Organising Medical Supplies: After

It's taken me the best part of a week, but I'm nearly there with the organisation of the medications, and here's how I did it:

One of the two drawers under my bed is now dedicated to medications and testing equipment (oxygen saturation monitor, peak flow meter, blood glucose testing equipment, thermometer, blood pressure monitor). The other drawer will, at some point, contain splints and braces. Crutches and canes are stored in a convenient gap between my wardrobe and the wall.

What I used for the medications:

1. Two canvas drawer liners with compartments (from Ikea)
2. Two clear plastic shallow boxes with dividers and lids (Ikea)
3. One clear plastic deep box with dividers and lid (Ikea)

The drawer is just deep enough to hold the two shallow boxes stacked on top of each other.

This is the bottom of the two boxes:

•  Batteries (for hearing aid, portable nebuliser, TENS machine)
• Tape
• Alcohol hand gel

The top shallow box is full of things that I might need in a hurry - it's so useful to be able to see into it, and know that because it's shallow, nothing important can fall to the bottom and get lost or pass its expiry date:

• Dissolvable anti-emetics (Zofran), mints, chewing gum, ginger candies,antacids
• Diclofenac (Voltarol) gel, Lorazepam, scar gel
• Epi-pen, antihistamines, hydrocortisone, glucose tablets

The deep plastic box is all about blood sugars. It contains my back-up glucose monitor, back-up finger stabber and spare lancets for both types of finger stabber. I love the multicoloured lancets, don't you? I just had to take them out of their cardboard package so that I can see them!

The drawer organisers have different medications in each. Most of my standard daily testing things fit into one compartment, which is useful. I've tried to keep similar medications near to each other, though it hasn't worked perfectly because of the size and shape of the dividers.

So there you have it - a fresh start to keeping my medications in order, which is so appropriate given that I am now trying to manage my chronic illnesses as though they are a full-time job, remember? What better way to start than to have everything in order?!

My next project is to get my medical records in order, including the charts that I've been using to keep track of my symptoms, vital signs and medication use. Oh, and I want to come up with a system to make sure that I know when my medications run out or expire so that I can order new ones at the right time. 

This post was written as part of NHBPM - 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J