Latest / Living with Parkinson’s | Bryce Perry / How to Take Meds On Time Every Time – My Life Saving Trick

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How to Take Meds On Time Every Time – My Life Saving Trick · Living with Parkinson’s | Bryce Perry

• 0:01
  They told him he had five good years left.
• 0:04
  That was 15 years ago. He's still standing, still
• 0:08
  speaking, still living. This is living with Parkinson's,
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  The good, the bad, and the reality.
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  A podcast about what happens when life throws you something
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  incurable and you fight back anyway.
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  Hosted by Bryce Perry, diagnosed at 4015.
• 0:25
  Years into the battle, This is the truth behind the tremor.
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  Let's begin have. You ever missed a dose of your
• 0:32
  Parkinson's medication and paid for it the rest of the day?
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  You know that tremor that creeps back in?
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  The stiffness that shows up like an uninvited guest, or the
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  frustration that makes you throw your phone across the room?
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  Only if your fingers would let go of it?
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  Yeah, I've been there. Well, today, I'm going to share
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  the one simple trick that changed everything for me.
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  Something that helps me take my meds on time every single time.
• 1:04
  Hey, welcome back to the podcast and if this is your first time
• 1:07
  here, I'm Bryce and this is the light Living with Parkinson's,
• 1:10
  the good, the bad, and the reality.
• 1:12
  This is a space for real talk, real tools, and real hope for
• 1:15
  people living with Parkinson's and their care partners.
• 1:18
  So if you're looking for encouragement, tips, or just
• 1:20
  someone who gets it, hit subscribe and follow along.
• 1:23
  You're not alone in this anymore.
• 1:26
  Well, on today's episode, how to take meds on time every time, my
• 1:30
  life saving trick. This is incredible to me, but
• 1:35
  it's cool. But you know this Parkinson's is
• 1:38
  relentless. We all know that.
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  And when your medication timing is off, even just a little bit,
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  it feels like the whole day goes sideways.
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  Well, early on in my journey, I was taking levodopa like, I
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  don't know, four times a day, right?
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  1222 pills, one pill, 1 1/2 pills, four times a day.
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  Simple, right? Except I forget.
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  I'd get busy, I'd miss it by 30 minutes and then an hour and
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  then bam. Stiff, shaky, off, slurring
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  brain fog, can't concentrate. I'd look at my wife and say I
• 2:11
  feel like I've been hit by a truck.
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  Oh wait, did I miss my meds? That sound familiar?
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  So I knew I had to get serious about timing.
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  Because timing isn't just about convenience, it's about
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  survival. I can't express you enough how
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  much timing is so important. So let's first let's talk about
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  what didn't work. OK?
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  Phone alarms. I'd snooze them.
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  I'd be in the middle of our conversation, I'd swipe away.
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  I'd think, oh gosh, OK, I'll take that.
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  As soon as I'm ready or as soon as I finish this call or as soon
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  as I let go of my, my, my phone. I'll take it then.
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  OK, sticky notes. Cute idea, but I got so used to
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  seeing them I stopped seeing them.
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  You know what I mean. My brain not reliable.
• 3:03
  Parkinson's, brain fog plus a busy life equals missed doses.
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  I needed something. I needed something physical,
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  something visual, something that lived with my pills, not just on
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  my phone. And here is something that
• 3:19
  changed everything. The pill bottle timer cap, I'll
• 3:24
  show you one here in a second. I brought mine down with me.
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  It's a cap that fits onto a standard pill bottle and it
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  shows you how long it's been since you last opened your pill
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  bottles. So in other words, if I open it
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  at 8:00 AM and I take my pills right, and then I look at it at
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  11:30, it would say, you know, 3 hours and 30 seconds, and that's
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  how long it's been since that pill bottle was open.
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  In other words, since I took it, there's no guessing.
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  There's no wondering, did I take it or not?
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  Now trying to remember with brain fog in full effect.
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  OK, there's no more of that. You don't have to worry about
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  it. And this is like a $15 cap,
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  right? And it's probably saved me
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  hundreds of hours of misery and probably hundreds of apologies
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  to my wife too. So the other thing I do as well
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  is, is I always have a timer. So I don't use an alarm.
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  I don't set an alarm for a certain specific time, but I, I
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  set a timer again, I take my meds every three hours.
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  So when I take my pills, I hit my timer.
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  I say I set a timer for 30 minutes or for three hours.
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  But what's really wild is again, that timer, it doesn't always
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  work for me. If I'm busy, I'm busy.
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  So let me tell you exactly how I use this pill timer, this pill
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  top, pill top pill brain fog. So I keep 2 bottles, right?
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  One for my home and one for my bag when I'm out.
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  And each of them now has its own timer cap.
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  I glance at it every few hours to see if it's been 3 hours yet
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  and it's time to take the next one.
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  And again, no guessing. And there's no fiddling with
• 5:00
  apps. There's no fiddling with like
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  trying to set timers on it. It's just I literally open it
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  actually, I'll show you. So this is my time.
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  This is my timer here, so I'm just checking out what it says
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  first. So it says I took my meds.
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  It says the last. So here's my pill bottle.
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  So the one I bought and there's tons of them out there.
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  You know, do do what works for you.
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  But the one I bought came with its own bottle, which I fill up
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  OK. But this is also a standard cap,
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  so it'll fit on most caps that you have.
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  You know that you get from the pharmacy wherever you get them.
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  So if you can see that timer on here, I'm going to turn it.
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  I'm not really great at this guys.
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  I'm sorry. So and if you're listening to
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  the podcast, what I'm doing is I'm holding my bottle up and I'm
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  just showing the timer and it says 58 minutes.
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  So 58 minutes ago I took my pills.
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  That's the last time I opened this up.
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  Now, if you take more than one pill at the same time, you don't
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  necessarily need to have a different cap for each of those
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  because you just use your, your main one, your main, your main
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  go to pill bottle or pill cap should be your levodopa.
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  So in other words, I take primaprixole on my very on my
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  first 3 doses. I take one or one Primaprixole
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  with my first 3 doses. So I don't need another timer on
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  my Primaprixole because I know I opened this and I opened my
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  Primaprixole. Does that make sense?
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  And here's a little tip. If I do take a dose early
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  because of like I'm having a heavy protein meal or I'm doing
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  like yard work, or I know that I'm going to need some extra, I
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  reset the cab so I don't double dose by mistake.
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  OK, so in other words, I, if I have my extra, you know, pills
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  in my pocket, I just pop the cap and shut it back off and it
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  works. It really, really works.
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  Now it's not perfect, but it's a way that keeps, what am I trying
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  to say? It's not perfect, but it keeps
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  me way more consistent than anything else I've ever tried
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  and it's incredible. So let me tell you a story.
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  So a couple of years ago, I had a full day of meetings,
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  back-to-back Zoom meetings and then an in person speaking
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  event. And I would, I was focused,
• 7:00
  right? I was energized.
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  I was in the zone. Then around like 2:30, I hit a
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  wall. You know, I started feeling
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  foggy and tight and sluggish and I'm like, what's going
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  happening? What's happening?
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  I sat down hard, too hard. And I realized I hadn't taken my
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  midday dose. I totally had forgotten it.
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  I was so busy, I totally forgot it.
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  And you know what? That 20 minute delay cost me the
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  rest of the afternoon. Now I got through the event, but
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  I felt like I was dragging a backpack full of bricks
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  everywhere I went. And that's when I said never
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  again. And that's when the pill cap
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  became a non negotiable for me. It's insanely incredible for me
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  though. Here's a few more metrics that
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  help. So water first.
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  I take a big glass of water with every dose.
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  It helps absorb the pills faster and it gets things moving right.
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  I set a protein window. I try to avoid eating heavy
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  protein meals 30 minutes before or after my levodopa.
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  So I plan, but I don't plan my I don't plan my pills around what
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  I eat. I just, you know, I realize if
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  it's like, I don't know, I'm just throwing this out there.
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  If it's 5:00, let's say, if I usually eat at 5:00 and for some
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  reason, you know, based on my schedule for the day, I've just
• 8:18
  taken my pills around 5:00. Well, then I'm just going to
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  delay dinner by 30 minutes, you know, and but I don't, I also
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  don't, I don't get stressed out about it.
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  It's not like, Oh my God, I can't eat that chicken.
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  I can't eat that chicken. I just took my pills like 27
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  minutes ago. I just, it's just again, just
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  trick some things I use, right? If it works that day, it works
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  that day, but I don't, I don't beat myself up trying to make
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  sure I, I hit that meal. And I've had other people in the
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  comments ask about, you know, do you plan my meals around, Do you
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  plan your meals around your levodopa?
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  No, I really don't. I, I don't.
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  All I do is I know my, my primaprixole, my third dose of
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  primaprixole with my levodopa usually hits around, I don't
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  know, depending on what time I woke up because again, every
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  three hours, maybe like noon one between noon and 1:00 and 2:00
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  is when I take it. And I know with that one, if I
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  have an empty stomach, I sometimes feel like dizzy and
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  stuff. So I always make sure I have a
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  muffin or cookie or something around me.
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  But you know, that's how I deal with that.
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  And here's and then another tip is to keep extra doses on hand.
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  Always carry it just in case stash.
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  I have just in case stashes in my car, my coat pocket, my
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  backpack on my desk over here up on my dresser just in case.
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  I always just have that so I don't have to go searching for
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  it. And maybe it's just me, but I
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  thank the pill when I take it and it's just mental gratitude.
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  I go, you know, hey, thanks old friend, let's do this.
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  We got this. We got this.
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  So if you're struggling with medication timing, let me say
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  this to you. It's not your fault.
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  You're not lazy, you're not forgetful.
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  You're managing a full time neurological disorder.
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  Give yourself grace, but also give yourself tools.
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  Whether it's a timer cap, whether it's a smartwatch alarm,
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  whatever works for you. The point is, don't go through
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  this alone. Don't just tough it out.
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  Tools exist and so do people who care.
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  So this little cap, it's a game changer and I'd recommend it to
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  anyone. And there is a link to the one I
• 10:17
  got in the description, but the one I got, I think it came with
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  2-2 lids and two bottles. There's some 5 packs, there's
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  some bigger packs, some smaller packs.
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  All I would say though is there's one that you actually
• 10:27
  accept the time on here and what not and I would avoid that one,
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  right? You don't want something more
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  complicated, just want something very, very simple to look at.
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  Hey, when was the last time this pill bottle was open again?
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  One hour, 1 minute ago. One hour, 1 minute ago.
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  I know Hey, I'm taking my meds in two hours or I guess an hour
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  and 59 minutes. But anyway, the link is in the
• 10:48
  description if you want to check it out.
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  And again, this isn't a sponsored video.
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  It's just something that I use every single day and it's been
• 10:53
  an absolute game changer to me. So how about you?
• 10:57
  You got a Med hack? Share it in the comments.
• 10:59
  Let's build a Bank of tools together so someone else doesn't
• 11:01
  have to learn the hard way. And if you're looking for a safe
• 11:04
  place to connect and go deeper, check out the Inner Circle.
• 11:07
  We do live Zoom calls, Q&A, live conversations.
• 11:10
  It's not about being perfect, it's about being real.
• 11:13
  And also when you join that you become a member of this channel.
• 11:16
  And if you're not a member of this channel, I would encourage
• 11:19
  you to be, you know, again, it's not about, you know, making
• 11:23
  money or anything to that degree.
• 11:24
  It's about, you know, getting some more income so that we can
• 11:28
  spread the word further and farther.
• 11:30
  Every single penny is reinvested.
• 11:32
  It's like a donation into Parkinson's for you and for
• 11:34
  others. And you can join that and you
• 11:37
  get some kind of cool perks. You get to watch the videos
• 11:39
  before everybody else gets to see them.
• 11:41
  So check that out. If there's a join button on the
• 11:44
  video below, you can click join if you're on YouTube, but there
• 11:48
  is links in the description. If you're on audio or even on
• 11:51
  YouTube, you can click the link in the description and get some
• 11:53
  more information. And there's no obligation.
• 11:55
  There's no expectation. And thank you for watching and
• 11:59
  I'm going to see you next time, right?
• 12:01
  And hopefully, hopefully right on schedule.
• 12:04
  You have a great day.