9 replies to this topic

[mdszj]

... so I took it again.  I am on 100 mg S.  My wife and I were eating dinner, which is when I take it.  My usual "ritual" is to take a pill and put it on top of the closed bottle of Sprycel and take it roughly half way thru dinner.  Not sure if I just took it while not even thinking about it or... Who knows, but all of a sudden I noticed it was not there on the bottle top.   ANyway I decided to take a pill that came which was missing part of it, I'd say it was about three-quarters whole, so about 75 mg.  I just had it separated out and was keeping it because I didnt want to throw it away.  Bottom line: I wasnt sure whether I took about 175 mg or about 75 mg.  But I do know that I got at least a partial dose without missing a day.  Writing it out here it sounds pretty stupid, but it did cause me some worry that night.  I am getting one of those weekly pill dispensers with a compartment for every day of the week to prevent this in the future.

Was wondering if anybody else has ever run into this situation and what they did about it - skip (with possibility of missing a day) or take a second pill and possibly have greater than normal dosage?

thx Mike

[CallMeLucky]

Since I have a variety of doses of my drug when I forgot to take my 70 mg one night, I took a 100mg the next morning and then something like a 20 that night as a way of trying to even out (so I would up with 120 over 48 hours instead of 140.  In that case, I knew for certain I had missed it.  When in doubt the general rule is to skip the does, assuming this is a very rare event it shouldn't hurt you.  Most would say taking a higher dose is more dangerous than missing a dose but it depends on what you are taking.  Sprycel prescribed up to 140mg per day.

[chriskuo]

I agree that it is better to skip a dose than double up if it happens very occasionally.

I receive 30 pill bottles of Sprycel from the pharmacy each month.  When I open the the bottle, I calculate the date it will run out so I can reverse engineer whether I took a pill on a given day since there are never more than 30 pills to count. 

I just received a weekly pill container with separate daily slots from Bristol-Myers and I am considering using it.

If you sign up on the Sprycel website for My Sprycel Support, it will be part of the package you receive.

[hannibellemo]

Those pill containers are wonderful, however, they are no guarantee that you still won't miss a dose! After 5+ years of never forgetting to take my TKI, I got up Saturday morning and got my pill container out and there were Friday's pills sitting there in the container as pretty as you please!

For those of you who are wondering I consider that proof positive that there will come a day when you don't think about having CML once!

So now I put the next day's pill container on the kitchen counter right next to my purse. I never leave for work without my purse - that's my new fail safe.

Pat

[Mayra]

At the beginning this was a real issue for me! For some reason since it's so routine I couldn't remember if I took it.  Since I have small children I didn't feel safe leaving my pills in a pill box.  So after much thought these steps were my solution. 

I have an app that reminds me at 10:00 every night to take my pill. After I take my pill I immediately text myself!! My message is always the same. It says Took it!  I also send myself a text when I open a new bottle an I use a Sharpie to write the date on the bottle.  Now if I wake up in the middle of the night with a panic attack because I think I forgot my meds I just check my phone.  It extra reassurance.  Plus when the text comes in it has a time and date stamp.  I know everybody does it differently but, this has really helped me out.

[hannibellemo]

Mayra,

That's a great idea! I wouldn't want to use a pill box if I had young children in the house, either. Good thinking.

Pat

[jrsboo]

I used to use the weekly pill holder.  That was very very helpful, as i have no small children to worry about.  But now I just have a timer on my phone that goes off at 5 pm every day.  I take the pill at 5.  Done. 

I would much rather miss a dose than double it.

Caroline

[mdszj]

Mayra that is a great idea about sending yourself a text, thx.  And thanks to everyone else who responded as well!!

Have a good evening, Mike

[PhilB]

mdszj wrote:
My wife and I were eating dinner, which is when I take it

Hi Mike,

A trick that works for me, is to make it my wife's job to remind me, and my job to remind her to remind me.  This leads to a daily exchange of 'Job please.'  'Tablet!'

Whilst I doubt this makes any difference to the odds of remembering to take it as she rarely reminds me without prompting, it does mean that there are two people with a chance of remembering whether I have taken it or not!

All the best

Phil

[Marnie]

My husband and I use the same method.  It's his job to remind me.  His watch alarm goes off, my phone alarm goes off.  He asks if I've taken my pill.  Hubby isn't involved in my cml much, so this is his way of feeling like he's helping.  And it IS helpful on those days when our schedule is off, or we're not at home at the 7:00 pill time. 

Having a pill box is the only way I can know for sure that I have taken my pills.  Fill it Saturday night for the week, and then there's no question of whether or not you've taken your pill.

Good luck. .

Marnie