It can be aggravating, confusing—and unhealthy.

Many people have daily medications but don’t get into a good habit of taking them on time. This can be caused by any number of factors—being too busy with other things, not having medications handy, or even by the changes in how you feel if meds aren’t taken regularly.

But there are a number of simple things you can do to manage your medications and when you take them. Here are some tips:

  1. Make your medicine a habit.  Many people exercise at the same time each day, take a coffee break at the same time, or do other “habitual” tasks. Teach yourself to approach your medicine the same way.  If you starting taking your meds as an occasional thing, but now it’s a daily prescription, you may simply have not trained yourself properly. Pick a time each day for your medicine (or vitamins), and follow the routine until it becomes a comfortable habit.
  2. Use the technology at your fingertips. Many of us walk around with smartphones, that can do many things for us—including reminding us when it’s time to take that pill. There are even apps you can add to your phone that help you manage your medicines. An alarm or prompt may be all you need to stay on schedule.
  3. Use pill boxes. Daily pill boxes are super-cheap and can help you remember whether or not you took your daily dose. Also, the routine of filling them one a week can be a good reminder.
  4. Get help from a family member or friend. Know somebody’s who is super-detailed? Then ask for his or her help when getting into your medication routine. A quick nudge from a human many help you respond better than a prompt from a phone or other machine.
  5. Let your pharmacist help.  At Peachtree Pharmacy, we help a lot of our patients stay on medication schedules by providing blister-packs of prescriptions broken out into daily doses. Each blister includes the name of the medication and the date it should be taken. We can even provide blister packs for vitamins.

    Blister packs can be especially convenient for people who have trouble handling pills, or who don’t have the time to fill pill boxes (and if you’ve ever dropped a pill box with open compartments, you know you can wind up with a confusing mess.)

    Blister packs can also be extremely helpful for people who are helping others take medication, and many nursing homes require that patient prescriptions are provided in blister packs so that caregivers know when to administer meds—and so that the facility has an extra level of documentation to make sure patients are getting the best care.

Want to know more? Give us a call at 678.691.9079, or ask during your next visit.