How do you remember to take your pills?

August 25, 2024 1:28 PM

I need a good way to remember and track my morning meds.

I have gone through a couple drugstore pill dispensers but either they fall apart, or they aren't big enough for vitamins or the writing comes off, or they're just so ugly I can't stand it. So then I go back to putting the pill bottles on one side of the dresser and moving them over when I've taken them. This is fine on weekdays when I have a morning routine but on weekends forget it. I just wander off without them. I need to have a clear way to see that I have taken them because otherwise I will forget. Yes I do have ADHD, why do you ask? Bedtime is a little easier because the routine never varies, but ideally the same solution should work for both.

Do you have a less hideous pill dispenser? Do you use it? Do you remember to fill it? Or do you have a better way? Thank you!

posted by mygothlaundry to Health & Fitness (24 answers total)

Amazon has an endless array of pill boxes - presumably you could find one you like? But yeah, that's the only way most people can remember.
posted by coffeecat at 1:37 PM on August 25

Best answer: I got these cool stick on things that I can click for each day that I take a pill. I leave it on the bottle and then put the new pills in that bottle. You can get one with two clicks or am/pm or just put multiple stickons on a bottle. You can also get things for the cap which tell you how long it’s been since you opened it. You can also get ones that have a little digital alarm. The app Streaks is cool for reminders if gaming things helps.Example.
posted by amanda at 1:38 PM on August 25 [4 favorites]

I set an every-day alarm, and when it goes off, I don't allow myself to turn it off until I've actually taken the pill.
posted by bricoleur at 1:47 PM on August 25 [13 favorites]

Put the 7-day pill box with something you do every morning -- in front of coffee machine, into your toothbrush cup, on top of your underwear pile, anything. Then discipline yourself to not do That Thing (make/drink coffee, brush teeth, etc.) until you have first taken that day's pills. Obviously this needs to be something you do on both weekdays and weekends.
posted by intermod at 1:49 PM on August 25 [6 favorites]

Best answer: I like TimeCaps, even though they're more expensive than other options. They show you when you last opened the bottle, so you can't forget to move the bottle, flip the tab, etc. If you still need a prompt to take the pill, try an alarm on your phone. Many fitness watches, like Fitbits, can also buzz an alarm/reminder when you want it to.
posted by equipoise at 2:07 PM on August 25 [5 favorites]

The iPhone (and accompanying Apple Watch) Health app notifies me every morning and evening which pills to take.
posted by HillbillyInBC at 2:07 PM on August 25 [2 favorites]

Best answer: TimerCap!!! Amazon's been out lately but Walmart has them for shipping. Check your local pharmacy if applicable - I see them randomly at the chains but not consistently.

I have tried other things, more aesthetic things, even designed my own cute little chart with magnet markers, but I always always return to TimerCaps.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:23 PM on August 25 [2 favorites]

This may not work for you, but I keep my pills in their bottles by where I eat breakfast and then write down each pill as I take them. If I had them by my bed I'd never remember to take them.
posted by Art_Pot at 2:33 PM on August 25

Best answer: As someone who
1. must take multiple medications per day (some at morning, some at night)
2. is attention challenged
3. Also takes several big-ass vitamins and supplements

… what has worked for me is the pairing of
A) the recurring alarms in my iPhone
B) this great thing i got on amazon. It looks large but do note that each day’s organizer is removable from the case:

Bug Hull XL Pill Organizer 4 Times a Day

They have other sizes, other configs (3-times-daily vs 4-times-daily) and mine last lasted quite awhile, holding steady and breakage free even though i travel very frequently. Once one did pop open in my travel bag, boo, but i now work around that by putting a strip of painter’s tape on each before it goes in my bag.

Also i created the habit before i go to bed:
1. Take evening pills
2. Put evening pill organizer away, take out morning organizer
3. Pour glass of water, put it on the kitchen table where it can’t be missed
4. Place morning pill organizer on top of water glass

So when i walk in the kitchen the next morning, it’s just jumping into my field of vision and grabbing my attention
posted by jerome powell buys his sweatbands in bulk only at 2:34 PM on August 25 [2 favorites]

I don’t remember to refill my pillboxes either, so I now just have extra pill bottles everywhere. A set at my desk for weekdays, a set by my end of the sofa where I tend to nest on weekends, and a set by the bed to catch my eye last minute before bed if I’ve forgotten all day long. (My meds are all the sort where precise time of day doesn’t matter.)
posted by Stacey at 3:12 PM on August 25

Best answer: On days that I don't have the same routine as usual, like weekends or traveling, I know i'll wonder if I already took my pills yet. So I take a quick photo of the pills in my hand right before I swallow them and text it to myself.
posted by Tim Bucktooth at 3:22 PM on August 25 [1 favorite]

I have two things in my phone - an alarm to remind me and a habit tracking app where I mark it as done. If I can't take the pill at the moment the alarm goes off, I snooze it so it reminds me again in 15 minutes. But I was finding that I would then not remember in fifteen minutes if I had done it at some point in between so I added the habit tracker.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:29 PM on August 25

I only have to take one pill in the morning, but the way I solved the “all these pillboxes are so hideous to look at they actively disincentive me from taking my meds” problem (yes my meds are also for ADHD lol) was to just put them in a cool little container I like looking at, usually a vintage pill box or a small decorative box. Every Monday I refill with 7 pills, then every day I count to make sure I have the right number and then take one. If I forget whether I took it today, I just check the count.

This might not work great if you have a bunch of different pills and counting them would be hard. But using a cool/interesting/pretty container (and rotating them out occasionally) definitely helps my ADHD brain remember.
posted by CtrlAltDelete at 4:28 PM on August 25

Best answer: I use an Android app called "MyTherapy Pill Reminder" to keep track of both my medications and my dogs'. It keeps a notification on until you confirm taken (unless you just swipe away the notification, so you may know if it would or wouldn't work for you based on your habits).
posted by Teadog at 6:14 PM on August 25

1) I take my meds when I brush my teeth in the morning, or before going to sleep (somewhere around midnight, depending on the schedule).

2) I keep them in a cheap set of plastic shelves in the bathroom cabinet. Other common first aid items are in there (band-aids, ointments, ibuprofen, allergy meds, etc).
Wd/Fr - The meds are either in the first or third drawer.
Tu/Th/Sa - The meds are in the second drawer.
Su/Mn - The meds are switched between the first and third drawers, which is not ideal but it works.
posted by TrishaU at 6:40 PM on August 25

Best answer: Seconding MyTherapy. They have apps for both Android and Apple. It's the only thing that I have found that works for me.
posted by Tawita at 7:08 PM on August 25 [1 favorite]

For me, multiple medications and vitamins/supplements, taken multiple times a day =

1) Multiple phone alarms, and multiple trays of these larger/deeper daily pill organizers in black.

2) The daily organizers in each tray are filled two weeks at a time + two "spare" days, because I am always late re-filling the trays. (Btw, playing music while doing this chore helps me.) While filling two weeks' worth of organizers, it's easier to note anything that needs to be refilled soon (I gave up on calendar reminders), and allows some time for pharmacy, doctor office, or insurance delays. (Same for re-ordering vitamins.) Some scripts are 90-day supply, or 60-day, or 30-day, or new-and-titrating, and/or on auto-refill (which sometimes glitches), or not eligible for autofill, or plain *out* of refills. (Five years and four medications ago, I managed to line up the fill dates somewhat for a measly two drugstore trips a month, and that was *amazing*. There was a warm glow and everything, for the six months it lasted.) The black organizer has four daily compartments, the nicer-to-me olive green has three, and each compartment has its own door. The day's meds are easily portable; the lettering is crisp; the hinges are sturdy. I think (hope) the somber case tone is less conspicuous in public. I've had these organizers for a few years, and they've held up well.

3) Associating medications & supplements with some routine. My morning routine starts the night before:
- At bedtime, phone, water, and the next day's organizer have to be on the nightstand before lights out.
- In the morning, my phone alarm goes off, I pick up that organizer and take the pills in the first compartment (the "a.m." compartment door opens to tilt the morning meds into my palm; later doses can't fall out), washed down with ice water from an anti-spill travel mug (own multiples of those, too), while I'm still in bed.
- Then, when I get up, the organizer gets up with me.
- I carry the box to its assigned zippered pocket in my purse (which lives contentedly on a hook by the bedroom door when not being carried), even if I'm home for the day.

Some people use different tones for waking alarms and reminder alarms.

4) Certain meds & supplements are to be taken with meals, which is useful for remembering those during the day. (For both meds & meals, actually: I'm making dinner; I'll go grab the pillbox from the pocket in my purse versus Did I take __ yet? No, because I haven't eaten yet; better resolve that.)

Can your a.m. meds be broken up like this, on the weekends? Can you take your ADHD meds when you first wake up, then have breakfast? (If I try this in reverse order, I'm pretty much sleepwalking even if I have caffeine.) Some folks are able to take their medication (depending on the medication) at the same time every day, but on weekends they'll fall back asleep for a couple of hours. Could you take some meds bedside, and carry the remaining a.m. doses in the pocket of your robe as you head to the kitchen or bathroom? Oh - or should your ADHD meds be tied to brushing your teeth in the morning, a morning task rather than a specific time, for less of a disconnect between your weekday and weekend routines? What is the biggest difference in your schedule on the weekend? If you can identify it, and make taking your ADHD medication as automatic as possible, practically a reflex, before you're caught up in the difference, remembering the rest of what you need to do is so much easier.

5) Alliteration (pillbox -> pocket -> purse) (why yes, in alphabetical order, I don't know what the devil you're talking about) can make some associations more memorable, until they're habitual.

I hate it. All the CBT, and self-compassion, and loving-kindness, and whatever else my faithless self lifted from every belief system I've so much as brushed against on the subway, hasn't changed how much I hate it. I feel like my brain's finally broken, and must be leaking from my ear, that I should have to plot and scheme such nonsense to do a simple thing.

But when I miss medication doses, the seepage is far worse — then I can't do most simple things, and I hate that even more.
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:41 PM on August 25 [4 favorites]

Every night on my way to bed, I put water in the coffee maker, mugs on the counter, and my pillbox on my mug.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:35 AM on August 26

Along with using my beloved timercaps, I do as some other comments have said and keep the pills in the "right place" for taking them at the right time. 7 days a week I get some kind of beverage and go to my home desk first thing on waking - even if it's not a workday I'm going to spend a bit of time on news/weather/metafilter/social media - so my morning pills go there, as do lunchtime and mid-afternoon pills. For my mother, all of those are in the kitchen (pantry, actually, where they have their own shelf on the door and she also does the "move to the other side" method for tracking) because that's where she goes for beverages. Bedtime pills on the nightstand. Dinnertime pills next to my living room nest where we eat and lounge in the evenings.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:24 AM on August 26

Best answer: Seconding the "light switch" style switches Amanda linked. I put mine on an empty spice bottle and put one of my pills in there, so you don't have to by lots and lots of the trackers. Helps me because I hated filling the daily box thingies.
posted by bluesky78987 at 6:26 AM on August 26 [1 favorite]

I use a combination of the Health app on my iPhone to remind me when to take meds, and a weekly pill organizer that I fill on Sundays. Each day, I leave the lid open after taking that day's pills as a visual indicator of having done so.
posted by emelenjr at 9:07 AM on August 26

Best answer: I take my morning meds first thing in the morning - like immediately when I wake up and put on my glasses. It’s much easier for me to remember when it’s always first than if I were to take them later in the morning. I keep mine in a pill organizer so I can also check if I’ve taken them.

I have an alarm on my phone for my evening meds, and I don’t turn it off until I’ve taken them. If I’m home when it goes off, I snooze the alarm until I take them. If I’m out of the house (which is rare bc of the timing of the alarm and my schedule), I will set a new alarm for when I anticipate being home, then turn off the daily alarm. I learned the hard way that I need to wait until I have physically taken the pills (or set a new alarm) to turn off the alarm - even if I’m on my way to take them, I hit snooze because I sometimes get distracted.
posted by maleficent at 11:19 AM on August 26 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone, this has been really helpful! So many things I never knew existed - I am absolutely buying a few of them. And somehow it never occurred to me that I could take them before I even get out of bed in the morning - that might just make all the difference!
posted by mygothlaundry at 4:55 PM on August 26

Mod note: [oh, hey, we remembered to add this post to the sidebar and Best Of blog!]
posted by taz (staff) at 1:57 AM on August 27