An app for crazy pills

January 11, 2016 4:51 AM

Is there an app that can help me work out when to take my medication when changing timezones? (If relevant, it's SSRIs/antipsychotic medication.)

I take two medications daily, one SSRI, one antipsychotic, to manage my bipolar disorder. Because I'm forgetful, I have them in the bathroom so that cleaning my teeth in the morning is the 'trigger' to remind me to take them. I've just last week had my dose adjusted, and the new advice is to take the SSRI in the morning and the other at night. The antipsychotic is the slow release variant.

However, I'm flying from London to New York next month and I was wondering how I would manage the changes in time. Is there an app which will help me (I use Android) or should I just set alarms on my phone? I went to Tokyo in November and it was about a week after I landed that I started feeling unjetlagged, and I wonder how much of this was because of my meds. Any advice helpful!

posted by mippy to Travel & Transportation (11 answers total)

Response by poster: Oh - I'm going to be in New York for about five days (I keep getting confused because of the timezone changes). I was in Tokyo for eight.
posted by mippy at 4:52 AM on January 11, 2016

I went to Tokyo in November and it was about a week after I landed that I started feeling unjetlagged, and I wonder how much of this was because of my meds.

Standard rule of thumb is about one day per time zone to fully adjust. Going east can take a little longer; going west can be a little shorter. So, that probably wasn't a medication issue.

It looks like there are apps that claim to have time zone support (e.g., here) but it's probably best to talk to your doctor and see how they suggest dealing with the shift.
posted by damayanti at 5:13 AM on January 11, 2016

Response by poster: I won't be able to see anyone other than my GP before I go, but that might be a good idea.

I wondered if it was a meds thing as my SO was fine after a couple of days!
posted by mippy at 5:53 AM on January 11, 2016

I don't think you need a special app for this, but you can do one better than futzing with the alarm clock. Wherever you are, whenever you take your pill, set a countdown timer for 12 hours. The goal of your dosing schedule is to have one pill every 12 hours, and while you're crossing time zones it doesn't really matter what time of day that is.

When you arrive in your permanent time zone, you can take note of when the 12 hour marks are falling and adjust as needed to make it work for your schedule (e.g. let's say you land and you're taking your pills at 5 AM and 5 PM but want to move to more like 8 AM and 8 PM -- just inch them up about an hour each day until you land at 8/8).
posted by telegraph at 5:54 AM on January 11, 2016 [10 favorites]

Google calendar will adjust for time zones, so if you set a daily repeating appointment at 2 PM London time, it will notify you at the equivalent NY time to take the pill.
posted by getawaysticks at 7:35 AM on January 11, 2016

I used to be in many time zones frequently. Though I didn't have to deal with the meds, I did have things I had to keep track of back in my home time zone, so I kept one clock (the one on my laptop that had my outlook calendar in it) in that time zone and set others to the local one. That worked well for me. Perhaps a similar strategy could work with a specific med clock for you.
posted by chiefthe at 7:46 AM on January 11, 2016

Though I didn't have to deal with the meds, I did have things I had to keep track of back in my home time zone, so I kept one clock (the one on my laptop that had my outlook calendar in it) in that time zone and set others to the local one. That worked well for me. Perhaps a similar strategy could work with a specific med clock for you.

Yeah, this is what I do for medications and other time sensitive things. I have a cheap Casio digital watch that has two separate clocks, which you can set to different times (for different time zones, or whatever). You can also set alams in which ever clock you want, so I keep one as the clock for meds.

I can't tell if the clock app on my Android tablet does this, but maybe just using another clock/alarm app and not changing the time zone would work. I know the Calendar has an option to not change time zones, but this is clunky because, then, it's hard to track other things.
posted by bluefly at 8:19 AM on January 11, 2016

I think Google calendar should effectively keep track of time zones, so if you set something for 8am and 8pm ET or PT or whatever, it should keep them at the correct time when you move into a different time zone.
posted by that girl at 10:00 AM on January 11, 2016

The most important thing here is not to forget and skip a day. check the labelling but most drugs say that if you forget a dose, you should take it when you remember unless it is almost time for the next one. So, if taking it at bedtime (5 hours too late) means you remember and trying to take it at London time means you forget, go with remembering.

In my experience (daughter on lots of psych meds) the reason for splitting the times has to do with things like (1) it makes you sleepy or active, (2) empty or full stomach (3) spreading out the effects of similar or additive medication (4) avoiding adverse interactions. Since you don't have time to ask, you can read the package inserts and think about what is most likely in your case. In my daughter's case, it was mostly #1 and #2 that determine when she takes a daily medication. Since this is two different meds, not two doses of the same thing, the time between doses is probably not as important, especially since you used to take them at the same time.

I think these are pretty long-acting meds which means that you would not be as sensitive to modest changes in timing. You might know from personal experience if you what happens if you take extra late (sleep-in or stay up late) or forget a day. You can also reach the half-life get an idea how much more the dose level would drop if you take it a five hours late.

If it were me, and if it was a longer trip, I might do London +2 the first day, +4 the second and then wake-up/bedtime the next but you would have to adjust again when you go home. So, timers make sense , although it might be really tempting not to get up in the middle of the night to take that London-morning dose. The most important though is to make sure that if you haven't already had it by bed-time or usual getting up time you be sure to take it then and not skip a dose completely.

Ps In case it is not obvious, IANAD, this is advice from a random internet stranger
posted by metahawk at 3:07 PM on January 11, 2016

I use the app linked by damayanti above (Medisafe), and it's great. It buzzes every ten minutes until I acknowledge it, and will notify me if I accidentally skip a dose. It's really nice to offload wondering whether I've taken my meds. It has been completely reliable in the three-ish months I've been using it.

It seems to automatically adjust for timezones when I travel (e.g. if I have it set to notify at 2pm at home and I gain an hour, it'll notify me at 3pm local == 2pm home time).
posted by Adamsmasher at 8:46 PM on January 11, 2016

I travel between Australia and Europe (9 hour difference) and the problem with some meds is less about forgetting, than having them approximately the same time, so that I didn't get side effects. Ideally, I adjust the time I take them at home by about an hour each day for a period leading up to departure, working out that I can resume my usual schedule at the destination. I don't know if this would work for you, but it avoids nasties
posted by Flashduck at 11:58 PM on January 11, 2016