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Does he have a pill box? If not, get a transparent pillbox with compartments for every day of the week (you can also get them with separate compartments for mo

Does he have a pill box? If not, get a transparent pillbox with compartments for every day of the week (you can also get them with separate compartments for morning / evening). Then put it in a place that he will always see it (eg. kitchen table). No need for an app, and it's easy to check if he already took his meds or not. Apps or other things are kinda bad, because you can silence the alarm and then forget to take the meds, or he can accidentally take the meds twice. If all the doses for the week are prepared ahead of time, these mistakes are not so easy to make.

gus_massa 7y ago
What about an app that forces you to take a photo of the pillbox before and after taking the pills? Perhaps you can skip the "before" photo, but it may help to reduce double doses. If the contrast is high and you can calibrate the app using photos of an empty pillbox somehow, it doesn't look imposible. On the other hand https://xkcd.com/1425/ https://xkcd.com/1425/
- confusedson 7y ago
  Haha you also forget that if he could remember to do all of this then I wouldnt be posting this in the first place!
  - gus_massa 7y ago
    IANAMD, im just wandering if something like this may work: * The app has an alarm (like a clock). You can configure the time, let's say 9am. * When it rings, the app put a message in the screen "Time to take your medicine. Please pick the pillbox and take a photo". If he doesn't take the photo, make the app sound and show the message again after 2 minutes. After a few tries, send a message to some relative that is the guardian. It will need some calibration to recognize the pillbox. * After the photo of the pillbox, show a message: "Great. Today is Monday. Open the Monday slot and take another photo". Repeat if there is no photo, and send a message to the guardian after some time. I'm not sure if in case of failure it is better to go to the previos step or not. * After the photo of the open pillbox, show a message: "Take your medicine and then and take another photo" It will need some calibration to distinguish the pills and the empty slot. * After the photo of the empty pillbox, show a message: "Close the pillbox and store it. Great. See you tomorrow." Something like this will need a lot of testing and perhaps FDA approval, but it doesn't look impossible. (Perhaps it is easier to start with contraceptives pills, that have younger users that are more use to apps and don't have memory problems.)
confusedson 7y ago
This is exactly the problem. If he's in the middle of something and the reminder goes off, he silences the alarm and then forgets about it. I need a way to repeat the alarm if he hasn't taken the pills.

gus_massa 7y ago

What about an app that forces you to take a photo of the pillbox before and after taking the pills? Perhaps you can skip the "before" photo, but it may help to reduce double doses. If the contrast is high and you can calibrate the app using photos of an empty pillbox somehow, it doesn't look imposible. On the other hand https://xkcd.com/1425/ https://xkcd.com/1425/

confusedson 7y ago
Haha you also forget that if he could remember to do all of this then I wouldnt be posting this in the first place!
- gus_massa 7y ago
  IANAMD, im just wandering if something like this may work: * The app has an alarm (like a clock). You can configure the time, let's say 9am. * When it rings, the app put a message in the screen "Time to take your medicine. Please pick the pillbox and take a photo". If he doesn't take the photo, make the app sound and show the message again after 2 minutes. After a few tries, send a message to some relative that is the guardian. It will need some calibration to recognize the pillbox. * After the photo of the pillbox, show a message: "Great. Today is Monday. Open the Monday slot and take another photo". Repeat if there is no photo, and send a message to the guardian after some time. I'm not sure if in case of failure it is better to go to the previos step or not. * After the photo of the open pillbox, show a message: "Take your medicine and then and take another photo" It will need some calibration to distinguish the pills and the empty slot. * After the photo of the empty pillbox, show a message: "Close the pillbox and store it. Great. See you tomorrow." Something like this will need a lot of testing and perhaps FDA approval, but it doesn't look impossible. (Perhaps it is easier to start with contraceptives pills, that have younger users that are more use to apps and don't have memory problems.)

confusedson 7y ago

This is exactly the problem. If he's in the middle of something and the reminder goes off, he silences the alarm and then forgets about it. I need a way to repeat the alarm if he hasn't taken the pills.