My daughter takes medication for epilepsy. She will be attending college out of state in the fall. Taking her anti-seizure medication daily is of course imperative.
I’d love to hear from any parents whose kids take medication long term who made the transition successfully. Any helpful tips for your student remembering to take their medication? She can take the medication anytime of day, but it has to be at a consistent time.
I have transitioned to making the medication HER responsibility while she is still at home rather than me telling her to take it each day, but I still check with her and remind her. Old habit.
What has your student done that was successful beyond setting a phone reminder (which only works if they are in the room at the time it goes off)? Putting the medication in a certain location? (If so, where?) White board reminder?
Is there some reason why she can’t carry her medication?
If she can carry it, I think the phone reminder would work well even if her schedule varies from day to day. She would just need to choose a time when she’s not in class or at some other organized activity.
@Marian I guess I was still thinking of high school where she of course couldn’t carry it in her backpack. I had not thought about the fact that she could carry it in her backpack in college.
She doesn’t carry a purse of any kind (adamantly refuses), but putting it in her backpack is definitely an option! Thank you!
A weekly pill sorter works great for my D. She takes meds that have the potential to be stolen, so she leaves the bottles locked up in her room and only carries around a week’s worth in her backpack.
Not just a phone reminder. There are all kinds of technical solutions to set up here. She can make an alarm that blocks her emails/texts/whatever she uses most until she makes it go away. It pops up in front of whatever you’re trying to do. Works for me.
You are doing what you can to help set good habits. My DD takes medication daily and I worried that she would forget. She is a freshman and is doing a good job (as far as I know). I asked once a week, but tried not to hover. I had many of the same worries that you are having. Hang in there. They do great on their own!
Get her one of those ankle bracelets that infuses shock waves that you control by pressing a button. Each morning at 7am hold the button down for 15-30 seconds until she confirms via text message that she took the medication.
I bought two of my sons a little 7 day pill holders and they take their medication with breakfast. One is in college the other in high school. I do watch that my high school son is taking his. I would have her start doing it now so it will be a habit when she goes to college. Also I have my college son carry the prescription info in his wallet. Just in case something happens to him and he can’t remember or is unable to tell someone what medication he is taking.
My D1 has a daily medication. She sets her alarm for 7 am every morning (standing alarm) on her phone and keeps the meds next to her bed in a dispenser so she can tell for sure if she took it if she goes back to sleep. She has been doing this for years, and it works for her. Got her up for class, too.
My S has never had a problem remembering to take his medication since he has been taking some sort of medication every night at bedtime since he was 2. However, remembering to reorder has been a new skill that he’s had to learn in college. And, yes, there have been a few last minute emergency calls to doctors when he’s forgotten to renew the prescription. So, definitely work on that aspect.
My D uses a phone reminder to take medication every night at 9. She carries her medication in her purse so that she can take it anywhere.
“Another thing to remember is being responsible for ordering the refills in time. If she is not doing that already she should.”
Our pharmacy has auto refill for maintenance drugs. I would try and set it up like that unless it is a drug like my sons Vyvanse (class 2 drug) in which the scrip has to be picked up at the doctors office every month…
There’s an app called Medisafe Reminder (or something to that effect) that I have found works well, especially if you have to take pills multiple times per day. It’ll even remind you to get refills.
This sounds great for a kid living at home or a college student in a single.
But if the kid lives in a double, the roommate may hate having that alarm go off at 7 am on the weekends, so if your daughter has a choice about what time of day to take the medication, 7 am may not be ideal.
Would this work for your daughter? Or is it extremely important that she take her meds at the same time every day, even though she may get up at different times on different days, depending on her class schedule and weekend activities?
I don’t think this sarcasm is justified. Remembering to take meds every day at the right time is a genuinely difficult task, especially if you have an irregular schedule – which most college students do.
Very helpful suggestions, everyone! Greatly appreciated. I’m going to share them all with daughter (other than the shocking ankle bracelet :-/) and come up with a plan.
I have been taking anti-seizure meds since childhood. By the time I went to college, I had a specific routine (took the meds after brushing my teeth before bedtime) which I followed at school. It was automatic.
I never thought to carry my meds with me, although I may have carried a dose for emergencies (stay out late past the regular time I took the meds). I’d be more afraid of losing the meds if I carried it, even if it were just a week’s supply.
That said, I did have a seizure my freshman or sophomore year because I stayed up too late. Luckily my friends knew about my condition so they knew what to do and what not to do. The next day, I called my doctor (lost my driver’s license for a year) and my parents to let them know what happened and that I was fine.
So, not to alarm you, but plan for what might happen.
My DD takes medication every day and at first used an app that reminded her…but the hard part is the getting of the meds. Her college has an agreement with a local pharmacy that will deliver to the health center…by DD has to remember to order the meds. Having them set up a reminder in their calendar (on the 28th of every month order meds) if the pharmacy doesn’t have auto-refill. Some drugstores, like CVS, auto-refill and text you…but others don’t.
Also you can do 90 days mail order…but not always.
She has some “criseses”…“I ran out of medicine but they won’t deliver” or “I forgot to go to health center before they closed”
The first time I had her take a taxi to the closest CVS to get her meds…I want this to be her problem, not mine.
Also try to get all meds on the same schedule…sometimes they end up being renewed different times during the month
I would have her be in charge of meds before she leaves for college…ordering them, etc.
@SlackerMomMD Thank you for sharing your story. I’ve been preparing myself that it’s highly possible that she’ll have a seizure that first year as she adjusts to college life and ends up not taking care of her sleep as she should. If only we could bubble wrap them. One of the reasons we chose the college she did is that she won’t need a car, so that if she has a seizure, it won’t impact her as much.
She does not wear a medical bracelet and does not want to. I am going to make her get one before college, but of course she could easily take it off once she gets there. I’m going to share your story with her. She is very open about her epilepsy though. All of her high school friends know about it as do her teachers, so I’m not sure why the idea of the bracelet bothers her so much. She’ll be fine informing her roommate and friends of her condition and what to do if a seizure occurs.
One of the reasons we chose the college she did is that she won’t need a car, so that if she has a seizure, it won’t impact her as much.