So let me begin by saying I’m an utter slave to my I pad. On bad days I can lay in bed and watch movies or work on my blog or play games…you get the picture. But I was wondering if any of you use any apps to help keep track of pill times and symptoms. I used to keep a notebook but that was a pain in the neck to drag all over the place. Now I keep it on a note taking app just so I can track when my next dose is due. I’m on about 15 pills a day, some are every four hours some every six, some as needed, some when I stand on one foot and rub my tummy (or is that the magic spell to get the pizza delivery guy summoned lol. Anyway it’s gotten so complicated and some of the meds have made my Swiss cheese brain even holier than it was before.
So I was wondering if any of y’all have used an app to keep track of pill times and symptoms. I’ve looked at a couple but they were way too buggy, not very pretty to look at or ridiculously complicated. I need a pill tracker (with alarm would be faboo) that would automatically set the timer for the next dose. I need a place to keep track of my symptoms easily too. I have read on a few of the expensive paid ones that they will upload your info to a Zip drive or email so you could share with your doc…that would be the bees knees, but I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for them (although it would be pretty funny if someone was all…woohoo I got her arm and leg now I can rule the world…wait…I’ve been taken for a fool I can’t hold a pencil and three stairs and my legs feel like it’s full of glass…I’ve been thwarted yet again evil villain sadface
did you check out the bens friends app for iphone? I saw something about on this website maybe on the home page, I don't have an iphone but people say they're great hope this helps you out
Thanks for the response. I do have the ben’s friends app ( it’s the only way I access it) but I was unaware that there was a meds tracker, perhaps I overlooked it…I’ve gotten pretty good at not seeing things right under my nose lately lol
I'm afraid I don't have any app suggestions, but I just had to say, your post has made me smile and giggle. You sound like an awesomely fun person, and it really comes out in your writing. Care to share your blog? I have a feeling I'd enjoy reading it. I actually just started a blog myself, in fact. I have no idea if I'm doing it 'right', but I'm doing it for me anyway, so no biggie if it isn't a proper way to conduct a blog. Right? ::faint, watery smile:: Anyway... just had to let you know how you brightened my day!
I have a samsung glaxy 4 phone and found an app called medisafe its a great app! I love it! I was always forgetting my afternoon pills so i got this and it keeps going off till you click you took them. It will even pop up if im playing a game or using facebook etc.... hope this helps you!
Holy buckets Talencia you totally made me week! I’m glad I could put a smile on your face I’m not sure what the rules are about sharing off site blogs(my newest blog project is a cooking blog) so if it would be ok with you I can hop in your inbox and share it and get yours as well.
Louters, I have an android phone too so I will give that app a try, thank you for sharing it with me, it was a little overwhelming searching for one and not knowing if any of them were worth the effort. I really like the fact that it will remind you until you click on it (I can be a bit stubborn but don’t tell anyone!). I’m off to the App Store now! Thank you so much
I use an app called Pillboxie on my iPad. I like it because you can describe the color and shape of the pill and it helps to keep track of them all. It also has a constant reminder until you click it. I wouldn’t function without it haha. I’m stubborn as well lol.
Hi Voux. I have the same problem and have tried a variety of gizmos that might work for some, but I found them terribly confusing I must admit, however, there are days when the intricacies of the cooktop are beyond me. I think I need a personal maid and a butler would be nice. Obviously, that is not going to happen so I think I will try thre Pillboxi mentioned. I enjoyed your post for the humor. I use humor frequently and often people think Lupus is just a really bad virus. Perhaps on this site I can feel free to let loose of the horrific disease. Stay strong.
I am a member of MediGuard. https://www.mediguard.org/
It is a free medication monitoring service that provides patients with : safety alerts, recalls, drug interactions, etc.
There is a mobile app too! With it, I can list all my medications, and, I can list set alarms for each one.You’ll love it!!
Wow guys! I’m so glad I asked! I think I will get one for my phone and one for my iPad and see which works best for me. You guys are super awesome, thank you for saving my sanity what little is left of it anyway haha
Hi, I guess I'm just an old fart that uses the old fashion pill box...you the one that is Sunday-Saturday AM thru PM.....I don't know what I'd do without it. VouxDouxDoll, I love your sense of humor. I too use humor for pretty much everything...It see's me thru a lot. I started as a kid. I wasn't exactly the class clown, but I was always on the teachers nerves, and the kids loved it. So after being DX'd with the Lupus when I was in my early 40's, I was scared, because I never heard of it, and didn't know anything at all..... (1988)So while my husband and I were waiting for my first DRUGS, we went across the street to the library, and my goodness they had 3-4 books on it. When we got home, and a couple said there was a life expenctency of 5-10 years....I threw the book across the room, and said 'not me'....and 25 years later, here I am.. (with all my organ involvement I WAS actually given only about 8 years)a few drs have said that it's my 'attitude' that keeps me going. I love to make people happy, and laugh, so I keep my chin up, and do the best I can. Everybody, have a good day, and feel better.
You have an awesome attitude! I love it when I find other people who share my outlook on this horrid disease. I’m sure you have bad days too but you sound like a truly awesome person. I’ve been living with this since I was 7 so it is normal for me. A day without pain almost freaks me out…lol Like Bumps I too get tired of people who only complain. I want to say you are still alive, the world is still a beautiful place, enjoy the life you have not the one you want to have. But then I crack jokes to deal with life. I don’t have an app to recommend but my sister uses a pill box with an alarm and I track my symptoms on my Calendar on my tablet. Not that my rheumy cares, he’s so dismissing. I dream of wrapping him up in tight saran wrap then tape and watching him try to go about his day, the image always makes me laugh. I hope you have a great day! I’m off to take my meds lol
I’m so glad you asked this question! I needed an app for that too! And sense of humor, yes, love it! I actually DO have a picture of me in my senior year yearbook as “class clown”. I have always laughed when I wanted to cry, or cracked jokes about everything serious. It was my way of coping. I wore that mask through the death of my only sibling…deaths of friends…and many more yucky curve balls that good ol’ life threw my way. WAS is the main word there. I try too now, but I just can’t wear that mask constantly anymore. I too had to work, as a RN to help support our 4 children. I was the bread winner. But… There came a time when I couldn’t. It wasn’t a choice anymore. A man can run with a broken leg if given the right medications… But he still has a broken leg, and running on it isn’t the best idea. It would have been unfair to my patients to work on the medications I need to take to move now. Statements on this forum only prove the fact that lupus affects everyone differently, and no clue is to be found until you walk one day in someone else’s shoes. Trust me, I get it that some don’t like the boo hoo stories,…that is how we lose our friends and family. SOME people don’t want to hear it. That is what is so great about this forum…you can choose what to read and what not to. This is a place where we are able to ask questions, crack jokes, AND just let it out. This is a place that is supposed to be filled with understanding, acceptance, and no place for judgement. If you don’t like it…don’t read it. I was thrilled to read your question and responses today…I smiled/giggled…I am having that kind of day. There are other days when I can not get out of bed… and those days I read those stories where others “just get it out”. It comforts me…makes me understand that I am not alone. I think it takes balls to laugh and joke it all off- I also think it takes balls to write down feelings of sadness/loneliness/and pain knowing that others will read those harsh intimate feelings. Sooooo…with all that said…thank you for being you today! I just received 3 more dx from Hopkins and am glued like fly paper to my ipad too. But can’t seem to get my meds straight, or anything else for that matter. Laughing and smiling releases chemicals that truly can heal the soul! You seem like a really cool chickadee
Hmm, Bumps brings up an interesting thing. I've started keeping an Up/Down journal. You could call it a pain journal, I suppose, but it isn't just about pain. It's my attempt to try and see if I am having more up days or down days. It's so hard to tell otherwise! So I got a little day planner book and have started keeping track.
I wait until the next morning to mark a day as up or down. If I can get the stuff done I want to get done, and do it without any real trouble, that's an up day. Any other situation is a down day. I mark how much ibuprofen I took that day, what problems I had (simple terms, like "mild pain" or "nausea"), whether the day was busy, and if I was in the sun. That's it.
What's in reference to Bumps' post is that I'm notcing the ODDEST cycle.... though I think today has broken the pattern, lol. I've been keeping track for almost three weeks, and until today, every day has been the OPPOSITE of the same day the week before! It's bizarre to look at the big picture when it does something like that! However, today was an up day, and so was last week's Wed. So hehe, it's the end of the silliness.
Oh goodness you guys are too sweet! Thanks for all the info on the apps and thanks for all the compliments. I’m totally blushing right now but that pesky butterfly rash is hiding it. I’ve realized over the years that positive thinking, even when you feel utterly craptastic, makes a huge difference in the way I feel. I still struggle with it some days but it’s something I’m working on with my therapist. When you put a negative spin on a thought or something you say your brain automatically latches onto the negative words and erases the rest of the thought. For example, saying “I hope I’m not sick this weekend so we can go to the park” your brain re-words that into “I’m going to be sick this weekend” it totally ignores the qualifiers. So instead if you say “I hope I’m feeling great this weekend so we can go to the park” you have completely changed the way your brain reacts to that statement, it’s positive and positive thinking is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. I will step off my soapbox now but I challenge you to try to test this theory, can’t hurt and there are no nasty side effects
Dkel, use it to your hearts content! My friend says all you have to do to feel a little better is to throw glitter at the situation. I’m currently waiting for my 55 gal drum of the stuff from Amazon, should cover a weeks worth of the baddies don’t cha think?
I’m not sure what the rules are about sharing off site blogs(my newest blog project is a cooking blog) so if it would be ok with you I can hop in your inbox and share it and get yours as well.