Damn, I take a lot of pills!

[hedgehog]

I've picked up a lot scripts over the years for various chronic conditons, and added Vitamin D, Fish oil, calcium etc. I look like a hypochondriac, but I'm feeling a lot better! I notice if I forget one pill or another. Thank heavens for super size pill of the day boxes, though!

[TexasTowelie]

1. 21!

No, I didn't win at black jack--that's how many pills I taking each day (if diligent). I could probably back off some anti-oxidants and a couple of the pills are for antibiotics since I had oral surgery awhile ago. But those potassium pills could gag Rafalca--how do they expect a human to be able to swallow those things?

[hedgehog]

2. Sometimes I crack the calcium pills in half to get them down.

I have you beat - I'm up to 30 pills - (10 medications, some with multiple pills!)

[kickysnana]

3. ...

You have a way to go. I get 21-27 prescriptions per month and I never counted how many pills but I take them at 5 different times a day because of interactions. I saw a new doctor in September and she looked at my records and said well you probably will feel a lot better if we can get you off so many medications. She has added 5 so far. Like you if I miss a dose or two, even on the handful of supplements I feel it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Ithe trick to getting stubborn pills down...

I use a pill cutter if need be
and
I buy orange juice with lots of pulp. Somehow if I can't feel the pill, it goes down better.

The gelatin capsules go down better if I have a mouthful of the OJ and then, standing, lean over a bit so gravity can assist, since otherwise, the gelatin pills want to float back up in your mouth instead of down.
The fish oil caps I use are pretty large.
and yeah, somewhere along the line I got a bunch of pills in my life. Have no idea how that became the new normal.

[grasswire]

5. beware

Last year I inhaled a magnesium tablet. It was a pill that always was tacky, and would stick. In trying to cough it up, I INHALED it. Had to go to ER. Cost a lot of $.

I don't take that brand anymore.

[mrmpa]

6. I had a prescription for a 600mg tablet.........

well it was like a horse pill. Talked to my doc & she gave me a prescription for the 300 mg capsules. I take 2 of these, so much easier.

[nickinSTL]

7. I'm at...29

One medication I take is a daily dose of 19, plus I take 4 of another, and then 1-2 of some others.

A few are supplements, including VitD & calcium, but still.

Fortunately, aside from the ones I take right before bed, I rarely forget a pill - and I use a daily pill box to keep track of the bedtime pills.

[hedgehog]

8. I should add - Last year my GP insisted on what I thought at the time to be a lot

of unnecessary bloodwork. It turned out that I had an autoimmune disease - Sjogren's, and he had been doing an excellent job treating it symptomatically for years.

[NightWatcher]

9. 19 on Mondays, 13 the rest of the week

I dont like my methotrexate mondays

[mopinko]

10. i refuse to count

suffice to say that i have 2 giant weekly pill boxes- one for morning pills and one for night. one week laid out is just not that much help.

[Herself]

11. never, EVER trust your doctor's scripts to be okay to take together.

I military buddy came to see me during the first months I was perscribed many scripts for serious injury. I was so drugged up I didn't realize I wasn't taking them correctly.

He took a brown paper bag to the pharmacy and had them checked for complications when taken together. He came back with 2 bags. Of the 17 drugs I was on, 5 shouldn't have been taken together. The pharmacist called my doctor as well.

Later that year I was "accidentally" over dosed in the hospital on morphine. I am allergic to it, but it wasn't identified by official medical people in the hospital. It was identified by a Viet Nam Veteran that seen the symptoms in Nam.

Have one pharmacy, and when new drugs are given, have the pharmacy run a check on the compatibility of them.

Take care!

[hedgehog]

12. I check each new script against all the others -

and check the combinations. I think I've had Sjogren's for 25 years, but only had it diagnosed for about 3. In the meantime, my doctors were treating the symptoms, so I ended up on the same cocktail I would have been given after diagnosis less the anti-malarial that was added. Since autoimmune diseases tend to have effects on multiple systems, it's pretty normal to end up on multiple treatments.

But you are right - people need to be alert, especially when they are seeing different doctors for different problems. This is especially true as people age - a lot of stuffthat is OK for younger folks is sedating for older folks and/or the dosages should be adjusted.

[Herself]

13. I have many symptoms of Sjogrens, but I've smoked, so everything gets blamed on it

I also live in a rental that has had severe mold, which would produce many endocrine related symptoms. Finding a doctor that actually knows modern testing for thyroid, adrenal, or autoimmune issues is very hard. They seem to be more into the provider/carrier fight and the patient gets the fall out from their retaliation toward each other.

[hedgehog]

14. I ws very overweight, so that got the blame for my problems!

Now I'm moderately overweight, working on losing more. Still have problems with Sjogren's, though!

[hedgehog]

15. BTW - finding a rheumotologist is almost like hunting unicorns

- it takes 4 months to get an appointment around here! Then , when I was diagnosed and handed all the info about how dangerous my disease is, it took two months for a follow-up!

Good luck with your search, and welcome to the Chronic Disease group!

[Herself]

16. hedgehog, Thank you! n/t

[moriah]

18. I feel lucky that my PCP is willing to treat my fibro...

I'm already on the requisite antidepressant because of my Bipolar I disorder, and then he started me on Zanaflex and Neurontin. Neurontin worked well for me in the past and a trial has to be done before they'll approve Lyrica if I need it. Zanaflex is great but you have to make sure you're not on any other medications that lengthen the QT interval when taking it.

[moriah]

17. I'm up to 16 scripts, but only 10 are pills.

The rest are for my asthma -- Advair, Pressair, albuterol inhaler, albuterol nebulizer, epi-pen (if I can't get to the ER in time and my lungs completely close), and the newest -- Nicotrol! Yeah! (I've been quit but having severe cravings, and this way I can cut myself back and not deal with the agitation that comes with patches).

Of course, all of these are on hold for prior authorizations for Medicaid except the inhaler, along with most of my pills. But I'm not complaining!