There are two parts to medication: Remembering to take your pill today and remembering if you have taken the pill today. And both parts are crucial.
Nearly everyone with a prescription at one time or another goes over those questions. Some medications can be dangerous to miss. Others can be dangerous to repeat.
If medication schedules become a problem, technology can help.
Voice assistants like Alexa or Google Home can prompt you to take meds and you can ask them to remember you have taken the pills, although it sometimes requires a third-party app.
Apps like Medisafe work on a smartphone to remind and manage prescriptions, including refills. Free, but modest cost to turn on certain features.
Pill dispensers can help, especially when caregivers can't be present at all times. On the low end, a weekly plastic pill box helps anyone with a number of prescriptions. At the higher end, automatic medicine dispensers may be expensive and come with a monthly subscription cost, but they can dispense pills on a schedule for a month at a time.
Among the automatic med dispensers on the market:
e-Pill MedSmart Voice — Holds 28 days of meds in a locked disk. Announces when pills must be taken. Will not dispense pills until the time is scheduled. About $300. No subscription required.
MedaCube — Dispenses up to 16 prescriptions for 90 days with several audio and visual reminders, and even Web photos of every dose taken. But, plenty pricey at $2,000. No subscription required.
Hero medication dispenser — Dispenses prescriptions for 90 days with prompts. $100 setup fee and $30 monthly subscription fee.
