What’s your major complaint about the pills you take?

Why are you taking iron pills? Was this prescribed by a doctor?
I’m asking this, because taking excess iron is associated with cancer. You have to have a good reason to be taking this. I don’t have the time to look up the references right now, but you can go do the search yourself.

^^My iron is low and red blood cell counts low, if I don’t take iron. I take quite a bit to keep my numbers in the normal range. Everything I take in large doses is because I’m deficient or near deficient without it. If you’ve seen me on medical Q’s I always tell people to get tested before popping pills, including vitamins and minerals. I even mentioned don’t worry about the amount, and you still worried.

I too dislike the empty stomach for the thyroid pills.
I forget to take them until after I have breakfast, so then I have to wait.
I hate that I have so many different pills to keep track of.

Worst of all, I hate what happens if I forget to take any.

I take thyroid medicine, too. I have the pills in my bathroom so I take them as soon as I get up so they are taken on an empty stomach.
@jleslie I am on prescription iron pills and no one mentioned that I should take them 4 hours away from thyroid meds. I will absolutely ask my doctor about this. I don’t want my meds screwed up.
My biggest complaint is the timing also. It’s ridiculous. But when I was in the hospital last fall, they gave them to me all at once. Whether it was a matter of convenience for them or it really doesn’t matter when you take them, I don’t know.

My major complaint could be so easily solved, but none of the prescription services seem to have figured it out.

I take several pills each day. Every one of them comes in a small light-brown plastic container with a white top. The printing on the prescription label is small – no more than 10 point type. So you really have to hassle with reading the label to make sure you are taking the right stuff at the right time.

Why can’t they use a larger font? Why can’t they use different color labels? Why can’t they use different color containers? Why can’t they make it easier to tell one drug from another?

(Target did something like this about 5-years ago—color neckbands for their containers – but when Target pharmacies were bought out by CVS, they were discontinued, I believe.)

The cost of them.

Used to have to take anti-depressants and they made me feel numb emotionally.
I stopped taking them suddenly, and I was on 40mg so I got really sick after. Headaches, super depressed, throwing up.
I also forgot to take them a lot. I’m not on them anymore.

That I have to get them in a dark alley.

@chyna I found a link about it, I think it’s the official synthroid site. I’ve always known about the iron, since I started taking thyroid meds. I don’t know if I read it on the info from the pharmacy, if my doctor told me, or if maybe my sister or mom told me. Ask your doctor or pharmacist. Maybe now they decided it isn’t necessary to wait? That would be great. Let me know.

Here’s the link: https://www.synthroid.com/medication/routine

@elbanditoroso Great point. My mom’s medicine bottle from Walter Reed has the “TAKE ONE TABLET BY MOUTH EVERY DAY” in all caps and large. I’d say 16 maybe? The name of the drug is about a 12 I think. So, it seems our military may have an easier time reading their medication bottles. You’re so right that it would be an easy fix.

My dad wouldn’t be able to see a color code, but they could do both color and larger type. Why not buy some permanent markers and just color code yourself.

@JLeslie – sure, I could. But why should I? I am not the only person with this complaint. THis ought to be addressed on a national level.

When I was sick and on several different meds I took a sharpie and wrote on the top of the lid what each bottle was for: pain, iron, diuretic etc, because the print was small and my brother was helping me at the time.

The lid has a little more risk, because if you have two lids off at once you can screw it up when you put the lid back on.

As far as it being a national problem, I agree. If Walter Reed can do it, all pharmacies can.

Putting the pills in a daily box is a good idea I guess. Gets it organized and you know if you took your pill or not. I just started doing this again with my thyroid pills.

I will soon no longer be on anything that I have major complaints about. My pills are very manageable now compared with what they used to be. I’m just thankful that everything I take now is a pill and that I no longer have any injection or infusion style meds in my repertoire. Nothing I am on now has any major side effects or is particularly dangerous.

I am on the tail end of weaning off a medication right now, though, and that process has been very rough. It is an appetite stimulant that I’ve been on for about 7 years. Only just this year did a doctor finally think it important to mention to me that this med is a serotonin inhibitor. I’ve been on an antidepressant for almost to exact span of time that I’ve been on this appetite stimulant, which may or may not be a coincidence. I’m trying to get off the appetite stimulant now because (I hope) I don’t need appetite stimulation anymore, and I would like my serotonin to not be inhibited.

I’ve had to wean incredibly slowly, and I ended up having to simultaneously reduce my dose of my antidepressant, because I was having some bizarre symptoms that we think must be linked to the increase in serotonin that I’m receiving as the inhibitor goes away. Migraine with aura, dissociation, car sickness – issues I don’t normally deal with. My doctor and the pharmacists she is consulting have all been very helpful.

One thing that’s a total pain in the ass is that I’m currently having to cut the pill into quarters because nobody was able to find me a lower dosage size to use while I do this taper. It’s very hard to cut a <1cm diameter pill into quarters with any amount of precision.

I’m down to a quarter of the dosage I was on before, and also only taking it every other day. Soon I’ll be done with this saga. It’s been awful. I really hope that my appetite stays strong when I’m done, otherwise I’ll have to get on a new appetite stimulant, which is also psychoactive, so it would probably require further finagling with my antidepressant.

@Mariah It’s probably not worth bothering with it at this point, but I wonder if a compounding pharmacy could have repackaged the lower dose in a capsule for you.

My meds make me drool at night. All over the pillows.

That I’m old enough to need Hormone Replacement Therapy.