There I am carrying on as normal. la la la la la ……and then get up on Monday morning and find I have 3 tablets left of my Alzheimer’s medication!
On Monday’s I usually get all my medication drugs out with my weekly drugs box and methodically fill the day boxes, morning and evening with the medication that I take along with my vitamins C, D, and E.
I find it easier to to sort out my medication on a Monday morning because it feels like the beginning of my week. No longer working, each day is the same so often I have no idea what the day is. Is that a problem or a symptom of my Alzheimer’s, no idea but I reckon it is the same for many who have retired. When you don’t work the weekend is much the same as the weekdays and it soon merges into weekdays other.
So come Monday morning I know that my weekly routine is to get all the drugs and vitamins I take and on a tray and fill my daily boxes, but found to my horror that I had forgotten to order a prescription and had only 3 tablets left.
Yeah yeah yeah I hear you say what’s the big deal. This is the medication I take for my Alzheimer’s and although it will not ‘cure’ it, it prolongs its affect on me (hopefully). It says you should not miss a dose…actually why would I want to miss a dose? No, I want to keep taking it so as I can prolong my demise as long as possible.
Forgetting to take my medication is a factor of this disease! Forgetting daily routines is a symptom of this disease.
I asked for an urgent prescription, and collected it this afternoon. I asked about having blister packs being made up for my two prescription medication to make it easier for me to remember, but somehow the pharmacist failed to understand. “Yes but if you put it in daily boxes, it is easy to remember to take it?
I don’t know; she is being rational but it is hard for me to say: ‘look, sometimes I find it hard to remember to take them, maybe if they are in a blister pack, which is bigger than my small weekly drugs boxes would help me remember’.
‘There are apps you can download on your phone’, the pharmacist said ‘to remind you’ My immediate thought was a phone noise irritating the hell out of me, but not necessarily making me get up and immediately take my medication.
I might pursue blister packs because it means I will not run out of my medication because I only have to remember to order them once.
Goodness, it should never be hard to remember to take/order medication but reality is that it is for someone like me.
Handbagwarrior; verbal ramblings 
LOL; I fill my little boxes on Sunday but forgot to take any pills, so forgot to fill them, so did not discover I only had one little jewel of an Aricept left. So very glad they got mine filled immediately just like yours!! Shout out a grateful “Thank you” to our prompt pharmacists. Two happy girls here! ((Giant sigh of relief with happy face)). :D. — your fellow forgetful friend, True
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
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Right there with you Truthful, it is rubbish having a rubbish memory 🙂
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I’m glad they did an emergency prescription for you but it is frustrating that they cannot see separating your pills into your boxes yourself is another thing for you to have to remember. If you forget to put them in the boxes then you are more likely to forget to take them and that can be a serious problem for anyone on meds, not just for dementia. At least in blister packs they are usually marked clearly with the day you are up to (unless you take the wrong day like I’ve seen many clients do, and not just those with dementia(!) and then start taking tablets here, there and everywhere!)
Also, I feel my maternity leave makes the weekends irrelevant because every day feels the same anyway, especially when my partner has school holidays (he is a teacher) because then I haven’t got the weekend to look forward to a break courtesy of “daddy daycare” because he’s also then there every day anyway, which is the case at the moment. I’m back to work at the end of the month though and Groundhog Day will finally end!
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How often do we say “I wish I had more time at home” – I did before stopping work, then when you do you seem to lose the benefit of all those lovely days to fill!
Its great when you finally realise that the days don’t matter any more, its the enjoyment you get through doing something you would normally not have time for! When your Groundhog Day has ended, you know you will be wishing for more time at home to spend with your family 😉
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That’s probably very true!!!
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Hi, recently I have become one of your regular followers and I enjoy your blog very much. I hope you don’t mind, but I have nominated you for the “Quintet of Radiance Award” — I hope you will accept it. You will find my nomination at: http://alzheimerswife.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/the-quintet-of-radiance-award/
Nancy
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Sorry Nancy, not sure how I missed this.
Thank you that is such a lovely thought. I am not sure I can follow the rules of the awards as the first one was such a struggle. But I am so touched that you have thought of me. 🙂
Gill
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Would something like this be of help, do you think? We got one for MIL, but it seemed to lead to more confusion on her part (she couldn’t work out how to stop the alarm by putting the lid back down), but then she has never been au fait with technology even before Alzheimers, and hear it helps some people…
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TabTime-Automatic-Dispenser-Medication-Alzheimers/dp/B0087Z780K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407924403&sr=8-1&keywords=automatic+pill+dispenser+with+alarm
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I have seen those, but I am not sure that would help in remembering to re-order my prescriptions…think I might have a look as phone apps to see if there is one that might remind me.
Thanks for the suggestion.
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LOL.
Sorry, but I think this post is hilarious.
With my intermittent memory, my elderly 88 yr old Mother said to me (before she passed away in 2012 with perfect memory), write it down. Write it down. And then you can use the notes as a reminder of what to do/shop etc.
Trouble is that I forget to read my notes.
I take sublingual B12 every day. I don’t have below normal B12 test results, but it seems to help my memory. I used to have daily B12 injections at my local medical clinic when I was still working. The injections seemed to really work for improved memory and also for energy. Alas, when I retired and my heart condition became worse, I could no longer afford B12 injections (living on a Govt. Disability Pension) or walk to the medical clinic in our summer heatwave.
I stick to a rigid routine of getting up, putting the kettle on for my one & only black espresso coffee and then get out my vitamin supplements, calcium and prescription meds. and putting them on the kitchen bench. But one phone call or distraction and diversion from ‘the routine’ and I can’t remember whether I put them out, took them or not. Then I sit down and turn the computer on and read all my emails. I don’t delete any message until I’ve answered it, or done the task my email reminds me of. I’ve even sent myself an email to read the following day.
Rigid routine and repetition is the only way to go at the moment.
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Ha ha with you there all the way!
Calendars – tried them all, one on my phone, one on my laptop, and of course a paper one…If I remember to fill it/them in, great I can get a reminder, otherwise forget it.
I have a whiteboard in the kitchen with the word MEDICATION written on – never look at it!
Stick with the routines.
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I’ll have to follow your blog (even though I have just UNfollowed about 50 blogs as I kept running out of time to read them). Twice a week I could delete all email ne post blog notifications to give myself a ‘rest’.
I can soooo relate to your Alzheimers symptoms.
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