Tuesday 29 September 2009

Tick and Take

Or should it be take and tick? As my disease has worsened it has become more complicated to treat and hence the number of drugs required to keep me alive and well has grown. I have drugs to fight the disease and drugs to combat the symptoms and side effects of other drugs.
It can be a very complex situation. Some require to be taken in the morning some with food some at night. I have drugs that fight the disease but keep me awake. I have a drug should I need it to put me to sleep. One drug that is leading the fight at the moment makes me feel sick and of course a drug to counteract the sickness and so it goes on.
I have developed a monthly chart which I fill in daily when I take the pills and to some extent it works quite well. The wife has a weekly pill box which she tops up every Sunday evening and complains to me that I should do the same. I will admit that my system is not perfect; I miss a couple now and then but her pill box isn’t perfect either. When we were in the states a couple of years back I attended a Seniors Convention where of course all the local drug companies were present with a multitude of drug dispensers. I wasn’t taking any drugs then so not so bothered.
Would it be possible for a pharmacy to come up with a system that contained all the drugs needed and dispensed in such a way that only the drugs for that time and that day were available to take with a warning signal if missed?
Development costs would be high I suspect but sales would be enormous and I suggest safety in operation would be of untold benefit to the sick and save the NHS a lot of money. I like the idea of saving rather than what now seems to be the popular line from all political parties of savage cuts. Mustn’t go there or this post will turn into a rant but more on that later perhaps after Browns speech.

1 comment:

Fat Prophet said...

I thought it was just me - the doc recently put me on some medication which has 26 possible side effects. I think some days I would rather have high blood pressure than the side effects.
It gives a whole new meaning to the saying 'keep taking the tablets'!