ADHD Tools - Medication Management

By: Meredith Knauer

With any medical condition or disorder, medication and treatment management are important. Skipping medication can have consequences, and for some, accidentally taking multiple doses in one day can be even worse than skipping the dose all together. When you throw ADHD into the mix, executive functioning challenges can make these mishaps common. Whether you had a change in routine, woke up in a rush, or just plain forgot, being unsure if you took your medication can be a stressful experience that adds on to an already hectic day... especially if these medications are time sensitive.

What is a forgetful ADHDer to do? Since our working memories aren't the best, using tools that do the remembering for us can be a real game changer. Personally, I've given several options a try, and have finally found a simple system that works consistently. However, everyone's medication plan is different, so tailoring your system to suit your needs is vital.

Pill Organizers (My method)

Pros: Low Tech, Low Cost, & Available Everywhere - Simple, effective, and cheap. All it takes is a glance to see whether you've taken your medication (which reminds me, I need to take mine). You can find these all over the place from the dollar store to some gas stations, and depending on how big an organizer you get, they're on the cheaper side. It's also easy to tell when you need a refill because Thursday - Saturday are missing pills.
Cons: Beware Moving Pieces and Keep Complexity in Mind - My first pill organizer was... not a success. I had purchased a rainbow one for the pretty colors, but it was far too large for only 3 daily medications. It came with morning, noon, evening, and bedtime slots, and each day of the week was removable from the organizer so you could take the day's pills with you. It would have been a great idea... had I not lost all of the sections. A weekly pill organizer isn't much help when the lost item goblin stole 4/7 of your organizer inserts.
Final Thoughts: Keep it as simple as it can be, and this can be a life changing tool. My husband bought me an organizer that is in one piece and only has one compartment per day of the week. I haven't accidentally skipped a day since.

Timed Prescription Bottle Caps

Pros: Amazing for Time Sensitive Prescriptions - Purchasable online, these caps have a timer that counts how long it's been since you last opened the bottle. This can be really helpful for us time-blind ADHDers who need to know exactly how long it's been since they've taken their last dose.
Cons: Battery Life & Timer Limits - My timed cap bottles lasted a solid 2 years. While it was super helpful to see whether it's been 18 or 36 hours since I last opened the bottle, the timer would stop counting after 48 hours. Additionally, at some point one of the caps stopped working. Whether the battery died or some wiring got knocked loose from fall damage it's hard to say. The other works if you press down on the cap, but that's not really practical.
Final Thoughts: This could be a wonderful solution for time sensitive medications like some birth control, but the cap doesn't exactly alert you when it's time. It's only useful for knowing if you took the medication on time or not, which is valuable, but not really a solution for time blind ADHDers.

Alarms and Reminders

Pros: Attention Grabbing & Reliable - These days, most people always have their phones on them, and having an alarm or verbal reminder can prompt you to stop what you're doing and take your medication. I've asked Alexa for help with this before, and she recognized this as an important notification and asked if I'd like her to follow up with me until completed. Having the technology do the time keeping for you is a definite plus.
Cons: Requires Logistics & Can Become Ignorable- So... what happens when your alarm goes off in the middle of an appointment or you don't have the medication on you? If you're relying on alarms and reminders, make sure that you take note of your daily schedule and make any necessary adjustments. If you have class at noon on Tuesdays and you normally take your medication at 12:30, perhaps it's best to change the alarm time. Additionally, if you're the type of person who automatically swipes away ringing alarms with no thought or regularly forgets what they're for in the first place, this might not be the best method.
Final Thoughts: Alarms and reminders can work, but they require some planning. Make sure you think out what a good time to take your medication would be for each day of the week, and remember to name your alarm! If you're deaf to the sound at this point, maybe change the tone or add a flashing light to catch your attention.

Routine

Pros: It Becomes Automatic - For a while, I was able to easily get by with taking my medication at dinner time every day. I'd keep my pill bottles with me so that it was never an issue where I was, and my brain simply knew that if I was eating in the evening, it was time to take my medication.
Cons: Changes in Routine Lead to Things Falling Apart - Eventually, the time I needed to take my medication changed, though, and the routine I had built up came crumbling down. Now I had to remember twice in one day, and it didn't go as well as I had hoped.
Final Thoughts: While routine can really be a driving force, not every single day will be the same. I recommend using routine in addition to one of the methods above to really solidify your medication habits.

Conclusion

Medication management is a vital part of ADHD management. Having backup methods can be incredibly helpful, especially when there's a major change in routine (5 am flights, anyone?). Take a few minutes to write down when you need to take what medication and think about what you're regularly doing those times of the day. Do you need food with your medication? Should you avoid certain things before or after you take it (ex. citrus can make stimulant medication less effective)? Use this information to form your medication management strategy.

Note: I have only reviewed methods that I've personally tried. There are definitely more tools out there.