Recommendation needed for medicine containers

Brooklyn74

Hey Everyone,

Thank you to everyone for their amazing support and knowledge. It sucks we are all on this road together.

I need a recommendation. My mom is going to start taking her Galantamine, but I'm nervous she either won't take it or take too much. It's twice a day with food. She also needs her allergy pill. She remembers to take her vitamins on her own.

Can anyone recommend a nice safe pill dispenser that's not too expensive?

We need:

AM/PM as the pill is twice a day

Anything that would remind her to take it- or I can call her.

Perhaps something I could monitor from my phone, would be amazing.

I guess it would have to be monthly, as I don't visit every single week. Once I have an aide in place, perhaps she can help load it.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thank you!

loveskitties

If you feel she is not capable of taking medication as directed by the physician without assistance or oversight, I doubt there is a device which would help.

Any device will only be a "reminder" and would not be able to know if taken when dispensed, or taken as directed (with food), tossed in the trash, or hoarded in some fashion to be taken later.

Even watching someone take meds is not 100% as some get very good at "pocketing" meds/food and then spitting out later.

M1

Brooklyn I think loveskitties is right. A device is not going to fix this. We went through this, too, and there was nothing short of my dispensing the pills and making sure she took them that worked. I know that's not what you want to hear, but it really sounds like she is past the point of being able to live alone without supervision.

harshedbuzz

@Brooklyn74

Not to be Debbie Downer, but there is no electronic device that replaces human supervision. Some more pliant PWD are agreeable to taking medication during a Facetime call, but that won't work for many.

Given the meds she takes, it probably wouldn't be a huge deal if she forgot from time to time; the bigger issue would be overdose if she couldn't remember and wanted to be compliant. If you do try one, be sure it's the kind that only allows access to one chamber of the daily device.

Senior Safety | Monitoring | Fall Prevention Products | Medication Dispensers | Confounding Locks | Cabinet and Refrigerator Locks | Motion and Door Sensor Alarms | Bathroom Safety Products | GPS Tracking for Wandering and More | Alzstore

Emily 123

Hi Brooklyn,

You can see options out on Amazon. There are some automated ones, but (IMO) not inexpensive.

Success will depend on where your mom is in her disease, but...I echo the group in saying that while a pillbox can be helpful, new tasks or a change to routine will not be followed. Not because the person doesn't want to, but because they can't store a memory to remember do the task, or do the task a new way. And changing their usual way will require some kind of prompt (each time) to make sure they do it. My mom was good for about 5 months when she moved in with me, resentfully using an AM/PM med box, but it was not what she was used to, so required a sign on the bathroom mirror, and me monitoring the process. That required a large digital memory clock in the bathroom (also on Amazon), and she eventually lost the ability to correlate the day on the clock to the pillbox.

It's a lot for the PWD if there's no-one there to keep an eye on the pill taking. And it's why AL's and MC's hand out meds.