How to Prepare Meds A Month In Advance In A Mobile World

Let's face it. Everyone needs to take medications for a large variety of health issues. As you become older there are even more medications added to the list. If your parents are tasked with the everyday job of taking four to five or more medications per day, it can be exhausting and even confusing for them to remember when and what pill to take! There are 30- day boxes you can use but that does not make your medications mobile and in today's world, medications have to be as mobile as you are. The following takes about an hour or two to do but you only have to do it once a month (the beginning) and then you are done.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• 30 to 31 plastic medicine holders (day to day)
• small white stickers (like those used in garage sales)
• small red stickers (same as above)
• pen
• basket, shoebox or similar container

1. Place all medications you take on a table in the order that you have to take them throughout the day.
2. With your white stickers mark each plastic box lid on the plastic medication holders you purchased, with the time of day you take each particular medication. When you are done, the lids should have times on them listing from morning to night.
3. Line the holders on the table making a large square that you can reach easily.
4. Using the bottle of the medication you take first in the morning place a pill in each slot in the correct time frame that you take that particular pill. Follow with the second pill bottle, the third and each bottle after that (if applicable).
5. By the time you are done, you should have all 31 medication holders filled with each pill in the appointed time space. Close each open lid securely and place the medication holder into the basket or box. Continue until all 31 medicine carriers are securely closed and in the box.
6. You should have all medication bottles empty by this point and each plastic carrier holding the pills in their respective and corresponding area.
7. Label each medication bottle to correspond with the medication in the holders and save those bottles in a basket that can be retrieved whenever you need to refer back to the individual medication.
8. Place one week's holder in the area you keep your medications. In the event you have to travel or will be away for the day or week, it is easier to take just the container, rather than all the pill bottles.
9. Make a list of all the medications taken and the times to be taken. This list should be carried with you at all times for various reasons. Taking all the pill bottles should be reserved for doctor visits or hospital emergency rooms.

Tips & Warnings

• Use the red stickers on the lids of those medications that are for serious illnesses or to remind you of various side effects you may forget.
• If you are doing this for an elderly parent or small child, ask a friend or neighbor to come into your home and sit with them to keep them occupied so you won't make mistakes.
• You should not have any noise or interruptions while doing this so as not to make mistakes.
• Always RECOUNT each medication to make sure you didn't put two in one section and none in another.