Managing Your Meds

Keep track of your meds...or pay the price.

I was diagnosed with early PD in 2004.  At the time, I did not consider it critical to take meds at the precise time the doctor specified.  My bad!  If I miss a dose today, symptoms quickly mount.  I found myself in trouble on more than one occasion in the past two years.

Rules to LIVE by:  All questions should be addressed by your doctor/pharmacist.  You should know how long it takes for a pill to work?.  How long will it last?  Should pills be taken with food or water.  How will you feel when meds start to wear off?

In the past two years, I have had three occasions which taken individually, should have taught me a lesson.

Following is a condensed version of the most scarey one:

A passionate hiker and backpacker for years, I always have one or more multi-day backpack trips researched and sketched out on paper.  July, 2010:  My daughter, son-in-law, two grandsons and best friend from PA, were on a six-day backpack trip into the Weminuche Wilderness between Durango and Silverton.  Day 1, take the train 12 mi. into the Animas River Gorge, then hike 8 mi., in the rain, all up, before making base camp.  It was the most challenging day in the back country, in my 35-year hiking career.

After making camp, it was meds time.  I reached in my pack for the container.  NO MEDS.  Check the area around and under my air mattress.  NO MEDS.  Now that OMG feeling in my gut begins.  Did I put my meds in the first aid kit by mistake?   A frantic finger search results in NO MEDS.  The realization of forgetting five days of meds left me at first angry then focused on how I would stretch one day of meds into five.

The full story of my trip into the Weminuche is coming.