Don't get this if you have clinical depression/take anti-depressants.
The title of my review may seem strange to some. Is there some strange chemical interaction between SSRIs and the plastic of the pill box? No, there isn't. There's a functional/design interaction with depression. When I got this pill box, I loved it. I got it because I learned that I shouldn't be taking my fiber and pro/prebiotic supplements with my antidepressants, anti-histamine, vitamin supplements (anything that you're taking orally that ultimately needs to end up in your blood). The 4-a-day separation meant I could easily keep my digestive supplements separate from my other medications, and, as an added bonus, the individual pucks could go along with me to work, which made it easier to pace my medicating as the day goes. Everything was fine, for a time. It was pretty mild the first time the problem presented itself: lack of executive function colliding with an overly-complicated design with too many steps. At first I was just missing a few doses here or there, but after a few weeks of using this pill box, I just didn't refill it. Having to juggle all of these individual boxes, refilling them on a weekly basis, TWENTY-EIGHT little doors to open, across 7 different boxes, that are easy to forget in your car, or in your pocket. It might sound trivial to most people, but to somebody with a depressive disorder, even the smallest inconvenience can become a reason to procrastinate on something, and once you've gone as much as a couple of days without taking your anti-depressants, IT ONLY GETS WORSE, AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT ONLY GETS HARDER. To be clear, the only complaint I have about the quality of the product as far as manufacturing/quality control/etc. is that some of the latches on mine are a little flimsy and are given to spill open in your pocket. The main problem that I have with this is that it is just not a design that is friendly to my specific condition/medical needs, and I feel strongly that other people with depression may very well run into similar problems if they choose a design like this. I've been off of my medication for 3 months, because refilling this d*mn thing is so frustrating to me. This design is needlessly complex, which is great marketing, and I'm sure there are plenty of people who think it's adorable (I sure did when I bought it), and if that works for you, great, but for people who need to streamline their medicating as much as possible to not fall into a full-on, unmedicated, depressive episode like I'm in rn, this is not good design philosophy. For those who have the same, specific needs as me (need to take digestive supplements and day/night antidepressants) and are curious to know what I'm trying next, and what I suspect will be a much better solution, is to get a normal, top-access, 14-compartment, twice-a-day pill box, use that for all of my antidepressants, vitamins, and similar medications, and I ordered a 4-pack of "3 compartment, removeable dividers," portable, clamshell pillboxes, fill one third of it with my pre/probiotic (which are take 1 with each meal), and the other 2/3 with my fiber (which are take 3 with each meal). The most important part of this is that it'll keep my routine for managing my antidepressants separate from managing my digestive supplements. If I miss a few doses of fiber here or there, it's not the end of the world, and, more importantly, it won't affect my ability to refill my pillbox the same way it does if I miss a dose of my antidepressants. I won't need to fiddle around with 28 different, little compartments every week, and the number of pills I'll have to refill at the same time as my antidepressants will be cut in half. Take care of yourselves, and remember that, sometimes clever marketing, good reviews, and appealing aesthetics doesn't always mean a product will meet your specific needs for function, and sometimes it takes a bit of trial-and-error to figure out exactly what those needs are. It took me multiple months to realize that this pill box is the reason I haven't been taking my meds. That's not the pill box's fault, nor is it the manufacturer's, nor the seller's, nor Amazon's, it's just not the right product for me. That's why I'm choosing to share my experience, so that, hopefully, others will find in useful in identifying a need they otherwise didn't think of or know about when considering this product
Read More...
