New pill bottles for shaky hands will help people with Parkinson’s (2021)
nerdbot.com
nerdbot.com
It boggles my mind that such things - in an "advanced society" - are still not solved.
But - they have this impossible to peal / remove layer of heat shrink material over the top lid - I have to always use two hands and knife carefully.
on top of that, they seem to fill them to the very top, if I’m not careful taking off the lid I spill it.
I actually stopped buying them because of 1 - cost for something I didn’t really need, but also 2 - the package difficulty.
That stuff is the worst! Bottles of soy sauce come with that stuff on in the UK and you have to decide: am I going to risk getting that stuck under my fingernail like the worst splinter, or am I going to risk trying to pick at the edge with a sharp knife with all that entails.
I've not specifically opened one of those bottles though.
Zyrtec-D, and Flonase come to mind. Two great examples of companies that must really hate their customers.
Zyrtec-D has to be opened by peeling a micro-thin layer of foil away from a paper-thin piece of plastic.
Flonase is sealed inside a plastic blister pack that can only be opened with stout scissors or garden shears. It is designed to not be openable by human hands.
I'm sure this packaging saved the companies 1¢ per package in costs, and earned some North Shore middle manager the bonus he needed to buy his kid a second boat.
Sadly, the number of things sold on Amazon in "Frustration-free packaging" is dwindling by the day.
All of this goes along with what I call the Elderly Tax. As a society, in many ways we punish people for living a long life.
For example, at the grocery store, a theoretical eight-pack of bottled water costs $3.00. A theoretical 32-pack of bottled water costs $5.00. But no older person can lift a 32-pack of water. So to get 32 bottles of water, an older person has to pay 140% more just because they made the mistake of not dying young.
Looking at the packaging between the two I think it's more about branding than saving a cent or two. The name brand Flonase package is colorful and eye catching and very pretty. The generic one is a plain dull box which just says "Allergy Relief Nasal Spray".
Keeping the product looking nice in transit is a factor too. I notice the generic Flonase boxes are sometimes a bit crushed on the shelf because the packaging has zero structural rigidity. The stuff inside is fine but it looks bad. This never seems to happen with the name brand packages due to their more robust design.
The grocery store I go to (large regional brand) has for the last few years been asking people at checkout if they need help carrying their groceries to their car. Some packaging is ridiculous (remember people having to go to the hospital and get stitches over clam-shell packages?), but I can't imagine an elderly person wouldn't get help carrying a heavy item if they asked for help - people want to be good Samaritans.
Somewhat related: https://imdb.com/title/tt9270362/
An excellent film about how society simply isn’t built for older people, and the struggles that they go through on a daily basis. Very affecting.
That allows them to be re-opened much easier because there's much more gripping surface, and there's no need to squeeze to get past the child safety feature.
Thank you!
On a much lighter note pill bottles aren't the only common container that has a mode of operation that most people have completely overlooked. The little paper ketchup cups common at many fast food places in the US have an operating mode that seems almost completely unknown. I've never seen any use it.
You see people having to work to hit the small cup when dipping their french fries, not realizing that the cup can be opened up make it easier to access the ketchup. Those sections on the side where the paper is folded back on itself can be unfolded to greatly increase the size of the cup.
Here's a photo [2] and a video [3].
[1] https://bestlifeonline.com/prescription-bottle-cap/
[2] https://twitter.com/davefrancois/status/998574865027338240
https://www.michaeljfox.org/michaels-story
He started his foundation to treat/cure the disease. Somehow I thought we’d have had made more progress in 25 years.
I also find it interesting to look back at the US national debt and wonder how the world would have been different if we invested more of that into research (e.g medical, pure science, etc)
In 1998, the national debt was $5.5 trillion and today is $30 trillion.
"What if the side effects are bad, we need more testing". How about you let those who suffer decide? No? OK then.
Like money compounding over time, more invested in research would likely compound over time. For example, all the science and technology we will have by the year 2100 could be had by 2050 if we invested $X more over the next 28 years?
Edit: The point is the policy space available to you has nothing to do with national debt and everything to do with politics, the same in the past as now.
The thing that causes the symptoms is brain cells dying at an abnormally fast rate.
It's really hard to treat cells dying from poorly understood causes.
The foundation has helped get a number of new drugs approved to help with the symptoms.
I'm a dad, and I have a soapbox to stand on and talk about child proof container. I have memories of my young children discovering over-the-counter pills and rat poison.
BUT, there is a distinct population of people who don't need or want child proof pill protection, and they should be served, too.
Either way, couldn't read the article in this state.
Every time I’ve been to a pharmacy in the US in the last 20 years, they’ve had an option for “arthritis” bottles - something that isn’t child-proof, has a big top, etc. That is not going to help you dispense the medication, but it seems obvious it would help someone with Parkinson’s open it.
In Europe everything (literally everything) comes in a box in blister packs. I can’t imagine trying to open those with Parkinson’s.
Where did it say anyone has to stock these bottles? The article describes people who are 3D printing them: "Because of this thousands of people responded to Brian’s post and are now printing the bottle."
A billion extra pounds of plastic created every year and eventually going into the ocean.
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I can create a better revenue strategy while making the site much less viewer hostile, hire me.
On topic, bottles for shaky hands, yes, that's exactly what our society will come up with instead of allowing people to try more experimental medication.