How many pills do you take every day?

I'm post anti-depressants so I average out at 0, the occasional aspirin or paracetamol aside

Zero, also. My doctor has never mentioned anti-depressants or statins.

Just an allergy pill (loratadine), and a probiotic. Nothing prescription.

Daily: Trintellix (SSRI), valacyclovir (prescribed) and lysine (nutritional supp) both for HSV-1 suppression. I take a multi vitamin and also vitamin D in liquid form.

I keep a mysterious but amazing anti-anxiety on hand, take it maybe once every four months if I’m having a really bad day and need to sleep through the night. The bottle has been on my shelf so long that the label has worn off and I forget the medication. I should ask! It’s great. It’s not Seroquel but it’s similar.

I have PrEP on hand in the event that either me or my boyfriend want to open things up (we don’t)

apixaban (twice a day) 
bisoprolol (twice a day) 
atorvastatin
ramipril
alfuzosin

up to 6 paracetamols (acetaminophen aka tylenol) a day, the morning ones caffeine-buffered: my work (reading screens all day) has routinely supplied me with headaches since the 90s. when i can cut out coffee this drops away, but my work always pushes me back

Should our number include natural supplements or no?

I think I'm down to 10 between meds & vitamins, but it was pretty ridiculous for awhile there.

8. I had a heart attack and so I'm stuck with 5 of them. Two ssris and vitamin b12 because blood tests say I'm low.

3 -- multivitamin, allergy (loratadine), and low-dose aspirin

zero

fgti a mysterious but amazing anti-anxiety pill sounds like my dream but unfortunately I live here ah well

A sertraline a day keeps the crabby little bitch at bay.

1 - a statin

ugh 10

metformin x 2
lipitor
metoprolol
lisinopril
hydrochlorothyazide
omeprazole
multvitamin
fishoil
probiotic

type 2 diabetes, hypertension & cholesterol, along with acid reflux wee

5

Antidepressant (venlafaxine)
Statin (Rosuvostatin)
Blood pressure (Olmesartan)
Beta blocker (Metropolol)
Sleep aid (trazodone)

All but one of those started in the last 3 years lol

6 prescriptions (two 2x/day) plus supplements and a sleep aid, 11 pills/day total

Omeprazole + blue punisher ecstasy

three, all hrt: 2x estradiol 1x spironolactone

the only other regular medication i’ve ever taken was for my very bad acne in high school (incidentally hrt has eradicated my adult acne)

or rather that’s 3x 2x, medication is hard

2

4, all with breakfast:

Metformin x 2
Jardiance
multivitamin

Lisinopril, pantoprozole, the Walgreens Claritin knockoff and yer basic multivitamin.

None except a couple vitamins.

ugh Alfred you're so happy

i average out at 5 (i'm not counting fish oil, just cuz)
unless i'm deeply hungover or anxious in which case +2-3

If you’re not taking high blood pressure meds consider yourself blessed and privileged enough to not have so much stress that it affects your physiology.

Also I took birth control pills for most of my life that had nothing to do w maladies or aging but did ensure that I could manage my reproductive system.

That said, 2.

None except a couple vitamins.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOThjMDE0YWYtMzQ0Mi00MDIxLWE1YmMtZmUwZDE3ZDliMTViXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDIxNTEyMQ@@._V1_.jpg

two, feeling lucky ready through all this

"reading" not ready ffs

xxp loll

if Negroni existed in pill form -- well.

lolol

i have a friend whose mom is super proud that she's never had to take daily meds - i just kind of feel like unless i'm in a horror movie stranded on a desert island, where's the issue? i dunno

anti-depressant, anti-histimine, anti-inflammatory for arthritis. anti anti anti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNCYbfmS-EQ

0.5 beta blocker, keeps the headaches away.

1 antihistamine keeps the allergies away, except for a couple of days each year.

multivitamins sometimes, when days lengthen or work is more demanding than normal.

xxpost in that case I take an anti beta

i didn't realize beta blockers were effective for headaches! i have them on hand for public speaking type things

have to say beta-blockers not noticeably reducing my headaches :(

at least not in number (possibly in intensity, how would i know)

the only other regular medication i’ve ever taken was for my very bad acne in high school (incidentally hrt has eradicated my adult acne)

― ivy.

oh god since i started HRT my skin has _glowed_

which is just a hormone thing, transmascs on T get _so much_ acne

anyway my life is at an Ozzy Osbourne level of polypharmacy

five vitamins in the AM - one d3 supplement, two general multivitamins, two calcium gummies... i'm supposed to get a DEXA but i keep putting off rescheduling it. every goddamn day i get a text notification from one of my providers telling me about one of my upcoming appointments or asking for feedback on how they did on my previous appointment. anyway i have a compression fracture but they couldn't tell at what level from the MRI. they kept telling me to "lie straight" which is not easy advice to follow when one is as kyphotic as i am. anyway they want me to get a DEXA, i'm supposed to get my labs redone because my potassium level was elevated, i told them "look it's fine i bought bananas that week" but they want a retest anyway. i only have one job right now but the amount of time and energy it takes managing my medical stuff feels like a second job.

anyway, five vitamins in the AM and five pills - mood stabilizer, acid reflux drug, BPH drug, prep, ADHD drug. then in the afternoon i got eight - mood stabilizer, acid reflux drug, andtidepressant, two pills for bph, two prazosin for night terrors (that's a new change, up until this week's psych appointment it was three), progesterone.

that's a shit-ton of bph pills considering i had my balls chopped off, but i tried discontinuing them and i stopped being able to pee, so i guess i'm on them for life. regarding the estradiol, i do a weekly injection - it would be probably about 5 mg daily (2 1/2 pills) if i was doing oral. oh, and in the am i do two snorts of flonase in each nostril for my allergies. i was going to embark on one of those really long-term anti-allergen programs to get over my cat allergy, because being a lesbian with a cat allergy is really inconvenient, but i got too much other shit to do.

i finally went to the eye doctor and got an eye exam, for instance, but now i gotta find somewhere to get it filled. can't be just everywhere because i got prisms, those online shops can't handle that. i'm seeing my psych every month to evaluate my meds. every week i got three therapy appointments - one dbt group, one individual therapy, one couples counseling with my girlfriend-ish. then there's the physical therapy every morning. i'm overdue for a dentist appointment. i've had chronic gingivitis, the sort that always seems on the verge of blooming into full-blown peridontal disease but never quite does, but i haven't found a new dentist since selling my house and moving. one of the big stress factors in my life is not just the uncertainty of trying to find a new job, but knowing that once i do i'm going to have to find a whole new set of providers who will take my new insurance, plus figure out what treatments they will and won't pay for (i've never done ketamine therapy, for instance, because my current insurer pays 100% for TMS but as little as they legally can for ketamine).

this feels like a watershed moment to me. this feels like a proper introduction to the phase of my life where the primary thing i talk about is all the medical shit i got going on. i feel kind of excited and happy about it tbh? ok i'm only 47, but my healthcare experience... i'm getting a lot of experience hanging out in waiting rooms with people 25 years older than me.

PRE-TRANSITION KATE:

"Oh, boy! I get to take Beta Blockers! Does that mean I'm going to stop being a beta male?"

PRESENT-DAY KATE:

"Well... technically?"

Five - two for hypertension, two for hypothyroid -- love that the first would be helped by my losing weight, but the second makes losing weight very hard to do. And I take the doctor-issued vitamin D supplement that is apparently mandatory now.

Two regular/one PRN for perimenopausal crazies--I'd love to be on HRT instead, but can't because of hormone-fueled breast cancer.

One to keep the acne away.

Occasional NSAIDs or Tylenol for various aches and pains.

Supplements (doctor's orders because levels came back low): vitamins B and D. Temporarily supplementing calcium because I have a broken ankle. Magnesium at night when I remember.

So fivish total if you don't count the supplements.

A hospice nurse I worked with once told her plan for being an aged adult (65+) is to tell her doctor: "I will take no more than five medications. You pick which five." We had 85 year olds with terminal dementia coming into hospice on, like, 15 meds, which is nuts and totally contrary to current de-prescribing trends in geriatric medicine.

I take only one prescription med because I'm moderately hypothyroid. My wife (who's five years older) takes no prescription meds at all! We both take a few vitamin and herbal supplements, plus some over-the-counter drugs as needed. Considering we are middle class, white, and officially old people on Medicare, I guess this puts us in a tiny minority of that cohort. /bragging

^^^excellent cohort to be in, well done!

my son's daily meds are four 300mg sodium valproate tablets and one 100 mg sertraline a day.

Lately SNRIs and beta blocker haven't still been able to stop my heart from racing so might need higher dose of BB.

Though I'm just wound too tight inherently

2 one for anxiety and one for ADHD. I try to take vitamin d and magnesium but rarely remember.

xp ugh same
for the first time in years I'm considering upping the benzos a bit because I think it might just be a healthier system overall
learned the very hard way to tread very cautiously there because of a klonopin prescription ages ago so taking my time, but going without is also pretty debilitating

"I have PrEP on hand in the event that either me or my boyfriend want to open things up (we don’t)

― a hyperlink to the past (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, February 24, 2024 9:04 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink"

Growing up on fire island and following the HIV crisis then volunteering for advocacy groups in the 90s, it's amazing to me that prep is now a thing you can have on hand like this. So awesome.

❤️

zero

zero is a good number, even the best number

zero’s great but i’ll be real: i have struggled with a lot of shame re being put on medication and i have tried to accept it as a positive, in that it provides me with a handrail for things my body can’t do

so even coming here & listing my meds took a few deep breaths

0 sounds like hell

idk how many I take it might be 20 or so - amphetamines, hormones, benzos, vitamins, bits and pieces - prescribed, otc, grey market, recreational

I would not recommend upping benzos unless it's very urgent bc the dependence and later paradoxical effects are no joke. unless you have no propensity for addiction whatsoever. I have found pregabalin the most helpful thing for my years-long diazepam reduction (on hold for about a year at this point though)

VG otm
Meds can save lives and the shame keeps many people away, often til it’s too late. Not to be grim but it’s true.

3

sertraline
vitamin d&k (one pill)
iron

Yes vitamins are supposed to be supplementary, prefer to take regardless ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

never heard of pregabalin!

i got friends who are like "i have such a hard time remembering to take my meds lol" and with me, if i miss out on a dose of my mood stabilizer i know _very quickly_ and it is _not good_

never heard of pregabalin!

― Swen

it's a pretty niche variety of jefferson airplane slash, not surprised you wouldn't have heard of it.

I’m pro meds, they can be goddam miracles. Currently at 7 a day.

jefferson airplane is easily one of my favorite bands of all time lol

Yeah I don’t think there’s any “right” number of pills to take, it’s whatever’s right for your circumstances. Both my kids actually take more prescription meds than I do, because one is autistic with moderate long-term depression and one is severely ADHD. Their pills help them. (And I mean, I’m not counting alcohol and weed here bcz not “pills,” but I’m hardly chemical free.)

2 for blood pressure, 3 for the sads and one chewy for sleepy time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm2Dru2puLs

xps

I had some amazing "weed" pills the other week (some kind of coconut based thc solution) highly recommended

I would sell my soul to indulge in a tablet with Keanu Reeves 😆

I sometimes buy berocca or whatever fizzy water tablet when they're on special

Mostly for the taste though and to fool myself that I'm doing something healthy. Otherwise 0, besides the booze chemical with dinner most nights

just 1 for blood pressure. hopefully nothing else for a while

One baby dose of Lisinopril

1 - a statin

― that's not my post, Saturday, February 24, 2024 10:39 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

^^gets it

i take some supplements (namely magnesium and l-theanine) and advil if i have a headache but i don't take any prescription meds

lisinopril for hypertension
atorvastatin for cholesterol
zolpidem for sleep

and flecainide for arrhythmia

I had a right heart ablation for atrial fibrillation that was caused by an upper loop right atrial re-entry phenomenon. The result of the ablation was atrial flutter, and flecainide easily converts that to sinus rhythm. I thought A Fib would be a life-long issue for me, requiring a pacemaker and a serious anticoagulant, so I was relieved that after the ablation flecainide was the solution. I have to take it twice a day. I feel like it is the one medication that has been a life saver for me

I don't have any embarrassment about taking medication

<3 <3

One Metformin every morning. (I initially read this as "How many polls do you take every day?"--usually a couple.)

I have a “take 1-3 as needed” option along with the daily bad brain one … so generally 2. Plus Vitamin D gummies because I am deficient

supplementing vitamin D is SOP for everyone in the Pacific NW USA

I just remembered that my maternal uncle had rickets as a child in the 1930s, due to vit D deficiency. It's just how things are around here.

supplementing vitamin D is SOP for everyone in the Pacific NW USA

― more difficult than I look (Aimless)

they have vitamin supplements to compensate to make up for lack of sunlight but not vitamin supplements to make up for lack of meaningful in-person social contact with other human beings :(

I'm already taking Vitamin D for MS, but as I'm now also old with a dwindling vitamin B12 level, my doctor has advised taking a supplement of 1000 mcg per week

Many xp

I need to figure out what this miracle anxiety pill is. It’s like a “stop worrying, sleep for nine hours” masterpiece. Good following “a horrible argument with a friend” or “disappointing news from a lawyer”

I’m not into those insta-fine pills generally but knowing these ones work and won’t make you black out or become addicted like a benzo, it’s great

Re: PrEP, like the joke/truth is that since it came on the market, HIV is down but everything else has skyrocketed. It’s not a substitute for safe sex but I’m just.. wholly aware that if you’re feeling self destructive enough to get banged by a stranger or two that you might possibly be in a breeding mood… at least, so I’ve heard. I wouldn’t know, I don’t have sex. I just have them on hand, just in case

n0ne

None, although at least one conspiracy lovin' friend would no doubt tell me I was taking a daily dose of red pills or blue pills or whatever it is due to being vaccinated.

None, but I only started to go to a checkup last year after just never bothering. Blood pressure normal, didn't get round to the other tests but will book them

PSA everyone please get a lipid panel if you haven’t already. Or another one if it’s been a few years. Don’t even need to fast beforehand for a screening test.

3 per day, one of which is baby aspirin to go with the statin … I kinda don’t count the fish oil as a pill for some reason or another, despite being the side of a horse suppository

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

1x baby aspirin
1x milk thistle
1x valerian root
men's vitamin 2-3 per week

I tried ashwagandha awhile back, but I think it was giving me the shits

now what is a lipid panel?

a lipid panel is a group of blood tests that track your liver function. livers are complicated so just one blood test isn't enough. they only have to draw the blood once; they take enough to do all the tests.

right, I feel like they might have done that when I had cancer but I'm not sure. I'll keep in mind.

Lipid panel results can be addictive; I try to match this year's results with last year's

I don't want to see my liver test results, thank you

Xpost a lipid panel measures cholesterol and triglycerides (a type of fat that circulates in the bloodstream). Elevations in LDL cholesterol are linked to increased risk of heart attacks and stroke. Typical treatment is a statin (e.g., Lipitor).

A liver panel tests ALT and AST (tests of liver injury) and bilirubin (assesses gall bladder function). There are all sorts of reasons why liver tests might be abnormal so your GP might recommend additional evaluation as a first step

thank you for correcting me

Three pills: A near-microdose of Wellbutrin (100 mg), Strattera, and a antihistamine.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I take one prozac every day, along with vitamin D. Up until fairly recently I was taking mirtazapine most nights a week to help with sleep, but I don't need it so much now. Still, I'm glad I still have them for times I might (WILL) need them.

Recently I had to take these really expensive antibiotics to help with shingles, and I was hiccuping all day and night for the first 24 hours! Weird.

My parents used to joke that they should just dump anti-cholesterol medication in the drinking water.

Me: Multi-vitamin with D/C/zinc, sometimes a ginger tablet or ibuprofen. Sometimes (rarely) at night a melatonin.

i don't take any pills but i think Dan S has a good attitude

i do have a lot of herbal tinctures prepared by herbalist friends who practice TCM & Ayurveda etc, and they have instructions written like "take 4 drops 4x a day" that i mostly ignore, but some of them really do seem to help.

i find St John's Wort to be very energizing when i'm feeling the general depression-fatigue malaise. i probably reach for that one the most

i find St John's Wort to be very energizing when i'm feeling the general depression

Good to know.. I used to write off most herbal supplements as money-wasting scams (or, at best, placebos) but I think I'm coming around to some of the old standbys. It's funny how they come in and out of vogue, though

I'm on mirtazapine but unfortunately it hasn't done anything to help me sleep in years. I could probably take it in the morning and it wouldn't make any difference

It is quite effective as an antidepressant though tbf. Prozac stopped working then they put me on amitriptyline for a bit until a different GP wondered why the hell I was on it because apparently they don't prescribe that for depression any more

I was prescribed mirtazapine (Remeron) years ago for depression. I once took 15 mg at bedtime, and it was a good thing I was sitting on bed afterwards because it just knocked me the fuck out for hours. It was nice getting sleep, but I felt drowsy the whole next day and then couldn't sleep the next night. I'm not going to try that again unless I'm in deep pain and want to be comatose.

I have friends and one relative who have taken it regularly and it seems like it maybe has a paradoxical (or acclimatizing?) effect, with higher doses being less sleep-inducing

Regarding lipid panels:

You want your total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) components of the lipid panel to be low, your high density lipoprotein (HDL) component, the “good cholesterol”, to be high. A higher HDL than LDL is a good sign.

The often cited ratio is the total cholesterol divided by HDL. If your ratio is above 5:1 you definitely need to be on a statin. It should preferably be below 3.5:1

Xp it did knock me out at first but tbh not as much as amitriptyline did and after about 6 months it wore off

I'm an insomniac and come from a family of insomniacs. Good sleep is rare for me and I highly value it. I took benadryl every night when I was a college student needing to sleep to be fresh in the morning, it worked then thankfully.

But I am completely immune to it at this point in my life. I've been taking Ambien (zolpidem) for years, and it never fails to help me go to sleep, but it doesn't keep me asleep for that long. I listen to audiobooks in the middle of the night, they give me a sense of community and help me block out the feeling that I've had since childhood that nights are a time of total isolation and loneliness

The first time I took benadryl I didn't realise it makes you drowsy, I bought it because I had hayfever and I fell asleep in Central Park at lunchtime. Unfortunately if I have insomnia it does nothing

Good to know.. I used to write off most herbal supplements as money-wasting scams (or, at best, placebos) but I think I'm coming around to some of the old standbys.

tbc the stuff i take is not commercial but grown and processed by an herbalist friend and delivered to me in a bottle with a lovely hand drawn sun on it

if you buy it from the vitamin shoppe be aware that not all brands are equal, do your research

I'm an insomniac and come from a family of insomniacs.

same

yeah at this point staying asleep is the problem

sometimes i wonder if it's all the radios and tv sets and white noise machines i leave running all night because i can't fall asleep without them :)

I took a Valium once and once only several decades ago to get me through a stressful interview. Kind of worked but then I went home, fell asleep for 10 hours and missed going to see Dutch instrumental noise-rock band Gore at, if memory serves, the Fulham Greyhound. Probably not for me (Valium not Gore).

Pretty typical old man meds, one for thyroid, one for prostate, one for plaque. Plus a multivitamin, melatonin for sleep and this one weird ass supplement that is the only thing that keeps me regular.

Is this the ILXers over 50 thread?

i heard interesting things abt ashwaganda but idk how much it would interact with all other other fkn meds i’m taking

good turn out, interesting results

I'm on mirtazapine but unfortunately it hasn't done anything to help me sleep in years. I could probably take it in the morning and it wouldn't make any difference

Sorry to hear this dude - I've been on a low dose of it for over a year. My partner's experience similar to yours tho I personally found the opposite - usually sleeping OK but still often depressed tho not severely. Was also on Ami for a few years before this (more for nervous tension) and same. The morning grogginess from them can be brutal in its own way thankfully never enough to make me have to say "but first coffee" only think it every morning.

sometimes i wonder if it's all the radios and tv sets and white noise machines i leave running all night because i can't fall asleep without them :)

I sometimes listen to the Sleep With Me podcast. It’s great for putting me to sleep, but if I wake up while it’s still running it can be really jarring for some reason.

tbh if I can't sleep I think there is something going on in my brain that will fight literally anything you put in it. maybe I'm just a night owl. I don't think I've ever had anything that works long term, I get used to everything after a few weeks and it doesn't work any more. he says eyeing the clock that says 4am.

when i was on Remeron i used to eat sugar out of the bag

xp I can’t imagine having that kind of insomnia. When my sleep is interrupted more than maybe once or twice a night, I wake up feeling like the world is going to come to an end.

i probably didn't sleep much at all for 1.5-2 years. even my prescribed Sleep Aid did nothing - but after they put me on a beta blocker last year and paired it with that, suddenly I am sleeping again.

also find that I have to jump in the shower for like a minute before sleeping, it just makes me feel more comfortable when I get into the bed

xp fwiw it's not something I have to deal with all the time, at least not recently, it's just odd nights here and there when my brain just won't shut down

I do tend to wake up a lot in the middle of the night though. it's rare that I sleep through the night

Thread reminded me to take a blood test, so should get results on cholesterol soon...