This was meant to be a podcast, but I have exceeded this month’s limit on uploads. I guess I’ve been more active than I thought I was. It looks like I will have to go to the next hosting plan up which will more than double my data plan for hosting.
I talked a little bit about this on my Facebook group, The Bipolar DM Nation, and that is med compliance.
Taking your meds are simple. But simple is not easy. Having to take these pills day after day, week after week, for the rest of my life is a harrowing ordeal I have to wake up to every morning. So, believe me when I say med compliance is hard.
Med compliance is taking all of your medications as they are prescribed. That means:
Right Dose
Right Time
Right Route
Playing with your dosing without consulting your doc first is a recipe for disaster. Especially when you are prescribed several medications that are to work together in concert with one another.
Depending on your meds they are sometime better taken at a certain time. Especially if there are side effects like drowsiness. Taking certain medications before bed helps you sleep off some of those side effects. Other meds are better in the morning. I take my Lithium in the morning because it tends to wind me up and I could use that kind of boost more in the morning than right before bed.
Not to get too much into drug abuse, but taking pills in a manner other than they are prescribed is beyond dangerous. These medications are carefully formulated for specific absorption into the body. When your take your pills another way (i.e. snorting) you risk quickly overdosing your meds without realizing it.
And finally, I wanted to touch on proper disposal of your extra/expired medications. Do not flush them down the drain. A typical water treatment plant does not filter medications out of the water system. Nearly every pharmacy and law enforcement station have medication collection points where you can drop off your meds with no questions asked. Also available from most pharmacies is medication disposal kits with an agent inside the bag which neutralizes or otherwise ruins the medications dumped inside.
I have struggled for years with med compliance. And I am very lucky that I did not wreck my body with all my shenanigans. Take your meds every day. Take them as prescribed.
The Bipolar DM 