Taking prescription medication on a daily basis is yet one more thing to remember. It may be no big deal if you have a good memory or are a highly structured person who follows the same routine day in and day out. But for some people, remembering to take their medications requires quite a bit of effort. They can easily forget if there is nothing there to remind them.
It is also no secret that older people struggle with prescription drugs. Forgetting to take their medications can be especially troublesome due to their advanced age and the medical conditions they are dealing with. Unfortunately, there is no perfect strategy for remembering. But there are some things people have tried, and done, successfully.
If you are having trouble remembering to take your medications, consider the five suggestions listed below. They are compliments of Canada Pharmacy, an online pharmacy that ship directly to US consumers.
1. Buy a Daily Pill Dispenser
One of the oldest tools for keeping track of daily medications is the pill dispenser. Usually made of plastic, a pill dispenser is merely a container with seven different compartments. Each labelled compartment represents one day of the week. You distribute your medications by putting one pill in each compartment. Then you place the dispenser in a location where you will see it every day.
The main advantage of this solution is its simplicity. It doesn’t require any special knowledge or technical skill. Best of all, labelling the compartments according to the day of the week makes it a lot easier to remember whether you have taken your medication on a particular day.
2. Invest in a Smart Speaker
Smart speakers, like Google’s Alexa and Amazon’s Echo, are fascinating devices capable of automating a lot of tasks. You can program a smart speaker to remind you to take your medications as needed. Better yet, you can generally customize how the reminders are presented.
You might prefer to hear an alarm sound. On the other hand, it might be better if your smart speaker actually speaks to you. Both options are possible. The best part of it is that you can program a smart speaker and then forget about it. It will perpetually continue to remind you until you go in and change the programming.
The downside is that smart speakers require at least some technical know-how to operate. If you like this option but don’t think you can manage a smart speaker, no worries. There is bound to be a younger family member who can set things up for you.
3. Use Your Smartphone
You can use most smartphones the same way you would use a smart speaker. Set the alarm to remind you of your medications daily. Then just make sure that your smartphone is always on. Do not turn it off, or you will lose the benefit of the alarm.
4. Send Yourself an Email
If you utilize one of the mainstream web-based email services, you can probably schedule regular emails. How does this help? You can send yourself an email reminder to take your medication. Set up a month’s worth of scheduled emails in advance. Because everything is automated, each email will be sent at its given date and time without you having to continually remember.
All these suggestions have one thing in common: purposely setting up reminders for yourself. That is really the key to remembering. You just need something that will trigger your memory. If you can figure that something out, you don’t have to miss a dose of medication ever again.