Tips for Pills

Break the foil with a fingernail

 I've always been one of those people who has problems with blister packs of pills.

Theoretically, I should be able to push on the bubble side of the blister pack, and have the pill just pop out of the foil side.  That's what manufacturers would have me believe is possible.

What actually happens is that I push and push, and nothing happens.  I keep trying, and throw my whole body into the effort and almost find myself rolling on the floor wrestling with the packaging.  When I finally do get the pill out, I am more than likely to cut myself on the foil.  Of course, if it's a capsule, by this time, it's flattened, and I'm amazed it hasn't exploded and let all the powder out.

Just recently something miraculous has happened.

I've recently started to grow fingernails.  Well, I've always grown fingernails, but they've been thin, weak and constantly split and broken off.  Since the doctor has been checking vitamin and mineral levels on my regular blood tests, and getting me to take supplements on the things I was low on, I've grown thick, strong fingernails of the type I've only ever dreamed of.  They're so strong, that instead of breaking off, I've actually had to cut them!

Did you know the round edge of a fingernail is just the right shape to fit around the edge of a pill in a blister pack? Now I puncture the edge of the foil beside the pill, and suddenly it really is easy to just pop the pill out of the pack!

Cut the plastic band.

I've also had endless hours of fun trying to access pills in bottles. I'm sure someone in a pharmaceutical somewhere earns a huge bonus every time they think of a new way to make medications inaccessible to people who need them.

You know those plastic bottles that have the band just under the lid that make them impossible to open the first time? I eventually found the solution to that as well. The trick is to carefully run a knife between the lid and the plastic band. There's a weak spot that's supposed to break when you twist the lid, but it never does.  That's what you need to cut. That breaks the seal and makes it so much easier to get the bottle open.

By the way, it's also important to cut through that plastic band before putting the empty bottle in the recycling bin.  That way, if the band somehow goes astray from the recycling system and ends up in the environment, it can't strangle animals.