Weekly pill container

beautifulsoul

Super Moderator
Nothing says it's the end of the week like an empty pill container! Is it just me or does time just fly by? It seems like I just filled my meds a few days ago. How many of you have weekly storage or do you just take them straight from the bottle? I never had a weekly container until after my transplant. It's highly recommend so you don't forget to take your very important anti-rejection meds everyday. I think it's a good way to teach the young ones about their meds. Thoughts?
 

Aboveallislove

Super Moderator
We do straight from the bottle but most are oral...only enzymes are pills...ds keeps us on track if we forget something and has since 4! "Mom don't forget my vitamins". "Pulmozyme pulmozyme pulmozyme". "We didn't do qvar" yet.
 

beautifulsoul

Super Moderator
We do straight from the bottle but most are oral...only enzymes are pills...ds keeps us on track if we forget something and has since 4! "Mom don't forget my vitamins". "Pulmozyme pulmozyme pulmozyme". "We didn't do qvar" yet.

That is great!! He will do well on his own :) CFers need to learn to be independent starting young.
 

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
We already go over all his meds with him and what they're for and he puts on his vest and turns it on along with his nebulizer. He's a little shaky on putting meds in the med cups and remembering how many enzymes to take. In the coming days when things settle down at home in terms of activities we're going to work on him doing everything by himself because this fall he'll get home from school half hour to an hour before we get home from work. So there's no reason he can't grab a snack, his meds, enzymes and do his vest before we get home.
 

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
When ds was still on liquid meds -- some 3-4 times a day, I'd measure up oral syringes for the day the night before and keep them in a baggy in the fridge. Kept me from forgetting, and was a little better organized. Because everything was flippin' pink (Keflex, actigall, azithromycin, septra) I had different colored syringes and different sizes. Plus the vitamin dropper for the adeks always leaked and by the time I got it into his mouth, half would be on the floor and the dog would lick it up. Ugh! I also emptied out a meal dosage of enzyme beads in individual pill boxes (weekly one), so I could just dump them on a spoon for the middle of the night bottle feeds.
 

beautifulsoul

Super Moderator
When ds was still on liquid meds -- some 3-4 times a day, I'd measure up oral syringes for the day the night before and keep them in a baggy in the fridge. Kept me from forgetting, and was a little better organized. Because everything was flippin' pink (Keflex, actigall, azithromycin, septra) I had different colored syringes and different sizes. Plus the vitamin dropper for the adeks always leaked and by the time I got it into his mouth, half would be on the floor and the dog would lick it up. Ugh! I also emptied out a meal dosage of enzyme beads in individual pill boxes (weekly one), so I could just dump them on a spoon for the middle of the night bottle feeds.

My dad used to do that with the liquid meds, draw it up for me before he left for work Or he would take a sharpie and mark on the plastic vial/cup where I had to fill it up to. The different colored syringes is such a good idea with all the pink!! I don't think I would have thought of that. Very thoughtful ideas!
 
K

kenna2

Guest
Since my diagnosis at age 7, I've been using weekly med boxes. It's helped in so many ways and I don't forget. This is a must do for all CF patients
 
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kgfrompa

Guest
I do a two week at a time and this gives me a break from looking at the week going by so fast I have even thought of getting another refill case and doing three weeks at a time it gives me the break i need!
 

leecee

New member
I bought one of those for my daughter last year in an effort to remind her without my help. Not working very well. I think its because she was diagnosed at 12 and is now 14. I get "push back" from her for everything from treatments to meds. It sounds like the kids who were diagnosed at a younger age are more responsible than my teen right now.
 
K

kenna2

Guest
No, I think as teenagers we all go through a rebellious stage. We want to appear normal so someone will date us and become more self aware of how we appear. We are sick and tired of all the meds we have to do. This normal, we do eventually grow out of it. We just have to accept what we are dealing with. I started seeing a therapist during my teenage years and it helped me out a lot. Also, from my experience my parents nagging didn't help. it just made me rebel more. Just remind them that if they don't take their meds that they run the risk of not being healthy enough to take new medications that are coming out in the future.
 
J

jamest

Guest
I do a two week at a time and this gives me a break from looking at the week going by so fast I have even thought of getting another refill case and doing three weeks at a time it gives me the break i need!
I do this as well. I know Walgreens/Target sells a weekly pill case that has slots for morning, noon, evening, and bedtime. Or something like that. Just picture four rows of weekly slots. I use that to cover 2 weeks at a time, that way I barely ever think of it.
 
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The Dot

Guest
I'm an RT - not a CFer - but I take 25-30 pills daily for Sjogren's/RA/Lupus/Addison's. If I did not fill my weekly pill box, I would never know when I missed something. Sometimes, I can be feeling bad and just go look in the box and figure out that I forgot something (I really notice when I leave out my steroid)! It also helps me to know when I need to order something from the pharmacy. Since I fill the box weekly, I have at least a week's worth of meds on hand at all times. As long as I do not have to get a new script, I can order refills from my 90-day pharmacy and have them within a few days. What gets hard is trying to fill pill boxes for a 2-week vacation! Since I take Tramadol, and that is now consider a controlled substance, I cannot have it filled until I am down to the last few. Thankfully, I have new Rheumy who is starting me on Gabapentin in the hopes of weaning me off the Tramadol. That will make life much easier!!!
 

beautifulsoul

Super Moderator
It also helps me to know when I need to order something from the pharmacy.

Ditto! I'm really bad at remembering to refill meds. My pharmacy offers automatic refill options. I have that for most of my meds.

Very rarely do I accidentally drop the weekly container on the floor and pills go flying every where. Such a pain to try and find them all. Has this happened to anyone else?!?

Leecee - Your daughter is at that typical teenage stage. She will eventually come around. Remind her of all the great things she CAN still do if she takes her meds rather than what will happen if she DOESN'T.
 

tharris

New member
My son, 18, is off to college next week :-( . I bought him a weekly pill container (it's HUGE) and it seems to be working out pretty well. We'll see how well he does on his own with meds, treatments, etc. Praying and hoping for the best.
 
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The Dot

Guest
Very rarely do I accidentally drop the weekly container on the floor and pills go flying every where. Such a pain to try and find them all. Has this happened to anyone else?!?

OMG - I dropped mine once and was hysterical! There's like 200 pills in there - and I had to sort through them and get them back in the right box - what a nightmare!!!
 
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