Remembering to Take Your Thyroid Pills
Thursday November 12, 2009
The doctors call it "non-compliance." In plain English, it means "not taking your medicine." And if you're on thyroid hormone replacement drugs because you're hypothyroid, or have had all or part of your thyroid removed or disabled using radioactive iodine, or you are taking antithyroid drugs to control hyperthyroidism, your continued health depends on taking the prescribed thyroid drugs daily, as prescribed by your doctor. Even a day or two failure of forgetting your pills can throw off your treatment, cause fluctuations in your TSH level, and worsen your symptoms. That's why it's critical to remember your thyroid medicine every day. Here are 10 Creative Ways to Remember to Take Your Thyroid Pill. Thyroid patients have many creative ways of their own to help remember to take their own medication, and more than 70 patients have shared their handy tips, tricks and ideas Find out what other thyroid patients are doing to keep from forgetting that all-important thyroid pill each day, in Readers Respond: How Do You Remember to Take Your Thyroid Medication?
Image: clipart.com
When I take my nightly pills, I take my thyroid pill for the next morning out of the bottle and put it on the nightstand so I can get it first thing when I wake up. This insures that I don’t miss it and also that I don’t take it twice.
I am totally forgetfull going thru a rough patch now. My mom passed on and very much grieving. Sometimes I forget for up to 4 days not taking my medication or I assume that in my busy life I have taken them then I end up not taking them. Pls help
For four years I took a pill only in the morning so I would leave my pill bottle inside my coffee filters in my cabinet. The first thing I do when I get up is put up the coffee, so I take my pill right then. Worked great. Now I have to take a pill in the afternoon also and was having really hard time remembering. Decided to set the alarm on my cell phone for the same time everyday. It makes everyone jump in my office every day at 2:00 but it’s been serving it’s purpose!
The only way I’ve been able to manage being sure whether I’ve taken it or not is to put the bottle upside down (next to my car keys). When I leave for work I take my pill and turn the bottle right side up…that way when I know by looking at the bottle whether I’ve taken it or not if I am unsure.
I place my medicine bottle near my car keys on my kitchen counter. When I take my pill, I note the day of the week in supersmall print on a piece of paper kept with the medicine bottle. This not only reminds me if I forget later, but it also is a nice reminder of what day of the week it is (memory problems!). For 4 years have never forgotten a pill.
I put one pill in another pill box and put it on my nightstand. My alarm goes off at 6 am just for my pill. I take it and go back to sleep and get up at my regular time (7am) and get ready for work. I can always check then to make sure the bottle is empty. I have found that this is a sure fire way of always taking my pill every morning. I even did this while on vacation so not to change the time I took the pill.
I take other medications besides my thyroid medications, at different times of the day, so it’s critical that I keep track of all my medications.
I have two 7-day pill containers. In one, I keep my thyroid medication. In the other one, which has sections for AM & PM, I keep my other medications, plus vitamins & supplements. I fill both every Sunday morning, and keep them on the kitchen table so I see them first thing (no kids in the house).
I set my alarm for 1 hour before my regular wake-up time, take my thyroid medication, then go back to bed until the 2nd alarm.
Because of the thyroid medication, I now take my vitamins & calcium supplements with my lunch instead of breakfast.