Help with taking medications

[Johnnie55]

Any suggestions on how to consistently take my meds? I am not a professional pill taker ad I should be and can admit that I often do not take them just because. They are many and I won't take them even if they are in arms length. With a condition like sickle cell diesease you would think I would be running to them but I an just now receiving the benefits I should have had as a child and was brought up not taking anything for my illness. Any suggestions would be useful.

[Hidden]

You can set an alarm on your phone to remind you to take your tablets - I do that when I'm on antibiotics. There are various apps that will remind you, and I think the best ones can even tell you which pill to take when. The other thing you can do is buy one of those pill boxes that have individual containers for each day of the week, and fill them up each week. Some pharmacies even do that for you, although I'm not sure which ones (your GP might know). It's really a matter of getting into routine.

[Scaredy_cat]

Is it just getting the admin right like mrsredboots says or is their a psychological reason for it? Or do you have difficulty swallowing?

[Johnnie55 in reply to Scaredy_cat]

Im sorry im late but im glad you asked.. im thinking more psychological. I have spoken to many therapist and counselors about it. As i had stated, i just received my ssi and ssdi benefits when i shouldve had them as a child and that was even told to me by the social security admin. I used to take cod liver oil pills for crisis attacks which did nothing but my family grew up believing they helped. I cant still even get over the fact that i have medication AT HOME that i can take just in case i have a crisis. That was not the case growing, the complete opposite. I sure could've used these benefits growing up. I lived at the childrens hospital of the kings daughters. I went as far as getting them to give me a nurse aide to assist me (along with some household tasks) to take my meds but again, they didn't last long because im not used to that kind of help. I feel like a grumpy old man who doesnt like anything but its because i was late knowing this. Ive been in the army, shipyards, doing the most grueling jobs in the harshest environments thinking there was no help. I believecthats why im not as enthusiastic about taking my meds as everyone else. Any suggestions?

[Mazcd Partner MPNVoice]

Hi Johnnie55, as you were brought up not taking anything for your illness, and are now seeing the benefits to your health by taking your medication, perhaps talking to your doctor about this might help, to help you to reinforce that your medication is benefiting you and that it is ok to take it. Best wishes, Maz

[Johnnie55 in reply to Mazcd]

Thank you. See my response to scardy cat.

[Borage]

It is just routine here. I do my weekly pill box and take my daily tablets with my porridge in the morning. Minimum fuss, Done!

My husband does forget his evening tablet occasionally. He does not want to go back downstairs and disturb the dog, so he keeps a strip of them by the bed to have one with his bedtime mug of tea.

For difficulty swallowing tablets, take a sip of fluid into your mouth add a tablet and swallow it with the fluid.

I used to feel vexed with baby-voiced women who would eat crisps easily but then say they couldn’t swallow tablets and demanded all their medication as liquid. When asked, they all said their Daddy had told them to put the tablet on the back of their tongue and then take a sip of water. Of course they had gagged, so they refused all tablets, with lots of childish pulling faces and fuss. It was as if refusing the tablet was part of being Daddy’s little girl!

[Johnnie55 in reply to Borage]

Thank you. I lnow what you mean. See my response to scardy cat.

[BlastedKnees]

I use my phone for reminders. There's an app for iOS called Medisafe. It's free and you can set reminders for different medications, different frequencies for taking medications, etc. As an added benefit, it has an interaction checker to look for unsafe interactions between your medicines.

On the psychology side, it's helpful to have a mental model that drives the behavior to take the medicine you need. My personal view is to treat everything as a battle - MPN is waging a war internally and I need to combat that. My arsenal is a combination of medicine, diet, and exercise. When I get lazy on any one of those, I frame it as losing ground in the battle and my redoubled efforts are retaking ground or at least stopping the advance of enemy troops. Seems silly but it's an easy way for me to frame my health and motivate myself to combat anything that will decrease my quality of life.

[Johnnie55 in reply to BlastedKnees]

Your respose helped alot. My response to scardy cat might make what i was saying clear but you hit it on the nose.

[Cja1956]

I have a pillbox labeled with each day of the week. One side is AM and the other side is PM. I keep it in the bathroom so when I wash up, it’s right there and I remember to take my pills. I fill it up weekly.

[trotty100]

I am a notoriously reluctant pill taker, will use alternatives for pain relief I also have difficulty in swallowing. (however)I do not have any problems in taking my mpn tablets as I know how important this is for my health , capsules remain a problem and when on hydroxycarbanide I had to very carefully open capsules and mix with orange solution. I am now on tablets (Ruxo) which is much easier. I take with breakfast and evening meal as a daily routine.

I hope you will find your way around this and wish you well.

Margaret.

[Scaredy_cat]

It seems to me that you would benefit from CBT(cognitive behaviour therapy) to help you through this or a trusted friend to try and help you decipher what you can do