Ideas welcome: organizing tablets and capsules in a sensible way

[stylecomfy]

Medication is taking over my kitchen! Boxes and bottles of pills are collecting on the counter, driving me crazy and I need to do a clean-up. Before I start, I need some fresh ideas on how to organize oral medications. Goals:

1) Easy to store, and out of sight (and thus protected from heat etc)
2) Not let the older meds reach their expiry dates
3) Easy to use every day and take on schedule as prescribed whether it is daily, bi-daily, Mon/Wed/Fri, weekly and all the infinite combinations of these
4) See what is running low, so have time to reorder

I have a good system for organizing my inhaled meds: all of the extra stock lives in a cupboard sorted by type, and I refill my big plastic box ([url]http://cysticfibrosis.com/treatment_box/)[/URL] once a week. This works because restocking it only takes a minute, and my inhaled schedule is the same every day.

But somehow this strategy has not worked great for oral meds because of all the variations. The pills are small and of course they need to stay hygienic...I have a few of those plastic pill boxes with the dividers and it worked well for a while. But if I don't remember to pack out each week's tablets ahead of time, the whole system falls flat. At the moment I just take each dose straight from the bottle or box, which is okay but I have to rely on my flaky memory. I once had a chart that I ticked off but it was a bit too high-maintenance (although I did like seeing how compliant I was in reality versus in my imagination). Creon is the only thing that is not a problem, as I have several bottles everywhere and it is second nature.

Any suggestions? Do you pack out each week's stuff ahead of time? By time of day? A box for current meds, and another box for extra stock?
Looking forward to hearing any thoughts

 

[kenna2]

I have two sets of big med boxes for each day of the week (https://www.curediva.com/weekly-4-compartments-per-day-organizer.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAzZHEBRD0ivi9_pDzgYMBEiQAtvxt-O66NvyBU7ILMz4CHncxKp4hc4NLDrmjIvAG92nkE-QaAkXI8P8HAQ) and so that way i'm not refilling every week and it's not so much of a chore. When it comes to keeping all my oral medications and Port access supplies, I have a cupboard that I keep all my orals in and keep them in line like you would see products lined up in a grocery store (my retail experience coming in handy here lol). Since I get a 90 day supply of meds, I wait until I have about a weeks left of meds left in the bottle before reordering. That way nothing expires. I keep all my meds that I use daily (like enzymes, my seizure med, and vitamins) all on one shelf and another is designated for meds that I use as needed or once a week. That way I can focus on the faster moving meds.

When it comes to taking my oral meds, I leave that days med box on the kitchen table right where I always sit so I don't forget. I take all my night time meds at the same time when I take my Orkambi. That way it's easy to remember what time and it keeps me on schedule. If you keep all your meds in one area like I do, I've found it's easier to see everything and remember to take everything because it's all in one location that you'll frequent all day every day.

 

[stylecomfy]

Hi Kenna2, thanks for the great reply, love it! The boxes you link to look good, even though it means packing out one or two weeks' ahead of time (extra admin upfront) I do like that it saves time during the week. And that they are large enough to hold several tablets, and separate the different doses to be taken at different times of the day which takes out all the guess work.

And I do like the idea of the cupboard stacked like products in a grocery store...same type of item together, neatly in a row and separating the regular and occasional stuff this will make it easy to keep tabs of everything and order at the right time. You could then pack the older stuff to the front.

Thanks, great suggestions

 

[erock77]

I only arrived to a system I'm pretty happy with in the last couple years. I used to dispense pills each time, usually twice/day. I moved to the weekly pill boxes where I spend like 10 minutes w/ some entertainment in the background dispensing once per week. Then I usually take them w/ breakfast & dinner, since the vitamins & such digest better w/ food and enzymes. It's so much simpler and I can't imagine going back. Then I bought a breadbox perfectly sized to fit all my bottles I currently use. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GS8NX6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I use mail order autorefill the scripts, so anything new goes into a shelf of the hallway closet. When I'm dispensing pills weekly I discover I'm low and bring out a new bottle from the closet, or in rare instances call in a refill.

 

[stylecomfy]

Hi erock77 thanks for the input. I liked the idea of storing all the bottles currently in use together, which would make dispensing easier - either daily from the bottle or with the weekly pill boxes.

UPDATE: I finally sorted out all the meds today and I'm feeling so much better!

I ended up doing a combination of things:
• All currently taking meds are now in a large plastic container with the pill boxes, in an easy-to-see part of the kitchen cupboard
• All extra meds are stored 'grocery isle' style by type in a cupboard away from the rest
• I separated the types of meds. I used smaller boxes for all the chronic CF prescription meds, labeled them and sorted so it is one type of med per box so nothing can get untidy. So there is a large box just for the Creon, smaller one for Vitamin E bottles, etc.
• I was faced with a problem; I had a lot of extra meds I often use but they are not CF prescription stuff and may be used by other people in my house. For these I created a few extra containers labeled "Pain, inflammation" "Indigestion" "Hayfever" "Colds and Flu" and sorted the meds accordingly, also in the easy-to-see part of the kitchen cupboard
• There is only one box for random meds I use very occasionally, hidden away with the extra meds

I'll attach a pic if I can



(ignore the attached thumbnail images which are upside down)

 

[jricci]

Thanks for all the tips.
Thought I'd share a CFF blog post that gives some great ideas for organizing CF stuff in general:
https://www.cff.org/CF-Community-Blog/Posts/2017/6-Tips-for-Staying-Organized-With-CF/

 

[stylecomfy]

Hi jricci, thanks for sharing that link! Agreed, she shared some great tips and the photos were very helpful.

Just an update (again) - I feel I'm getting there with the oral meds situation now, so far my rearranged stash of meds is working well and I find taking the tablets very quick and simple. I changed around some meds yesterday after seeing my doctor, so I am glad I only dispensed 2 weeks' worth...I am thinking weekly or bi weekly may be a perfect amount to dispense to accommodate any unforeseen changes.