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Comment by lilboiluvr69 | Hacker News Reader

Wow, I was just thinking I couldn't remember if I took my ADHD meds today. Strange how I can remember exactly how long I ended up meditating yesterday but I can't remember something I did five minutes ago.

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For me it’s basically a question of whether it was something on “autopilot” or intentional. Same with meds I always struggle with whether I locked the front door. I always do but never can remember.

As a side note you can buy “pill timer” bottles on amazon with a clock counter since they were last opened if you want a quick solution to this instead of the hacking fun. But beware most of the brands and models aren’t child safe.

RE: the timers -- The information isn't always for the person taking the med (think assisted living or an elderly relative), so I think getting the data off the top of the bottle is an improvement.

Thanks for the comment!

I posted the same comment since I hadn’t seen yours. Just to add to this, some brands do have an extra plastic piece that will ostensibly turn it into a child safe bottle.

An old fellow named Jim is having memory troubles and goes to the doctor and the doctor prescribes him medicine.

Jim's friend comes over to his house and says, "Jim I understand you got some medicine for your memory. Tell me, does it work?"

"Oh yes", says Jim. "Works like a charm."

"Well I'd like to get some of that medicine for myself. What's the name of it?"

"Oh the name of it....", says Jim. "I can't remember. What's the name of that flower?"

"Oh I don't know" says Jim's friend. There's so many. Is it a tulip?"

"No. It's that flower you take on a date with a woman."

"Oh is it a carnation?"

"No, no. It's the romantic one. It's red, and long stemmed."

"Oh you must mean a rose!"

"Yes that's it", says Jim. "ROSE WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THAT MEDICINE THE DOCTOR GAVE ME FOR MY MEMORY?"

You dirty dog!

Is the joke that Rose had been dead for six years and he slowly descended into Alzheimer's because he couldn't bear to be reminded of her loss so he simply willed himself into a disease that would give him some brief respite by making him forget until the cold embrace of death? Because it's pretty funny, if so.

This happens to me around once every month or two. The problem is that I usually take it in the morning right when I get up so I'm still sort of on autopilot. Any activity that I do every day as part of a routine can simply not get committed to memory if I'm thinking about something else.

Usually I just have to think really hard about it or (more likely) wait an hour and see if the morning brain-fog lifts. I don't want to accidentally double up for obvious reasons, but in the worst case, I just skip the AM dose to be sure and take the noon dose a little earlier if it becomes obvious I missed it in the morning.

Nothing like trying to remember if you took your medication to improve poor focus and attention, right? ;)

I do this too, but my window of I-can-still-take-my-meds is shorter because it’s only one dose for the day, and if I take it too late, I’ll be up all night. I’m usually halfway to dropping off the kiddos at daycare when it dawns on me, and I have to race home before going to work.

Yeah...this is why I switched to instant release instead of extended. More things to screw up but preferred the granular control for this exact reason. It works without issue as long as I don't take it too late. Dose is low enough to improve focus and attention without feeling like I'm on "speed" or anything, but it can still keep me from sleeping if I take it too late.

> Strange how I can remember exactly how long I ended up meditating yesterday

Is it, there are surely very few things that one does as consciously, as 'aware', and as 'deliberate' as meditating?

You can actually find pill bottles like this on Amazon for cheap. They’re no frills, just a small lcd on the top that tells you how long it’s been since the bottle was last opened.

I address this in my write up. There are important use cases for getting the data off the bottle top.

Oh absolutely - I wasn’t disparaging your efforts in the least. There are reasons to need something more complex, but sometimes you just need to make sure you don’t take too much of something.

I just did that dance a couple hours ago... Makes the line "I see the main use for Memory Pill as a monitoring device for assisted living patients or elderly relatives" hurt a bit.

Who ever said 27 is too young for assisted living?

Haha. Certainly not the only use. The idea came from my wife--I can't disclose her age, but she is young.

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