I have one of those weekly planner dealies, four compartments for each day. Since i only do two rounds of meds daily each refill lasts two weeks. Every other week i sit down and fill up each compartment, then go day by day. When i'm on crazy night shift i use a dry erase marker to write the TIME next to each row so that i stay about 12 hours (or 24 hours) apart on each dose. It works really well and i don't forget anything important. Sometimes i still forget calcium or multivit, but only because they are too bulky to fit in the compartments with everything else. *sigh*

You guys are making me feel so much better about my Howard Hughes regimen of supplements! (I say, having just taken my calcium/magnesium).

Is the calcium/magnesium best done at night?

I take it at night because (1) magnesium is supposed to help with sleep, so I like to take it near-ish to bedtime, and (2) my multivitamin (which I take in the morning) has iron in it, and when you take iron and calcium together, they sort of fight each other, and the result is that neither is absorbed as well as it would have been if you'd taken it without the other.

Steph and Jilli and others, were you prescribed all these vitamins and supplements so that they're covered? Now I feel like I should be taking lots of pills.

I wasn't prescribed any of them -- it's mostly my guesstimate based on my general food intake, as well as the hideous heart disease in my dad's family. Oh, and the IBS. I figure the multivitamin fills in the gaps where my daily diet misses things, and then the B and fish oil might keep me from having 5 heart attacks, and the probiotic helps my guts to not mutiny.

I started taking D because I'm more tired than I think I should be, way too early in the evening and way too often, and I've read a lot recently about D being great for energy *if* your D levels are low.

I haven't actually had a D level test run, but I researched what might happen if you take more D than you need, and there are really no adverse effects until you get to insanely high levels (like, well beyond 50,000 IU/week). So I figured that even if my D levels were normal, taking extra wouldn't hurt. So I've tried it (~5,000 IU/day), and I've noticed NO change in my energy over the past month. Not even a bit. So I'm going to abandon it when they're done.

I tried the compartment thing, and it worked for a while, but then I got out of the habit of refilling it. My doc took me off the Adderall and the iron so I'm basically down to just the multivitamin, which I haven't remembered to take for a couple of months, but I did finally remember to buy a new bottle, so that's something. I had this idea that I would figure out which multi fit my specific needs best, but I gave that up and just bought the same thing I'd been taking before.

bonny, on the aspirin/heart disease prevention thing: the American Heart Association (and I quote) "recommends aspirin use for patients who've had a myocardial infarction (heart attack), unstable angina, ischemic stroke (caused by blood clot) or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs or "little strokes"), if not contraindicated. This recommendation is based on sound evidence from clinical trials showing that aspirin helps prevent the recurrence of such events as heart attack, hospitalization for recurrent angina, second strokes, etc. (secondary prevention). Studies show aspirin also helps prevent these events from occurring in people at high risk (primary prevention)."

The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends aspirin for men aged 45-79 and women aged 55-79, as long as the prevention of heart problems outweighs the risk of gastrointestinal hemorrhage. They do NOT recommend preventive aspirin for men younger than 45 or women younger than 55.

Me right now!! [link]

Damn, girl!

Thanks! I've been working hard.

Well, you look fantastic. I was going to start listing everything I like about that picture, but it's too much.

In Seattle more than 98% of the cute boys are straight?!

I'm a horrible snob. More than 98% of the gay men in Seattle are huge walking silk purses. They open their mouths and yards of SALMON CHIFFON pour out and all over me.

They make excellent friends and boon companions for going out - but not what I would be attracted to, or would cause my head to turn.

So yes, alas - what I'm generally attracted to lives on the other side of the fence...and they're generally not 6-pack men, either.

Blast it all.

Me right now!!

Foamy!