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She had surgery on her right shoulder for a torn rotator cuff. Since then, she has been like an invalid. I finally got an in home nurse and a couple of therapist to visit a few days a week. Sorry I digress but just trying to fill you in on the picture. It became necessary for me to handle giving her medicines to her at the right times. We have gotten into several arguements because she doesn't think I give them to her often enough and she was taking additional doses that I wasn't aware of, God knows she won't let me have possession of all of them. So I started putting each dose in little cups with lids on them. Give her the night time meds myself and put the morning meds on her night table for the morning. I do have my own problems and don't always get up in time to give them to her. They are they and ready for her and my hubby takes her the coffee she has to have to take them. Tonight, she took her night time meds and I tucked her in bed. I just go back in there to check on her and her morning med cup is empty!! There is no other explanation other than she took them. She is denying it but can't explain what happened to them. She will lay blame on anyone else in the house before admitting that she just did this big no no. I guess this plan isn't working either. Ready to pull my hair out.

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So sorry for your situation.... My mom was having trouble keeping her meds straight while using the standard "days of the week" type of pill holders. We have been using MedReady for about a month now and it has worked great for our situation! If you go to Youtube or Google and search for MedReady you should find info on it. Amazon carries it & I received it in 2 days. Of course, your mom has to be cooperative for it to work well. My mom lives an hour or so away, so she still calls me 3 times a day when the little alarm on the med dispenser goes off, but she's done great with it. Good luck and I hope you find something that will help your situation.
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I use the pill dispensers from walmart, not $200 ones. I also do not allow my mother to keep any meds in her room ,even Tums, I am an old nurse.She once yelled at me she was having suicidal ideations, her exact words because she was mad at me for something , this was something she remembered because she has had so many procedures this is something the nurse would always ask, so after that I told her no crying wolf, and no more meds in your room, keep them where she can't possibly get to them. I did not ask her permission. She lives in my house and ain't nobody committing suicide on my watch nor will I be held hostage with passive aggressive behavior.She is on 180 mg morphine a day. My husband is also a retired nurse so it helps, she gets her meds on time. But if you even think she is having memory problems DO NOT leave any meds in room.Even over the counter meds can be dangerous. About the tums, it's nothing but calcium, but had a patient that took so many in a short amount of time he gave himself hypercalcemia which is like tetany, muscles locked up so bad he wound up on a ventilator for a while and this was because of to many TUMS. So no med is exactly safe , even over the counter ones.
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I got my mother the Medready. It is a locked dispenser with a circular tray that holds 28 doses. You can set it for 4 times a day if you want. I set my mothers for twice a day so it lasts me about 14 days once I fill it. It sounds a buzzer when she should take them and she has to push back the little top to get them. That shuts it up. It takes a little time to get used to setting it. You can rent them for about $30 a month or buy one. It is worth every penny. My mom is 90 and she has had hers for about 5 years. It has a battery back-up in case the electric goes out. Takes it off of you...and she can be mad at the machine if she wants! My mom has dementia but she knows when to take her pills. Before that she would take morning in the evening, two bottles of allergy pills in a week! Then she needed a pacemaker and I wonder if the allergy pills had anything to do with that. I took away non essential drugs and added some vitamins. Her congnitive function improve some with that. Just make sure when you set the machine, the lever is pushed back and the drawer is closed before you lock the machine. My mom's extra pills are under lock and key.
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You didn't say what the meds are for, but if they're for pain, she may be taking additional doses to deal with her shoulder pain. It's hard to sleep when your shoulder hurts.
OTOH, maybe she just likes catching a buzz? I'm not trying to be disrespectful, just curious.
If she's taking anti-inflammatories then it seems more likely she just forgot she already had her night dose and took another by mistake. But why is she being so defensive about it? It would be a good idea to bring it up with her doctor.
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I would also be curious about what kind of meds she's taking too often. If it's pain pills, it's probably because she feels she needs them for pain or likes how she feels with more of them in her system. If they're not mood enhancers or pain pills, she's probably just forgetting.

It sounds like she needs something that has a timer and won't let her take them before it's time and reminds her when it's time.
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I bought the MedReady for my mom, many years back. It was a Godsend. I had been filling the days-of-the-week container for her, but she no longer knew the day of the week, nor the time of the and. When she needed meds more times per day, I also tried extra boxes, marked with the times. She would refuse to allow Dad to handle the meds. (He was the person she targeted her anger at, then.) But he would at least be there.

Dad called me up one day to remind me to come fill Mom's pills, on a day I'd just done it just the previous day. (His memory was going too.) Needless to say, she had taken almost all the weeks pills in one day. (The result of that is a whole other story) That's when I found the MedReady on-line. Without that, mom would have needed visits at least four times a day. More likely would have ended up in the nursing home two years earlier than she did.

When she finally did go into the nursing home, Dad's dementia was in it's earlier stages, and we immediately started using it for him. After about five years of use, we needed to purchase a new one. Got the one with the super loud alarm this time as Dad is nearly deaf, in addition to the light. We are now at that same point with him. If it wasn't for the MedReady, he would have required much more in person help. long ago.
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I give my dad 17 pills a day 10 in the morning and 7 at night. I put them in my bedroom. So he does not double dip! I sit one night a week and fill up his pill box, basically to see what ones I need to refill. As a caregiver now you get to know little tricks. I call my med list the bible! :)
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I had to turn that one loose a long time ago. If she took the AM pills at night then she will just wait until it's time for the next dose. No arguing - no doubling up. BTW are the meds for pain? If so, is there a chance that she's getting addicted?
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GayleV... Same here that if not for the MedReady, I honestly don't know what we would have done. My brother lives in her same town,but there was no way he could have gone 3 times a day to give her meds. I couldn't imagine paying someone to go there 3 times a day?! Between my brother and me (I live an hour away) setting up the machine, we can get at least 9 days worth of meds all set up. She is on Coumadin so that dose changes frequently but that isn't a problem just unlocking dispenser & adjusting dose. We have it set that the beeping goes on for 30 minutes before it stops so even if she is in the bathroom, etc., it will continue beeping until she gets to the dispenser. There was a while that she was SO confused (due to digoxin toxicity!!...a whole 'nother story in itself!) she was having trouble even using the phone, but could still take her meds correctly with this machine. Would not work for everyone, but definitely something to look into.
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One last comment, Like I said, the MedReady has been a life saver for a long time now, but in the last couple weeks Dad has started calling me up to say, the "pill machine was empty when it rang tonight." (or "when it rang this morning" These calls always mean I have to drop what I'm doing and run over there, to check out the machine. Near as I can tell, the machine is working just fine. I think Dad is taking the pills and instantaneously forgetting that he did; then sees the empty compartment, and insists it was empty when he opened it. It's a pain to run over there all the time, and a bigger pain, convincing him that the pills did not just disappear. Not sure what we'll be doing now, but I think we are approaching the end of Dad's living at home.
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