Remembering to take your medicine

Yesterday on Medpage Today is an article referring to a study in J. Epidemiology and Community Health that reminds us that only the medicine we actually take can help us.  You have all heard of the statin group of medications to lower cholesterol especially the LDL lipid type.  They have been linked to many wonderful benefits, including reduced risk of heart attacks strokes, and other cardiovascular disease problems.  Unfortunately the rate of taking these medications when prescribed is about 50%.  This may be from many causes, but high on the list of causes is forgetting to take the meds, and patients not wanting to be on “all that medication.”

This article shows that more lives can be saved by modest improvement in compliance in taking the medication that by increasing medication use by prescribing the med to people with less severe risks of cardiovascular disease.

I wanted to use this as a time to suggest a few ways to remember to take your prescribed medication:

1. Pour you pills two weeks at a time.  Get two week-at-a-time pill boxes.  Fill them both and put them in a prominent place.  This will allow you to remember if you have taken today’s medication.  The second box will assure you have a full week of medication left when your bottle runs empty, and plenty of time to refill the medication before you run out.
2. Most of us have cell phones.  Set a daily alarm for when medication is due.
3. Put a reminder somewhere you  go every day.  Examples: a ribbon on your toothbrush handle, a lipstick note on your bathroom mirror, or a sticky note on your breakfast table seat.

Whatever it takes, find a way to remember to take your important medications, whether they are birth control pills, statins, blood pressure medication, or maybe just vitamins.  If you have your own ways to remember, leave a comment.