I spent an hour this morning sorting my prescription meds, calling the pharmacy to order refills, and making sure my epilepsy kids had his meds in order.
An hour of my life, gone every single week.
Just gone.
What Chronic Illnesses Are Really Like
That hour does not even include the trip to the pharmacy tomorrow, the appeal call on a denied medication, or the breathing treatments, unscheduled epilepsy naps, or blood pressure checks that I have to do.
For people with chronic illnesses and the parents of kiddos with serious medical challenges, it's not just doctors' visits and hospital stays that they worry about.
There are bad days (when leaving the house seems dangerous or impossible), packed lunches and snacks, and special items to care for. There are good days, too, but those require constant vigilance.
Where Does the Time Go
Chronic illnesses suck time through prevention (exercise, eating right), treatment (medications and visits to medical providers), and funding (fighting with insurance).
In addition, being sick is its own time suck.
How You Can Save Time
1. Have a good system for replacing medications, including sorting into pill sorters, refilling prescriptions automatically at the pharmacy, and putting a reminder to do this task in your planner.
2. Use reminders, timers, and charts (like this one in my planner) to stay on track with taking medications during the day (and night).
3. Schedule doctors' appointments all on the same day whenever possible.
If you take a lot of medication, consider one of these cool accessories to help you stay organized:
Adorable Zipper Pouch Bag for Holding Pill Bottles
Discreet Purse Container for Your Weekly Pills
Travel Organizer Pill Box in Zippered Case
Planner-Shaped Pill Sorter
Matte Silver 2 Compartment Rectangular Pill Box
Purple Lily Flower 3-Compartment Decorative Pocket Pill Organizer
Organizer Tray for Sorting and Holding Pills
Medication Reminder - The Original Pocket Doctor Pill Reminder
Pill Timer
Etcetera.
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I completely sympathize! My son's medications stopped working, so I researched other options. The doctor and I have become a team; I keep detailed notes of his side effects, dosages, and dates the meds were taken. A little more research, and I may qualify for a medical degree (just kidding).
ReplyDeleteHang in there! The good days are worth it!
Hugs,
Jules
Absolutely, every word. I just read your post as a last-minute check before *my* bedtime, after spending almost two hours doing/preparing notes/scheduling the same tasks. I would add school-related items as well. It is at least a part-time job on its own. Thanks for the product links, I will check them out :)
ReplyDeleteI see you use Target pharmacy - They have the option to set them all up a few days before the script expires and will automatically fill them and send you either an email or a text message. I do that and it saves me so much time. I had them fix all my maintenance meds so they are refillable on the same day.
ReplyDeleteWe only have some minor medical things, so I can relate just a little bit. But the things you listed are so important. I have known some people with chronic struggles who are disorganized. It just makes things that much more difficult to keep up.
ReplyDeleteThanks
ReplyDeleteVery informative article to know about chronic diseases that how they destroy our time. I think lot of people don't know about this issue but it's very much important to know for all. I hope that everybody will be much more aware about chronic diseases by reading this blog and will be much more aware about their health related issue for sure.
ReplyDelete