Popping Pills

[Marina]

I don’t mean the swallowing of them but the actual physical action of popping pills out of their bubble sheets.

Aside from the issue of plastic usage, I find these bubble sheets can be, literally, a pain to use. Some are so tightly packed that it’s hard to push the pills out; others seem to have static and stick to the “foil”; with others, tablets might end up coming out broken in half due to the force needed to pop them out; others are looser in a soft sort of “foil”, so you end up picking them out; with some, it’s easier to first try and cut the foil with your finger nail; and so on. If you have several meds to take, it can be quite a palaver.

 

Even worse is when a GP marks the prescription for 28 tablets, but the box comes in 30 tablets. So the chemist has to cut the sheets up, and you end up with one or more sharp bits of sheets - which might only contain one solitary tablet - from where you need to try to pop the pill out without cutting yourself, as there isn't enough surrounding plastic to safely hold onto. You'd think it would be easier for GPs to marks prescriptions with "one month" and not 28 or 30 days... (which is what they do in France).

I suppose these pill-popping bubble sheets are supposed to be for hygiene reasons (so’s one doesn’t “contaminate” neighbouring tablets), and to stop tablets degrading, whether from humidity or air, etc, but it doesn’t stop them being a palaver when you need to use them daily, several times a day.

How many of you remember the days when all pills were loose in tubs or bottles, sometimes with a piece of cotton wool in the top of a bottle to stop them rattling around in transit? You opened the bottle, tipped out one, or however many you needed, tablets and, Bob’s your uncle, you were done. Vitamins often still come loose in tubs/bottles, but meds don’t -  LDN capsules from Dickson’s is the only one I know of that comes in a bottle.

I prefer to “decant” all my meds into tubs. You might think me a masochist for popping all my pills in one go, but then it’s done for the month and all I have to do is just open the tub and take my pills. I use these “humangear GoTubb 3 Pack Travel Containers”. I originally found them years ago at Lakeland, they don’t sell them anymore but Amazon do.

What makes them so easy to use is that all you have to do is squeeze the lid with one hand to open it, so it's quicker than unscrewing a bottle/tub top; as long as you can squeeze without too much difficulty or pain. It’s just a shame there’s no size in-between the small and large ones (which they call “Medium” size). I put a label on the lid with the name of each med. As they come in 3 colours, I use the green tubs for pills I take once a day in the morning, the blue tub for pills I take once a day at night, and the white tub for pills I take 2-3 times a day. I find the colour coding is a helpful reminder of when to take them.

What are your feelings about pills in bubble sheets and what, if any, difficulty might you have with them? How do you deal with popping them out?

[Nick]

A couple of interesting things,

I was asked at my PIP assessment how I got the pills out of the packet! The answer was 'I don't', Kay my wife does it.  The other thing is, we have always used weekly pill organisers when going on Holiday, this sorts out the problem. A possible 'problem' with doing this is that you do need to take the original packets, and you do need to be aware of any 'Controlled Drugs' which need authorisation, if you are going abroad.  In fact we have never bothered taking the original packets, but with all that is going on, I think we shall follow the guidelines a bit more closely in future.  

It does seem crazy that pill packets are so difficult to open, perhaps nobody has pointed out the problem to the big drugs companies?

Edited 25 Aug 2018, 11:41 am by Nick

[Marina]

You can also get pill poppers or "punchers". My friendly pharmacist once gave me one for free. To be honest, I didn't find it very useful, but some people might.

 

I initially tried the weekly pill organiser boxes, but found I either forgot to refill them every week or didn't have time or couldn't be bothered, by which time half the week had gone by, or that it was still a palaver to do it weekly. So I ended up doing it as I described, monthly and into those tubs. I sometimes have a bit more than a month's worth, so I need to un-pop them less often.

 

I think taking the original packets, or a copy of your prescription (if your chemist gives you one if you're on repeat scripts), when going on holiday is probably a very good idea.

[Stumbler]

I agree, these blister packs are a nightmare. But, isn't this the PC brigade and Elf'n'Safety conspiring to make our life even more difficult?

Edited 26 Aug 2018, 9:05 am by Stumbler