Chronic Living Blog

It’s pretty common for people to fall into a routine and forget a step. Things like taking medicine happen every day and it’s easy to forget if you did it already. This could happen while thinking about your day or getting interrupted.

People sometimes blame being forgetful or overwhelmed. Sometimes they are scared if they are ‘losing it.’ It’s completely normal! It happens to everybody.

However, missing a dose or taking extra if you are unsure can have consequences. You might have side effects from either error. If they are making you worry, call up your doctor for advice.

Here are some tips to avoid a med error.

1. Use a pill organizer. They often come labeled with the day of the week. Some have 2 or 3 rows for morning, evening, and bedtime medicine.
2. Color code. Use a color for time of day. You can use sharpies, stickers, or colored containers. Example: Blue: morning. Red: Evening. Green: as needed.
3. Placement. Move the bottle between two places as you use them, like from a top shelf to a low shelf, or front to back in a row.
4. Mark it off. Use your medication list and make a check after you take the dose for the day. There is one you can use in Printables.
5. Set a reminder. Smart phones come with apps that will remind you to take your dose. Samsung and Apple have excellent health tracking apps that include medication reminders. Search the app store if you want to try others.
6. Pill minders. You can get lids with timers or indicators to help your remember your meds from your pharmacy. Ask your pharmacist what is available to you.