One week, I’ve been taking my Ritalin for one week now. Seems strange, that such a tiny pill can have a huge difference in my life already.

I want to talk about not forgetting to take the meds. I am terrible with taking tablets / medication on time. I forget it, simple as that. I take birth control pills and anti-histamine for allergies daily and they are next to my toothbrush and even then I forget.

I always wondered why they invented Ritalin that wears of in 4 hours. Why would you give someone with ADHD/ADD medication that they have to take multiple times a day while we tend to forget everything.

I set up a system for myself to hopefully not forget. I currently have 3 strips of pills, enough for two weeks, because I have to get a check-up at my doctor after 2 weeks. I devided the strips of pills over different places, one in my wallet, one next to my bed and one on the coffee table in front of the tv. This so it’s always within reach. If I don’t see something I will forget it (even then I still forget things, like my work phone this morning due to a sudden change of bags).

I also set up an alarm on my phone, daily at 7 am and 1 pm and an alarm clock for the none working days at 7 am as well so I’ll wake up to take my meds.

I also downloaded on of those ‘don’t forget your meds’ app. The app store is full of them and I found one that is simple and after programming my Ritalin and times I should take it, a reminder goes of. It sounds like the shaking of a pill box. Hilarious, but I have to tap it to say I took my meds.

I really need to install on of those on my work phone as well. I need that reminder!!!

Currently I am very focused on taking my meds on time. Today my working schedule made it so I was not at the office for my 1 pm intake. I made sure I had something to drink with me and took them on the road. I hate the fact I am so focused on time tables at the moment but I can imagine it will wear off over time and it will hopefully become second nature.

There are also ADHD/ADD meds that work all day and you just have to take 1 tablet each morning. Unfortunately my health insurance doesn’t completely covers those and I don’t want to be stuck with extra bills each month.

Also, as I said, I am prone to forget tablets. I don’t want to have to take a tablet later in the morning when I forget one and not being able to sleep, because it’s still working. I need some control in my life and having those four hour tablets hopefully will give me more control in the future when I am on the right dosis and amount of tablets.

I am looking forward to next week, when some of the side effects will disappear and to taking to my doctor in order to figure out the next step. I also need to find a psychologist who can help me deal with the rest of my problems and figure out being me on Ritalin.

Thanks for reading, love, Jamie.