Ever had trouble remembering to take your medicines? Ever spent half the day trying to remember whether you had your medicines this morning? If so, read on, because this article gives you some hints about overcoming these problems.

Make a medicines timetable

Make a list of all your medicines and the times they should be taken, and post it in a prominent place. If you prefer, ask your GP to compile the timetable on their computer. Use it to remember which medicines should be taken when.

Link with daily activities

Make taking your medicines part of your daily routine by linking them with daily activities, such as eating breakfast, brushing your teeth, or going to bed. Take care to link medicines that should be taken with food with times when you won't have an empty stomach, or make sure you have a snack before taking the medicine. Likewise, don’t link medicines that should be taken on an empty stomach with meals.

Make medicines visible

Keep your medicines where you’ll see them when you need to take them. If you’ve linked them to brushing your teeth, put them near your toothbrush. If you’ve linked them to eating breakfast, put them in a cupboard with the cereal or tea and coffee. However, don’t forget to keep them out of the sight and reach of children.

Use reminders

Use reminders to jolt your memory. Reminders can be as simple as a note on the bathroom mirror, fridge or television. Change their wording, colour and location frequently, so you don’t become ‘blind’ to them. If you use your computer regularly, you might like to set it up so a reminder note appears every time you start up. If your watch, clock or mobile phone has an alarm, try setting it up so it sounds when it’s time to take your medicines. If you can’t hear those alarms, consider buying an electronic alarm that flashes or buzzes loudly.

Streamline your medicines timetable

It’s much easier to remember to take your medicines if you take them once or twice a day rather than several times a day. If your medicines are scheduled for several different times of the day, talk to your doctor and pharmacist about the possibility of streamlining your timetable so you take your medicines less often. This may involve changing one or more of them to a dose or form that can be taken less often. For example, you might be able to change a three-times-a-day medicine to a twice-a-day one.

Use labelled blister-packs

Some tablets come in blister packaging with the days of the week marked alongside each tablet, so you can check whether you’ve taken the tablet that day. If your tablets don’t come in this sort of packaging, consider asking your pharmacist if there’s another suitable brand or medicine that does. If there is, ask your doctor if it would be possible for you to use that medicine.

Mark off a chart

Use a chart to tick off each medicine as you take it, so you can check later whether you’ve remembered it. Have all your medicines listed on the left and a series of columns on the right. You might like to use different colours for the different times, or organise the list so the medicines you take at the same time are together. The latter may mean listing some medicines more than once. The chart could be on a sheet of paper. Alternatively, it could be in a small spiral notebook with the medicines listed on a left hand page, and the columns on the right hand pages that you tear out as you fill them. Your pharmacist may also be able to print a list for you.

Use a medication organiser

Storing your medicines in a pill box with labelled compartments for each day of the week will help ensure that you take the right medicine at the right time. Pharmacists sell a variety of medication organisers, so check out your pharmacy for the one that best meets your needs. Some have one compartment for each day, while others have up to four compartments (morning, lunch, dinner and evening) for each day. There are several weekly medication organisers designed to be filled by pharmacists, including Webster packs and dosette boxes. If you have difficulty filling medication organisers or don’t feel comfortable filling them yourself, ask your pharmacist if they could prepare one for you each week. Most pharmacists charge a small fee for the service, but it may be money well spent.

Medication organisers: 1, 2 and 5 are designed to be filled by consumers, while 3 and 4 are designed to be filled by pharmacists.