Following are some simple methods that are easy to put into practice in a personal MedSkills© program:

• Ask the doctor to prescribe the simple regimens with one or two doses to be taken daily.
  • Keep the regimen simple to reduce the need to remember multiple dose times.
• Schedule the times when doses should be taken, considering all medications.
  • Discuss with the doctor whether medication should be taken before, during, after, or between meals to avoid confusion.
  • Discuss how to plan doses so they are the appropriate number of hours apart.
• Record the complete medication schedule on the Seizure Management Diary (www.epilepsy.com)
  • Update the list whenever a prescription is changed.
• Plan "reminder cues" for doses.
• Use a medication organizer and dose time reminders (alarms, buzzers), as needed.
• Check weekly to determine whether prescription refills are needed
  • Check the time between prescriptions to determine whether the refills lasted longer than the expected 30 or 90 days, as an indicator of missed doses.
• Ask someone in the family or a friend to be your Med Buddy, to help remind you about daily dosing and getting prescription refills

Reminder Cues

A key element in your MedSkills© program is establishing “reminder cues.“ The association of medication dose time with a routine activity is a very effective method for most people to remember doses. A “reminder cue” can be any regular, daily activity that can be mentally associated with a scheduled dose. Everone has a different schedule and different needs. Cues must be individualized. The key is for you to select what would be most useful for your lifestyle. Personalizing the reminder cue gives you both the freedom to select a useful reminder and the responsibility for using it.

Think about your typical daily schedule to select something routine to link to taking medication. Not every idea for a personalized cue will work, but pick one to try first. If the first selection does not work well, try other cues.

Typical “reminder cues” are clock times, meal times, or daily rituals.

Examples are:

• Specific times of day (7 AM and 5 PM on weekdays, 8 AM and 6 PM on weekends/holidays).
• Mealtimes (breakfast and supper), if you eat meals regularly.
• Other daily activities:
  • Shaving, hair styling
  • Walking the dog
  • Listening to the morning/evening news or reading the newspaper
  • Picking up the mail

If one dose time is hardest for you to remember, create an extra reminder cue to help double-check that you remember it (for example, plan to take your evening dose at 6 PM with supper, but also check at 7 PM when you watch a nightly TV show.)

Continue to Memory

Section Editor: Robert Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., author: Joyce Cramer
Last Reviewed: 11/15/08