Automatic pill dispenser

Bod

Registered User
Aug 30, 2013
1,958
0
Hi All
New to posting, but have been reading, for a long time and have learnt a very great deal. So thank you all.
Now my first question..does anyone use an automatic pill dispenser, and who fills it?

I am at the point of investigating the suitability of these, I have found one that has a disposable tray system (similar to the "dosset box" system) my pharmacist has never come across this automatic system, and is unsure that she can be involved!
Thanks
Bod
 

chris53

Registered User
Nov 9, 2009
2,929
0
London
Hello Bod, a warm welcome to Talking Point, hope we can be of help to you, much support and understanding is always here anytime of the day or night;)
Herewith a link which may help, and you can always go to the top of this page (where you log out)and go to the box "search talking point" put in "pill dispenser" and you will see many posts on this- good luck:)
Look forward to you posting again, take care and best wishes
Chris x
http://www.pivotell.co.uk/Medication_Dispensers_and_Accessories.htm
 

artyfarty

Registered User
Oct 30, 2009
267
0
London
Hi All
New to posting, but have been reading, for a long time and have learnt a very great deal. So thank you all.
Now my first question..does anyone use an automatic pill dispenser, and who fills it?

I am at the point of investigating the suitability of these, I have found one that has a disposable tray system (similar to the "dosset box" system) my pharmacist has never come across this automatic system, and is unsure that she can be involved!
Thanks
Bod

Hi Bod

I got one of those a little while back for my mum. Initially she fiddled with it constantly and even broke the battery compartment lid off trying to get into it - but it's been about three months and she has got used to it. The alarm goes off and doesn't switch off until she tips the pills out. You can put a months worth of pills in it.

There are a couple of criticisms - the flimsy battery compartment lid for one - the fact that the alarm does not repeat (say if she is out of the house when it goes off) and setting the alarm on it is also fiddly.

Having said that I still think it's worth buying. One big advantage is that she cannot access the rest of the month pills - only that days, so no chance of taking them twice and on the odd occasion when I am not around I know more often than not that she will take her pills at the right time and in the right dosage.
 

mimisue

Registered User
Jan 17, 2009
1
0
Buckinghamshire
Hi there, I am a lurker and often get great help from knowing that others are going through similar situations. This is something I know about!

I was offered an automatic Pivotell pill dispenser for Mum as part of a trial our local council care dept was carrying out. It can stand alone or be linked to the call alarm so if the pills weren't taken, the alarm people would call through and prompt and if there was no reply, they would call me or a neighbour. It's battery powered with 4 x AA batteries and they only need replacing about once a year. It can be programmed for tablets to be taken once, twice or three times a day. It can be locked and the only way to get to the tablets is through the access hole at the front when the mechanism inside turns at the appropriate time. There is an light and/or buzzer alarm to alert that tablets need to be taken. The tablets can be taken earlier than scheduled if the unit is turned over twice and this can be programmed up to an hour ahead.

As the carer I had to take responsibility for the key and for popping in the cassettes of tablets. Not all pharmacies will dispense into these plastic cassettes but our council was liaising with Boots so the script was picked up automatically and then the boxes were delivered to me. It's easy enough to put the pills in the cassette slots yourself as long as there aren't too many as the slots aren't that big,

Dossett boxes were gaving her too much free choice and it was too much like a pill 'free for all' or taking nothing at all. She loved the high tech aspect of it and accepted it quite well. However, towards the end she would forget if she had taken her tablets and poke her finger in the hole and try to move it which would jam it and then the call alarm connection wouldn't work.

Due to a health crisis earlier this year she is now in a care home but I don't think she would have been able to stay at home relatively independently for as long as she did without her Pivotell.
 

nicoise

Registered User
Jun 29, 2010
1,806
0
My mum had a Pivotell, and as Mimisue writes, it helped her stay independent longer than she could have done otherwise.

Luckily she was given it early, so that she was still able at that point to learn this new system, and adapt to it.

My mum had 7 doses of tablets a day, which was managed via the Pivotell, and a very obliging pharmacist who refilled the Pivotell according to her prescription, and who did deliveries.

Thus she was able to stay in her own home alone and manage her medications herself (with the odd mix-up, but nothing that didn't get spotted by her daily carers).
 

Dearie Me

Registered User
Feb 2, 2012
41
0
Scotland
My mum also uses a pivotell dispenser, supplied through our local council. It is great, but none of our local pharmacies will fill it. This means I have to decant the dossett boxes into the dispenser weekly. (Mum is on meds 4 times a day, and the dispenser has 28 compartments). To help with this we bought a spare pill tray online to make refilling easier. Overall it is great, once we all got used to it.

Good luck
 

Bod

Registered User
Aug 30, 2013
1,958
0
Thanks for the replies, they confirm what I have already discovered.
The comment regarding starting any new system early in the illness, is very valid, I have found that habit, and comfort zones are very hard to change.

A little more about myself, my father has Alzheimer's, and is in a care home, happy as a sandboy. We had all the usual problems.....you know them!!

We now my partner and I have her mother newly diagnosed, and are faced with similar but different problems. Diabetes with insulin injections started 2 months before Alzheimer's diagnosis!!!

Bod
 

chris53

Registered User
Nov 9, 2009
2,929
0
London
Hello again Bod, I hope you get the pill situation sorted out:eek: if there is any chance that a care service could be put into place by social services would that be a help?my mum in law has vascular dementia and how she is,is very different to my mum who has Alzheimer's, mum in law needed someone to give her medication, not so much (at first) because of dementia but she is also almost blind, my mum is still able -so far to take hers without help, but I myself fill a box each week, she knows by colour and shape what to take when!(big notice by pill box to prompt) so pleased your dad is being looked after so well and is happy, and sorry you now have this additional heartache with mum in law, please do keep posting and let us know how things are going and if any of us are able to help with any problems.
Take care, and have a peaceful weekend- Chris x
 

Bod

Registered User
Aug 30, 2013
1,958
0
Bod here again.
We solved our pill problem by using the Pharmacy filled Dosset box system, which with weekly delivery has worked very well.

Bod
 

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