Pills
I Hate Sorting Them
Shoutout to Scott Ninneman/SpeakingBipolar for inspiring this post after I read, “Let’s Have a Pill-Sorting Party!” on his Subtack.
Pills. I take a lot of them: four for bipolar disorder, two for androgenic alopecia (female pattern baldness, yes, I’m losing my hair), two more plus a nose spray for allergies, and two supplements. Because there are so many, it’d be a real pain to open up each little amber bottle morning and night to take my medication. So I use a pill organizer.
Mine has three compartments for morning, afternoon, and evening though I don’t take any mid-day. My particular organizer is small compared to others. If I’m going away for a few days, I only take the individual containers for the corresponding days rather than the entire thing. Others are just one large piece of plastic that you’d have to lug around.
My brother made one using his 3D printer:
I love how sleek it is, and the way the cover zips open. Unfortunately, there are only enough compartments for taking pills once a day for a week. There are organizers that hold a month’s worth of pills, but most of them hold seven days…
…which means once a week, I have to fill it up. I absolutely hate doing this: opening each bottle one at a time, pouring out seven (or in two cases, fourteen and in one case, 28) pills to place into morning and evening compartments. If you accidentally drop the wrong pill in the wrong compartment (something you might not notice until it’s too late), you have to pick out the one that doesn’t belong, which can be difficult because the compartments are so small. This entire process is time-consuming, and overwhelming. What seems like a small task to most people can frustrate me to the point I can’t function and shut down. My husband has taken over this chore because he’s supportive, for which I’m grateful.
Sorting pills is a reminder that my stability depends on it, and sometimes I don’t want to be reminded.
Alternatively, please consider buying me an almond cappuccino! Thanks you!
I’m with you, Barb! I hate that part of my weekend (Saturday night) when I have to sort my stupid (but life-saving) pills! Very cool 3D box your brother made👍
Pretty rainbow container!
I used to have all these very simple pill minders, but it seems they don't make them any more, or at least stores don't sell them, so I have more complicated ones that are more finicky. Things keep getting more complicated but not better.
I have a pill box (because sometimes I have multiple containers of OTC stuff which are bulky) the size of a shoe box, plus a day/night minder, plus an accessory minder for PRN stuff like Tylenol.
My Saturday night routine: first I print out the Sunday NYT Crossword (which is available at 6pm on Saturday) then I stream something I've seen before, and sort the next week's pills. This is what happens when you get old. When you're young, Saturday night is about going out and having a good time. When you're old, it's about sorting pills.
There was a memoir about a pill minder in last year's Pushcart, it was very touching, balancing caretaking and independence of a teenager.