Well, moving in that kinda of heat can be awful. Drink lots of fluids.
Then go out and drop $100 on a low end window AC unit. It will likely only keep one room cool, but at least you’ll be able to sleep at night.
This is a lame rant because I really like this housesitting gig, but…
Damn it, goats and donkey, you know the schedule better than I do. You get fed in the evening. Braying and baaaaaing when I open the door to let the dogs out at 7am is not going to get you fed earlier. And Ridley (minature goat), I’m sorry you’ve grown so much, but I just can’t pick you up every time I go to the pen.
Doctor’s office called this morning; Dr. wants to increase my thyroid meds. Should I be honest and admit I was pretty non-compliant about taking them while I was in Tennessee? I’m supposed to take them first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. First thing in the morning is hard for me; I generally don’t start thinking until after a couple of cups of coffee, at which point my stomach in no longer empty. I’m good about my other meds but this one is hard for me!
Yes. Absolutely come clean with them so you get the correct dose.
I have something of the same problem with taking that stuff, but not because I’m drinking coffee. Fortunately, my morning routine is to walk straight into the bathroom and take a shower, so I put the pill bottle on the sink and try to remember (and sometimes fail) to take one before I step into the shower.
The fail is that sometimes I’m just not conscious enough to remember to take it.
I had one that used to sleep on my pillow like this. It was like having a furry nightcap - actually comfie in cool weather, especially as I became increasingly hirsutely-challenged, but a bit warm in summer.
I never complained, as it beat her previous practice of stretching out beside me with her cold, wet nose stuffed in my armpit and all four paws kneading my side.
My Bertie (one of the first victims of that poisoned cat food scandal in 2006/2007) was declawed (before I got her). Some mornings when I woke up and rolled over onto my back, she would crawl up and lick the crap out of my armpit, chew on my armpit hair and kneed my arm or side (no claws, felt good).
Ah, good times.
Concur. Your doctor much prefers honesty, I promise. Also, consider getting one of those compartmentalized pill-a-day boxes. They’re barely a buck or two, and they certainly helped me make sure I take my SSRI every night without fail.
ETA: OMG at “chew on my armpit hair…” :eek:
I also agree.
However, it will help if you figure out what the very first thing you do in the morning is. Is it turn off your alarm? If so, put the pill bottle right on top of it (with a water bottle beside). It might help.
(My pills are on top of the cat food. I will forget a lot of things before I go to bed but the cats won’t let me forget to feed them.)
What I Swallow Every Damn Day:
[ul]
[li]one horse-pill-size anti-migraine mineral supplement[/li][li]one horse-capsule-size anti-migraine vitamin supplement[/li][li]one little squishy gel-droplet anti-migraine vitamin supplement that sticks to plastic but not fingers or fingernails[/li][li]one biggish-size capsule of migraine-preventer drug[/li][li]three capsules of headmed1 (they don’t come in the right dose)[/li][li]two pills of headmed2 (one tiny, one small) (they don’t come in the right dose either)[/li][li]one itsy bitsy headmed3 tab, sage-greenish-tan color[/li][li]one itsy bitsy thyroid tab, pale-olive-taupe color (not to be confused with above)[/li][li]one cute-as-a-bug little sleeping pill[/li][/ul]
I cannot get anything else prescribed to me, or it won’t all fit in my jumbo days-of-the-month geriatric pill organizer, which I keep stored in a concealed and childproofed wooden breadbox so my toddler doesn’t mess with it.
Do not even get me started on the pharmacy, automatic refills, non-automatic refills, obsolete automatic refills that can’t be stopped, refills that won’t refill even after the doctor specifically calls the pharmacy because the insurance company doesn’t think they should be refillable, quadruple calls and double emails reminding me of most but not all of the refills’ statuses, doses that get adjusted mid-month that fuck up my pharmacy-going schedule… damn it, I got started. Sorry.
I have a pill organizer; that’s not the problem. The problem is that I just don’t/can’t think first thing in the morning and I don’t remember the stupid pill until my stomach is no longer empty. Does coffee count as empty?
I am going to be honest with the doctor. My mother once told me “You can lie to me, you can lie to your husband or your friends. Never lie to your doctor or your lawyer; if you do they can’t help you.” Wise lady, my mother.
Mr. SCL - who I am still friends with even though we are separated - got bodyslammed by a patient the other night. The guy literally picked him up and threw him down on the linoleum-over-concrete floor. The only positive of this is he landed on his right hip instead of his left hip, which has DJD and would probably have shattered. So now both his poor hips hurt. The perils of working in a mental hospital…
Definitely come clean to your doctor. They need to know what’s really going on. Talk to them about your difficulty and ask how critical that ‘empty stomach’ thing is, and how much problem coffee would cause.
I’m pretty sure that your doc would rather you take the damn pills every day with coffee than to skip them. BUT it does depend on the medication, so you need to ask.
Coffee does interfere with some meds, particularly thyroid meds. But as long as you’re consistent about how you take it, so that the levels are constant, it’s probably workable.
IANAD so you really should ask yours, but honest to Og I think it might, especially if you don’t take cream. If I recall correctly dairy is suspect because of the calcium and co-absorption crap, but I don’t remember if the amount you usually use in a cup or two of coffee is significant. I don’t think sugar matters (but again IANAD) and I am Internet-Advice sure it’s totally OK if you take it black. And (echo! echo! IANAD) if you know you can always remember to take it after coffee, if your doctor will let you have your levels checked after doing that for a few weeks, you’re probably good to go.
Maybe if I put the pill bottle on the toilet seat? That’s the first place I go, even before coffee. How long do you have to wait after taking it before having coffee?
Part of the problem is that I am not on any kind of schedule. A month in Tennessee with late nights because of band gigs, a week home, now housesitting for 10 days. My sleep schedule is screwed up beyond belief; I’m to the point where I catch a nap whenever I get sleepy because, no matter how little sleep I’ve had I wake up at 10 at night. I’m coming around to the opinion that stress is part of the sleep problem; I slept just fine in Tennessee.
Back when I was drinking coffee, I put my pills in the coffee can, so that I’d see them when I was making the coffee. Maybe that would work for you?
FWIW we had a health screening at work a few weeks ago (finger stick blood test for triglycerides and the like*) and it was recommended but not required that we fast for at least four hours prior. It was further explicitly specified that water and black coffee consumption still counted as fasting.
Ask your doctor (or check with the pharmacist - they should be able to tell you as well) but you may well be able to take it after your wakeup cup.
- and apparently my “good” cholesterol is, quote, “Off the charts.”
Sometime this weekend, I get to sit down and compare my insurance paperwork, my mother’s insurance paperwork, and the last several statements we’ve both gotten from the dentist. I called this week to check on an apparent duplicate bill I had received, and discovered that one of us had a $50 credit. Which one of us, you ask? I have no frickin’ clue, and the person I spoke to was rather vague. I’m starting to suspect that they don’t even maintain separate billing accounts for us (we share a billing address). Why the fuck would they hold $50? Where did it come from?
I keep my pillbox right on top of the coffee maker. I have to move the box to make the coffee. It’s brightly colored too, so I can see it without my glasses. 
It’s hot, fourth day in a row over 100. Might not be much by some of your standards, but we’re not used to this here! My air conditioning is barely working, right now it’s just moving the hot air around. I guess at least I have power now, some people in the area have been out since last Friday.
I take thyroid meds, and I’m pretty sure I read in the handout that the caffeine in coffee inhibits absorption. I can’t find a cite, though, so definitely ask the pharmacist or doctor.
My rant:
My dog is “sensitive”. Routine blood draw today results in four women hanging onto her while she yells bloody murder and yanks all four of her legs around. So we couldn’t even get the 3 drops needed. Gads, what a fuss. On the third try the needle didn’t get anywhere near her and she still screamed. So next week, we try again with a strong husband and some benadryl. Anyone know the recommended dose for taking the edge off?
Your dog wants [del]steak[/del] weed.
I am not a vet (or much of anything else) but I do know that benadryl does not have the sedating effect on my dogs that it has on me. Try Clomicalm, which is a canine anti-anxiety med.