I have to take it on its own, with nothing but water, and I can't eat or drink anything else for an hour before or after. It's just easiest for me to take it in the middle of the night instead of trying to take it during the day, when I'm drinking iced tea and taking meds and eating.)

I use a box like this. So going on short trips is easy to manage, since I just pull out the pills for the day.

I have 2 meds that I take via injection, and a buttload of creams and ointments for my skin. The company that makes my immunosuppressant has an app to help me keep track of my injections and it's a godsend. I've set up a Google calendar appointment for my diabetes injection, so I get an email every Wednesday reminding me to take that med. The creams/ointments are just put on after my shower and before bed if I need them, so those are probably the easiest to handle.

Here's a weak sauce attempt at a banner.

[jesse_the_k]

I fill up seven days worth of four-compartment pillboxes on Saturday mornings. Pop that in my purse to travel around with me. I have four daily phone alarms which use an entire song for the sound, so it lasts long enough for me to get something to drink and take the freaking pills. And also one seven-compartment pillbox I keep by my bed for the vit D and thyroid meds.

And then the PRNs for migraine! And the estrogen cream for my dry vag. And the PRN lidocaine patches for breakthrough pain. Finally the PRN anxiety meds.

Everything except the estrogen cream comes from one pharmacy, which I can roll to on my own. I'm grateful!

[starshipfox]

I find getting pills into my animals ON TOP OF getting pills into myself just so hard. Too many things.

[hellofriendsiminthedark]

That does sound exhausting! I've always been very chaotically unreliable with meds and the most successful period of time I had was when my friend who lived in my dorm who I saw every day would remind me for me. You absolutely deserve a badge for undertaking so much on your own.

[sovay]

I feel like I have leveled up and deserve a Glitch-style badge.

Seriously, go, you.

[sasha_feather]

Thank you!

[longwhitecoats]

That is SO MUCH work. It's a lot of effort to manage these systems!

[bibliofile]

Yeah, sometimes "self-care is work" is more metaphorical. With meds, it consumes time and attention and why yes, you should get that badge.