Hello again, this is an interesting idea which may or may not be suitable for your Mum but as a possible alternative worth consideration. Even if it only works for some of her drug regime. It might be worth a go as long as it doesn’t cause confusion. I think it probably works best with people who are happiest with
quite set routines. However can’t make much comment as I haven’t tried this method myself, as I said interesting idea.
Combine with a daily task.
Try taking your medication with an activity you do every day, such as making coffee or brushing your teeth, Tuckman said. “This works much better than taking the medication at a free-floating time or in the midst of other variable activities [such as] mid-morning,” he said.
I have a simple Doro Mobile Phone (Not a smart phone) which has an Alarm Facility you can set to trigger as many reminders as you wish. It also permits you to enter brief details for the reminder (e.g. Sinemet). I presume that other mobile phones also have this facility.
If your mum has a mobile phone, I use Medisafe which is excellent & would do all the things you ask for and more - eyes my main concern too. I have a Samsung Galaxy Fit band which receives notifications from my phone including the Medisafe app. but you don’t need that, phone app alone is fine. You can fine tune to suit you in many different ways & I use the free version. You can download & try yourself first. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.medisafe.android.client
We also use a very simple mobile phone - does require being in hearing distance but it works better than anything else we have tried - and the snooze function means that it can keep going off till you do something about it. Just have to take the meds then - not just turn the alarm off!
Thank you for your help everyone. We talked this through and considered options, and decided it would be best to have something that is always (litterally) close to hand, to avoid it getting misplaced. We will try out the Vibralite Mini Vibrating Watch (one with velcro fastening to easy to take on and off). It has options for vibration and/or sound. Separately, I would be interested about people’s experiences of using mobile phones (for other things, like phoning, funnily enough, texting and other uses) especially those that are not very good with technology,(and whose eye sight is not good) like my mum! I have been looking at the Doro phone. But that might be another discussion.
Thanks Gerrard, we have been talking about getting her a phone that is easier to use than one she has (a tesco mobile!), and Doro looks good. Which do you have, and do you use it for anything other than sending/receiving calls, and reminders?
Hi, The model I have is a Flip Phone “Doro PhoneEasy 612”. I bought it in 2016 and paid just under £50 for it but it now appears to be available for around £20 from Amazon and e-bay. I do not use it for any purpose other than Emergency calls and Alarm Reminders. You can of course text with it but I rarely do so due to the nature and extremity of my tremors and shaking. It is very easy to use and has all the facilities you would require other than Smart connections. It has been perfect for me and I am never tempted to change it. I recently went into a phone shop purely out of curiosity to see what the newer Doro models were like and the very honest assistant advised me that she did not consider that the later models were as good as the 612. I can thoroughly recommend it and think it would be perfect for your mum.
Hi I’ve recently found a great app on Apple. Search for medication reminders and quite a lot come up. The one I use has the picture of a red alarm clock and is really simple to use. It only costs 99p! Good luck xx
It seems there is another issue - not even noticing the alarm when it goes off!! I don’t think it’s the volume. There seems to be too much distraction/lack of focus. I wonder if anyone has this issue?!
Its also proving very tricky getting proper after care after the op, from the hospital or the GP, even though in practice, it’s not realistic for a person with poor memory, focus, and dexterity manage drops 8 times a day at strict times.
Have you tried contacting our helpline about your concerns? If not, I think you you should give us a call and speak to our advisers about your after op care, they’d be be able to offer you more support and information on your situation. Do give us a call on 0808 800 0303.
@Sun-light-17 hi, my mum is blind and has Parkinson’s and has a ‘talking’ watch and a ‘talking’ clock. Both purchased from RNIB website. My mum is 87 now has never used a computer let alone a smartphone and thinks the telephone is the best thing since sliced bread! (So the saying goes!)
I believe one of these at least has an alarm function which may suit your mums requirements.
If not how about you setting up alarm for her and ringing her when it goes off…just a thought but I imagine this might be time consuming for you. I’m (un)fortunately living with mine so am her reminder!
Maybe a Google home mini might be an idea to as I use mine just by saying ‘hello Google, set an alarm for 2 hrs time’ etc etc… just a couple of suggestions off the top of my head.
Just an update on this: The only thing that seems to have worked for my mum is a Mamrabel clock that she uses at home. It would have been expensive but we managed to get it for free via the Occupational Therapist at the Stroke and Neurological service. Going out of the home is a different issue, and haven’t solved that one… MemRabel 2 Audio/Visual Dementia Care Alarm | Health and Care
SL17, I bought a casio gbd-100 g shock. It cost £90 but has 4 alarms per day that you only have to set once. It’s also waterproof and the battery can last 5-10 years apparently. I find that even though I’m reminded to take my meds I sometimes don’t - so I found a free Google clock app (on Google playstore) You can set as many alarms as you want per day and control volume etc of alarm and only have to set them up once. I put this on my TLC android phone (there is a way to install google playstore on some blocked android phones (search online to find out how). I also found a way to install google playstore on my Kindle Fire tablet. (this is a lot more complicated but again instructions can be found online) Now I get my watch sounding followed by my phone and tablet - this batters me into submission to take my meds. Hope this helps, if not an IT whiz yourself gat a friend or relative to do it. If you already have Google play store on a device you’re sorted free of charge and no annoying adds just install Google Clock.
I posted this about a Pivotell Vibratime Alarm Vibrating Watch elsewhere on the forum which may be worth a look by some who have contributed to this thread. It’s a pity the posts ended up in different threads but better late than never
Tot
