Well I’ve never really told you all before that have a short-term memory problem.
Yesterday I forgot to fill my pillbox up for the next week for my morning dose of 100mg flecainide +1 other different medication unconnected.
I woke up this morning and it was a bit dark and I realise that my pill box was empty so I got the Flecainide box out to take a tablet and fill my day to day box.
This is where it gets complicated because it was more important to have a wee than taking the tablet I went and had a wee.
When I got back to my boxes I thought I had the tablet and went back to bed for another hour.
When I woke up, I went to the bathroom and found a Flecainide tablet on the floor.
I couldn’t remember if I had taken it, or whether I just dropped it from the box when I was fiddling around getting my tablet out.
In the first place, I decided I had taken it, so decided to not take it and wait till the evening and start again.
However a little later, I convinced myself that I hadn’t taken it so I took a tablet.
Knowing how I feel when I take PIP an hour later I realised that I had double dosed.
As the day went on, I gradually felt better and as evening approached had to make the decision whether to take my evening or not.
I decided that I would take it but would take it later.
it is now later, I took the tablet and I feel horrible again.
I’m normally meticulous about using the box because I know of my bad memory, so will try to do my best not to let this happen again.
I would like those like me who maybe have had experience of this to answer the question should I miss tomorrow morning’s dose?
Hope you all managed to stay with me.
Pete
POSTSCRIPT Wednesday 18 Oct 15:27 BST. I missed the Tuesday morning dose as I decided to this was the best thing to do. As the day progressed I continued to feel my old self again (Not so much of the "old" Pete).
Thank you everyone for your contributions.
Pete
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pottypete1
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Hi Pete - so you took the maximum dose in 24 hours within 24 hours. Personally I would wait 24 hours after taking the last pill - so assuming you took this around 7-8pm - I would miss my morning dose simply because I think it’s better to miss a dose than to overdose, especially with Flecainide.
I would have compromised a bit on CD's suggestion. Main concern is trying to keep the blood levels the same as possible (and this is dependent on half-life of the drub, rate of metabloism, etc., and all the rest of that pharmacological stuff), I would have compromised by taking 1/2 pill the morning after your double dose, then resume the normal schedule again at 8PM that night.
JimF
Hello Pete, I’m really lucky, my short term memory is still pretty good, but I am a lot younger than you 😂 but can you reminded me, what was the question 😉
As you know, we are not supposed to advise on medication issues and I know you will be on the phone to your pharmacist first thing in the morning. However, that doesn’t stop me from thinking aloud, as long as you have decent batteries in your hearing aid!
To be ever so slightly more serious, if you are taking 100 mg x 2 a day normally, then today you have taken 300 mg which is the maximum anyone should take in any 24 hour period. If it were me, and I couldn’t reach the pharmacist in the morning, I would not risk taking tomorrow mornings pill but take the evening one maybe a couple of hours earlier.
If this makes sense, can I suggest you print this reply and keep it somewhere safe so you can forget where you left it! Don’t worry, we’ve all done it, I know I have several times and survived to tell the tale. Take care, hope your g/son is still doing OK.
Mrs Pottypete says she is going to keep an eye on me in morning ( hopefully she will be awake when I forget in the morning what I did or didn’t do when I wake up.
I know….. I will take the tablet out of the Monday in the day to day box tonight.
George has been very stable since his transplant and seems to be remarkably well.
Hello Pete, I also have one of those pill boxes, a cheap one from Boots with days of the week marked in black lettering that all wore off after a couple of months.
Three weeks ago I was preparing for my first ever ablation and as the day drew closer I was becoming ever more diligent about taking my meds. In particular the anticoagulant Apixaban. The other daily pill in the box was digoxin. I knew they’d be asking me if I’d missed any and anyway I wasn’t going to risk a stroke. The more I thought about it the harder it got to remember.
To cut a long story short the day before my ablation I thought I’d taken my 8am dose but an hour later began to panic that I hadn’t. I counted along the lids of the med box and saw I hadn’t taken them and quickly swallowed them down. But unfortunately I had miscounted along the box due to confusion with what day of the week the box starts on.
When I realised I had double dosed I researched my meds on the internet to decide what could be an overdose. Fortunately a double dose of dioxin is given for another condition so I figured I didn’t need to call for help. I decided to be very careful not to fall over or cut myself with that double dose of anti coagulant in me.
I spent the day worrying about what I’d tell the cardio team early next morning. I kept thinking I just wouldn’t tell them. I decided to take the evening dose of Apixaban as normal and the same in the morning because Apixaban doesn’t stay long in the bloodstream. But I didn’t take my morning dose of dioxin because that hangs around a long time. I dreaded telling my EP and cardio team. It was just so embarrassing! Anyhow, of course I did have to tell them and what an huge relief - I was reassured by them that I’d done exactly the right thing. And the ablation went ahead.
I can’t begin to comment on what you should do Pete, just don’t beat yourself up!
Oh Pete, I love you for making me feel normal. Don't worry, you're not on your own, my memory is equally as bad. What you have described is my life too.Take care.
Between ourselves, Jean, I wonder sometimes if it is possible that a pretty large amount of drugs, people take in elderly age, deteriorate their health condition. I had a visit yesterday, where a friend admitted to take 12-14 different drugs, not knowing exactly how many, lol. I also suspect that BP regulating drugs (which do reduce BP, but also reduce blood supply of the whole body, whereby the brain is the most sensitive organ of all) may long term contribute to poorer brain function. I am 71, on no drugs, and have no problems with being forgetful. Maybe "too young", lol!
I think that quite a lot of us are taking too many drugs. With all due respect, I think that the average GP has a tendency to treat the symptom not the cause. I was concerned that my systolic pressure has risen, so my GP prescribed a different drug to one I had taken in the past which gave me unpleasant side effects. I like to know as much as I can about what I am taking, so hunt down credible studies on the drug in question. In this instance I found that there was a major interaction between this and another I am taking. I often tell my pharmacist that I think that doctors should diagnose and pharmacists prescribe. He agrees in an ideal world that would be the answer, given he has had 3 years training entirely on pharmacology whereas the GP has had about 6 months. We do not have in house pharmacists at GP practices here in South Africa - they either have their own businesses or work for a chain.
Yes, I've always thought that Nesko. I take a very low dose sleeping tablet every night, have done that for years and I'm sure that's the culprit. I'm always thinking I'll start slowly weaning off of it but can always think of a reason why I shouldn't because I'm doing something the next day. I had years of hell in the past not being able to sleep. My mind is very active and I find life so interesting.
Jeannie, our brain gets shut down with the help of a melatonin. It sometimes gets prescribed to patients, but do not know much about it. With ageing, our body synthetizes smaller and smaller quantities not only of melatonin, but also of other necessary substances (testosterone, lol). Hence not very good function of sleep and ... I always get asleep easily, but sometimes wake up about 1 or 2 am. Than simply stubbornly lie down, having in mind that it is also a rest, never mind that I do not sleep. Often, after a while, I get asleep again. What is most important, is not to think about that you should sleep, but you can not . It blocks you in awake state. Being old is not so bad thing, the life is beautiful in all its appearances, even for those in jails (they have food and TV, lol).
Cinnarizine - Anti sickness to combat acute sickness feeling (probably caused by one or all of the aboveabove☹️)
To cap it all I have Bradycardia and my EP wants to implant a pacemaker.
I am scared to have the pacemaker because of the awful skin problems I have had in previous years being allergic to all electrode stickers and pressure. The Urticaria I suffered was actually worse than AF and I don't want to go there any more.
Trouble is I spent so many years (35+)with Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation and have now been stable Normal Sinus Rhythm for 18 months.
I want to keep to the status quo if I can "if it ain't broke don't fix it". Only problem is I must make sure I have a foolproof system to stop me forgetting and then missing or double dosing my medication.
Re electrode sticker allergy. If you have them put a thin coat of Milk Of Magnesia on your skin prior to the stickers (or any bandage) it will prevent the allergy and make it easier on your skin for removal. They will argue with you, but stand you ground. Learned this in Wound Care
I am hoping that after 7 ablations and about 20 cardioversions I will be able to avoid hospitals for the foreseeable future as I have been in NSR for 18 months now for the first time in 35 years.
They do however want to give me a pacemaker which I am resisting at present.
Thank you for the advice.
Actually the Anaesthetist on the last 2 ablations discovered that if she applied "Opsite' to my skin first it created a barrier between the electrodes and me.
A good resource for med interactions is Drugs.com, you put in all your meds, it tells you the interactions. I do this anytime I am given a new med as I have found docs just have their standard list of what they give patients, not really know the side effects, interactions. it also tells you the side effects of meds.
Hi Nesko, i nursed my father and watched him take a dozen or so meds per day and slowly i believe it sucked the life out of him.{i didnt know as much about side effects of drugs then that i do now}
Hi, Tom! It is sad to see that the patients have considered to be "consumers" of the drugs. Is it, maybe, the reason that there are about 30 "chronic disease and syndromes"!? Chronic, means, if you get it, you can never be cured, you have to take drugs for life. What a good merchandise, these medications...
Hi there. I took a double dose of everything the other week - BP meds, Flecainide, Apixaban - I freaked out. Phoned the pharmacist and he said no worries. Skip the next dose and lie down if you feel dizzy. It will pass. I was so adrenalised and hyper I didn't feel weak or dizzy at all! But personally I would concur with CDreamer. But ring the pharmacist to check.
Ooh tricky! You take 2 doses a day normally? Flecainide has a 12 hour half life so I'd have thought you'd be OK missing this morning's dose if you're worried about over dosing. Maybe take your evening pill a little earlier than usual? I remember that feeling of a lot of Flecainide when using it as a PIP myself- not nice! And with a drug like this one, my opinion is better to take less. It can always be made up.
My flecainide comes in strips of ten with five lots of two tablets side by side so it is easy to see whether I have taken the morning pill already. My husband suggested a pill box but I find the strip can fit in a small pouch with my Kardia and that seems to work most of the time. As has been said, as the maximum dose is 300mg, you haven’t overdosed so no worries!
I put my thyroxin pills in a green bag as well as my AM heart pill Diltiazem.
At 5am, 6am or 7am I start my regime. I take out 3 containers. Put the Diltiazem on the top of my drawers. I take out a 100mg and take as well as 25mg. Done. I put the green bag down slightly open to put the Diltiazem away when I had it 1 hr after Synthroid.
On the sideboard there is one Pradaxa left from PM meds.
These are kept in a MM chocolate tub.
At PM I have Bisoprolol 2.5mg. And take out 2 Pradaxa 1 which I have later about 10pm.
I take a statin 10mg Avorastatin sometimes.
I take a waterworks pill sometimes. It is a trial med from Urology Special.
These are kept in the chocolate tub.
I must admit now and again I fall asleep with 2 Pradaxa on the sideboard. But I know that I haven't taken 1 of them.
My Mum had a pill box. Unfortunately she would have a sleep in the afternoon awake and think it was morning and take her pills again. I had to hide them and physically give them to her. That stopped that.
Thank you Roger. Having taken Flecainide for over 30 years I should have really known the answer. However as I have eluded to I am having memory problems and I also get stressed with the thought of getting AF again and I got somewhat confused.
It is now 11:14 and I have not taken the dose this morning . I think I shall take the one this evening as usual.
Og goodness I Often have the same problem. I take an opiate painkiller every three hours. I meticulously write down the time both on the box and on my wrist. ( I may lose the box but not my wrist LOL). Everyone in the house knows they must NOT distract me in case I forget to write it down. Taking a double dose could kill me. Just twice in 20 years I've double dosed, luckily when I was on a lower dose. For me the answer is to write it down every single time. Could you make a written list and stick it on the wall and tick off each dose only after you've taken it?
I know just how you feel Pete having had the same experience many times despite having a pill box myself. I just tend to cross my fingers wait till the next due time and start again! 😅
Sorry Pete. Had to chuckle when I read this. Yesterday, Sunday, my husband got into a similar position. He has a 7 day pill box and takes 8 tablets a day plus inhalers. Anyway, he takes 7.5mg Amlodipine daily first thing before we go out for a walk with the dog as he has angina. This is in 2 tablets as we can't get 2.5mg prescribed (even though they exist) and he takes these up to bed with him in a separate container ready to take when he wakes up. He insists on doing this himself and on Saturday he had a few to drink. So on Sunday he takes the 2 tablets, we go for a walk and then have breakfast after which he went to take the rest of his tablets due that morning. He noticed that he still had his 5mg Amlodipine so then started to panic and the only thing we could decide (as we both check his pill boxes when he makes them up) is that he had mistakenly taken his 50mg Losartan (BP) which is exactly the same shape as the Amlodipine but slightly larger. He then started to feel dizzy and lightheaded and generally unwell. He took his blood pressure which was normal but he still felt ill. I called up a list of pharmacies open on Sunday and rang all of them but no-one answered. I then called 111 at 12.10pm and was told that a medical person would ring us back in a few hours but definitely that afternoon. His symptoms then eventually went off and we had dinner and only received a 'phone call from 111 at about 9.30pm. Could hardly hear a word they said but we said he was alright and they could close the call. I also looked up the effects of an overdose but was just advised to call 111. So it happens to all of us but it's just lucky that he was OK as 111 took too long to come back. I'm sure I would have taken him to hospital had it got worse. Hope you are OK now. Take care
I once forgot my complete morning doses, went for a walk in a nearby forest and wondered why my heart rate was 160bpm. Had a stressful time walking the couple of miles on a lonely mountain back home! Second time I took a double dose in the morning.
The common factor in both episodes was lack of concentration on my morning drug taking. Now I treat the drugs with more care and respect and don't break my concentration for anything . . . . . . . until the next time.🙂
Oh hell yes. Welcome to the "I forget" club. I take meds at 6:30 AM and 6:30 PM. For two days I forgot the PM pills. (Possibly because the cocktail hour is at 5 PM?) Now I set a daily alarm on Alexa for 6:30 PM. That ought to do it.
Can't help with this but we spent a night at a hotel in celebration of my 80th birthday on Saturday. My son and daughter-in-law were with us. Pretty sure I didn't take my morning tablet in the excitement and then didn't take my tablets with me either! What a plonker I am! My wife used to have a days supply of all our pills in her hand bag but we stopped doing that some time ago as well, we never forgot our pills. Shall have to start that again.
I too have occasional problems.Thought I had them sorted.Pill box with daily & 4 times of day.+ 2 apps that remind me.Lots of phone probs lately so no help.I used to fill 2 weeks up in 2 boxes but have been known to pick the wrong box up so now only 1.If I am going out & might miss tabs I take a days supply with me.Maybe you can see the confusion that can occur.
The worst is if my reminder goes off and I mark as taken as I am going to take it & don't.Maybe if you are still understanding this post you can see the problem.
So I think it is back to using the days on the packet as long as I haven't opened two packs.
We have all done it but it is a scary thing. One thing I found super helpful that I got for my 98 year old mom is a MedReady Medication Dispenser. I ordered it directly from the company 5 years ago when she was having trouble remembering if she took her medication or not and the pill sorters weren't much help as she would forget to look at it or even what day of the week it was. It has literally been a life saver for her and given me such peace of mind. I noticed you can get them on Amazon now too. I got the cellular version but have never used that feature and don't pay the monthly monitoring fee but it is there to add in the future if I feel she needs the extra monitoring,.so far she hasn't.
Here is what I love about it: It has 28 slots and four timers that you can set or leave off it not needed. When she started, she took all her pills in the morning so I could get her set up for 28 days at a time. Now she takes a number of pills that are 2X a day so I replenish every 14 days and the timer goes off twice a day. If you were on 3 or 4 pills a day, you can turn on those alarms. If you took 4 pills a day you would refill it once a week. Also, it has an alarm ( pretty loud) that goes off to remind you it's time to take your pill(s). The only way to shut off the alarm is to open the little door for that day (or set time). You can set the alarm to ring for an extended period of time (I have hers set for 4 hours). She usually is there to take her pills when it first goes off, but if she is gone to a Dr appointment or for a walk etc, it will be ringing when she gets back and she knows to take her pills. The other thing I like about it is that you can't take too many pills. After you take your pills, you close the door again , and the machine only ratchets to the next slot when the next set alarm goes off. The only downside really is the initial set up is a bit confusing but the directions are very clear. I'm not techy at all so If I can do it, you all can too, I'm sure. The other thing is that occasionally, I'll see a pill on her floor that she dropped, or there will be one left in the container that she didn't see, but short of having a nurse there to hand you each pill individually and watch you take it, it would be hard not to have an occasional mishap. There is no way you can take extra pills however. Also if she does miss one, when I fill it up again, I can tell exactly what she has missed and when. It usually is one of her small pills and again only happens very rarely. It has a AC wall power and has a battery backup for power outages. I have had to replace the battery pack twice in 5 years at a cost of $12.85. You can also buy a replacement tray and cover for prefilling ahead of time for $18.
Hi Pete, I can’t comment on your Flec as it’s not a drug I know much about but I will make a suggestion in regard to the memory lapse. Quite a few years ago I was early menopausal and my Memory was so bad that I would even forget what I was talking about if I paused in the middle of a sentence. I saw an nutritionist and she prescribed Vitamin B12 which I take sublingually. This makes it dissolve straight into the blood stream and ao It bypasses the issues around digestion and absorption (often an issue for us getting older folk) My levels were extremely low as were some of my other hormones (not unusual for my age) and it Has made a huge difference. My sister had a similar issue and she is the same - it helped enormously. I take 1000 ug @day which keeps me nicely balanced and my memory is good. I do agree that the greater number the drugs the more it effects one’s system. I also think that dehydration is an issue for everybody as they age and an important factor in our day to day wellbeing. Hope this helps. Mary
I can’t remember i. Have taken a pill sure I take double dose, yuk. Forget to go to appointment And no notification like every other appointment gives you, the appointment I forget Dr can be rude to me,and threaten n,o op, I remembered t o go to one as I phoned up,same day as Dr made it for me!
Whenever its time it is necessary for you to take the appropriate pill - the best way forward - is that you have NOW taken the appropriate pill, and you could tick ✅ date and time wise. Takes a lot of weight off your mind. Happens to all of us!
I really need the daily boxes to sort my pills out - and I only take 2, twice a day. (Some supplements as well, but not as important.) Each evening I double check that the box is empty. Why? Because of the blinking dream that wakes me just as I fall asleep…
It used to be having to sit A -level Chemistry and not having done any studying for a year, then a recurring dream of catching a train with platform missing etc. Now it’s having missed my medications, possibly for weeks. I must sit bolt upright and say this, as my husband reassures me that I’ve taken them 😂
Once, having just arrived at a holiday house, I did manage to take one for the next day - then needed to stagger the following dose. I’m putting it down to a weird/anxiety dream problem rather than memory.
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To take double dose or not??
Flecainide PIP
