Another discussion got me thinking about this topic. Do you take your meds on time? I am practically religious about taking my Tegretol and Gabapentin every six hours. For almost four years now, I've lived with alarms, even a special alarm watch. I get up in the middle of the night so that I don't miss a dose. Daylight savings always messes me up. Travel across time zones is a pain. (Agh, no pun intended.)
My question is - how do others handle this? I've just started letting myself sleep seven hours and it seems to be working. But what do other people find that works? Can you slide an hour? Two? What happens?
Just wondering. I dream of getting eight hours of sleep in a row but I'm honestly too scared to do it. How sad is that? Stupid nerves.
Best -
Faye
I use the alarm on my cell phone to remind me of medication. This works well as I would forget to take meds some days if the alarm did not go off.
I use an alarm on my cell phone, but I sleep through the night. I wake up at the same time every day because my daughter takes Vyvance for her ADHD and if she doesn’t take it before 7:30 she won’t have a good day and she will be up all night and it will take us a week or more to get her back on track. I just take my meds at the same time. I am lucky that my nerve “sleeps” at night and 4 out of 7 days I wake up not in pain for about 10 to 20 minutes and my meds kick in shortly after it starts getting unbearable. During the day, I never miss a dose.
i take my meds at 8am, 4pm, and midnight....I am religious about getting up to take the 8am dose. If i don't take it on time, the rest of the day can be bad. I find that the 4pm dose can be taken up to an hour or so late, but i do get twinges of "almost-pain" if i am late...which happens to remind me to take it..lol
The midnight dose is taken right before bed; sometimes early if i don't want to stay up til midnight...but i generally sleep through the night regardless.
I am always very aware of what time it is. And i, too, have a little travel stash ...just in case i'm out at med time. I also don't bother trying to explain it strangers...i just say neurological disorder, and leave it at that. (Isn't really any of their business anyhow)
Sometimes makes me feel like im shackled to the mini-pharmacy on my dresser.
~Wishing you peace and a pain free day
Mistee
Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. Seems like we're all pretty careful but with some flexibility. And I always have drugs with me, and water with me. When I forget, I have to stop what I'm going and go home and take meds. That doesn't happen too often, though. I am doing pretty well so far sleeping 7 hours in a row instead of 6. Makes life a little easier.
-- Peace, All.
Faye