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I have been given this product as part of a product review through the Chronic Illness Bloggers network. Although the product was a gift, all opinions in this review remain my own, positive review was not required.
As a chronically ill person, the bane of my existence is my medication. I take multiple pills three times a day and with three kids, a full-time job plus a household to run, sometimes my pills get forgotten. Ok, a lot of times my pills get forgotten. With technology as far advanced as it is, I was wondering why this has to be so hard. Then PillDrill came into my life.
Living With Chronic Pain: PillDrill
One of my side effects of Fibromyalgia is brain fog. Brain fog causes many things including memory confusion. There has been many a day that I could not remember if I took a specific pill that day and all of my pills are imperative. I also take supplements which aren’t as timely as my prescriptions, but there will be issues if I don’t take them too…like my turmeric for inflammation or Lysine for my immune system. The miracle of PillDrill is that it keeps track for me and I have to mark off or scan my medication which keeps me accountable. I love the alarm on it too, you can change the volume and set the dosage window or when you need to take your meds.
About PillDrill:
The Hub sits next to your pills at home, knows your medication schedule, and has audible plus visual alerts when your doses are due. The only two requirements are power and Wi-Fi. The Hub has customizable sound and light reminders, a large screen that gives you precise dosage information and the buttons allow you to scroll through your daily history and upcoming schedule of meds.
You have two options of tracking your pills: Scanning tags or the pill organizer. The scanning tags allow you to “activate” any pill bottle or another container. Attach a tag to any container, and it’s ready to scan. Whenever you take a dose, wave its container over the hub to mark it as taken. Scanning tags adhere easily to pill bottles, flat packs, and other types of containers. 12 lettered tags (A-L) are included with each kit.
If you keep medication in an AM/PM pill box like I do, the weekly pill strip offers the same organization while being uniquely PillDrill-compatible. Each pod removes individually and has a built-in scanning tag on its base. The pod lids are easy to open and close, which my arthritic hands are very happy about. Any number of strips can be connected together to accommodate more daily doses. I switch mine around so strip 1 and 3 are in my room for my morning and night doses, the other strips in the kitchen for during the day. I really like the hidden strap for secure traveling, because it tucks under the base of the strip when not in use and I can grab the whole strip and throw it in my purse when needed without worrying it will spill everywhere.
The kit also comes with a Mood Cube, which helps you track patterns over time by correlating how you’re feeling with what you’re taking. The PillDrill kit also helps in understanding how specific medications are affecting your everyday health and create and edit your med schedule, get reminders and log doses on the go.
If you are being cared by another or caring for a loved one, PillDril instantly notifies how you’re/they are doing that day! There are also flexible notification settings let you customize the experience for your needs, a reporting interface allows you to quickly review and export adherence data and is compatible with most smartphones.
My overall thoughts on PillDrill:
For a super busy mom like me, it is a god-send. When I get into my work mode I am definitely grateful for the alarm reminding me to take my medication because I can get into the zone writing or editing pictures and forget the world. I didn’t think the app on my phone would make a difference but it actually has. I usually rely on my fitness tracker I have on my wrist to remind me to take my meds but it died one day and I had my phone as a backup. It was fantastic. My husband likes it too because he has the app on his phone and can see if I took my meds also. It’s super important that he know if I did if I ever needed emergency intervention. My current meds can conflict with a lot of meds they would give you in the ambulance or hospital as the first course of treatment. I will say that I haven’t missed any doses since I have been using it! That’s a pretty good stretch for me, three weeks without missing meds!
I was really hoping it would be a good option for my grandmother though so I was a little disappointed that it only runs through wi-fi. A lot of elderly don’t have access to wi-fi, including her and this would be super helpful for my mom when she is dealing with her medication. Hopefully, they will have some sort of option for non-wifi households soon. It would be a huge piece of mind for my mom of my Gram could just scan what she was taking instead of having to bother her 3 times a day. It gets frustrating for both of them.
You always have your phone on you, so you might as well have it do a little more than providing you a vessel to play Candy Crush on. Actively maintain your health, all at the tip of your fingers! To learn more about PillDrill please visit their website, check out their Facebook page or follow PillDrill on Twitter.
