Coy and I each take a lot of pills each day. I think Coy's count is 28 and mine is in the high teens. A daughter comes every other week and fills 2 weekly pill boxes for each of us, which is a great help. I see to it that Coy gets his pills at the proper time each day. He probably doesn't miss more than one dose in 3 or 4 months.

I miss pills right and left. It's about midnight here and I'm taking my morning pills. I won't take the water pill now, and I think that makes 3 I've missed in the last week. I'll miss my night pills because they are mostly 2nd doses of some of the morning pills and I don't double up on them.

I probably miss 2 or 3 doses a week. (I'm pretty good about taking my insulin, but I even miss that sometimes.)

From something Irene posted in another thread, I see that I am in good company -- many caregivers are better managing the LO's meds than their own.

WHY??? I really don't think that my health is less important than my husband's. And I don't remember missing a lot of doses before I became a caregiver.

Who else has this frustrating experience? Has anybody figured out how to overcome it? I really hate going to the box for my night pills and discovering I haven't taken the morning pills. Or taking my morning pills and seeing that I didn't take any pills the day before.

Suggestions, please!

JeanneG, I'm not on any prescription meds, but do forget to take my calcium and Vit D. Lately I've tried to make sure I take them, I had chemo 12yrs ago and showed no issue w/bone loss until 5 years after so I'm trying to be more diligent with pills and exercise. If I go down, we're in big trouble and wishing I did, won't help.

INSULIN, you need to be careful and never miss your doses. Today is a new day, JeanneG will start to take ALL her meds. Good luck, life is a rollercoaster but you need to be your best to survive this ride.

Take Care,
Gerry

I think some of us have posted on this before. I never once forgot Derek's meds but often would find up to three days of mine still in the weekly med box. It goes with the caregiver territory, I guess. Our focus is on their needs, not ours.

i think it goes way beyond pills.. altho they do play a role..thank goodness mine are just vitamins..LOL
i make sure his doc appointments are done on time.. mine come later or are fit in.. when ever..
make sure he is comfortable and has something to do and then, think about me and a lot of time its 10 pm LOL

but i find i do that with the kids and grandkids.. they all come first..

does it have to do with being a mom and making sure everyone is taken care of?? or is it a self esteem issue or both, or something else...

i'm seeing a counselor (when i can fit it in LOL) and every time, she discusses... making me see how important it is that i take time for myself, that i take care of my self.. etc etc.. and i do see it..logically !!! its just doing it.. that i struggle with!!

Jeanne, my husband and I both take prescriptions and supplements, and we've found that taking them at mealtimes (breakfast and dinner) is the best way to make sure we take them. We actually keep our pill organizers on a shelf very close to the table. Getting the pills out before sitting down becomes just as much part of the routine as washing our hands or setting the table. Simple, but it seems to keep us on track.

Julianne

p.s. It's nice to have the forum back up and running, and I hope that CGs will realize it is operating again.

Hi Jeanne G,
I can't imagine dealing with so many pills. I have fibromyalgia and only take 4-6 depending on my symptoms. And even on my "brain fog" days I've almost always managed not to miss any of Tom's meds. Obviously, my fibro meds are not critical like your insulin so I guess maybe I don't focus on them as I should, but I've found it helpful to divide them into morning and evening lots. When I feed Tom his lunch I try to make it a habit to check my box. That way I'm only a few hours late if I forget.
As for not caring about ourselves, I don't think that's true. We all realize what's at stake as caregivers and do our best. Frankly, I'm tired of people who, kindly or otherwise, make me feel guilty about it. Yes, I know I shouldn't let it bother me and I'm workin' on it
Wishing you good days.......Kathy

Thanks for all the replies. For me I don't think it is a self-esteem issue and I am definitely not a volunteer for martyrdom. Part of it is the role, I guess. For flight attendants, passengers come first; for nurses, patients come first; and the captain exits the sinking ship last. For CGs, the LO comes first. That is understandable. But when you are a CG 24/7/365 "first" lasts a long time! Is that it? Is it that first is all day everyday and there is no time for what comes in second? And yet taking pills does not take a great deal of time or thought or psychic energy. So how come so many of us find leftovers in our weekly med boxes?

Breakfast and dinner would be good, Julianne. And I'm afraid that leads to another confession. I haven't been very good at eating breakfast. This is not good for a diabetic. Bad Jeanne! I get Coy's "empty tummy" pills as soon as he is out of bed, and then faithfully make him breakfast every morning. He has his morning pills then. What he eats would be way too many carbs for me and I haven't come up with a suitable quick breakfast. I ate cottage cheese and a little fruit every morning for a few years, and that is good for my blood sugar, but I cringe when I see cottage cheese now. I always intend to "eat later" but later often becomes lunch. I take insulin with dinner and could take the next big dose of pills then, but often it is too close to the very-late breakfast pills (if I've remembered to take them.) Does any of this make sense? It really doesn't to me.

Kathy, I know what you mean. I couldn't imagine taking that many pills, either. But ya do what ya gotta do. I should take 2 pre-breakfast, 13 more with breakfast, 5 + a shot with dinner, and 2 before bed. Ugh!

Is it just that we have only so many pill-dispensing brain cells and we've used them all up on the LO?

Jeanne, there just must be some simple, quick thing you could eat while Frank is eating his breakfast, and then you could take your pills.

I have become very disciplined with this and I never used to like breakfast, either. But I have a good motivation for my morning pills--I take allergy meds and feel terrible later if I don't! I'd think you'd feel ill, too, without breakfast and the meds you need.

Could you just at least eat a low calorie yogurt? That is quick and easy. With your diabetes, breakfast is really more than just a choice, it is essential. )

Julianne

When I was doing both Mom's and my medication management, I used pill organizers. I used different ones for different times of day - color coded. But when Mom went into the SNF, I got lazy, figuring I could count out my pills daily. But I started to forget them, as I'm one of those people who gets out of bed early in the morning. And, having forgotten them before without collapsing, I don't bother to go back home to get them. I just skip it for the day. I'd forget them even when using a pill organizer. What the organizer would do for me is show me whether I had taken the pills or not (if they were still in there.) I really acquired a habit of forgetting whether I'd taken them or not, and when I wasn't using the organizer I had no idea, so just skipped them. And a couple of my medications are to regulate my cardio system for a life-threatening condition.

One thing about pill organizers: my sister takes a huge number of pills every day and at different times a day. So she has an organizer that is for the week, separating the times of the day. That's 28 compartments worth of pills. I remember her dropping it on the floor, almost full, when she was visiting. What a hassle picking them up, trying to tell what they are (used a medical reference) and getting them where they belonged - not to mention the pills I kept finding on the floor for the next month. That's why I had separate organizers for each time of the day.

Kate

sorry you are having this problem…

I am alone at the moment….not being the caregiver, this is a bigger problem….

I am not taking many pills right now….

I am using the little zip lock bags…the dates are written on the bags….

I have a big chip clip on a months worth of bags….

I put the bags back in the clip after taking the pills….

that way I can tell if I take them

Good for you, Craig! We use those little pill bags for vacation sometimes.

I can easily tell if I've missed a dose, from the weekly pill boxes I use. I'd be totally lost without some system like that. Trouble is, some days I'm lost even with it.

Jeanne,
I indeed did pay the price with my own health last yr and in part was because of self neglect and I now have alarms set on my cell phone, might sound silly but even that it is just me I found I still would forget sometimes and this is a method I used when Jim was alive as he took meds 6x's a day and it really helped me keep his meds on time and never really thought of it for myself after he passed until I went through the health issues.

Hello again Jeanne G,
It's been so long since Tom was diagnosed, I'd almost forgotten I got him one of those watches that you can set to beep or vibrate to remind you at pill times. He still wears it and, even though he no longer notices, I can hear it. I'm sure you've probably already tried this, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.
Another thought about why we cgs forget our own needs--control. Since we have no control over how we deal with our Lo's Lewy, we at least try to maintain control over our own choices, such as what and when to eat, etc...............after re-reading that last line, what I really belive is that most of the time we're just too darn tired to make another decision

Thanks, Craig.

I've seen the pharmacy advertising getting meds pre-organized in those little bags, but I've never really checked it out. I think my sister has gone to this, but the idea of clipping the empty bag back with the month's group is new. I'm going to suggest it to her and check it out for myself.

Kate