Nay for forgetting to take my medication -_-

[jellysundae]

I'm on treatment to keep my MS in check (which it does, just) and have to take a tablet twice a day. The company who produces it presents it excellently.

That bit of card is the size of a paperback. Because of the lay-out there's minimum chance for confusion about when to take them, multiple indicators which believe me, for those of us like me with significant cognitive problems, we need, lol.

But sadly, that packaging can't actually yell at you and say "OI! You've not taken tonight's dose!" when you're going out of the room to go to bed . . .

So when I go to take today's first tablet, I see I hadn't taken last night's. Now I need to remember to take this morning's one in 4 hours time, and the next before bed.

I'd set an alarm on my phone, but as there's no indication of what the alarm is FOR, I'd highly likely just sit and look at it going off like.   Also, I'm don't think I've figured out the alarm, it's not gone off when I've tried it before. It's super simple, but then so am I, now! . . . .

*writes post-it in big letters* TAKE TABLET AT 5PM Let's see if that works. 

I'm sure there's functions on my shiny new laptop that could be set to help with this situation, but I'd need to learn how to use them, and if I can't set an alarm on a very basic phone right . . .

*sigh*

If you have your health, guys. Go and do something that lets it know you appreciate it.

[Angeló]

instead of an alarm

you can create a Calendar Event with the obvious Title 

"Take Medication" and set it to ring at a certain time 

My Best Wishes To You My Dear Friend 

 

[MinaxUmbra]

If you have a cat give them a treat whenever you have to take your medication. You might forget but I promise the cat won't. Also probably a good idea to put the pills and treats close to each other.

[rntracy1]

Angelo beat me to it.  That is exactly what I was going to say.  You set your calendar to whatever event you want, and you can set it to remind you 30 mins in advance then to go off again when it's actually time, or however you want to do it.  When I have an appt. or a meeting I set mine to go off 1 day ahead of time, so that I know, ok I have my meeting or doctor's appt. tomorrow, then it goes off again 30 mins before, so that I can actually GET to my meeting or appt. on time.  LOL.  Because if I don't set these dates in my calendar, I WILL forget about them.  Hope that works for you.

[jellysundae]

1 hour ago, MinaxUmbra said:

If you have a cat give them a treat whenever you have to take your medication. You might forget but I promise the cat won't.

I don't have a cat, lol, but that's a clever idea got to say. OFC I now visualise a scenario where I do have a cat [insert much sneezing here, I'm allergic to cats ] and I eat the cat treat and give the cat my meds . . .

@Angeló and @rntracy1 I shall investigate the calendar and see if I can figure out what to do without my brain imploding! I forget to take my tablets often enough that I really need to find a method that's going to work for me. These have a short half-life - just 12 hours - so there's genuine risk involved if I forget too many.

EDIT:

I can't understand how the calendar works, I can't work out how to set a daily reminder.  But I did at least remember to search on the computer for "reminder".

So Cortana is hopefully going to be of assistance. We'll see what happens at 10pm . . . I don't use any of the voice stuff, so I'm not sure how she's going to get my attention, lol.

[Angeló]

you can watch a video on youtube on how to set a calendar event on your phone .. i didn't post it here because i don't know if you have an iPhone or Android 

:)

[jellysundae]

28 minutes ago, Angeló said:

you can watch a video on youtube on how to set a calendar event on your phone .. i didn't post it here because i don't know if you have an iPhone or Android 

I have neither, I have a "new" phone, but it's not a smart phone as I don't think I'd be able to learn how to use one. Mine's a "feature" phone, amusing name that as features is one thing it certainly doesn't have.

My phone -->

[lojoco49]

*HUG*

If you don't manage to sort out your phone reminder, maybe you could put a "Have you taken your meds?" sign up somewhere you will see while getting ready for bed - bathroom mirror, bedside table, headboard?

[jellysundae]

1 minute ago, lojoco49 said:

*HUG*

If you don't manage to sort out your phone reminder, maybe you could put a "Have you taken your meds?" sign up somewhere you will see while getting ready for bed - bathroom mirror, bedside table, headboard?

I've considered that before, one of the first things actually as it's the simplist and most obvious, isn't it. The issue there is that once something's been in place for a while, sometimes even only a short while, then I blank on it entirely. Not a problem reserved for MS suffers alone, I know! lol. But I have it in spades, so another means is needed unfortunately!

Today, come 10pm, I could be thinking the world is ending, because I "should" have alarms and reminders going off all over the place. Let's see what I managed to set correctly! I did set one on my phone, but that can only be a one time thing, no option for daily, but I'm interested to see if it works this time.

[babayaga67]

@jellysundae I LOVE YOUR PHONE!!!! I used to have a phone like that, but then the battery finally gave out after 4 years (and much baby slobber I'm sure). They don't make phones that dumb anymore. I now have a flip phone with a camera on it! I don't want want a flip phone, I live my life in fear that my little demons children are going to snap it in half. I don't have a smart phone because I want a phone, not a computer with a tiny screen/computer/radio/dating website/video game console. I am legitimately super jealous of your phone.

Also, I thought that they made pill boxes that have alarms built into them to remind you that it is med time?

 

 

Like this guy!

[phill]

those old fashioned nokia were awesome. The ones that if you dropped your phone the floor broke, instead of the wimpy things now that break if you look at them funny.  I saw a picture of one of those things once that was built into a wall, AND IT STILL HAD CHARGE AND BARS!!

 

I don't have a phone at all. People think it's weird, lol.

[Nielo]

They brought the Nokia 3310 back though, although in a slightly altered version.

@jellysundae Apparently there are also medication reminder services (like this one, or this one) which will send texts with a reminder to take your medication. (These two seem to be US-based though, so I'm not sure if they wouldn't come with a lot of extra costs to get those texts send to a phone in the UK.)

[jellysundae]

1 hour ago, babayaga67 said:

Also, I thought that they made pill boxes that have alarms built into them to remind you that it is med time?

They maybe do, but I legit detest stuff like that, lol. I don't want some fugly paraphernalia that shoves me disease in my face. It's bad enough with the perching stool I have to use in the kitchen when I need it, that looks like it was made from old scaffolding. Stuff made for old/disabled etc. people is always utilitarian and I refuse to allow that into my life any more, I'm worth more than that. My mum got me the stool and it's seeing what really brought this realisation home to me.

Oh gosh @Nielo I'd LOVE that yellow phone! I got a white one initially but I never managed to get it unlocked my mum has that one now as it's on her network and I got a sim-free one that I could put my existing card in.

Baba, my phone is new, I've only had it a year or so.

[babayaga67]

@jellysundae I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to upset you. I completely understand what you mean about things that make one feel old.

 

@Nielo yes, for those of us with technology nostalgia. Cells phones haven't been around THAT long! I am slightly offended by Nokia's choice of words. I can get down with the cool kids too.

 

.... okay, that's a lie. I don't think that I have ever "gotten down" with any "cool kids". 

[phill]

7 minutes ago, babayaga67 said:

 

 

.... okay, that's a lie. I don't think that I have ever "gotten down" with any "cool kids". 

 

*snort*  if I did get down with the cool kids I wouldn't be able to get back up again hahaha, not with my knee 

[jellysundae]

Setting a reminder on my laptop worked like a charm, so result! \o/

It reminded me of the reminder 15 minutes beforehand and I took my tablet then. Then made me jump out of my skin when the actual reminder happened. xD The 15 minute warning's pretty good for me though, as I have a distressing tendency to lose focus on what I'm doing halfway through doing it, so I WILL have occasions where I'll react to the pre-reminder but not actually  take my meds because the intent will disappear from one second to the next, so another poke 15 minutes later is perfect.

So thank you everyone, because between you all you've made my life a bit easier.