Strategy To Take The Pills
A light bulb moment helps me
I will need a new strategy to take the pills after my second MS Smart visit. Very little happened except that the number of daily pills is now increased from 1 to 2 each day. They have to be taken as near to twelve hours apart as possible. It is the sort of thing that seems very easy to do but hard to put into practice. I had to develop a strategy to take the pills. It had to be simple, idiot proof and effective, it sounds so easy.
The MS Smart team gave me two identical bottles of pills, ideally one bottle for the morning pill and one bottle for the evening pill. I now have enough pills for a month, one to be taken each time.
The strategy to take the pills
The first problem was to establish the best time to take the pills. The wife and I settled on eight in the morning and eight in the evening. I get up at or about eight every day so no problem there.
Morning and evening
Remembering to take the morning pill would be easy. Just get out of bed and swallow one. How was I going to remember to take my evening pill? Expecting me to remember to take a pill at 8 in the evening was definitely a step too far.
This is where modern technology stepped in. Setting an alarm on my phone seemed like a good idea.
Next we had to think where I am most likely to be at that time of day. Its just before supper time so I am going to be downstairs. So lets put the pills down stairs in the study.
Think about it sensibly
I am not good at going up and down stairs. It is a fact of life that I have to live with these days. Serious drop foot means that stairs are a challenge. Yet another reminder of the dreaded MS.
Would it work?
So now we had to test the strategy. Sitting in the study at 8.15 in the evening, then I hear PING-PING-PING That’s the alarm on my mobile phone so I pop a pill.
Yea success. Strategy has now been working successfully for several days.
Hi Patrick, It’s good to hear how your shoulder is doing! Re a stairlift: A friend has one and its 1. very convenient, 2. doesn’t take up much space, and 3. has been given a name – ‘Charlie’! The owners are glad they got one.
Hello Judy,
I also am very pleased and relieved at the recovery to my shoulder. It took about 18 months for me to feel comfortable with it. Recently I saw the consultant and he was very pleased as well Basically it was down to doing the exercises every day.
At the moment I can still manage stairs without too much trouble. OK it is a case of one step at a time plus I feel the exercise of walking up and down the stairs is good for me. Whilst I can manage then I will park the idea od a chairlift. Its the wetroom that will mske a huge difference. Clambering in and out of the bath for a shower is slowly getting harder and harder.
Patrick
Just started the trial and over 1 month behind you. Interested to see how is goes.
Hello Neil,
Its all going well. Only side effect is I get odd bouts of sneezing, usually in the early evening, and I feel as if a cold is about to start. Its been like that since I started the trial so I think it might be a side effect but it is not listed as a side effect. Also I definitely need my beauty sleep.
Hope its going well with you.
Patrick
I have to take 12 prescription drugs a day, so count yourself lucky!
hello Kelly,
Wow 12 perscription drugs, now that must need a serious strategy. I should imagine some are one a day, others two a day etc. How do you cope?
Patrick
Thank you, Patrick for creating this website!! I am enjoying your articles. I happen to take more drugs than fit in a standard sized shoe box. I am not trying to sound competitive here… My story: I received a kidney/pancreas transplant in 1991 and of course will reject the organs without taking the anti-rejection drugs. I also have high blood pressure/cholesterol, asthma, diabetes, and have limited mobility due to osteonecrosis of my knees; however, I believe that our lives are a SERIES of accommodations. My accommodation for my meds is to weekly divide the pills into medicine size pill ziplock bags link is below. I carry them in my purse so regardless of where I am at my assigned times of 9am and 9pm I have all the meds with me. Also, I just ordered sight unseen the Travelscoot and am really hoping I like it. Did you buy a basket? I have heard they are somewhat flimsy. Thanks once again for you info!!
http://www.amazon.com/Apothecary-Products-Disposable-Pouches-Pound/dp/B001TIOLN4/ref=pd_bxgy_194_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=06R5QEC7XW23WMSS2ARG
I am sure you will not be disappointed by the Travelscoot. It has been my life line for several years. It is much admired and people soon understand why I like it so much. A huge improvement on the standard mobility scooters.
Do you feel hungry after taking so many pills and medications? The kidney/pancreas transplant must have been a huge operation.
Good luck with the Travelscoot. I bought a basket for the front but have never used it or seen a need for it.
Patrick
The TravelScoot is AMAZING! I have been all over town with it. And you’re right, it is “fun” to ride. I got the wire basket, but I was looking for something more so I added a Klix Fix Shopper basket with a lock to the back. Just got back from the store (on my scoot) and easy peasy the shopper basket filled with my purchases snaps off the back and away inside I go. I was sorry to hear of your shoulder trouble, Patrick. How are things going?
Hello,
It is an amazing mobility scooter. I have just come back from a long weekend and it went up and don quite a few steep slopes without any problems.
I have just got to learn to live with each problem as it rears its ugly face. Providing you know that MS will always throw you a curved ball then life is OK but occasionally something quite unexpected occurs. The secret is to deal with everything with a smile then everything gets to be a lot easier.
Patrick
One of the reasons for my delay in fitting a stairlift is appearance. We have a contemporary home which we took a lot of time and trouble in designing the interior, so I know how you feel. But the stairlift (Acorn) we have been looking at, is as unobtrusive as we will get, not ideal though!! You can walk past it quite easily and you can send the chair up to the top when you have finished descending.
John
hello John,
Stairlift is not on any lst in our house. /We have a Victorian house and it will not fit in gracefully or artfully
Patrick
I notice that like me you still use stairs! Have you considered a stairlift yet? I am now close to needing to install one!
Hello John
I am a man of two legs, my left one is useless but the other is pretty good and relatively unaffected by MS. Thus I can walk with a stick a short distance and do several hundred yards with a rollator. I even nanaged to walk a mile raising money for the local MS Theraoy Centre. While I can climb stairs, albeit slowly then I will survive without a chair lift.
We have got a grant from the council for a wet room which will totally change my life. Currently I have to shower in the bath, I do not enjoy getting in and out. Hope to get that started at the end of the monthh.
We had a wetroom built a couple years ago, it is fantastic! It makes showering so much easier, I have a shower chair in there, before this I was exhausted by the time I was finished!
On the stairlift, I like you, have put off and put off installing one, and have said I’ll go up and down on my bottom before I will fit one! However we have a room upstairs I would like to use for artwork (watercolour and acrylics) and the thought of going up and downstairs a few times a day makes me tired to even think about! So thinking about it.
Hello John,
Its tough when you have to bite the bullet. I fully appreciate your dilema. I go upstairs 3 or maybe 4 times max in a day. Nipping about, popping off to do this or that or popping out because I have forgotten something is history. I get very frustrated as does the wife. She never complains but I always feel really guilty if she has to go upstairs to get something for me.
Really looking forward to the wetroom, I am sure it will change my life in lots of ways. Get rid of the dread of having a shower, fear of falling over, no longer have to always hold onto something. The problem is the fear of falling and not the fatigue. It will be heavenly.
Patrick
Hello John,
I wish you luck with the chairlift. Don’t take offence, it would be yet anther piece of clutter in a seriously over cluttered house. I will go without it for as long as possible. Out of interest I would like to know if it gets in people way and how compact the chair and rail are. Will it hinder other people going up and down stairs? Will it be discreet or does it stick out like a sore thumb?
Let me know when it is installed and working?
Patrick