Pill-taking time question

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-05-2004
Pill-taking time question
3
Wed, 06-16-2004 - 1:45pm
Okay, this may be a sort of anal-sounding question, but I am just curious...

I know that the window for taking pills "on time" is +/- 2 hours. I usually take my pill between 10:00 - 10:15 every night. Sunday night I took my pill at 10:00, Monday night I took it at 11:00, and Tuesday night I forgot and didn't take it until 12:15. I know that I'm only dealing with maybe a 15 minute time period, but is this enough to matter? Also, since I took my pill a little later Monday night, will that help out with my taking it so late Tuesday night?

Thanks for any input!!

SARA

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-19-2004
Wed, 06-16-2004 - 2:26pm
since the goal is to take the pill every 24 hours, +/- 2 hours, you should probably be OK, since you really only took it 1 hour and 15 minutes after 24 hours. when you go back to your regular time, though, you'll want to do it gradually so you don't take your pill 2 hours and 15 minutes early. maybe shift half an hour earlier each day. until it's back at 10pm.

i realize that some days things get out of hand and the pill can be hard to remember to take, even if you're normally on-time, but if you're having a hard time in general you might want to set an alarm on your watch, PDA, cell phone or computer. I keep an alarm set on my PDA. I almost never need it to remember, but sometimes it saves me from totally forgetting.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-05-2004
Wed, 06-16-2004 - 4:14pm
Thanks!!

SARA

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-15-2003
Wed, 06-16-2004 - 4:44pm
Taking a pill *less* than 24 hours after the previous one is not a problem, it is the *more* than 24 hours that could be a problem. 26 hours is not likely going to be an issue, but more than that becomes a question mark. I'm not sure what is considered a "missed" pill these days, though I've read here that pill manufacturers are now starting to advise 7 days of backup for even one missed pill (used to be no backup for one, backup for two missed). I wouldn't call it missed until at least 12 hours late, but some people might be more conservative than that. If a pill is taken later than usual, you don't need to worry about slowly spacing subsequent pills back to your usual time, just get back on track with your next pill & don't worry about it.