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I did much the same as Lucinda. I needed the security of my Little Old Lady (tm) pill box so my mistakes were immediately obvious. Like Lucinda I also set an alarm on my phone and had a medication app that I programmed to go off every few minutes with an infuriating beeping noise. It drove me crazy, but it did its job. I made sure I had a reminder app I had to physically tick off to stop the noise. It also provided me with a handy cross check if I was out and wasn't sure if I'd had my tablets. But the hardest time for me was when I was on holidays, away or out of routine. Whether we like it or not, I think we are often creatures of habit and not having a routine meant I forgot my carefully learned habits. Changing time zones is tricky too. We do the best we can. I had to over plan because I had never been in a position of taking regular medication before, apart from a short-lived INF/RBV treatment.
I was a clinical trial nurse, type A tight-ass OCD perfectionist, and it floored me each time I made a mistake during my own hep C treatment. My mistakes were very basic, such as I would take the PM medicine in the AM. I blamed ribavirin, but probably the real explanation is that we are all human, doing the best we can. Thank you for your honesty. Things that helped me were setting reminders on my phone (there are all sorts of medication reminder apps) and giving people close to me permission to ask if I had taken my pills, rather than feeling micro-managed. It probably would have been helpful to put a sign on my meds, such as "Think, Think, Think," but I didn't think of that.
Pamela Wood
My pills were all in a daily pill box, i also had a small pill box with two days supply in my hand bag, just in case. I also had my phone set with permanent alarms for med times and then a second alarm to check i had taken them. Sounds like a lot of fuss but sometimes the alarm would go off and i would switch it off and then not know if i had taken them or just thought about it. i could then check the pill box to see if they were still there. i was just so vague on these meds and then as you say once I was out of routine it was extra difficult. Good luck with your treatment and thanks for doing the hard yards with a trial. We all get to benefit from that
September 21, 2015