I have to take my medication every 6 hours. Instead of 9am, 3pm, 9pm, and 3am. It seems to be easier to choose times that correlated with my regular routine. 12am (before bed); 6am (wake up); 12 pm (lunch); 6pm (dinner). This was much easier for me to remember to take my medication on time.
I leave the medication out in a place that I always walk by in my house. I have never really had a problem taking medications at the right time as long as I can see the medication. I find that seeing it reminds me to take it every morning and evening.
I take my daily medication every morning when I take my vitamin. I also placed the medication in a conspicuous location on my bedroom dresser with my vitamin bottle. I get ready each morning in front of this dresser, and it is a good visual reminder. In order to remember to go to my follow-up appointment, I have put it in my calendar and planner.
This morning I tried a new technique trying to remember to take my medication (taking into consideration the suggestions made on the first question). I realize its easiest for me to store my medication on my desk at home where my backpack is. So this morning I remembered to take all medications since every morning I go to my desk to check email and get ready for school. Same with my evening dose. Right before I go to sleep I see the medications on my desk, and take it before I leave my desk for bed. But I am still having some issues with my mid day dose.
@ssan08: I think your way of remembering to take your medications is a great idea. It is definitely alot easier when you incorporate the doses with your daily routine. @emily: I also think its a great idea to take your medication with your vitamin since that is something you are familiar with every morning. So by incorporating your medication with something you already have set as your routine sounds like a great reminder.
I will definitely use your methods in the future. Thanks.
I take my medication twice a day with meals, and had been having problems with remembering to take it WITH the meals instead of after the meal some hours later. I used the sticky note idea posted in the previous comments to help me remember to take it during dinner that night. I placed a sticky note on the dinner table and was reminded to take the medication.
Since we have gotten the medication, I forgot to take it a few times so yesterday I actually used this wonderful technology we were given and created a "sticky note" that shows up on my laptop desktop so that everytime i open my computer or close an open windown on the computer, i see the little reminder and that really helped me to take my meds!
Emily...I think your idea is fantastic because I take two medications daily as well (besides this one) and if my medication was not dosed three times a day, I think I could definetly use that method and remember to take it with my "real" medications because I never forget to take those!
Nicole: your post made me think of the role of technology in adherence. It is difficult to tell which patients would benefit from a suggestion such as this, because not everyone is computer/technologcally-savy. However, I believe it would greatly benefit some people; whether it be a cell phone alarm or calendar, text messages, computer calendars that pop up, or "sticky notes." I am glad this helped you, and it is certainly something to consider for a certain population.
I'm not a "personal planner" type of guy so I didn't make any attempts to remind myself to take the medication. I probably should have put an alarm on my phone like I do for appointments and whatnot.
Hey Jeff, have you tried maybe writing on your hand? I've utilized that technique in the pre-technology days when I would have something I couldn't forget. For instance, I would make a little mark on my knuckle. That way it's in plain sight and whenever I see it I will be reminded that I have something important to do. In your case, whenever you eat you will see the mark and be reminded to take your meds.
Since I am supposed to be taking my medication twice a day with food, I have placed a sticky note on my fridge that I will see in the morning for breakfast and at night for dinner (since I am usually at school during lunch). However, this does not particularly help when I am not eating regularly as I should be.
@ Nicole: I think the sticky note application on your laptop is a fantastic idea. I tried putting it on my computer as well, it does help with the compliance quite a bit. Thanks for the suggestion. You can also set an alert with google destop for when it's time to take you medication.
I had to set alarms during the day to remember to take my medication. Otherwise I would take it right before bed and first thing in the morning when I wake up. The iphone is good with setting multiple alarms lol.
@ Nicole: That is a really good idea, using the sticky notes application on your computer to remember your medication. I certainly look at my computer more often than anything else. However, because I look at my computer so often, I tend to ignore things that might be posted on it. After I see or hear something so many times, I start not paying attention to it anymore which has definitely caused me some problems with compliance.
@Michael: Phone alarms really do help. I went away this weekend and it was hard to remember to take my medications. So I used my phone and set multiple reminders to take my medications. Since my phone is something that I carry around all the time, I was able to remember to take my medications. This reminder method may work better with the younger patient population but it definitely makes me think about those people who dont have cell phones or technology oriented reminder methods. How it must be that much harder to remember to take their medications.
I have to take my medication every 6 hours. Instead of 9am, 3pm, 9pm, and 3am. It seems to be easier to choose times that correlated with my regular routine. 12am (before bed); 6am (wake up); 12 pm (lunch); 6pm (dinner). This was much easier for me to remember to take my medication on time.
ReplyDeleteI leave the medication out in a place that I always walk by in my house. I have never really had a problem taking medications at the right time as long as I can see the medication. I find that seeing it reminds me to take it every morning and evening.
ReplyDeleteI take my daily medication every morning when I take my vitamin. I also placed the medication in a conspicuous location on my bedroom dresser with my vitamin bottle. I get ready each morning in front of this dresser, and it is a good visual reminder. In order to remember to go to my follow-up appointment, I have put it in my calendar and planner.
ReplyDeleteThis morning I tried a new technique trying to remember to take my medication (taking into consideration the suggestions made on the first question). I realize its easiest for me to store my medication on my desk at home where my backpack is. So this morning I remembered to take all medications since every morning I go to my desk to check email and get ready for school. Same with my evening dose. Right before I go to sleep I see the medications on my desk, and take it before I leave my desk for bed. But I am still having some issues with my mid day dose.
ReplyDelete@ssan08: I think your way of remembering to take your medications is a great idea. It is definitely alot easier when you incorporate the doses with your daily routine.
ReplyDelete@emily: I also think its a great idea to take your medication with your vitamin since that is something you are familiar with every morning. So by incorporating your medication with something you already have set as your routine sounds like a great reminder.
I will definitely use your methods in the future.
Thanks.
I take my medication twice a day with meals, and had been having problems with remembering to take it WITH the meals instead of after the meal some hours later. I used the sticky note idea posted in the previous comments to help me remember to take it during dinner that night. I placed a sticky note on the dinner table and was reminded to take the medication.
ReplyDeleteSince we have gotten the medication, I forgot to take it a few times so yesterday I actually used this wonderful technology we were given and created a "sticky note" that shows up on my laptop desktop so that everytime i open my computer or close an open windown on the computer, i see the little reminder and that really helped me to take my meds!
ReplyDeleteEmily...I think your idea is fantastic because I take two medications daily as well (besides this one) and if my medication was not dosed three times a day, I think I could definetly use that method and remember to take it with my "real" medications because I never forget to take those!
ReplyDeleteNicole: your post made me think of the role of technology in adherence. It is difficult to tell which patients would benefit from a suggestion such as this, because not everyone is computer/technologcally-savy. However, I believe it would greatly benefit some people; whether it be a cell phone alarm or calendar, text messages, computer calendars that pop up, or "sticky notes." I am glad this helped you, and it is certainly something to consider for a certain population.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a "personal planner" type of guy so I didn't make any attempts to remind myself to take the medication. I probably should have put an alarm on my phone like I do for appointments and whatnot.
ReplyDeleteHey Jeff, have you tried maybe writing on your hand? I've utilized that technique in the pre-technology days when I would have something I couldn't forget. For instance, I would make a little mark on my knuckle. That way it's in plain sight and whenever I see it I will be reminded that I have something important to do. In your case, whenever you eat you will see the mark and be reminded to take your meds.
ReplyDeleteSince I am supposed to be taking my medication twice a day with food, I have placed a sticky note on my fridge that I will see in the morning for breakfast and at night for dinner (since I am usually at school during lunch). However, this does not particularly help when I am not eating regularly as I should be.
ReplyDelete@ Mark thats not a bad idea I guess. Like you said, its a little pre-technology and old school but sometimes those methods work the best.
ReplyDelete@ Nicole: I think the sticky note application on your laptop is a fantastic idea. I tried putting it on my computer as well, it does help with the compliance quite a bit. Thanks for the suggestion. You can also set an alert with google destop for when it's time to take you medication.
ReplyDeleteI had to set alarms during the day to remember to take my medication. Otherwise I would take it right before bed and first thing in the morning when I wake up. The iphone is good with setting multiple alarms lol.
ReplyDelete@ Nicole: That is a really good idea, using the sticky notes application on your computer to remember your medication. I certainly look at my computer more often than anything else. However, because I look at my computer so often, I tend to ignore things that might be posted on it. After I see or hear something so many times, I start not paying attention to it anymore which has definitely caused me some problems with compliance.
ReplyDelete@Michael: Phone alarms really do help. I went away this weekend and it was hard to remember to take my medications. So I used my phone and set multiple reminders to take my medications. Since my phone is something that I carry around all the time, I was able to remember to take my medications. This reminder method may work better with the younger patient population but it definitely makes me think about those people who dont have cell phones or technology oriented reminder methods. How it must be that much harder to remember to take their medications.
ReplyDelete