While you can’t know everything that might interrupt your routine, you can develop some healthy habits that will make it easier to stay on track, even when your schedule changes.
Customize your regimen. When you take multiple medications to help treat a variety of conditions (like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and/or diabetes), it can be challenging to create a medication routine. Simplify it by examining all your medications and determining their similarities. For instance, which medications do you take once a day? Which do you take at bedtime? Which need to be taken with or without food or liquids? Which ones do you need to take at the same time every day? Categorize them, putting your similar medications together. (Be sure to talk with your doctor or pharmacist and make sure there are no potential medication interactions.) This medication routine worksheet may help you organize. You can also use this medication schedule to help you make a plan.
Check out the example below. This person takes a statin medication for high cholesterol, aspirin to prevent blood clots, and Alpha-Glucosidease inhibitor to treat high blood glucose. Notice that two of the medications, aspirin and the diabetes medication, should be taken with food.
A schedule for these medications might look like this:
Organize your medications. It’s easier to take medications when you feel organized. Fill pillboxes each week or month. Check off your medications as you take them using a calendar or this medication tracker. Ask your pharmacist for automated refill reminders, or set up your own electronic calendar to remind you of this task.
Buy extra medication/equipment. If your insurance company allows it, buy extra medication or equipment (such as lancets or test strips if you have diabetes) and keep them where you may need them (at work, at the gym, in the car, etc.). Consider keeping a spare set of everything you need in your travel luggage, just in case your meds slip your mind when you are packing.
You have some great ideas for organizing and making medications a regular part of your day, but how can you plan for things you don’t know are coming? There are a few things you can do to make it less likely that your medications slip your mind when you experience abrupt changes. See the next page for some ideas.