Sorting out the tablets
A hated weekly chore
Every time I do it
I seem to have even more
Some of them pop out to fast
Landing on the floor
Some I don't have enough
I'll have to ask for more
The colours keep on changing
And their size will change as well
Just makes it more confusing
Which are which to tell
Sometimes it's so frustrating
I have this pressing whim
To collect them all together
And stick them in the bin
Go on, I dare you to! Do you really need them all? Just read a book about how people of our age are being over-medicated. Pills that give you side effects, pills to counter the side effects.... and so it goes on. Weirdly I am actually on less medication than I have been for decades. Only Warfarin now... is this a record for someone with chronic lung disease?
Love from a puzzled Kate and an indifferent Zebraxxx
Tony takes warfarin. His coag nurse has just been and he has been taking too many, He had instructions from the previous nurse but didn't follow them. Lets hope he gets it right now.
Well every pill that I take (except for aspirin) was started to solve a particular problem that I had and which I wouldn’t like to have again. So I see little point in testing your theory at this late stage. 😉 Of course there is an argument that says at 88 I probably haven’t much longer left, so stopping all medications wouldn’t result in an earlier death anyway. But then I rather like the idea of living to be over 100 and I wouldn’t like to miss out on that! 😀xx
Thanks for the smile, Don. Some foil is so hard to break I find, having arthritis in my hands doesn't help! Sounds like a good idea to have the weeks ration sorted. x
Well there’s still the problem with the foil which I also have. So I have a little penknife that I use to puncture the foil on 7 bubbles so they push out easier. It’s worth buying 7 day pill box with detachable sections and doing all the preparation in one go, in my case on a Sunday evening completing a repeat prescription request at the same time if needed.
Might get the scissors out.
Pete hates doing his tablets too and he’s probably taking too many. He needs a medication review.
Take care dear Don. Xxxx
I seem to remember that they used to give a date on the prescription printouts of when the prescription should be reviewed. But just checking now I see it gives a date for 'Prescription Expiry Date' which isn't the same thing at all, at all. Best to ask for a review. 😉😘xx
Oh yes Do!. Every fortnight I steel myself to get the pills out and into the little boxes. Like Lyd, I have arthritis in my hands and really struggle with some of the foils but, muttering words under my breath, will not be defeated.
🥇Don I think you may have surpassed yourself with this rhyme. Thank you for putting into words (and very eloquent ones) what most of us must feel every Pill Day. Sunday is Pill Day for me. Sometimes the pills are round and other times they’re long narrow things. The strength varies so sometimes it’s one, or two, or half of one. Some foils are so strong the pill is pulverised in the pack trying to get it out. Other times it’s so thin the pill whizzes out and across the room and under a piece of furniture I know I’ve never cleaned underneath so I’m not going to start looking for the pill under there, anyway there are probably spiders and other beasts 🐉 Thank you for giving a voice to my pain!
I’ve just written to Iris saying I did mine on a Sunday too! We can sit there doing our pills with a feeling of togetherness.😂x
Oh this resonates with me Don. I get so fed up with this hated job. When they change brand they change size, shape and colour too it's easy to get them confused with others similar.
That's my sunday evening job too. I have a couple of 7day pillboxes. Brilliant purchase. My warfarin is 4 one day and 3 1/2 the next. Sildenafil is three a day, the only lunchtime tablet i have. Great little boxes
Great poem! True! I know! I always HATE to sort my pills once a week. I also did Jimmy's too, when he was alive! Now I get a mail order PILLPACK and they sort for me and all I have to do is cut open my 8:00 pack..take them....2:00 pack take them...then 8:00 PM and take them! A lot nicer! I only pay PILLPACK for my co-pay! Look them up!!! Janet127
Thanks Janet, I did look them up and couldn't help thinking 'If something looks too good to be true, it usually is'. My second thought was that it relies an awful lot on people who have proved themselves incompetent in the past. Perhaps someone here uses them and can give us some advice. The Americans are sometimes better at that type of service than us in the UK. 😉
I have enough boxes to do 4 weeks at a time. It takes an hour! I use my thumb nail to pierce the tougher foil. As for the size/colour change, well that's so annoying.
Any tablets that are mostly used by older people should have a minimum size - let's be honest most tablets have fillers in them so could be enlarged - us older folk often have difficult fingers and/or bad eyesight.
Standardising size and colour would help too. Not only those of us with finger/eye problems but any pill poppers. Easier for doctors too if a patient can't remember or pronounce the name of their pills they could say "The long white ones or the round blue ones".
The manufactures can't even agree on the number of pills to put in a box! I have a prescription for 30 and the box only has so 28 in it, so the chemist has to open another box to take two pills out to put in with the 28 and then change the description on the box from 28 to 30. Then there's one were my doctor says 28 of a type where there are 30 in a box so the chemist has to take two of the pills out. Goodness knows what he does with those!
These are people that we rely on to keep us healthy.
I know the feeling.but then I think how much better I feel than I did this time last year,when. I was newly diagnosed and didn’t know which way was up!
At the moment I am titrating steroids down,have just finished titrating immunosuppressants up,so haven’t been putting everything on the boxes.
Get sick of breaking my nails popping pills out of foil.
Hope you and Midge are ok.and keeping warm and well.
For those who have hand problems (or dementia) or just cannot get the damn small tablets out from the foil Pharmacists will do up a months worth of Dosette boxes at a time and deliver to you. I have to keep one long finger nail for dealing with the aluminium back to most of the tablet packs.
My local chemist has cut back on a lot of services that it used to provide. They are having trouble in making ends meet I suspect. I hear talk of them trying to pass on more of the GP's work on to them, the GP's already being pressed to deal with more A&E cases. I can envisage them extending the 'rescue pack' idea and issuing DIY packs to us all.
I remember years ago when we could repair our own cars DIY, they set up workshops for hire were you could take you car to repair it yourself in comfort. Do your own operations?😱
Don't we all Don! I take mine in the evening all together. Watching a TV programme makes it less of a chore. I wonder if they all fight together when they arrive in my stomache. The doctor prescribed me some multi vitamins. They are the size of horse tablets and I can't swallow them. I've tried cutting them in half but it's so much bother and the taste is awful. Keep well keep active. Chrys
Brilliant 😀
HAHAHA 😂
I just put two weeks worth into tiny compartmentalized boxes Don. Requires extreme concentration 😑. Then every few minutes I realize I've made a mistake somewhere and have to check ALL the little compartments for the stray (usually tiny) pill. And sometimes one makes a bouncy, skittish run for it and I have to dive on top of it before Chom sees. Thanks for another good poem xx 😊👋💊
Rogue pills must be found
If you have a dog around
Or if you are away from home
They cannot be allowed to roam.
😉😘x
That's my biggest fear with my Tara ... when they shoot out of the foil pack and skid across the floor ....my heart stops for fear she has snapped it up or I hunt under everything till I find it before she does.😱 😱😱I swear I'll die from a heart attack one of these days.xxx
I wouldn't worry to that extent, think about the trouble that dog owners have in getting them to eat their own pills. 😉
Know exactly how you fell Don x
Another great rhyme Don and “smack on the mark” as always.
I have a 28 day online repeat prescription plan through my GP & pharmacy.
Like a lot of other people here I also fill my AM & PM dosette boxes on Sunday afternoon.
Before putting the tablets into the separate daily compartments for the week, I open up a checkered tea-towel onto the table then lay out the full weeks requirement in daily columns using the squares before filling the box 1 day at a time.
Like others I also use my nail to pierce the tougher foils so as to prevent as far as possible pills flying out onto the floor.
The tea towel is a great idea to stop the little blighters from bouncing all over the place, I shall certainly pinch that one. Just imagine there must be hundreds, nay, thousands of us sitting there on a Sunday filling our little boxes!
YOU ARE NEVER ALONE WITH A DOSETTE 😂
LOL
It always happens at the same time!
Now the Dog is on Steriods!!
Episode Four...The Goldfish and The Parrot
The Planning Begins...
