Medication error will make for an interesting few days

[gcvmom]

difficult child 2 takes Namenda in the morning before school. I reminded him to go take it today as he was getting ready. Normally we use a pill box with everything measured out for the week, but lately he's been fine with just taking what he needs on his own. He just needs the prompt to go do it at the right time.

Well this morning, I guess he was still tired and not thinking clearly and he took his complete EVENING dose of medications (Depakote ER, Seroquel XR, Intuniv and Namenda)!

I called the school to let them know to NOT give him his afternoon Seroquel XR, let his case manager know so she could alert his teachers that he may be sedated today, and emailed the psychiatrist to make sure I was doing the right thing. He said to skip everything but the Namenda he normally takes tonight and start over anew tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm a little anxious about how this will affect difficult child 2 over the next few days. He tends to be sensitive to missing even one dose... for example, he didn't take his lunchtime Seroquel XR on Sunday and was bouncing off the walls the next day saying his head was buzzing. It even lingered a bit into yesterday.

I guess this is a pretty clear sign we need to go back to using the pill box again!

 

[busywend]

Yikes! I hope your fears become unfounded. Wishing you luck with the next few days!

 

[Wiped Out]

Hope all goes well in the next few days!

 

[HaoZi]

Good luck, hope it doesn't throw him for too bad of a loop!

 

[DammitJanet]

Yes, pill boxes are so very needed. I would be lost without mine. I take way too many medications and I simply cannot keep track of what I have already taken if I dont have them in my little box all laid out for the week. It has saved me on several occasions. And lord help me if Tony ever had to fill that box! I have tried and tried to get him to watch me fill it so he would know how but he just gets this dazed look in his eyes. He will end up killing me!

 

[HaoZi]

How's his adjustment going?

 

[kfmewes]

Yes, pill boxes are so very needed. I would be lost without mine. I take way too many medications and I simply cannot keep track of what I have already taken if I dont have them in my little box all laid out for the week. It has saved me on several occasions. And lord help me if Tony ever had to fill that box! I have tried and tried to get him to watch me fill it so he would know how but he just gets this dazed look in his eyes. He will end up killing me!

My hubby always threatens to make me use a medication box. I just set alarms on my cell phone for both my medications and my son's medications works pretty well. The morning doses I don't have alarms for though. It became habit for me to take mine with my coffee every morning and I have actually managed to get in the habit of getting my son's out when I get mine.

 

[Jena]

lately you are really funny with-o even trying... you write about the medication, what happened and than write i guess pill boxes are needed again

your always very strong!!! yes pill boxes are a really good thing!! too bad i'm not that organized i get it out of the bottle. i hope the next few days go smoothly and you don't see any huge changes with what's happened.

good luck!!!!

 

[gcvmom]

Overall, he's fared okay through this "oops." He's been a little more wound up in the evenings and talkative. I've tried giving pm medications about a half hour earlier and that seems to help.

Later this month he has an overnight field trip aboard a tall sailing ship... I am a bit anxious about this! The school will have to administer a full day's worth of medications -- maybe his impatient social studies teacher will come away a little more sympathetic to difficult child 2 when he sees what we deal with on a 24-hour basis!

Funny thing about the pill boxes, they don't always work. What has worked is me hovering. And that has to change eventually. I don't hover over husband anymore and there are days when he forgets and then he pays the price later on. And I sit there with an understanding expression while he bemoans his forgetfulness, then I ask what he plans to do so he doesn't forget anymore. I've given him the pill boxes. He has a smartphone with alarms, notepads, calendars, yada, yada. He's very organized and on top of things at work -- so I know he can do it. He's just going to have to do it without me holding his hand, lol. The difficult child's, though will take a bit more time before I can walk away.

 

[HaoZi]

We're using a pillbox, too, and about 12:30 this afternoon Kiddo realized she hadn't taken her morning medications! Oh boy... she'll be up late.

 

[crazymama30]

We use medication boxes here, I usually set pills out and remind kids/husband to take them, but I have been known to tell them to go get them and take them. difficult child son is very aware of what he is supposed to take, and will drill me if the pills are different. husband knows too, but is not as vigilant as difficult child son.

My goal is to get them to fill their own boxes eventually, and be in charge of taking them.

 

[Star*]

We were going to invest in a pill carousel - (it looks more like a ferris wheel) until we realized that it wouldn't hold all our medications) How sad is that?

But it is made by some new-age company and I thought - OH neat - I can just see if I ever forget or didn't hear the "ding" - free medications for all the furbabies - I have no idea what a happy dog would do on more of Moms happy pills - but if that kid got any happier? WOW.....

Sorry it was such a rough day....reminds me - I need my own medications. Thanks

 

[shellyd67]

Oh geeze ... One time I took difficult child's strattera instead of my BiPolar (BP) medications... i made myself puke it up !

 

[GoingNorth]

husband once took one of the dog's thyroid pills and gave her his prozac. We did call the vet, who after he got done laughing, told us the worst case scenario was that we'd have a VERY mellow dog on our hands for a day or so.