The Forums › Forums › Tools, Techniques & Treatments › Other › Forgetting to take pill.
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August 3, 2012 at 10:35 pm #90904
Anyone else have this problem when it’s the holidays? We’ve been out of our usual routine for a couple of weeks and I’ve only remembered to take my pill twice. When I do remember, because I feel crap or have got nothing done, it’s too late because if I take it after lunchtime I won’t be able to get to sleep at night.
Any suggestions?! 🙄 People think it’s hilarious, which it kind of is really, that the pill I need to help me remember stuff doesn’t get taken because I don’t remember to take it!
REPORT ABUSEAugust 4, 2012 at 2:30 am #115368Well, this may be the dog chasing the tail, because it’s something you’d have to remember to do, but what if you set an alarm to ring to remind you to take it?
I set the alarm on my cell phone – I can set it for “daily,” where it rings every day without me having to remember to set it, and I have it say “take medicine” on the screen when it rings, so I remember what the alarm is reminding me to do.
REPORT ABUSEAugust 4, 2012 at 7:12 am #115369thanks
that would be the sensible thing but, because I lose phones, I don’t have one and an alarm would be going off in a random room and I wouldn’t hear it. I can’t wear a watch because of hypersensitivities. I can’t stand things round my wrists. i have a basic watch for round my neck but I keep losing it. I don’t like things touching my neck either…
i’m not deliberately trying to make my life harder, though I know this isn’t something I have to explain here, thankfully!
REPORT ABUSEAugust 4, 2012 at 10:42 am #115370I have an alarm on my phone set for 10 pm Thurdsay to remind me to take out the trash for Friday pickup.
It goes off. I think “Take out the trash . . . right after I finish this one thing.”
If I’m lucky, I’ll wake up at 4 am Friday and think, “I forgot to take out the trash.”
REPORT ABUSEAugust 4, 2012 at 12:02 pm #115371LOL I set my work timer to remind me that I was meant to be spending 15 minutes on a particular task. It has green, amber and red lights and it beeps to tell me I’m running out of time.
If I notice it’s beeping I am often doing something I hadn’t planned on and if I am actually doing my work I just don’t hear it.
I’d love to have someone else’s brain for a day to find out what it’s like to just get things done, hear these things, act on them and generally just not need them in the first place.
REPORT ABUSEAugust 4, 2012 at 12:10 pm #115372I keep my ipod touch on me almost all the time, so I set alarms with the Remember the Milk program to remind me to do things.
Amy
REPORT ABUSESeptember 8, 2012 at 1:35 pm #115373I’m having the same problem, Tiddler. I’m a teacher, and after not taking my Concerta all summer, I only remembered to take it 50% of the time in the last week.
The idea of setting an alarm is a good one. I keep my phone in a pouch that I clip to my belt loop during the day, and then plug it into my computer when I am not using it, so I don’t lose it.
Also, I think I’m going to try bringing a few of my Concerta to school to keep in my locked cupboard as a backup, for mornings when I get to school and go “Oh crap, I forgot my meds.”.
REPORT ABUSESeptember 8, 2012 at 2:03 pm #115374I would also suggest an electronic alarm such as a phone or watch. But if you can’t stand to wear a watch and always lose a phone then obviously not the best choice! Incidentally, having the phone in a pouch is a great idea. I also did that in the past.
However, if none of those are practical for you, have you considered a post it note in a place that is appropriate to help you remember at the right time? For example, on the bathroom mirror so you’ll see it when you get up in the morning. Of course then the next step would be to have the pills right there on the counter so you can take them then and there as opposed to in another room where you’ll forget why you went in there in the first place? If you are travelling and using some sort of cosmetic case to keep your toothbrush or whatever it is you need in the morning you can always put a not in there.
In my case I do forget once in a while, or worse can’t remember if I took them or not. I haven’t set an alarm but my trigger to remember seems to be the routine of getting coffee. It is ingrained that while the coffee is dripping I get my pill. I keep them in my purse nearby to the area so so far it has been a pretty consistent method.
Oh one last idea, what about your husband? Maybe he can set an alarm on his phone or watch or whatever and remind you in the morning before he goes off to work?
REPORT ABUSESeptember 8, 2012 at 2:28 pm #115375All great ideas. thanks everyone. I think a note on the bathroom cabinet and keeping the pills next to my toothbrush would do it.
REPORT ABUSESeptember 9, 2012 at 1:15 am #115376I forgot to mention this Hint – make it REALLY BIG Tiddler! I do that sort of thing except after a while things become part of the scenery and I don’t notice anymore
REPORT ABUSESeptember 9, 2012 at 9:45 am #115377LOL That’s what happens to me. I hang a bag on the back door handle so I don’t forget it and it just slides off the handle when I open the door!
I bought some sticky notes today = some for me and some because I thought it would be useful to stick to my son’s T-shirt when I send him off to do something! ‘Teeth! – no reading, we’re late!’ That kind of thing!
REPORT ABUSESeptember 9, 2012 at 10:14 am #115378Doh, so I read this and think, ‘I forgot to take my pill again this morning. I’ll go downstairs and get it.’
30 minutes later I come back to my computer after doing some random stuff and having a shower. Still haven’t taken it.
REPORT ABUSESeptember 9, 2012 at 1:41 pm #115379I don’t think really big will help much. If you guys are like me, the time it takes to integrate the elephant in the room with the normal surroundings is incredibly short and it soon “disappears” below the noise level in my brain.
It reminds me of friends that had some guests aboard their schooner for a week. Every morning, their friend would come up on deck, hitting his head on the boom and knocking off his cap as he did so. After about the third day, he started taking off his cap before going on deck, but, forgetting to duck, he would still hit his head on the boom. Sound familiar?
REPORT ABUSESeptember 9, 2012 at 2:24 pm #115380OMG! That is so totally typical you guys! I do all of that. You are absolutely right about the elephant Kc and Tiddler I hang my shopping bags on the front door to remember them. But do ya think I ever take them along?
Kc the cap story reminds me of when years ago we had a ceiling fan that was too close to the kitchen cupboard doors. So if I forgot inevitably the fan blade would whack the door when I opened it. Also if I had to get up into a high cupboard I would always duck so as not to get hit in the head with a fan blade. Needless to say that fan did get removed after a few years ( gotta give us credit it got done at least!) But that was over 20 years ago yet I still duck whenever I have to climb on the counter to get at a high up object. Now why can’t I remember other stuff I actually need to remember?
REPORT ABUSESeptember 9, 2012 at 3:20 pm #115381<<i’m not deliberately trying to make my life harder, though I know this isn’t something I have to explain here, thankfully!”>> Yeah, that self destructive streak is a real pain in the butt, I wonder if it’s a “thing”. I tell my cell phone to remind me to check my planner for stuff I don’t want to type out on the little tiny keyboard of my phone.
Kc, that head ducking thing reminds me of being a carpenter. A hard had adds about 2 inches in hight. So walking a scaffold, I would bump my head at every joint between sections. On days when I spent the day working on the outside finish. I’d go home with a headache. ugh. If I had sense back then I would have kept ibuprofin in my truck. But how many of us have common sense? At least we have a keen sense of the obvious
Nellie, I think it just takes time for some sense to get knocked into our head, (litterally). Then we never remember the reason we duck, so I guess you’re stuck ducking until it starts to affect your back. Then you’ll go back to bumping your head on something because Murphy’s law never leaves us alone. I wonder if getting bonged in the head a lot is part of why we’re a little goofie?.
Common sense? uncommon sense? keen sense of the obvious. ADHD can be a very complex thing. No wonder we’ve got so many experts that don’t exactly agree. I like Dr. Hallowell, it’s easy to see he thinks like us in his writing.
I keep a days worth of pills in a little guitar pick tin. Phone reminds me to take certain ones. How many are left keeps me from taking an extra dose. That can be bad with Wellbutrin. A new phone reminder note reminds me to take coconut oil. There are some reports that it helps us think clearer. That reminds me….
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