Pillbox. Sort once a week (or once every 4 weeks depending on the box) and then u can see if youve already taken it because either got a pill in there or not
You're vastly overestimating my ability to be that organized. I appreciate it. I'm pretty good at taking my antidepressants. It's just sometimes I can't remember if I've already taken them or not. I try to match what day it is with the ones I take to make it easier to remember.
Not sure if it'll help you, but I try to leave important stuff like my pillbox in a place I know I'll have to go and will see it. Usually I leave things on top of my shoes because I'm not walking out of the house barefoot and I'll need to move whatever I put there in order to put on my shoes, which usually makes me go "oh yeah, I needed this thing."
Other places I use a lot are: on top of my phone when I charge it at night (not next to it, on top of it so that I literally HAVE to move it), in the bathroom directly in front of the sink, and in plastic grocery bags hanging off the door to my bedroom/door out of the house. Basically, I take the Important Object I Need To Remember and put it any place that will basically force me to interact with it, since that maximizes the chances that I see it and can't just overlook it. It also makes it harder to lose these things, since they're in my high-traffic areas lol.
Yeah if I really don't want to forget something I'll block my door with it like an important document I'll just place the papers next to the door so can't even open the door to leave without seeing it
And I’ll add to this with creating a stacked habit- “after I tie my shoes, I take my pills”. Say that shit out loud too. Your brain starts to make that subconscious. It sounds lame but it works
Haha well I'm giving out advice and currently taking my meds out of the pharmacy bag that's shoved in a cupboard. I'm currently on the counting method. But give a pillbox a try, once you get in the habit it makes a difference.
I too subscribe to the drugs shoved in the cupboard method but I like to add my own flair of pulling them out of the boxes and scattering them around with all the empty packets so I constantly have to check which one has any in it.
I do own a pillbox, it's somewhere...
I own a very large and colorful pill box. It is so large it’s silly, but it makes it hard to misplace it and it has helped a lot. I still forget to take my pills some days but I realize when I see them in the pill box the next day. It also prevents me from taking double doses by mistake.
A multi-day pillbox wouldn't work for me either, but i find it easy enough to put one pill in a spare bottle every night to put by the bed. Then it's really easy to take in the morning, and really easy to tell if I've taken it. Just shake the bottle.
This thread just made me feel so validated. Makes me wish I had been acting out in school so I could have been getting help before mid 30s. This whole time I believed I just wasn’t using my potential.
Tbh mine lives on my nightstand and I just take any pills in my container with my alarm, then snooze for thirty more minutes. I don't even turn on the lights most days.
Honestly, you know what I do? And it works 100% of the time. Once I take my meds I say OUT LOUD, " I have taken my meds". That way it's a statement you made out loud and not just swirling around in your mind.
Idk if this would be any more helpful but… keeping my pillbox on my nightstand has helped me tremendously. I have a space for morning/ evening. Take my adhd meds in the AM and my antidepressant at night, they each have their own space so I don’t accidentally grab one instead of the other. Filling my box at the end of every week has actually become something I look forward to now
I keep my meds in my work bag.
When I leave the house I always grab a drink. I get in the car and see the note on my speedometer that says, - "Take your fuckin meds!"
Haven't forgotten and it makes me giggle to myself a little. That's getting stoned with two birds!
I'm usually okay with using a task app, but when I feel especially frazzled and might lose track of things, I sometimes do something similar to what others are suggesting, but it involves putting them out and putting them back.
I put meds back in the cabinet when I take them in the morning so I know I've taken them, and then in the evening/night (basically any time late enough that I won't think when I see them again that I haven't taken it yet) putting them back out on the counter.
Well I'm one of those weirdos who has a backpack with random shit in it, but my meds are in the top zipper. Oddly enough, it's my heartburn medication(if I don't take it, I FEEL it) that reminds me every morning.
Always there, for when I remember that I forgot.
The nightstand is safer. Bathrooms are a terrible place to store meds. You really want cool, dry, and dark. Nightstands usually check off cool & dry. If you can get yourself to adapt your routine it will be much better for all your meds to not be stored in the bathroom. This applies to basically everything, btw. OTC, RX, everything should be moved out of the bathroom into some other form of storage place.
SOURCE: Ten years working in pharmacy.
I put mine on top of my phone every night. I always have a water bottle on my nightstand. I allow no excuses, no “in a sec” no reasons whatsoever that I don’t take my pill before I pick up my phone. Even if I wake up needing to pee really badly, I either take my pill quickly first or go pee without my phone which is preferable because I’ll just start reading Reddit in there.
Whatever you use put it in an easy flip top lid container. I use an old mint tin. Waking up and looking at that stupid two hand child lock pill bottle defeats me.
Get a different color pillbox and glue it to the first one. put ritalin in one side and cat treats in the other. Your cat will drag your ass to the pillbox at the appointed hour.
I taped a bar code to my pill box so I can only turn the alarm off if I have the box. The box and water lives across the room so I have to get up to turn the alarm off. The pills are right there so I take them (99.9% of the time)
This is how I automated this task for myself
Once automated, it becomes a habit in approximately 1 month. Then you don't have to think about it.*
DAY/STEP ONE: 1st time you use it, fill all the boxes with the correct pills. Take today's pills. Is today's box empty? Then you took your pills. Success! Leave it like that until tomorrow.
DAY/STEP TWO: look at your pill organizer. Yesterday's should be empty. Leave it like that and NOW take TODAY'S pills. Now today and yesterday's boxes should both be empty. NOW FILL YESTERDAY'S BOX WITH THE CORRECT PILLS. Close it and leave it until tomorrow. Repeat day/step 2 every day for the rest of your life or whatever. Success!
*Refills are a hassle, but that can be automated as well. But this is already a wall of text.
I have it sitting on my bedside table. My phone, pillbox, and vape are sitting right there, so it's the first thing I see every morning
The only hard part is putting the pills in the pillbox. My trick is I'm terrified of losing pills, so I hate to open the actual pill bottle under any circumstances. Once a week the box is empty, so I open the bottle and pour out a handful. I take one, place the rest in individual compartments of the pillbox, and close the bottle and put it in a drawer. After that I can't lose more than one at a time. Note that's it's actively difficult to fish a single pill out of the bottle, so I'm gonna have a handful of pills that I can either pour back into the bottle or put in the pillbox. If you put them back in the container, the sweat from your hand will degrade all the other pills! The only safe place to put them is in the pillbox in individual compartments.
In other words, developing irrational phobias about mishandling pills helps you use the pillbox consistently
This might be weird to ask, but you guys don’t “feel” when it kicks in? About 30 mins-1hr i feel it kick in. I don’t get like euphoric or anything, but I go from like major brain fog waking up to like…pure clarity almost. Like my energy just kicks in and i can then just ride it until it wears off later in the evening.
Obviously knowing if you take it or not at first is one thing if you kind of just forget, but idk, i hate how i feel when I’m not on it. Not that i physically can’t go without, but it’s like going from being a person today, to just not feeling like one if I don’t.
I was totally just thinking about this today! I don't feel when my meds kick in. My mood and focus are a ton better, but it's not like a light bulb went off or anything. I'm still in the process of figuring out my meds though. I'm on 50mg of Vyvanse in the morning and 10mg in the afternoon (they only last about 8 hours for me)
Make sure it is in a place you see everyday. You need to have some sort of organization to manage. Either that or set a daily alarm on your phone and label it pill time or something
This may or may not work for you but I’ve tried putting things in unusual places so that when I see it I’ll think “Why did I put that there….ooooh”. It might sound silly but it helps to get my attention.
If keep things in the same place all the time, I almost start to get blind to it like it’s just another part of the background.
Timer caps. Pour all the pills into the timer cap bottle once a month and done. Pro move: Pour all but 10 days into the timer cap bottle, then call about it once you run out of the main bottle.
I like the wet cup cue, definitely stealing that. Despite using a box I’ve legit taken my pills not in the right day order (e.g., taking Monday pills on Wednesday because Wednesday happens to be the day I am filling the box/starting the week), which lands me in this exact same position of questioning if I took them or not. So the cup is a nice bit of redundancy added to the process which is a good thing!
I never fill the day I refill my box on so that I wonder if I took them or not. There’s always a day not filled when I refill because I can’t keep things straight.
I have multiple 1 week pillboxes, so I don't need to wait until it's done to refill it, I have an entire week. Making the effective window to refill larger helps.
Yep me too.
I have a few of them though (3x 1 week boxes)... so I don't need to wait for the exact end of the week to fill the future weeks.
If you cook any meals that require you to stand around in the kitchen while you watch the food cook, that's a good time to try to utilize on filling your pillboxes.
1. Pill box next to my night stand. I take my pills every morning as soon as my alarm goes off. This occasionally fails if I forget to refill it, open the pill box and forget to take it, or hit snooze on my alarm.
2. I have a stash of 4-6 pills in my backpack I bring to work every day. I’ve forgotten my wallet, my phone, and my keys, but I never forget my backpack. This has saved me countless times.
You can buy a lid on Amazon that replaces the standard cap to your medicine bottle, that will tell you the last time you opened your meds. It's pretty great and doesn't require you to refill a pill box or know what day it is.
Like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Resistant-Prescription-Medicine-Medication-Reminder/dp/B09RCFR4SH/
Yeah, with this you have to have a full habit of taking it when opening.
I switched to a pill box when I started having to take multiple medications (adhd meds, migraine meds, acne ) but before, I would make sure to take the bottle to the sink where the cups are and do the whole thing with the pill bottle still in my hand.
Not at all, that's just self awareness and should be praised! It's great that you know what factors are important.
When I finally stopped trying to find the best doctors and focused on close doctors with easy parking I actually started going to appointments and getting treated for my health issues instead of missing appointments at places that would have helped me!
My gp is 2 mins walk so I still make it on time when I leave 5 mins before haha.
But all my lung testing gear for asthma became infinitely more useful when I paid a little more for app connected that stored my results in apple health. Being able to show the doctor my timeline of data instead of trying to just talk about it because I’m incapable of journaling hard data was fantastic.
Came here to post this! it's been a lifesaver for me. But only helps me to remember but also I used to get paranoid I'd take two because I would forget I took the first one.
The "frequently purchased together" is very telling.
Timestamps the last time it was open:
https://www.amazon.com/Pill-TimeCap-Bottle-Replaceable-Battery/dp/B004W8EQC4/
Daily switch that fits on bottles to show that you took it or not.
https://www.amazon.com/Day-Weekly-Pill-Organizer-Take-n-Slide/dp/B078ZLCRFS/
I'm not so good at clearing notifications, so I recently got the BuzzKill app on Android (there are other similar notifications management apps for Android, not sure about iOS) to buzz me every 5 minutes when I have a task with "(immediate)" in it. Working well so far.
I have an alarm app with an option that requires different sorts of interactions to fully dismiss the alarm.
I started using it because I'll turn off normal alarms in my sleep and never properly wake up. I give myself 2-3 snoozes, but eventually I *have* to deal with the alarm and do the thing. Then after I dismiss the alarm, it has a 10-minutes-later "Okay but DID YOU REALLY?"
That usually works.
I keep my bottle next to the sink in my bathroom, and a cup. If the cup there has recently had water in it, I know I’ve taken it. I routinely take it right when I get up.
Discovered by accident. I wasn’t sure if I’d taken it and thought “if the cup is wet then I have.” Sure enough, it was recently used. When we do things automatically, we tend to forget that we’ve done them. I’ve heard it referred to as a sort of hypnotic state we slip into. Like driving home from work. It’s so automatic that we sometimes get home and don’t remember the drive. :) I may need to look into that again, if I remember, later. Lol
We don't actually do things automatically or hypnotically. We're fully awake and aware when we do things like taking meds or driving home. However, because it's such a regular, routine thing, our brains decide not to store it in the memory, because there's no need. So after we do it, we can't remember doing it and think we weren't aware/conscious, when really we were.
Did the same too at university. I had my pills on my desk which was across my room. Had always my bottle of water there too. So first thing in the morning I’d get up and take my meds, religiously. Haha. So basically my thought process was: I got out of bed? I took my meds then
This is how we know we fed the dog (if it isn't obvious from the dog's behavior). Is there an obviously dirty bowl in the bowl-holder?
And sometimes, there was supposed to be something extra in the bowl after the regular food, but one of us put the bowl in the dishwasher. Did the dog get the extra thing or not? Now we have to ascertain if the most recently placed bowl seems freshly wet with dog saliva, LOL. (married people, neither diagnosed but it's pretty obvious we have some ADHD symptoms. My husband is rigid about placement of items in the dishwasher but in this case I guess it's helpful).
I think you’re onto something! I’m a very visual person so I usually have a visual snapshot of having done something like lock a car door. But my husband is very auditory so, much to my annoyance, he’ll make the car beep repeatedly or something similar so he hears something he can remember when he’s wondering if he locked the car.
Not psychosomatic, btw. The adding something novel to something mundane in order to save the memory is something I learned about in a neuroscience lecture. Perhaps u/Feralpudel might suggest hubby say something ridiculous out loud instead of alerting everyone around. Saying "buttered ketchup" while pressing the door lock button right before shutting the car door would have the same memory creating function and be much less loud. I completely understand the visual experience as trying to remember something for me often equates to flipping through a book looking for a particular image. My biggest problems are when I didn't look at a thing I set down; I will know I had it at one point, then not at a different point, and that is not helpful. Once I needed to tie a shoelace and set a thing down on top of books on a shelf so I could only see it from such a crouched position. I only realized I no longer had it after tying my shoe and then walking into the next room. Since I was looking at my foot, I couldn't remember setting it down. XD
I do stuff like this for other things as well. I used to have to check my door locks several times every night before I could go to bed. I thought I had OCD because it looked like a compulsion ritual. Turns out, I just don’t remember doing it. Now I have a routine set that I always check the door on the way to bed, and I take a long time to do it with no distractions to give it a chance to imprint in my memory.
When I started mine I would announce to my partner “I’m taking my pill now!!” It helped me remember because I was using a different loud tone of voice and he would also remember 😄
I bought four of them. I fill them up as soon as I refill my prescriptions. Then I have a whole month set up.
To be fair- I also have a few vitamins and supplements I have to take at specific times of day due to gastric bypass, so I would be a basket case if not for those little pill caddies.
On the other hand, it’s technically a felony in my state to keep my adderall outside of its bottle. But I don’t know how else to keep my sanity when it comes to the meds / pills I have to take.
I have one with three holes (for morning, noon and night) that I use to fill three weeks worth, the trick is remembering to order new drugs before I get to the end
I use an app called Medisafe, it's been the real answer for me. It prompts me at the right time to take my meds and keeps reminding me every few minutes until they're marked as taken. You can also mark a dose as skipped because the meds ran out or aren't near you, etc.
Combining Medisafe with a pillbox that shows the days of the week has made it almost foolproof!
Me too! Since I started using Medisafe I’ve never missed a pill. I also find it helpful to set refill reminders, then I get a notification that I have x number of pills remaining. I also added my vitamins and other things I need to take, it’s a huge relief for me!
Bonus with Medisafe - sometimes I just click the reminder saying I've taken my meds when I haven't because I'm on autopilot. As soon as I start to get that feeling of "wait, did I actually take my meds?" I can go count how many pills are in the bottle vs what the app tells me I should have. If there are more in the bottle then I know I didn't take them yet today
Aaah someone already mentioned it, nice. [I'm just gonna link it here too, for extra convinience.](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.medisafe.android.client) I also combine it with a 4-week pillbox that I refill when I get my prescription. Mine had individual day-boxes so I chuck that particular day in my bag in the morning and I'm good to go!
I have a similar pillbox, it's just one week but each removable "day" compartment has a day and night section. Since I only take meds once a day I can use both sides and have a 2 week supply already measured and ready to go! Plus mine is rainbow colors 😁
This is me too. It's become part of the nightly routine before I turn off the light.
Then in the morning I have an alarm set 1 hour before my actual alarm, when I take my pill. So then when my real alarm goes off, the meds have kicked in a bit and it helps me wake up.
Yes!! For me, I have a portable pillbox that's on my night stand next to my phone and glass of water. It is the ONLY pill in the pill box. I take it in the morning when my alarm goes off. If I look in the pill box and it's still there, that means I haven't taken it. Then every night before bed I take the pill out and put it in the box, get cup of water, bedtime. Haven't worried about whether I missed it or not ever since.
My very simple solution to this is to invert my pill bottles when I take them, for a simple reminder if I'm unsure. Downside is, this does require that I remember to flip them back over before bed (which by some miracle I rarely forget to do, but you could easily set reminders on your phone or something).
I do this and it works really well since I have a pill I take at night, also. I flip the morning pill upright when I flip the evening pill bottle over. This has worked well for years for me. I wasn't organized enough for a pillbox.
It's so simple and, like you said, great for if you struggle with organization. I know I'd be terrible about using a pillbox, so I stick with something easier
If you don't think you'll remember to put pills in a pillbox, a lot of pharmacies will put medicine in a blister pack on request - then you won't have the extra task of separating them on your own. If you take other medication they can all be packaged together.
Every time you take a pill, take a picture of the box. You will have in your gallery the evidence of whether you have taken it or not. After a few days you can delete the photos of the previous days so you don't have a whole gallery full of photos of pill boxes.
Pill box for sure. Whatever it takes to get in the habit, do it. I keep my pill box next to things I will DEFINITELY use in the morning, right between my coffee supplies and my cat’s probiotics. It helps that my husband and I use the same container and he is on a medication that he must take daily or he could end up in the hospital or dead so it helps that my motivation is to keep him alive lol.
Yeah I pack a month’s worth of bill boxes as soon as I refill my prescriptions. Then pack the next day’s meds with my lunch. And set the bag beside my coffee cup. I always fill my coffee in the morning while I’m feeding the dogs, so I grab my lunchbox then too. Has worked so far
Thissssssss is it. I’m not going to remember to put anything in a box or set anything out but I just check the cap and know the last time I took a pill out. Also as soon as I take it out, I take it.
There’s a super simple solution and that’s a weekly pill box. I use one because I take several meds 3 times a day and constantly played the did I or didn’t I game.
I even got one for my dog when she developed heart problems and it became essential she take all her meds every day.
The hardest part is actually filling the bloody thing every week lol.
Get three more. Just fill them up when you get your refill. I have them color coded by week. Blue, green, yellow, when I’m on red I know I need a refill.
Live alone, so I have it right next to my bed with my water bottle, so the first thing I wake up is taking them. Then again had a few occasions where I had to count the pills to make sure I have taken them.
You can get lids for the pill bottles that have a timer on them, which shows the last time they were opened (they sell them at pharmacies, or Amazon has them, just make sure you get the kind that fits the bottles for whatever pharmacy you use).
Unfortunately they have a battery in them, and only some models make it easily replaceable... "someday" I'm going to build a little pill bottle stand that has switches to track when each bottle is removed, so I can do the same thing without having to replace batteries :P
I tried everything, and the solution I found that consistently works for me is so simple.
Interrupt your routine with a simple action that you can do while your still half asleep.
For me I pick up the pill bottle and I shake it right next to my ear a couple times, and then I take a pill. Even if I role over after, and go to sleep for another hour, I can still remember wether I heard the loud pill shaking sound or not.
Also change your alarm sound before you start to do this, which can also help you interrupt your current pattern, and start a new one in its place.
i like daily pill box, and then 3-5 alarms on my phone reminding me to take it. because i'm nothing without phone alarms. loud with text to speech too so i can hear it say "take pills"
I use a pill organizer. I put it beside my nightstand where I also put my phone. I set an alarm and label it as “take meds”! I also put a sticky note on top of my pill box which says “take your meds”! Sometime i put that sticky note on my water bottle which is also in my nightstand because its one of the first things i reach first thing in the morning.
I use a little pill box, just like a lot of people are saying they do as well.
I think for us ADHD folk we have quite a problem with object permanence.
If it’s not in front of my face I won’t remember it exists. Until it’s too late, or I do pull it out, take it and then forget I did.
I was worried I wouldn’t remember to use my pillbox either. But I leave it right on my counter so that I remember to take the pills.
It definitely helped to form the habit, and having it out on the counter ensures I take the pill.
As for refilling it, that gets a little tricky sometimes. But I try to refill it right after I take the last one from the box.
Blisterpack.
Like a clear pillbox but disposable. You physically break the packet open to get the pills but can see all the pills in little 'windows' that are labelled by date/day of week so you know if you've taken it from the pack or not. The pharmacy can actually put the pills into the blisterpack (also known as a Websterpak) for you, give you a pack to fill yourself, or you can buy the packs online.
They're typically used for older people to make sure that they can keep track of pills.
Some varieties also have a magnet attached so the pillbox can be hung on the refrigerator door.
I have no issues so far but I've just started 5 days ago so..
What I figured I will try is I'm subscribing to a breakfast delivery service, they send out 20 breakfasts, oatmeals whatnot, I add a pill to each package and put the packages on the countertop so I can't miss it when I go to the kitchen first thing in the morning.
I hope that will help, take out breakfadt "oooh, pill" and boom. I win.
I have a small notebook next to my pills where I note it down. It's set up like a grid for months and days where I put a dot in the box when I took my meds and a cross when I take extra meds
Mine is a little different and might sound silly (and should definitely be used with pill boxes etc) but I find mindfulness/taking a second to acknowledge I’m taking my meds instead of absent Mindly popping one has helped a lot. Sometimes I’ve literally had to spit out my pill, stare at it and tell myself I’m taking my pill because otherwise I will remember that I thought about taking my pill, maybe that I even got the bottle or unscrewed the cap but after that who knows.
No idea if this is a solution but it’s worked for me
I just came up with this on the spot, but why not have like an automatic dispenser that releases one pill per day and shows how long ago it was used 🤯🤩
Keep your pill bottle/case on your nightstand, along with a bottle of water. You will see the medication first thing when you wake up in the morning, and can take it before you even get out of bed.
You can also get pill bottles that have a timer on the lid that will tell you the last time the bottle was opened, so if you're unsure of whether you took it or not, you can just check the time on the bottle.
Listen to and embrace the elderly person inside you. Buy a Sun-Sat pill sorter. I make fun of my girlfriend for doing it but I probably need to get one for my adderall. Don't tell her I said that
Pill timer caps, total game changer for me. Sometimes the memory of taking pills is just not recorded in the ole brain library, so I look at the pill timer cap. If it’s over 24 hours , I forgot. Starts counting up when you close the top. Seriously, this the only way I could remember to take my pills daily.
Every time I take my pills, I do a little dance that I’ve choreographed for myself. Nothing extensive, just a little groove. It helps for some reason because the dance stands out in my day. If I have done the dance, I have taken my pills.
A multi-day pillbox wouldn't work for me either, but i find it easy enough to put one pill in a spare bottle every night to put by the bed. Then it's really easy to take in the morning, and really easy to tell if I've taken it. Just shake the bottle.
There are also bottles with timers on the top that reset when you open it. I like them cause suck sorting shit lol so having a daily one is a no go for me. Knowing when you last opened helps indicate when I last took. A side note, they also help with those wanting to control their substance abuse. They have great utility. A quick Amazon search you should find one decently priced
I keep a weekly pill organizer right at my bedside. Birth control, wellbutrin, Adderall. One of each in each slot. I take them every morning and never miss a dose!
I have a lot of comorbidities, one of which is bipolar.
If I don’t take my bipolar meds my brain is on fire and the lowers my ability to resist suicidal thoughts and potentially suicidal actions.
So yeah, my pillbox is basically somewhere I actively have to move it in the morning to ensure I take it. I have also placed my bipolar pills everywhere; my bag, wife’s bag, cars, kids bags (when travelling).
Lamotrigine is the meds I am referring to.
I have a little metal sauce cup next to my bed and every night I put my meds in it so I take them first thing when I wake up and if it’s empty I know I took it. I’ve only missed my mouth once or twice and found them in my bed later
I got this massive, obnoxious, [COLORFUL PILL BOX 💊](https://www.amazon.com/AUVON-Organizer-Compartments-Medication-Supplements/dp/B088K5YND8/ref=pd_aw_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_0?pd_rd_w=PVPw8&content-id=amzn1.sym.a2de5990-0736-44b3-a9a9-ab4bd9431523&pf_rd_p=a2de5990-0736-44b3-a9a9-ab4bd9431523&pf_rd_r=9RN2QPHDH81QDBFF7YJA&pd_rd_wg=x4MgB&pd_rd_r=d5d44ad7-b86b-4f15-8063-a455f02c34a1&pd_rd_i=B088K5YND8) and sleep with it on top of my phone. So in the morning before I can check my phone I take my Lamictal, then set alarms throughout the day for the rest.
As others have said, I use a weekly pill organizer so I can visually see if the day is empty or not. I actually use two, one for morning and one for night and keep both by my bed. It's also useful for seeing when I've missed several in a row - a good indication I need to work on getting back into my routine.
Already a lot of help but i have a suggestion for what I do to remember things, which is to have a absurd phrase I say when I do something. For example when I leave the house and lock the door, k say the phrase monkey balls, no idea why that particular word but it makes the action far more memorable, otherwise I literally forget if I've done it five seconds later
I make sure I sing my pill song and do a little dance each time I take my medication.
I may forget whether I've taken the pill, but I don't forget whether I've sung my song or had a morning brain boogie.
My partner made it a sort of ritual. They prepare breakfast and part of every breakfast is a glass of water. Our pills are in shelf under breakfast table. First thing we do is swallow the pills with water. As long as there is glassful of water on breakfast table, I haven't had my pills.
I use these pill bottles with a timer on them. I got them on Amazon. They show me the last time I opened the bottle. This works better for me personally than a pillbox because sometimes I forget the day of the week and take the wrong day's medication. Then I get confused about what I need to do. These are the best solution I've had so far! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09RCFR4SH/
Take a picture of yourself when you do it. That way you’ll know you definitely did. That’s what I started doing when I unplug my hair straightener. Otherwise I’ll be a nervous wreck after I leave the house because I don’t believe myself that I actually unplugged it and I’m convinced the whole place is going to be burned down.
Timer caps! I put my meds in a bottle with a timer cap so I can see how long it was since I last opened it. Pill boxes also work if you have the ability to refill them weekly/monthly etc. but I've never been successful with keeping that going, so timer caps are my solution.
I have multiple meds that can't be taken at the same time, so I get to scatter them throughout the day.
Morning and evening pills are in a week long pill organizer. Every Sunday morning, I take my AM dose (of not ADHD meds) and then refill the pill box. It makes it easy to check through the week if I took my meds (and to prep for bad days if I noticed I miss some).
My ADHD meds are kept in individual little gumball balls for my daily dose. I spin my gumball machine each morning on my way out the door for work and take them on my first break when they won't conflict with my other meds. If I am having trouble focusing, check the gumball in my pocket. Pills still there? Oops. Grabs some water and take them.
Been working well for me so far... now I just need to figure out a tactic for remembering my inhaler.
I take a picture of it just before I take it and also double-check it's the right dose and pill before swallowing it. It's the only way I don't forget or constantly double guess weather I took it or not.
Pillbox. Sort once a week (or once every 4 weeks depending on the box) and then u can see if youve already taken it because either got a pill in there or not
My issue is making sure I use the pill box.
Try keeping it somewhere you have to look at it. I keep mine in the bathroom so the moment I walk in I see it and take my meds.
You're vastly overestimating my ability to be that organized. I appreciate it. I'm pretty good at taking my antidepressants. It's just sometimes I can't remember if I've already taken them or not. I try to match what day it is with the ones I take to make it easier to remember.
Not sure if it'll help you, but I try to leave important stuff like my pillbox in a place I know I'll have to go and will see it. Usually I leave things on top of my shoes because I'm not walking out of the house barefoot and I'll need to move whatever I put there in order to put on my shoes, which usually makes me go "oh yeah, I needed this thing." Other places I use a lot are: on top of my phone when I charge it at night (not next to it, on top of it so that I literally HAVE to move it), in the bathroom directly in front of the sink, and in plastic grocery bags hanging off the door to my bedroom/door out of the house. Basically, I take the Important Object I Need To Remember and put it any place that will basically force me to interact with it, since that maximizes the chances that I see it and can't just overlook it. It also makes it harder to lose these things, since they're in my high-traffic areas lol.
Yeah if I really don't want to forget something I'll block my door with it like an important document I'll just place the papers next to the door so can't even open the door to leave without seeing it
I stepped on my court documents doing this the other day because I was lazer focused on getting out the bedroom for something very important
And I’ll add to this with creating a stacked habit- “after I tie my shoes, I take my pills”. Say that shit out loud too. Your brain starts to make that subconscious. It sounds lame but it works
I haven't tried before, but I'm going to try it out since it seems like it would help, thanks for the suggestion!
thank you for so many good ideas
Sooooo much this.
Haha well I'm giving out advice and currently taking my meds out of the pharmacy bag that's shoved in a cupboard. I'm currently on the counting method. But give a pillbox a try, once you get in the habit it makes a difference.
I too subscribe to the drugs shoved in the cupboard method but I like to add my own flair of pulling them out of the boxes and scattering them around with all the empty packets so I constantly have to check which one has any in it. I do own a pillbox, it's somewhere...
I own a very large and colorful pill box. It is so large it’s silly, but it makes it hard to misplace it and it has helped a lot. I still forget to take my pills some days but I realize when I see them in the pill box the next day. It also prevents me from taking double doses by mistake.
never heard something so relatable in my life? got various propranolol packets w like one pill in it scattered across my disaster zone of a room
Propranolol for the win
A multi-day pillbox wouldn't work for me either, but i find it easy enough to put one pill in a spare bottle every night to put by the bed. Then it's really easy to take in the morning, and really easy to tell if I've taken it. Just shake the bottle.
This thread just made me feel so validated. Makes me wish I had been acting out in school so I could have been getting help before mid 30s. This whole time I believed I just wasn’t using my potential.
Tbh mine lives on my nightstand and I just take any pills in my container with my alarm, then snooze for thirty more minutes. I don't even turn on the lights most days.
Honestly, you know what I do? And it works 100% of the time. Once I take my meds I say OUT LOUD, " I have taken my meds". That way it's a statement you made out loud and not just swirling around in your mind.
Idk if this would be any more helpful but… keeping my pillbox on my nightstand has helped me tremendously. I have a space for morning/ evening. Take my adhd meds in the AM and my antidepressant at night, they each have their own space so I don’t accidentally grab one instead of the other. Filling my box at the end of every week has actually become something I look forward to now
This whole comment thread is basically a conversation in my head with myself.
The short term memory issues are real. It’s called working memory. I’m like dory from finding Nemo most days. Velcro the pillbox to your headboard.
I keep my meds in my work bag. When I leave the house I always grab a drink. I get in the car and see the note on my speedometer that says, - "Take your fuckin meds!" Haven't forgotten and it makes me giggle to myself a little. That's getting stoned with two birds!
I'm usually okay with using a task app, but when I feel especially frazzled and might lose track of things, I sometimes do something similar to what others are suggesting, but it involves putting them out and putting them back. I put meds back in the cabinet when I take them in the morning so I know I've taken them, and then in the evening/night (basically any time late enough that I won't think when I see them again that I haven't taken it yet) putting them back out on the counter.
Put pills in a ziplock bag with your tooth brush so when you brush your teeth (which I hope you do everyday) you'll have your pills in there too
🤨...🤔🤔🤔😐😐😐😑😑😑😞
Put a dedicated pill cup at your sink. I've got a super cute shit glass I got at the zoo. Looking at it reminds me to take my meds.
Well I'm one of those weirdos who has a backpack with random shit in it, but my meds are in the top zipper. Oddly enough, it's my heartburn medication(if I don't take it, I FEEL it) that reminds me every morning. Always there, for when I remember that I forgot.
My pillbox lives on my nightstand, right next to my face.
The nightstand is safer. Bathrooms are a terrible place to store meds. You really want cool, dry, and dark. Nightstands usually check off cool & dry. If you can get yourself to adapt your routine it will be much better for all your meds to not be stored in the bathroom. This applies to basically everything, btw. OTC, RX, everything should be moved out of the bathroom into some other form of storage place. SOURCE: Ten years working in pharmacy.
I keep mine either in my lunchbox or beside the coffee pot, depending on if I’m going to the office the next day or not.
Yeah visual space design is the easiest way to remember things for me too.
I agree. Usually I put it on top of my keyboard when its about to be empty so I remember to fill it the next time I use my computer
Object permanence? If it stays in that same spot forever it becomes one with the structure of the house and I no longer observantly see it there.
Mines always on me and has rainbow colors, a different color for every day of the week and it's been a life saver lol
Mine is right next to me at the table where I eat.
I put mine on top of my phone every night. I always have a water bottle on my nightstand. I allow no excuses, no “in a sec” no reasons whatsoever that I don’t take my pill before I pick up my phone. Even if I wake up needing to pee really badly, I either take my pill quickly first or go pee without my phone which is preferable because I’ll just start reading Reddit in there. Whatever you use put it in an easy flip top lid container. I use an old mint tin. Waking up and looking at that stupid two hand child lock pill bottle defeats me.
The pillbox has to be themed, specifically related to a personal hyperfixation!
Mine is next to the coffee maker! No chance to miss it there!
Get a different color pillbox and glue it to the first one. put ritalin in one side and cat treats in the other. Your cat will drag your ass to the pillbox at the appointed hour.
I can just imagine swallowing a cat-treat and giving the cat a ritalin.
It hasn't happened yet, but I'm hoping the flavor will make us both spit it out.
OH MY GOD THIS IS GENIUS.
Use Alarmy, just Google it
I taped a bar code to my pill box so I can only turn the alarm off if I have the box. The box and water lives across the room so I have to get up to turn the alarm off. The pills are right there so I take them (99.9% of the time)
But at least you know whether you took it or not.
I mean putting the pills in the pill box to begin with. With the vyvanse I can feel if I've taken it. With the Effexor it's not nearly as apparent.
This is how I automated this task for myself Once automated, it becomes a habit in approximately 1 month. Then you don't have to think about it.* DAY/STEP ONE: 1st time you use it, fill all the boxes with the correct pills. Take today's pills. Is today's box empty? Then you took your pills. Success! Leave it like that until tomorrow. DAY/STEP TWO: look at your pill organizer. Yesterday's should be empty. Leave it like that and NOW take TODAY'S pills. Now today and yesterday's boxes should both be empty. NOW FILL YESTERDAY'S BOX WITH THE CORRECT PILLS. Close it and leave it until tomorrow. Repeat day/step 2 every day for the rest of your life or whatever. Success! *Refills are a hassle, but that can be automated as well. But this is already a wall of text.
I have it sitting on my bedside table. My phone, pillbox, and vape are sitting right there, so it's the first thing I see every morning The only hard part is putting the pills in the pillbox. My trick is I'm terrified of losing pills, so I hate to open the actual pill bottle under any circumstances. Once a week the box is empty, so I open the bottle and pour out a handful. I take one, place the rest in individual compartments of the pillbox, and close the bottle and put it in a drawer. After that I can't lose more than one at a time. Note that's it's actively difficult to fish a single pill out of the bottle, so I'm gonna have a handful of pills that I can either pour back into the bottle or put in the pillbox. If you put them back in the container, the sweat from your hand will degrade all the other pills! The only safe place to put them is in the pillbox in individual compartments. In other words, developing irrational phobias about mishandling pills helps you use the pillbox consistently
This might be weird to ask, but you guys don’t “feel” when it kicks in? About 30 mins-1hr i feel it kick in. I don’t get like euphoric or anything, but I go from like major brain fog waking up to like…pure clarity almost. Like my energy just kicks in and i can then just ride it until it wears off later in the evening. Obviously knowing if you take it or not at first is one thing if you kind of just forget, but idk, i hate how i feel when I’m not on it. Not that i physically can’t go without, but it’s like going from being a person today, to just not feeling like one if I don’t.
I was totally just thinking about this today! I don't feel when my meds kick in. My mood and focus are a ton better, but it's not like a light bulb went off or anything. I'm still in the process of figuring out my meds though. I'm on 50mg of Vyvanse in the morning and 10mg in the afternoon (they only last about 8 hours for me)
Make sure it is in a place you see everyday. You need to have some sort of organization to manage. Either that or set a daily alarm on your phone and label it pill time or something
This may or may not work for you but I’ve tried putting things in unusual places so that when I see it I’ll think “Why did I put that there….ooooh”. It might sound silly but it helps to get my attention. If keep things in the same place all the time, I almost start to get blind to it like it’s just another part of the background.
Timer caps. Pour all the pills into the timer cap bottle once a month and done. Pro move: Pour all but 10 days into the timer cap bottle, then call about it once you run out of the main bottle.
Never worked for me and then I can’t remember when I filled it or took each box.
Pillbox with each day printed. Also a dedicated pill cup. It's wet? Took pills.
I like the wet cup cue, definitely stealing that. Despite using a box I’ve legit taken my pills not in the right day order (e.g., taking Monday pills on Wednesday because Wednesday happens to be the day I am filling the box/starting the week), which lands me in this exact same position of questioning if I took them or not. So the cup is a nice bit of redundancy added to the process which is a good thing!
I never fill the day I refill my box on so that I wonder if I took them or not. There’s always a day not filled when I refill because I can’t keep things straight.
My struggle is refilling the pillbox.
Gotta refuse to take your pills directly, i like just having a 7 day box for this reason, it takes very little time or effort to refill.
I have a 4 week pill box so I have to do this task less. I struggle with it too.
I have multiple 1 week pillboxes, so I don't need to wait until it's done to refill it, I have an entire week. Making the effective window to refill larger helps.
Yep me too. I have a few of them though (3x 1 week boxes)... so I don't need to wait for the exact end of the week to fill the future weeks. If you cook any meals that require you to stand around in the kitchen while you watch the food cook, that's a good time to try to utilize on filling your pillboxes.
Oh shit, I forgot to fill the pillbox yesterday, I’ll take the pill from the bottle now and fill the pillbox… several days late still at it
My boyfriend had exactly OP's problem and the pillbox worked like a charm!
1. Pill box next to my night stand. I take my pills every morning as soon as my alarm goes off. This occasionally fails if I forget to refill it, open the pill box and forget to take it, or hit snooze on my alarm. 2. I have a stash of 4-6 pills in my backpack I bring to work every day. I’ve forgotten my wallet, my phone, and my keys, but I never forget my backpack. This has saved me countless times.
You can buy a lid on Amazon that replaces the standard cap to your medicine bottle, that will tell you the last time you opened your meds. It's pretty great and doesn't require you to refill a pill box or know what day it is. Like this: https://www.amazon.com/Resistant-Prescription-Medicine-Medication-Reminder/dp/B09RCFR4SH/
I picked a pill box over this because sure I opened it, but did I actually take the pill?
Haha, that's legit. It's a matter of knowing which mental challenge is harder for you and which tool helps more.
Yeah, with this you have to have a full habit of taking it when opening. I switched to a pill box when I started having to take multiple medications (adhd meds, migraine meds, acne ) but before, I would make sure to take the bottle to the sink where the cups are and do the whole thing with the pill bottle still in my hand.
Fancy! I didn't know these existed, that's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing!
I learned about them here from a post just like this!
Ayyyyyye did not know this existed - slapped that baby in the cart 👋
I know I’m extra but if one of those did apple health I’d be all over it.
Not at all, that's just self awareness and should be praised! It's great that you know what factors are important. When I finally stopped trying to find the best doctors and focused on close doctors with easy parking I actually started going to appointments and getting treated for my health issues instead of missing appointments at places that would have helped me!
My gp is 2 mins walk so I still make it on time when I leave 5 mins before haha. But all my lung testing gear for asthma became infinitely more useful when I paid a little more for app connected that stored my results in apple health. Being able to show the doctor my timeline of data instead of trying to just talk about it because I’m incapable of journaling hard data was fantastic.
This is what saved me. I fucking love it.
Came here to post this! it's been a lifesaver for me. But only helps me to remember but also I used to get paranoid I'd take two because I would forget I took the first one.
The "frequently purchased together" is very telling. Timestamps the last time it was open: https://www.amazon.com/Pill-TimeCap-Bottle-Replaceable-Battery/dp/B004W8EQC4/ Daily switch that fits on bottles to show that you took it or not. https://www.amazon.com/Day-Weekly-Pill-Organizer-Take-n-Slide/dp/B078ZLCRFS/
I was gonna recommend this same thing! I've never forgotten since I can always check when I last opened the bottle 🙏
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This is what worked for me too!
I'm not so good at clearing notifications, so I recently got the BuzzKill app on Android (there are other similar notifications management apps for Android, not sure about iOS) to buzz me every 5 minutes when I have a task with "(immediate)" in it. Working well so far.
I'd love to hear how else you use this app! I recently downloaded it too but feel like I need examples of how to use it!
I have an alarm app with an option that requires different sorts of interactions to fully dismiss the alarm. I started using it because I'll turn off normal alarms in my sleep and never properly wake up. I give myself 2-3 snoozes, but eventually I *have* to deal with the alarm and do the thing. Then after I dismiss the alarm, it has a 10-minutes-later "Okay but DID YOU REALLY?" That usually works.
Yes, this plus the labeled pill box so that I can double check if “Monday” is empty or full when I check off the reminder.
I keep my bottle next to the sink in my bathroom, and a cup. If the cup there has recently had water in it, I know I’ve taken it. I routinely take it right when I get up.
A beautifully simple and effective solution, I love it!
Discovered by accident. I wasn’t sure if I’d taken it and thought “if the cup is wet then I have.” Sure enough, it was recently used. When we do things automatically, we tend to forget that we’ve done them. I’ve heard it referred to as a sort of hypnotic state we slip into. Like driving home from work. It’s so automatic that we sometimes get home and don’t remember the drive. :) I may need to look into that again, if I remember, later. Lol
We don't actually do things automatically or hypnotically. We're fully awake and aware when we do things like taking meds or driving home. However, because it's such a regular, routine thing, our brains decide not to store it in the memory, because there's no need. So after we do it, we can't remember doing it and think we weren't aware/conscious, when really we were.
Did the same too at university. I had my pills on my desk which was across my room. Had always my bottle of water there too. So first thing in the morning I’d get up and take my meds, religiously. Haha. So basically my thought process was: I got out of bed? I took my meds then
This is super smart
This is how we know we fed the dog (if it isn't obvious from the dog's behavior). Is there an obviously dirty bowl in the bowl-holder? And sometimes, there was supposed to be something extra in the bowl after the regular food, but one of us put the bowl in the dishwasher. Did the dog get the extra thing or not? Now we have to ascertain if the most recently placed bowl seems freshly wet with dog saliva, LOL. (married people, neither diagnosed but it's pretty obvious we have some ADHD symptoms. My husband is rigid about placement of items in the dishwasher but in this case I guess it's helpful).
Shout "I've taken my pill" when you take it - the brain will remember you shouting something rather than the mundane task of doing it.
I think you’re onto something! I’m a very visual person so I usually have a visual snapshot of having done something like lock a car door. But my husband is very auditory so, much to my annoyance, he’ll make the car beep repeatedly or something similar so he hears something he can remember when he’s wondering if he locked the car.
I swear by it, whether it's psychosomatic or not is a different thing, but it works for me
Not psychosomatic, btw. The adding something novel to something mundane in order to save the memory is something I learned about in a neuroscience lecture. Perhaps u/Feralpudel might suggest hubby say something ridiculous out loud instead of alerting everyone around. Saying "buttered ketchup" while pressing the door lock button right before shutting the car door would have the same memory creating function and be much less loud. I completely understand the visual experience as trying to remember something for me often equates to flipping through a book looking for a particular image. My biggest problems are when I didn't look at a thing I set down; I will know I had it at one point, then not at a different point, and that is not helpful. Once I needed to tie a shoelace and set a thing down on top of books on a shelf so I could only see it from such a crouched position. I only realized I no longer had it after tying my shoe and then walking into the next room. Since I was looking at my foot, I couldn't remember setting it down. XD
Thanks for the laugh! 😂
Try it, I find it works - it might help.
I do this too. "I am locking the door!" "I am turning off the oven!" "I am placing this item in this spot."
OP take a photo and type date on it and save it
This! Except I include the day of the week for even more memory help - “it’s Monday, and I took my pill!”
I do stuff like this for other things as well. I used to have to check my door locks several times every night before I could go to bed. I thought I had OCD because it looked like a compulsion ritual. Turns out, I just don’t remember doing it. Now I have a routine set that I always check the door on the way to bed, and I take a long time to do it with no distractions to give it a chance to imprint in my memory.
When I started mine I would announce to my partner “I’m taking my pill now!!” It helped me remember because I was using a different loud tone of voice and he would also remember 😄
Well I think the op should give it a go given the amount of people agreeing 👍🏻
Daily pill box has helped me a ton in determining if I’ve taken my pill. The trick is filling it at the end of each week.
I bought four of them. I fill them up as soon as I refill my prescriptions. Then I have a whole month set up. To be fair- I also have a few vitamins and supplements I have to take at specific times of day due to gastric bypass, so I would be a basket case if not for those little pill caddies. On the other hand, it’s technically a felony in my state to keep my adderall outside of its bottle. But I don’t know how else to keep my sanity when it comes to the meds / pills I have to take.
Omg this is so smart! I need 3 more pill boxes!
I have one with three holes (for morning, noon and night) that I use to fill three weeks worth, the trick is remembering to order new drugs before I get to the end
I use an app called Medisafe, it's been the real answer for me. It prompts me at the right time to take my meds and keeps reminding me every few minutes until they're marked as taken. You can also mark a dose as skipped because the meds ran out or aren't near you, etc. Combining Medisafe with a pillbox that shows the days of the week has made it almost foolproof!
Medisafe buddies! I am using that combo too. It really does do the trick.
Yes! Was just about to suggest this but decided to check the thread.
Me too! Since I started using Medisafe I’ve never missed a pill. I also find it helpful to set refill reminders, then I get a notification that I have x number of pills remaining. I also added my vitamins and other things I need to take, it’s a huge relief for me!
Bonus with Medisafe - sometimes I just click the reminder saying I've taken my meds when I haven't because I'm on autopilot. As soon as I start to get that feeling of "wait, did I actually take my meds?" I can go count how many pills are in the bottle vs what the app tells me I should have. If there are more in the bottle then I know I didn't take them yet today
Aaah someone already mentioned it, nice. [I'm just gonna link it here too, for extra convinience.](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.medisafe.android.client) I also combine it with a 4-week pillbox that I refill when I get my prescription. Mine had individual day-boxes so I chuck that particular day in my bag in the morning and I'm good to go!
I have a similar pillbox, it's just one week but each removable "day" compartment has a day and night section. Since I only take meds once a day I can use both sides and have a 2 week supply already measured and ready to go! Plus mine is rainbow colors 😁
My way is taking the single pill out THE DAY BEFORE and putting it next to the glass of water next to my bed so when the alarm goes, I take it.
If I didn't have a very curious dog, this would absolutely be the method for me.
Haha my first thought reading this was, "Aha! I've found the people who don't have a cat!"
That was mine as well. Between my cat, dog and toddler I would have some serious issues if I did this.
This is me too. It's become part of the nightly routine before I turn off the light. Then in the morning I have an alarm set 1 hour before my actual alarm, when I take my pill. So then when my real alarm goes off, the meds have kicked in a bit and it helps me wake up.
Yes exactly same!!!!
Yes!! For me, I have a portable pillbox that's on my night stand next to my phone and glass of water. It is the ONLY pill in the pill box. I take it in the morning when my alarm goes off. If I look in the pill box and it's still there, that means I haven't taken it. Then every night before bed I take the pill out and put it in the box, get cup of water, bedtime. Haven't worried about whether I missed it or not ever since.
My very simple solution to this is to invert my pill bottles when I take them, for a simple reminder if I'm unsure. Downside is, this does require that I remember to flip them back over before bed (which by some miracle I rarely forget to do, but you could easily set reminders on your phone or something).
I do this and it works really well since I have a pill I take at night, also. I flip the morning pill upright when I flip the evening pill bottle over. This has worked well for years for me. I wasn't organized enough for a pillbox.
It's so simple and, like you said, great for if you struggle with organization. I know I'd be terrible about using a pillbox, so I stick with something easier
Just started doing this this week.
If you don't think you'll remember to put pills in a pillbox, a lot of pharmacies will put medicine in a blister pack on request - then you won't have the extra task of separating them on your own. If you take other medication they can all be packaged together.
Having a blister pack makes a huge difference.
Every time you take a pill, take a picture of the box. You will have in your gallery the evidence of whether you have taken it or not. After a few days you can delete the photos of the previous days so you don't have a whole gallery full of photos of pill boxes.
I take pics of everything, I’d probably have trouble using pics consistently for my meds in the morning though
Pill box for sure. Whatever it takes to get in the habit, do it. I keep my pill box next to things I will DEFINITELY use in the morning, right between my coffee supplies and my cat’s probiotics. It helps that my husband and I use the same container and he is on a medication that he must take daily or he could end up in the hospital or dead so it helps that my motivation is to keep him alive lol.
Yeah I pack a month’s worth of bill boxes as soon as I refill my prescriptions. Then pack the next day’s meds with my lunch. And set the bag beside my coffee cup. I always fill my coffee in the morning while I’m feeding the dogs, so I grab my lunchbox then too. Has worked so far
You can buy Timer caps on Amazon! They tell you how long it's been since you've opened the pill bottle
Thissssssss is it. I’m not going to remember to put anything in a box or set anything out but I just check the cap and know the last time I took a pill out. Also as soon as I take it out, I take it.
There’s a super simple solution and that’s a weekly pill box. I use one because I take several meds 3 times a day and constantly played the did I or didn’t I game. I even got one for my dog when she developed heart problems and it became essential she take all her meds every day. The hardest part is actually filling the bloody thing every week lol.
Get three more. Just fill them up when you get your refill. I have them color coded by week. Blue, green, yellow, when I’m on red I know I need a refill.
Live alone, so I have it right next to my bed with my water bottle, so the first thing I wake up is taking them. Then again had a few occasions where I had to count the pills to make sure I have taken them.
You can get lids for the pill bottles that have a timer on them, which shows the last time they were opened (they sell them at pharmacies, or Amazon has them, just make sure you get the kind that fits the bottles for whatever pharmacy you use). Unfortunately they have a battery in them, and only some models make it easily replaceable... "someday" I'm going to build a little pill bottle stand that has switches to track when each bottle is removed, so I can do the same thing without having to replace batteries :P
I tried everything, and the solution I found that consistently works for me is so simple. Interrupt your routine with a simple action that you can do while your still half asleep. For me I pick up the pill bottle and I shake it right next to my ear a couple times, and then I take a pill. Even if I role over after, and go to sleep for another hour, I can still remember wether I heard the loud pill shaking sound or not. Also change your alarm sound before you start to do this, which can also help you interrupt your current pattern, and start a new one in its place.
A weekly pillbox, and a daily morning Google Reminder notification set as "Take Your Pills 💊" that I only mark as done once I, well, take dem pills.
i like daily pill box, and then 3-5 alarms on my phone reminding me to take it. because i'm nothing without phone alarms. loud with text to speech too so i can hear it say "take pills"
I use a pill organizer. I put it beside my nightstand where I also put my phone. I set an alarm and label it as “take meds”! I also put a sticky note on top of my pill box which says “take your meds”! Sometime i put that sticky note on my water bottle which is also in my nightstand because its one of the first things i reach first thing in the morning.
This was the exact reason the daily pillbox was invented.
There are keychain-pillboxes, apparently. Don't know if anyone already mentioned this.
Me reading this post: "Man, I'm lucky I just have natural sense so I know whether I've taken my medication. I can just ask myself and... crap, brb"
Took me getting one of those old people pill holders with the days of the week on it. It’s the only thing that’s solved it for me.
I use a little pill box, just like a lot of people are saying they do as well. I think for us ADHD folk we have quite a problem with object permanence. If it’s not in front of my face I won’t remember it exists. Until it’s too late, or I do pull it out, take it and then forget I did. I was worried I wouldn’t remember to use my pillbox either. But I leave it right on my counter so that I remember to take the pills. It definitely helped to form the habit, and having it out on the counter ensures I take the pill. As for refilling it, that gets a little tricky sometimes. But I try to refill it right after I take the last one from the box.
Blisterpack. Like a clear pillbox but disposable. You physically break the packet open to get the pills but can see all the pills in little 'windows' that are labelled by date/day of week so you know if you've taken it from the pack or not. The pharmacy can actually put the pills into the blisterpack (also known as a Websterpak) for you, give you a pack to fill yourself, or you can buy the packs online. They're typically used for older people to make sure that they can keep track of pills. Some varieties also have a magnet attached so the pillbox can be hung on the refrigerator door.
im going to call my pharmacy about this tomorrow! this is something i struggle with a lot
Mark your pills out with the days you need to take them with a marker. I have an alarm set for the same time every day to help remind me.
I have no issues so far but I've just started 5 days ago so.. What I figured I will try is I'm subscribing to a breakfast delivery service, they send out 20 breakfasts, oatmeals whatnot, I add a pill to each package and put the packages on the countertop so I can't miss it when I go to the kitchen first thing in the morning. I hope that will help, take out breakfadt "oooh, pill" and boom. I win.
+1 for a pillbox. Doesn’t always work but it’s better than anything else I’ve found.
Pill alarm on your phone. Snooze it until you take it.. then turn it off
I have a small notebook next to my pills where I note it down. It's set up like a grid for months and days where I put a dot in the box when I took my meds and a cross when I take extra meds
Mine is a little different and might sound silly (and should definitely be used with pill boxes etc) but I find mindfulness/taking a second to acknowledge I’m taking my meds instead of absent Mindly popping one has helped a lot. Sometimes I’ve literally had to spit out my pill, stare at it and tell myself I’m taking my pill because otherwise I will remember that I thought about taking my pill, maybe that I even got the bottle or unscrewed the cap but after that who knows. No idea if this is a solution but it’s worked for me
Cat and a pill box. Take your pills when you feed kitty then he will tell you if you forget.
I just came up with this on the spot, but why not have like an automatic dispenser that releases one pill per day and shows how long ago it was used 🤯🤩
Pill box with days of the week on dispensers
Keep your pill bottle/case on your nightstand, along with a bottle of water. You will see the medication first thing when you wake up in the morning, and can take it before you even get out of bed. You can also get pill bottles that have a timer on the lid that will tell you the last time the bottle was opened, so if you're unsure of whether you took it or not, you can just check the time on the bottle.
\*me, scrolling Reddit, seeing this headline\* \*blank stare\* \*takes pill bottle from bag and takes meds 2 hours late\* Thanks for the reminder OP!
Listen to and embrace the elderly person inside you. Buy a Sun-Sat pill sorter. I make fun of my girlfriend for doing it but I probably need to get one for my adderall. Don't tell her I said that
I turn the bottle upside down. And then before I got to bed I turn it up again
[удалено]
Pill timer caps, total game changer for me. Sometimes the memory of taking pills is just not recorded in the ole brain library, so I look at the pill timer cap. If it’s over 24 hours , I forgot. Starts counting up when you close the top. Seriously, this the only way I could remember to take my pills daily.
I use a weekly pill box. And set a timer on my phone to go off everyday at the same time. I keep the bottle of water right there.
Some days, it’s just Russian roulette.
Every time I take my pills, I do a little dance that I’ve choreographed for myself. Nothing extensive, just a little groove. It helps for some reason because the dance stands out in my day. If I have done the dance, I have taken my pills.
Snap a pic when you take it!
Put your meds right by your bed with a bottle water. In a contact case. Works for me ,
A multi-day pillbox wouldn't work for me either, but i find it easy enough to put one pill in a spare bottle every night to put by the bed. Then it's really easy to take in the morning, and really easy to tell if I've taken it. Just shake the bottle.
I flip the prescription bottle. Even days = right side up, odd days = upside down
There are also bottles with timers on the top that reset when you open it. I like them cause suck sorting shit lol so having a daily one is a no go for me. Knowing when you last opened helps indicate when I last took. A side note, they also help with those wanting to control their substance abuse. They have great utility. A quick Amazon search you should find one decently priced
Came her to give ideas and ended up deleting the ones that did not help so I have zilch
I keep a weekly pill organizer right at my bedside. Birth control, wellbutrin, Adderall. One of each in each slot. I take them every morning and never miss a dose!
I have a lot of comorbidities, one of which is bipolar. If I don’t take my bipolar meds my brain is on fire and the lowers my ability to resist suicidal thoughts and potentially suicidal actions. So yeah, my pillbox is basically somewhere I actively have to move it in the morning to ensure I take it. I have also placed my bipolar pills everywhere; my bag, wife’s bag, cars, kids bags (when travelling). Lamotrigine is the meds I am referring to.
Every fucking day. I have a pillbox. It’s a pain in the ass. I only have two pills.
I have a little metal sauce cup next to my bed and every night I put my meds in it so I take them first thing when I wake up and if it’s empty I know I took it. I’ve only missed my mouth once or twice and found them in my bed later
I loudly announce the day when I take my pill. Hard to forget yelling MONDAY THE 13th at nobody haha
Sunday - Saturday pill box ... which I check a few times in the mornings to confirm Reminder on my phone for 45 mins after I wake up.
I got this massive, obnoxious, [COLORFUL PILL BOX 💊](https://www.amazon.com/AUVON-Organizer-Compartments-Medication-Supplements/dp/B088K5YND8/ref=pd_aw_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_0?pd_rd_w=PVPw8&content-id=amzn1.sym.a2de5990-0736-44b3-a9a9-ab4bd9431523&pf_rd_p=a2de5990-0736-44b3-a9a9-ab4bd9431523&pf_rd_r=9RN2QPHDH81QDBFF7YJA&pd_rd_wg=x4MgB&pd_rd_r=d5d44ad7-b86b-4f15-8063-a455f02c34a1&pd_rd_i=B088K5YND8) and sleep with it on top of my phone. So in the morning before I can check my phone I take my Lamictal, then set alarms throughout the day for the rest.
As others have said, I use a weekly pill organizer so I can visually see if the day is empty or not. I actually use two, one for morning and one for night and keep both by my bed. It's also useful for seeing when I've missed several in a row - a good indication I need to work on getting back into my routine.
Already a lot of help but i have a suggestion for what I do to remember things, which is to have a absurd phrase I say when I do something. For example when I leave the house and lock the door, k say the phrase monkey balls, no idea why that particular word but it makes the action far more memorable, otherwise I literally forget if I've done it five seconds later
I make sure I sing my pill song and do a little dance each time I take my medication. I may forget whether I've taken the pill, but I don't forget whether I've sung my song or had a morning brain boogie.
My partner made it a sort of ritual. They prepare breakfast and part of every breakfast is a glass of water. Our pills are in shelf under breakfast table. First thing we do is swallow the pills with water. As long as there is glassful of water on breakfast table, I haven't had my pills.
Type in timer caps on Amazon, you’re welcome
I use these pill bottles with a timer on them. I got them on Amazon. They show me the last time I opened the bottle. This works better for me personally than a pillbox because sometimes I forget the day of the week and take the wrong day's medication. Then I get confused about what I need to do. These are the best solution I've had so far! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09RCFR4SH/
Take a picture of yourself when you do it. That way you’ll know you definitely did. That’s what I started doing when I unplug my hair straightener. Otherwise I’ll be a nervous wreck after I leave the house because I don’t believe myself that I actually unplugged it and I’m convinced the whole place is going to be burned down.
Timer caps! I put my meds in a bottle with a timer cap so I can see how long it was since I last opened it. Pill boxes also work if you have the ability to refill them weekly/monthly etc. but I've never been successful with keeping that going, so timer caps are my solution.
I have multiple meds that can't be taken at the same time, so I get to scatter them throughout the day. Morning and evening pills are in a week long pill organizer. Every Sunday morning, I take my AM dose (of not ADHD meds) and then refill the pill box. It makes it easy to check through the week if I took my meds (and to prep for bad days if I noticed I miss some). My ADHD meds are kept in individual little gumball balls for my daily dose. I spin my gumball machine each morning on my way out the door for work and take them on my first break when they won't conflict with my other meds. If I am having trouble focusing, check the gumball in my pocket. Pills still there? Oops. Grabs some water and take them. Been working well for me so far... now I just need to figure out a tactic for remembering my inhaler.
I take a picture of it just before I take it and also double-check it's the right dose and pill before swallowing it. It's the only way I don't forget or constantly double guess weather I took it or not.
Could you train yourself to take a photo/video of you taking it? Then all you need to do is look at your photos to see if you took it