Automated Pill Counter

[Jeff Corey]

I request some ideas about ways of dispensing correct doses of prescribed medication, because I had a discussion Andrew Patane, M. D. and he immediately related to his ER experience with ODs.
One thing as you get older, you tend to forget things. That's because of what is called pro.......
.

 

[epepke]

I request some ideas about ways of dispensing correct doses of prescribed medication, because I had a discussion Andrew Patane, M. D. and he immediately related to his ER experience with ODs.
One thing as you get older, you tend to forget things. That's because of what is called pro.......
.

I doubt that it's the kind of thing you're looking for, but the local yuppie-head granola store used to have a thingummy for dispensing capsules of their herbal gunk. The capsules where in these cartridges with a gear on them. If you wanted to buy some capsules of nihil intelligentum or something like, you picked up that cartridge and put it into the machine, punched in what you wanted, and it would come out a spout. It even printed a little label.

Of course, the trouble with this is that all the capsules had to be the same size for it to work.

 

[Ducky]

I request some ideas about ways of dispensing correct doses of prescribed medication, because I had a discussion Andrew Patane, M. D. and he immediately related to his ER experience with ODs.
One thing as you get older, you tend to forget things. That's because of what is called pro.......
.

You don't even have to be old, my friend with blood pressure medication took too much and he's 34. He just had forgotten he had taken them before he got in the shower, and took them after the shower...

That was scary.

As for your request, I would imagine a dry-erase board next to the medication counter might help to check off what and how much you've taken.

 

[Rat]

To the surprise of my doctor (and his slight-but-unspoken disapproval), I started taking my anti-madness pills (venlafaxine) every 36 hours instead of 24. I'm on the smallest dose, so I have to cut down some other way. It's impossible to remember what I've had. Was that this morning? Or yesterday morning? Or am I getting mixed up, and it was the evening?

It's always fun when I forget for a couple of days and then take one. Hmm...serotonin sickness....

I really need to start keeping a diary of it, but if I were capable of things like keeping a diary of what psychotropic drugs I've taken, and when, I wouldn't need pills to keep the madness at bay in the first place.

Cheers,
Rat.

 

[Jeff Corey]

Rat,
Ork you and the whores you rode in on.

 

[Rat]

Those on whom I rode in take great offence at your characterization.

You're quite right, of course. The toaster told me so.

Cheers,
Rat.

 

[epepke]

Re: Re: Automated Pill Counter

As for your request, I would imagine a dry-erase board next to the medication counter might help to check off what and how much you've taken.

I started building a pill timer for my father-in-law. It was for four doses per day for a week. Little drawers popped open when it was time to take a pill. I thought it was a clever design, using the guts of biased NC reed relays with common-collector drive on one side of the matrix and common-emitter on the other.

But then she left me for a psychiatrist, and the father-in-law went and borrowed money from my mother to pay for a getaway car.

There's a moral to this, but I can't remember what it is. Oh, yeah, now I remember. People are f*cks.

 

[Ducky]

Re: Re: Re: Automated Pill Counter

I started building a pill timer for my father-in-law. It was for four doses per day for a week. Little drawers popped open when it was time to take a pill. I thought it was a clever design, using the guts of biased NC reed relays with common-collector drive on one side of the matrix and common-emitter on the other.

But then she left me for a psychiatrist, and the father-in-law went and borrowed money from my mother to pay for a getaway car.

There's a moral to this, but I can't remember what it is. Oh, yeah, now I remember. People are f*cks.

Whoa! That sucks. sorry to hear that.

Another reason to hate psychiatrists I guess. Don't tell a scientologist.

Wonder if he could build something like what you did. That sounds pretty darn cool.

 

[epepke]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Automated Pill Counter

Another reason to hate psychiatrists I guess. Don't tell a scientologist.

Yeah, I'm really conflicted about this. I met a lot of psychiatrists through my ex. One of them was cool. He worked with imprisoned Argentinian transsexuals. I gave him a cigar cutter, in honor of that. The vast majority, however, were complete sociopaths.

But then again, Scientologists aren't exactly neutral on the Cluster B scale, either.

 

[Chris Haynes]

I need something to tell me I took my one-a-day antihistamine.

You see... I don't take it everyday, just when I think I need it. I sometimes will have nasty allergy symptoms early in the morning... So I stagger out of bed and take an Allegra. Then later when I am awake, drinking my first cup of coffee and the insides of my ear start to itch, I think "Did I take an antihistamine this morning or not?"

So what I need is the drawer thing to pop out... and stay open until about 6pm... then shut close for at least 12 hours.

 

[69dodge]

Get an extra pill bottle, and right before you go to sleep make sure there's just one pill in it. If you need to take a pill, take it from that bottle. Then, you know: if that bottle is empty during the day, you took a pill that day.

 

[Jeff Corey]

The M.D. was talking about elderly people with dementia who had multiple prescriptions. Sometimes they'd take 5 or 6 times the needed dose because they forgot.

 

[Chris Haynes]

Get an extra pill bottle, and right before you go to sleep make sure there's just one pill in it. If you need to take a pill, take it from that bottle. Then, you know: if that bottle is empty during the day, you took a pill that day.

Good idea.

 

[jambo372]

Just keep your pills on the bedside cabinet. That's what I do, still I only take medication when I get up and go to bed. I take Desloratadine for my hayfever and Amitryptyline at night to make me go to sleep and for my depression. I still sometimes forget to take them.

I think you can buy pill boxes with alarm clocks attached.
I know people who take over 20 tablets a day and never miss them.

 

[roger]

All these solutions are either needlessly complex, or prone to failure. My mother has been taking multiple medicines with a strict regimen for as long as I can remember, and has never had a single problem. And the solution is simple.


She just has a little rectangular plastic thingy with 7 compartments in it, each marked with the day of the week. At the beginning of the week she loads it with the week's medicines. She's forgetful, so all the time you'll hear her saying "did I remember to take X". All she does is pop open the compartment and look.

It's pretty foolproof. I suppose somebody with severe dementia might still have problems with it, but that level of imparement would probably require in home care anyway (he wildly guesses).

 

[Iamme]

I request some ideas about ways of dispensing correct doses of prescribed medication, because I had a discussion Andrew Patane, M. D. and he immediately related to his ER experience with ODs.
One thing as you get older, you tend to forget things. That's because of what is called pro.......
.

.......................................

If the recipient is extremely forgetful...nothing will help. They could forget where the pills even ARE.

Oh *I* know. Someone could invent a beeping pill dispenser. But alas. Some senile ol bitty could forget why the container is even beeping.

It could be quite hopeless. Such people really need to be under someone's care.

 

[Iamme]

The M.D. was talking about elderly people with dementia who had multiple prescriptions. Sometimes they'd take 5 or 6 times the needed dose because they forgot.

.................................................

Like I was sayin................

Maybe such people should be euthanized. What's the difference between such people and say the Terri Schiavos of the world. In each case, the person really doesn't have a clue.

 

[Chris Haynes]

Just keep your pills on the bedside cabinet. That's what I do, still I only take medication when I get up and go to bed......

Nah... I only take the Allegra when I need it. Usually about 4 times a week in Spring (or whenever the evil Alder trees are in bloom), and about once every other week in Mid-Summer. It takes the itching in the ears and in the way back of my throat to get me to take Allegra in the wee hours of the morning. I typically go through about 30 to 50 Allegra pills per year. I usually take a generic form of Benadryl most nights to help me fall asleep, and to keep away the annoying itchies.

(note: with insurance the Allegra costs $1 per tablet... if I am to be known for anything on this forum is that I am one of the anti-anti-vaxers and an incredible skin-flint cheapskate)

 

[Soapy Sam]

Rat- I can't help wondering if the requirement for anti-madness pills (or conceivably ante- madness pills) is related to the "bucket" related activity mentioned in your smoke alarm thread?

 

[Rat]

Rat- I can't help wondering if the requirement for anti-madness pills (or conceivably ante- madness pills) is related to the "bucket" related activity mentioned in your smoke alarm thread?

A fair question, and one I half expected, but I would say no, at least to a cause-effect relationship. I suppose it may have exacerbated things, but I'd be more likely to blame the acid.

Cheers,
Rat.