Pain due to stupidity...watch your old folks.

[Spiky Bugger]

I changed pharmacies. And now my oxycodone tabs are much smaller and are in the same size bottle as my flavoxate HCl...which is for bladder spasms, but the brand name is Urispas which sounds like name-calling....but anyway...

I keep a meds log. And when I leave the house, I take my oxy with me if I’m going to be gone at pill time. Yesterday, we were out and I took my pain meds (oxy) at 2 pm. Later, at home, I took another pill, but kept hurting, so I took my fourth pill for the day way later than I like to take it. I was up at 2am for bathroom issues and didn’t get back to sleep until after 4am.

I awakened again at 8:45am, lots of pain and grabbed pain meds. It didn’t help, so I spent all morning jonesing for my next fix. Rx says q6h, but on horrid days, I have gone q4h. So at 12:45pm, I took another pill. MrSue, who had been gone all morning w/my step-bro doing the electrical work for MiniSue’s Friday A/C installation watched me in pain and asked what he could do. At 4:45pm,
I asked him for my pain pill.

He asked where they were. I pointed to the VERY OBVIOUS bottle on the table near me. He said, “These aren’t your pain meds.”

Turns out, my last REAL pain med was at 2pm yesterday and I had aches and pains everywhere, all day, for almost 24 hours after that wore off...because MrSue found THAT bottle in my purse.

But damn...no bladder spasms, at all! That didn’t hurt.

 

[hilary1617]

Yikes! That's dangerous! Sorry for your pain. Color code your bottles please! We use colored rubber bands / hair ties around the middle. Glad you have it straightened out and can have pain controlled now.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Yikes! That's dangerous! Sorry for your pain. Color code your bottles please! We use colored rubber bands / hair ties around the middle. Glad you have it straightened out and can have pain controlled now.

Thanks...the NEWEST...delivered today...oxy has a red sticker warning me it’s an opioid. That should help. But I’ll find the rubber bands tomorrow. (Most meds are in pill organizers, but both the oxy and the Urispas are PRN meds, so they stay in bottles until I need them.)

 

[k9ophile]

Too many of my supplements look alike. If I drop one, I have no idea which one I need to replace so I pull the capsule apart and take it "raw". So far, so good. None of my prescriptions look alike, now. Rubber band system sounds reasonable for when the day comes that they're hard to differentiate.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Too many of my supplements look alike. If I drop one, I have no idea which one I need to replace so I pull the capsule apart and take it "raw". So far, so good. None of my prescriptions look alike, now. Rubber band system sounds reasonable for when the day comes that they're hard to differentiate.

Yes. I had a flashback to a conversation w/the geriatric social worker with my mom’s medical group.

Me: I think she’s okay with her meds. We put them in a monthly pill organizer and she just takes out one container each day.

Social Worker: If she drops the daily container and the pills hit the floor, would she know how to reorganize the day’s medications?

Soooo.....we got her a day care person who had previously cared for another neighbor and whom Mom considered a peer.


(Totally off topic: I miss my mom. For many years we had a trying relationship, but there were no days when we didn’t love each other. And MiniSue and I often squabble, but the more time she spends being the “unwed step-mom,” the more she sounds like me. So, she’d probably give my work a somewhat decent review. Recently, the 9-yr-old manipulatively said, “But we should be friends...don’t you want to be my friend?” She answered, “I’ll tell you something like what my mother told me. No. I don’t want to be your friend. I love you and feed you and take care of you when you’re sick...but you are nine and I am 43. Any 43-year-old who wants nine-year-old friends has a real problem. So, no, I don’t need a nine-year-old BFF any more than you need a two-year-old BFF. See how that works?” I didn’t remember telling MiniSue such stuff, but she insists I did...lol.)

 

[southernlady]

I agree with hilary1617. A method to tell them apart visually needs to be incorporated. If not hair ties or rubber bands, try different colors of duct tape, electrical tape, etc. (You can tell where I spent extra time, home improvement stores). Various colors of markers coloring the tops of the bottles is another option.

 

[JackieOnLine]

I'm so sorry this happened but it's so easy to do!

I agree with hilary1617. A method to tell them apart visually needs to be incorporated. If not hair ties or rubber bands, try different colors of duct tape, electrical tape, etc. (You can tell where I spent extra time, home improvement stores). Various colors of markers coloring the tops of the bottles is another option.

I agree with this!!!!

 

[LizJ]

Yikes! That's dangerous! Sorry for your pain. Color code your bottles please! We use colored rubber bands / hair ties around the middle. Glad you have it straightened out and can have pain controlled now.

I'm going to have to try this!