"Thanks OH, Best Gadget Ever!": Do you have a hard... - PMRGCAuk

PMRGCAuk

20,304 members38,036 posts

"Thanks OH, Best Gadget Ever!"

51 Replies

Do you have a hard time getting your Pred (or other pills) out of those "blister packs?" I do, especially the 1 mg Pred, which are tiny...

My husband bought this on Amazon and I thought it was going to be another silly "gadget," that wouldn't work and I'd end up throwing it away... but I found that IT WORKS REALLY WELL! It's easy to use and gets all your pills out of that blister pack, fast and in one piece!

There are numerous styles available, at a range of different prices. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

51 Replies
Telian profile image
Telian

We’ve got one too! xxxx

Jeromekjerome profile image
Jeromekjerome

thanks for the tip - this looks like a life changer!!!!!

PMRpro profile image
PMRproAmbassador

I don't find ordinary blister packs a problem - but the aluminium pack for the Pradaxa capsules is downright evil! This is an anticoagulant - and you are guaranteed to cut your fingers on the sharp edges! It's the same principle as those bits on microwave packs where there is the tiny bit of plastic to make a tab to get hold of the foil to peel it back - which rarely works to get your finger on it! And you must keep it in the foil until you take it.

JanboC profile image
JanboC

Just ordered one! Thanks Melissa, I tend to break my nails popping the blister packs, my nail technician will be so pleased. xx

in reply to JanboC

Hahahahahaha!

in reply to JanboC

Mine end up stuck behind my thumb nail sometimes & then l’m looking for them!

JanboC profile image
JanboC in reply to

So funny! I can just picture you looking all over for them. Haha xx

in reply to JanboC

And, l’m shortsighted...... 💅🏼 👩🏻‍🏫

JanboC profile image
JanboC in reply to

Oh dear, shouldn't laugh, but I can't help it lol.😁😁😁

in reply to JanboC

It’s a Deep Joy, that’s why l don’t particularly get on well with tablet splitters.......

Missing 0.5mg hiding behind my nails, so that’s why l use the 2.5mg & make the doses up the current dose, which is easy at the moment as it’s 12.5mg......

in reply to

That’s actually really funny!!!!!! I can just picture it!

Hollyseden profile image
Hollyseden in reply to

🤭 sorry to laugh but....,

suzy1959 profile image
suzy1959

Looks good!

peace_lover profile image
peace_lover

I wish I’d known about those when I did my Mum’s tablets, many years ago. She had some evil packs and my arthritic fingers didn’t like them one bit! But it was years ago and I didn’t use the internet as much then, so wouldn’t have found them... 🙁

Koalajane profile image
Koalajane

This may seem a strange question but what are they called so I can look for it in amazon plesse

peace_lover profile image
peace_lover in reply to Koalajane

Try pill popper or pill puncher, popper sometimes gives you the one you give cats/dogs pills with...

HeronNS profile image
HeronNS

I can't believe this. Seriously, your 1 mg pred comes in blister packs????

in reply to HeronNS

Yep!

HeronNS profile image
HeronNS in reply to

Excuse me while I slap my forehead and say good grief, why? No wonder the world is drowning in garbage.

in reply to HeronNS

No idea, always has been as long l’ve been taking them, it’s rare to get loose Meds except maybe at the Hospital but that only happened with my Methotrexate.......

Are you still at your Daughters, how’s the little one? xxx

HeronNS profile image
HeronNS in reply to

Back late yesterday - almost five hours late, apparently we had two engines and should have had three, and one of those caught fire so we ran on reduced power much of the time until repairs took place in Moncton new Brunswick. Also , because there is only one track East of Quebec City, the passenger train has to wait on a siding while a freight train passes and we were only an hour from Halifax when we had to wait half an hour for one of these things. The announcer at the end said, as we approached the terminal, Now, ladies and gentlemen this is the moment we have all been waiting for. We will be in Halifax in ten minutes.... It was nearly 11 and the train was due at 6. We always expect some delay because of this problem with sharing the track, but this was ridiculous so I've fired off a letter to their customer relations department. They did give us supper, which normally is not included nor needed as we arrive earlier. And, vegetarian though I am, I ate more than half my piece of rather delicious St Hubert chicken. But not enough recompense for such a long delay.

The baby is a real darling, mostly full of smiles and happiness, although like all infants she has her moments. She is trying to get up on all fours to crawl, but it's still too hard for her and the cries of frustration would be heartbreaking except they were also kind of funny, because we know how hard she's working and she'll get there soon! Apparently she's been fussy since we left. She needs her grandparents!

My extremely painful shoulder has much improved and I seem little the worse for wear from many hours on the train. I think walking half the length of the train quite often was helpful. Somehow in two days on trains I managed to walk nearly 13,000 steps, which included quite a bit of strolling around the Montreal terminal. I had been tempted to halt my taper while away, but I kept on with no adverse effects. :)

SheffieldJane profile image
SheffieldJane in reply to HeronNS

Buried in your story of a pretty horrendous train journey, lurked that burgeoning, grandparent love and pride. They are programmed to love and need us and as soon as they can speak, they say so.

Wishing you a peaceful, happy Christmas and a wonderful 2020. 🎄

HeronNS profile image
HeronNS in reply to SheffieldJane

<3 Yes, and it's so hard to leave and know I won't see her for months.

in reply to HeronNS

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Nightmare. Except for the BABY part... how old is she and what's her name?

HeronNS profile image
HeronNS in reply to

Shes 4.5 months. I'll private message.

linda49 profile image
linda49 in reply to HeronNS

With the exception of my Adcal/D3 which are supplied in a tub, all my other meds are supplied in blister packs! That gadget looks like a great idea.

HeronNS profile image
HeronNS in reply to linda49

A person can request all their meds be put into a properly dated and timed blister pack, which I see could be handy for someone on multiple meds. It's not free, though, you have to pay to have them do it for you and I think it's quite expensive. But those teeny little pred pills, all of which are going to be freed from their little coffins to be put into a dosette container, that does seem unnecessary. I think the only meds we'd automatically be given in blister packs would be the kind which need to be protected from air until swallowed. I note that some otc tablets, like allergy meds, are in blister packs, but not things like aspirin, tylenol, etc.

GOOD_GRIEF profile image
GOOD_GRIEF in reply to HeronNS

The only medication I ever took that came in blister packs was birth control pills.

I left instructions at the pharmacy to stop putting our meds in bottles with child proof caps. No children live in our house, and we can't get the da*ned things open.

HeronNS profile image
HeronNS in reply to GOOD_GRIEF

Oh I know what you mean about "child proof" caps, should be called "senior proof"!

HeronNS profile image
HeronNS in reply to GOOD_GRIEF

You're in the US, right? Maybe the blister packs are a UK or European thing?

SheffieldJane profile image
SheffieldJane in reply to HeronNS

Everything I take comes in a blister pack. 1 mg Pred just doesn’t push through, neither does 25 micrograms of Thyroxine. It takes me the best part of an hour to fill my pill boxes for the week. With all my little white pills, the margin for error is huge. How on earth do people with difficulties cope?

PMRpro profile image
PMRproAmbassador in reply to HeronNS

It depends on the medication and supplier. My enteric coated pred was always supplied in blister packs and then suddenly I was dispensed a few hundred tablets from a loose source. Which would have been fine - except the 5mg batch didn't work, the 2.5mg lot were fine. In blister packs they can trace them back without any problem.

HeronNS profile image
HeronNS in reply to PMRpro

I've always assumed that the pharmacy has a record of where a given prescription came from. I should ask them some time just out of curiosity. Also maybe our supply is, at least for now, more reliable than what they've been getting in the UK. I'm pretty sure my 1 mg have always been from the same (Canadian) manufacturer.

in reply to HeronNS

I’m in US and my pharmacy tried to give me blister packs. I complained loudly as arthritic hands couldn’t open. Took them back. They opened all and put in bottle. Now bottled always.

JanboC profile image
JanboC in reply to HeronNS

I have 5mg, 2.5mg and 1mg. All in blister packs.

Suet3942 profile image
Suet3942 in reply to HeronNS

Mine too.

linda49 profile image
linda49

I want one of those Melissa. What is it called please?

peace_lover profile image
peace_lover in reply to linda49

Try pill popper or pill pincher

SheffieldJane profile image
SheffieldJane

Genius. Bought one and a gadget for removing lids and bottle tops, and a set of snowflake fairy lights for my stag’s head antlers, as is the way with Amazon. I got free postage, so I won............ 🤔

in reply to SheffieldJane

Hahahahahahaha, a win/win!

Cross-stitcher profile image
Cross-stitcher

Not only do all my meds come in blister packs, they have now started sealing the cardboard boxes with selotape (or similar) at both ends, which needs nail scissors to open it. Child-safety gone mad, I think. I hate putting all those empty blister packs in the landfill rubbish each month and am thinking of taking them back to the chemist each month and asking them to find a way to recycle them.

in reply to Cross-stitcher

That drives me mad, it seems to be something that’s happened this year? And, it’s the info with the Expiry Date on etc, which is very annoying if it’s not something you will use up in a week or a month.....

Thelmarina profile image
Thelmarina

Thank you so much! I had to laugh. I was searching for pill poppers while popping my pills - which popped all over my duvet 🤣 Still looking for them..can’t wait to pop in an orderly fashion ( and have ordered same for my brother who has similar popping problems). 🌺

PMRpro profile image
PMRproAmbassador in reply to Thelmarina

At least you didn't have to pop to the shop for your popper ...

Thelmarina profile image
Thelmarina in reply to PMRpro

I’m fizzing now 😂

PMRpro profile image
PMRproAmbassador in reply to Thelmarina

Bubbling over so to speak

Thelmarina profile image
Thelmarina in reply to PMRpro

🥳

S4ndy profile image
S4ndy

Asking Santa to get me one of those please! Will save many scrambles around the floor to find escapee tablets that ping out! Thanks Melissa x

Melodyvine profile image
Melodyvine

Please will you send a link (if that’s allowed?) as they seem to have varying reviews on Amazon?

in reply to Melodyvine

Ohhh, I really have no idea which one my husband bought me, but it looks like this:

amazon.co.uk/Remover-Tablet...

Jackoh profile image
Jackoh

Thanks for this xx

You may also like...

Does this tiredness ever go?

I do something silly, like picking something heavy up. The feeling of being wiped out is getting...

Done it again Will I ever Learn.

following doctors order. Took 5mg coming down from 10 mg pred. By 10.15 pm could stand it know...

Thank you for advice resulting in sig+ difference

get out of bed most mornings without knowing I have PMR. I can only conclude that whilst the pred...

Oh dear! It must be a flare.

on today. I have therefore not been reducing the Pred. for quite a while- on 11mgs. However, I...

Oh well, back to Pred.

3.5mg. Test was good and he told me to come off *Pred straight away. Did this and for the first few...