My wife (47F) is a type 2 diabetic. I (46m) am very involved in her care, filling her massive number of pills into a 4-times-a-day, 7-day pill case, going to doctor appointments, etc. It’s one of many medical issues she has, including a recent Achilles surgery and non-alcoholic cirrhosis (NASH).
She has been doing very well the last couple of years since they put her on meal-time insulin and a continuous glucose monitoring (Dexcom).
So the problem starts a couple weeks ago. Suddenly her sugars go from the normal low-100s to 200, 300, even touching 400 at one point. We check the obvious. I check her pills — they look right. Insulin shows no signs of spoilage. We think back and she hasn’t missed any shots. Diet hasn’t changed. She has been mostly stuck in bed for 2 months following her surgery, so not a lot of activity, but why the sudden change? We’re at that age, and menopause can cause blood sugars to rise, but not so acutely — basically overnight.
She doesn’t really have any other symptoms, but this is usually a sign of infection. This is a major concern for her Achilles recovery, i.e. will she ever walk normally again. High blood sugar fosters infections and she already has trouble healing. We see the doctor — he suspects cellulitis and puts her on an antibiotic. Things improve slightly, getting back into the 200s, before creeping back up again. The doctor has no other answers. Next step is contacting the diabetes clinic, but it takes months to get in there.
We had no answers… until last Wednesday. Wednesday is the day I fill her pills. Basically, we have the “open” pill bottles in a basket with more refills in a bin. I pull from the basket what I think is Metformin (one of the diabetes meds) and… it’s not. It’s prescription ibuprofen. The bottle and pills look very similar to metformin. In fact I had almost grabbed the wrong bottle from the bin before, but I noticed and marked the label with highlighter.
I guess missed it this time. So potentially, she has been taking a prescription dose of ibuprofen twice a day for 2-ish weeks instead of Metformin. At that time it is unproven that she has taken any. I thought I had finished a bottle of and thrown a new bottle in for next time. I counted the remaining ibuprofen pills and it was down to… 26 from 42? However, in the 5 days that she has definitely been taking Metformin, her sugars have gone back to normal. She hit 101 this morning.
So it’s undeniable. I gave her the wrong pills. A week or two of high blood sugars isn’t a death sentence, right? She survived? Yes, but. ibuprofen can damage your liver and should be avoided in people with liver disease — like her non-alcoholic cirrhosis. How bad is the damage? She already has an appointment with the liver clinic on Thursday so I guess we find out then.
You might ask — why didn’t you notice when you checked her pills? I have asked that myself and I have a theory — I fill from Sunday to Saturday (left to right) but she takes from Thursday to Wednesday, with me refilling on Wednesday night for Thursday. If I ran out of metformin halfway through filling the week, I would have filled in the rest of the week from a new bottle. The wrong bottle. So it’s possible depending on which day I looked at, that day may have been OK. If I checked on Sunday, the incorrect pills would’ve been gone from that first week.
I threw out the ibuprofen so it can’t happen again. She can’t take it anyway.
TL;DR: I gave my diabetic wife ibuprofen instead of Metformin, raising her blood sugar and possibly destroying her already-damaged liver.
Comments
As a fellow Type-2 on metformin I’;d say: Very much not ideal, but I doubt that a couple of weeks without metformin and/or with Iboprufen would be enough to destroy her liver.
* there are no magic pills against diabetes 2
* meds prolong life but don’t solve the issue
* diabetes 2 is cureable
* two key things; adjust diet (no more then 40 grams of carbs a meal, high fiber, high protein), walk for 30-60 minutes after a meal
* use an app like clear.bio to help with figuring out carbs
Bro.
You are going above and beyond. The fact you not only do all of that, but identified the deficiency and corrected it, is a testament to your character.
You’re out to do the right thing. You’re doing the right thing. You’re also human and fallible.
Nobody died or is any worse for wear. Keep up the good work.
I bet she felt great! And you have verified the effectiveness and value of both the metformin and the CGM. I’d say this is a win!
Metformin smells like rotting fish, did you not notice the difference?
Rest assured it doesn’t come across at all like you “tried” to kill your wife but wow what a scenario. Super glad you figured out what was going wrong and that the news you get some decent news following your wife’s appointment. It sounds like you’re really going through it right now, OP. Take deep breaths. I, for one would love an update on how she’s doing later if you’re okay with it. Godspeed.
Ibuprofen is processed by the kidneys mostly. It’s Acetaminophen that is a worry with liver disease.
Holy shit that’s scary. But we all get complacent every once in a while when doing the same routine over and over. I accidentally took my daughter’s Methylphenidate instead of my propranolol a while back. Needless to say I didn’t sleep much that night and checked my blood pressure every 30 minutes just in case I needed to drive my dumbass to the emergency room.
i know for a fact had i tried to kill my wife and not succeeded i would not be on this earth much longer. the irish catholic redhead stereotype is there for a reason, and it’s not far off.
Glad you found the error, but don’t beat yourself up about it. Ibuprofen is actually harder on the stomach than the liver. If you had given her massive amounts of Tylenol/acetaminophen, that’s what’s hard on the liver. It was an honest mistake and things will be fine. You’re a very caring husband. I wish you guys the best.
Why doesn’t your wife go on a low carb diet instead of taking all those pills?
She didn’t die, so that’s good. But if she has a Dexcom, and sugars are rising, why didn’t she take more insulin rather than letting it climb all the way up to 400? You should be setting the Dexcom up to send alerts when it hit s 250 or 300. (Lol I don’t know your measuring Unit system in the US) . But when it starts getting into dangerous levels take more insulin.
I can’t speak about issues with Ibuprofen and liver. I am a diabetic, not a doctor.
I bet her achilles was feeling great! Im so sorry you feel so guilty, we are human and you are dealing with a lot. Give yourself some grace, it’s all OK now.
Hey there – phd rdn nutrition professor here.
You didn’t complicate the diabetes or anything. As you noted it was acute and should resolve fine on the meds.
Show yourself some grace. What you’re doing is a lot and she’s so lucky to have you.
You might be able to get your pharmacy to do bubble pack for her meds, so you won’t be responsible for sorting them.
Even doctors make mistakes. I think implementing a tool that limits your ability to forget in the future will help you feel like you’re actively working against the mistake as *opposed to hoping it doesn’t happen again.
For example, upgrading the highlighter mark to something more noticeable and maybe placing lookalike meds in a silly spot or way to make them stand out like putting a bottle in a sock in the same spot. Whatever works in your space.
You seem like a really good person and guilt is awful when you’re trying to protect someone you love, so the best thing I think you can do is provide yourself real evidence that you aren’t letting it happen again to build your confidence back up and prevent second-guessing yourself.
Edit: spelling
I’m sure the ibuprofen isn’t great for her liver but it is more associated with kidney issues than liver issues generally. At least you didn’t give her acetaminophen.
Attempted (wo)manslaughter, straight to jail!
Jokes aside, you did fine. That’s a lot of work to put into for your wife. Maybe in future be more paranoid and use more than just a marker to mark your pills lol
You should see if your pharmacy will pack her pills in blister packs to save you the potential of making this error again.
Sorry this happened to you OP.
LPT: Stop paying for prescription Ibuprofen, just get 4 pills of the normal stuff. It’s the exact same thing just packed into a single pill because your doctor said so.
Oh well. Accidents happen. Maybe she could be responsible for some of the her health issues.
Pharmacies make bubble packs for patients with multiple medications which need to be administered throughout the day. It’s best you ask the pharmacy to start making one for her so you don’t have to worry about making a mistake again.
oh fuck they really do look alike.
Hang in there, these things happen. Don’t beat yourself up. You sound like a wonderful care giver.
I doubt the Ibuprofen caused any issues, nor did the high glucose level resulting from the absent Metformin
FWIW – I put abbreviations of the drug names on the lids right when I get them in the mail. I use the same “Opened vs Stashed for later” system you mentioned, and it helps to more easily differentiate one from another in a box of pill bottles when it’s time to fill the pill planner.
Pills and insulin for type 2?
In the UK we get told off by a big burly Nigerian nurse and ordered to stay of sweeties (candy) oh and monitor blood sugar.
Glad to hear that you got rid of it to prevent future issues and I hope that her appointment goes well!
As someone who takes a lot of meds I do my best to prevent mistakes, but it’s such a routine that my brain goes on autopilot and it happens.
You might find it helpful to write the (abbreviated) names on the top of the pill caps. It’s nice to be able to see all the names at a glance when you look down at your refill bin. I even use a few different colors to sort things like PRN/as needed meds or meds with special instructions.
If I have two meds that look very similar, I also write the impression on the pill down on the lid. I tend to take generic so nearly all of my meds are white circles or ovals and I got tired of having to look up which pill I had just dropped. (Although the Pill Identification Wizard on drugs.com is awesome if you do need it.)
You sound like a wonderful partner! Be kind to yourself!
So… you didn’t try to kill your wife. You accidentally gave her the wrong medicine for 2 weeks. Shitty click bait bro. Otherwise would’ve been a good story.
It was an accident, a potentially big one, but still an accident. Beat yourself up a little then move past it. You already made sure it can’t happen again.
we’ve all done it in some way i’m sure.
i was in charge of doing my dogs meds, we dealt with their problems for 5 years. one of them was on a handful for arthritis, and estrogen. the other was on some for hip dysplasia and arthritis, and a BUNCH for his severe heart failure. i always did hers first, because it was the fewer of the meds, and then his. spoon of peanut butter covered in pills, hand to dog, repeat.
well, one day i handed her hers, refilled the spoon, and handed it directly to her again. this is a 16 year old dog and i just gave her her pain meds, plus his, plus all sorts of stuff for the heart!! freaked out, called the vet, told them what had just happened. their response, just dont give her anymore. the most “no shit sherlock” answer ever. but you bet your ass i never did that again!!!
My husband packs my pill boxes for me and I am grateful. There may be a mistake but I am not dead yet so all good. We all do the best we can, I am sure this was not intentional and I am sure she knows that also. Cut yourself some slack and take a breath….its ok!
Bro, STOP saying ‘trying to kill’ which implies premeditation if it was an accident/mistake. WTF
Can you ask the pharmacy to start blister paks for her?
Save you a ton of work as well as ensure accuracy
Medication management is no joke.
Have I ever told you the story about Sammy Jankis?
Nurse here. I teach self efficacy in chronic disease. Is there a reason your wife is not taking an active role in her medication management? Is she intellectually and physically capable of setting her medication up? Can she see? If so, she should be taking on this task to the best of her ability, even if she needs assistance and temporary oversight to ensure they’re correct. She has a lot of medications, she has a complex disease to manage, and needs to be aware of what meds she is taking for what reason. Is she able to visually tell the difference between her Metformin and an Ibuprofen? If so, this is not a task a spouse needs to be responsible for. It’s a lot of burden without a lot of payoff. She could have caught this herself by smell alone if she knew her meds better. I suggest she actively participate in her med set up in the future. Even if only to check your work. I doubt this isolated incident would cause any damage.
To help you feel better: Ibuprofen doesn’t do anything to your liver. Tylenol can. Ibuprofen can give you gut issues like ulcers and sometimes kidney issues if you really do too much for too long. But totally fine for the liver.
Not for nothing but trying to == accidentally almost.
Hi friend you are doing wonderful truly you’re going above and beyond for her. As a nurse I have patients that don’t take their metformin at all and I mean they’re alive. I would definitely mention to her PCP just so they’re aware and watch for any stomach issues as ibuprofen can cause some digestive issues. Other than that she should be a okay 🙂
Gotta keep an eye on meds. Good thing you caught it. Might be worth your while to ask the pharmacist to put the metformin in a different bottle, or do that with the ibuprofen.
Have you considered those services where you get the pills presorted in to small packets. (Or is that cost-prohibitive?)
As everybody here has said, you’re doing everything you can to take care of your wife, you’re an awesome husband. People make mistakes, but dwelling on it now after the fact won’t be healthy for you.
Here’s a silver lining to get a new perspective on it. You’ve made the mistake, & have learnt from it through actual lived experience. Next time you refill the pills, the anxiety caused from this situation will keep you on higher alert to not repeat it again, if you give up & have someone else take over for you, it could be possible for them to repeat such a simple mistake again, but not for you, take this as a very scary lesson, & keep on doing your best supporting your wife.
You might want to get her medications blister packed from your local pharmacy 🙂 it’s easy to use and there may be fewer worries!
I understand the feeling completely, my mom is type 1 and my dad doesn’t really help her when her sugar gets low or high, so I’ve been the primary one to take care of her when it happens. She has a dogshit diet and doesn’t listen to her dietician or doctor, so I’ve seen her blood sugar as low as 17, definitely plenty of times below 30-40, there are times when she doesn’t know where she’s at, who she is, who I am, etc. Finally got her to get a dexcom and a tslim pump and it’s been much easier, but those years from 7/8 to 23 were incredibly tough.
On the other hand, she didn’t feel any discomfort.
Why isn’t your wife handling her medication management?
OP, I help a few people with their complicated medication routines. One thing I noticed with each person is that if they are involved as much as they can be, there are fewer mixups because we have a routine they are invested in. We double check together. They actually put the medications in their time slots if they can.
Hey, you caught your mistake and are fessing up to it. That’s what matters here. She’s fine and you apologized, you’re good.
Last week my mom called to complain about my dad giving her the wrong meds (crazy to see your post so soon after). For decades now my dad gives mom her pills at night. She’s on a ton of pain pills and blood clotting medication.
Mom got a different prescription and I guess my dad forgot. She found out she hasn’t been getting the new meds and was upset. Mom said “I’m an adult with degree and a job, I should be controlling my own meds but we’ve done it this way for years”.
She was most upset about my dad acting casual about the whole thing. Apparently he was “acting so blasé about it” but I only have my mom’s side of the story.
Anyway, you recognized your mistake and owned up to it. I understand it’s mortifying but you did the right thing
I know I’m old because there isn’t one fucking joke in the comments about Sonny & Klaus.
Seriously you seem like a more than decent fellow helping your wife with a lot of her health issues. You’re doing your best. What else can one do, but one’s best? Maybe — MAYBE — it’s time to consider a visiting nurse. Presuming, of course, you can afford it, which might be a big “if”.
I manage pills for myself and my husband – two 7-day boxes for me (morning/night) and one 7 day box for him. I write the name of the med and the date of the fill on the cap of the bottle in permanent marker to make it easier to see what I’m pulling, since I keep them in a set of drawers under my desk. I put the open boxes on the desk, then pull out the bottles one by one, filling the boxes as I go, and setting the bottles off to the side so I don’t accidentally double-dose from something.
All that said – it was a mistake. Mistakes happen. It wasn’t malicious, as you’ve noted there probably was minimal harm done. Please don’t beat yourself up too much, friend – you’re a superstar for helping your wife as much as you do! You eliminated the potential for this to happen again in exactly this same way. You did good.
Oh please, please be kind to yourself and give yourself the same grace you would give your wife if the situation were reversed.
You are the spouse we all agree to be when we get married (I married a man who has cared for me more times than anyone should need to and would do it daily forever as I would for him) but so many partners don’t follow through.
You made an innocent mistake and did everything you could to figure out what happened.
You are your wife’s rock and I’m sure she appreciates you beyond words. Best to you and your wife you rockstar of a husband! ✨
I fill my own pill boxes, and I have made mistakes several times in the last couple years. Don’t beat yourself up. I’m sure it is an overwhelming task.
Type 2 also, and have had some issues with it in last 6 months. Its finally settled in i think. Don’t keep kicking yourself, mistakes happen and I totally know what you are talking about with the metformin and ibuprofen bottles.
Also, with the dexcom, when I got mine they didn’t really go over a lot of it and I didn’t know you could calibrate. One day at work I started getting low alerts. I had a snack, it got lower. Repeat, same. Had a bottle of lemonade. Same, now it’s notifying it’s so low it’s not registering. Went to the ER, it was 200+. If you start getting weird readings from the sensor, verify with a real fingers tick before freaking out. Good luck, you sound like a saint!
FYI Amazon Pharmacy has has Pillpack where they package multiple medications together in daily and hourly packets. I’ve never used it, but I learned about it when my father needed it.
https://pharmacy.amazon.com/pillpack?ref_=hiw_pillpackfeature
Yo. Why are you doing SO much? Like not to be mean – but why is your wife not doing her own meds? My mom does my brother’s meds but he had a massive stroke that leaves him not able to do certain tasks (like sorting his pills) without help or automation (see pill cap timers). I don’t think you f’d up. I think you are suffering from care taker fatigue and need to give yourself a break. I don’t know your wife’s capabilities but I definitely would be having a conversation on what she can manage herself, what you can farm out (in home health and the such), and what you need to really do. Again, not being mean. Being realistic. My mom has already said when she is ready she will get my brother in home care but right now she is managing it fine and he is mostly self sufficient (except bathing and pill management). Sometimes he accidentally eats all of something because he doesn’t remember eating it after a few hours (treats and stuff) but otherwise manages okay enough.
Now you know how easy it is for medication errors to happen. This is one reason why being a nurse is such a hard job. There is an enormous amount of attention to detail that needs to happen in what is often a fast-paced and chaotic environment. Giving the wrong medication can cause great harm to the patient, and job loss and/or licensure loss for the nurse. Being a nurse comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility and liability. I hope your wife is okay.
Oh man, I know the guilt is real but mistakes happen and you fixed it! Hopefully her liver doesn’t have much issue from the short span mistake. Keep going man, you’re a saint!
Hell, I do my own meds and I’ve screwed up a time or two myself. And as I’m old, my friend said to be careful who you tell – at a certain age, you may appear as unable to care for yourself, or depending on your history maybe it was a suicide attempt? I think it was just in attention (my super-power). You made a very human error – maybe its your eyesight, or maybe by the sounds of it, you are tired? Consider having the pharmacy doing her meds up in bubble packs – where I live there is no charge. Some pharmacies will even do vitamins. Hope you both feel better!
When you said metformin I immediately pictured those giant white pills then when you mention ibuprofen I pictured my mom’s prescription ibuprofens and yeah… they look very similar. Dang that sucks. Hopefully your wife’s liver is ok. I am assuming since her sugars are controlled now it is. Best of luck and verify every time you fill those containers from now on.
400 isn’t great but not deadly.
Ibuprofen doesn’t in general damage the liver.
Be kind to yourself. Being a caregiver is a nightmare.
Memorize the numbers on the pills.
Tell the doc. They’ll prob need to see kidney and liver functions. But, seems like just the sugar has been wacky. You didn’t mention any altered mental status, I’m assuming she’s urinating, no bloody bm’s, what about abdominal/ascites and skin tone?
How much ibuprofen a day?
For future, you can Google “pill identifier” and I think it’s drugs.com where you put in the shape color, any identifiable markings and it’ll tell you what it is (ie of you are double checking ems you already put out)
Im in similar boat, taking care of heavily diabetic wife who has previously gone into hospital several times and is now entirely dependent on me.
I accidently gave her a 60unit dosage of “short acting” insulin meant for her “long acting” insulin..I almost threw up I was freakin out. for next 3-5 hours I fed her high carbs stuff, glucose tablets for next 4 hours, checking blood like a hawk. her blood sugars got down to like 60 but I managed to keep it no lower.
It’s tough being their caretakers, we’re not educated nurses. But we learn as we go, just try and think about how to mitigate future mistakes. Dont beat yourself up.
For myself, I try and make things clearly marked, keep certain pills/drugs isolated from eachother so I can’t mistake grey and grey-blue insulin pens at 630 am (whoever is choosing the colors for insulin pens needs to be talked to)
>I fill from Sunday to Saturday (left to right) but she takes from Thursday to Wednesday, with me refilling on Wednesday night for Thursday.
These things happen even when we’re being our most diligent and I don’t think that you’re at fault, though your system seems needlessly complicated when there’s such a big downside for getting it wrong.
Weird clickbate title
I once accidentally gave my husband his night time meds instead of his morning meds. We had two doctors appointments that day for him. One was a pain specialist.
The pain specialist was concerned by how out of it my husband seemed. We came up with a plan to lower some of the pain meds (recovery from major surgery).
When we came home we noticed the pill mix-up. No wonder he was sleepy on Ambien during the day!!!!
Basically been there, almost did that too.
Our Monday from hell…
My wife was disabled by some sort of degenerative nerve disease or disorder that the medical experts never did diagnose correctly but diabetes and heart failure were two of her comorbidities. Because of the different comorbidities she suffered from she always had me, a pcp and multiple specialists involved in her care. Back in 2013 we had our Monday from hell. Our son had cancer and was on chemotherapy for it and our day started with a personal call from his oncologist asking us to come in and discuss some recent test results. Great doctor and we had a great rapore but if it wasn’t bad news it would have just been a call from the office staff. So my son and I went to the hospital stat and got the bad news, stage 4 cancer that had metastasized so 6 more months of chemotherapy. He did beat it and is okay still but at the time the odds weren’t great. So we were both like FUCK!, it was the Monday after his 21st birthday, so we turned our phones off and went to Dave and Busters, a restaurant, bar and game arcade, for lunch and to try and process the results. We turned our phones off, ate lunch and played games for about 2 hours and it helped some. Figured we should head back home and tell his mom and sister about the updated diagnosis. We both turned our phones back on as we were leaving the restaurant and they both immediately blew up with calls and texts. Our daughter was 18 and at home taking care of her mom and but her mom’s condition had deteriorated pretty rapidly after we left. So we hauled ass back home about a 30 minute drive and my wife’s condition was bad enough that it was time to go the ER. So load everyone into the car and head back to a different hospital where her specialists were. We got there and their ER was busy but they got my wife on a gurney and drew blood for labs. 30-45 minutes later they were moving her into a room when her labs came back and her potassium level was at 9, 7 is usually fatal so the ER doctor told the staff to move her to their crash room stat (a word you never want to hear) expecting her to have a heart attack literally any minute. They stabilized her and admitted her directly to the ICU. 2 days in the ICU and 2 in a regular room and she came home on Thursday but the cause was probably either a mistake by me or one of her doctors regarding what dosage of diuretic medication she was on.
Back then not all of her specialists were at the same hospital and not all had access to her electronic charts so we never figured out how, why or even if her dosage was doubled it could easily have been me who made the mistake since I took care of all her medications 30 to 40 different ones at some points and at the time our son was on about 50 so I was very careful had their meds in different rooms and kept lists and dosages for both on my phone but It may not even have been the diuretic that caused it that’s just the only medication that was changed when she was discharged. Her mother had died from elevated potassium levels and she was also admitted for potassium levels in the future that made it all the way up to 14 twice the normal lethal level but she passed away at home peacefully in her sleep a few years ago after a visit from our daughter and our 9 month old grandson so all things considered it was the most graceful and trauma free exit she could hoped for. Her condition was deteriorating and she was done with fighting it. In a few months she was going to stop going to dialysis for her kidney failure but after the holidays. Her cause of death is officially kidney failure but her labs had all been okay before that and by the end we were really good at knowing when something was wrong so it probably wasn’t kidney failure and was probably a stroke or heart attack, she’d had both before, but I didn’t really care or need to know what the final straw was even if they even could have figured it out so I declined having an autopsy performed. Because it was an unexpected death at home our local police inventoried all of her meds to be certain the quantities remaining and prescription filled dates were consistent with me not administering an overdose and took them for disposal. The police had been to the house before since our town dispatches police, fire and an ambulance on all 911 calls so it wasn’t that they were suspicious of me just standard operating procedure, I also expect blood was drawn to look for indications of a drug overdose or clear cause of death but I didn’t see it done, never asked and didn’t care.
So sorry to babble but I absolutely understand how medications having two different names, different physical shapes, colors and markings by different manufacturers and having different medications prescribed by different specialists can be a huge responsibility for any caregiver and where a mistake or even a miscommunication can put a loved one in the hospital or even cause their death. I developed a system for handling her meds but still had to frequently double check things and it was rare over her last 8 years where her meds went unchanged for more than 60 days. I’m just grateful I did have the next 8 years with her and in the end it didn’t appear to be due to a mistake on on my part that she passed away.
I loved her very much and take comfort from the fact her death was peaceful, at home and she was ready to stop fighting it. I’m not a Christian, nor was she, but I do believe we have some sort of spirit so her’s is free and no longer imprisoned in a meat cage.
You can do a sniff test. Metformin has a rather noticeable fishy smell.
Our household has to put together a bunch of pills for someone who has had an organ transplant.
I am a fan of making the pill list on the computer already – the pill list the docs give is in random order, pretty much, and on the computer we can organize by “three times a day, twice a day, every day, every second day” etc which makes filling easier.
You might consider making a computer file with pictures or descriptions of the pills. Things like the numbers on the pills would really help if you’re questioning the accuracy.
Is your name James Sunderland by any chance?
This is why you ALWAYS keep daily meds away from other meds, in their own area. I have twice daily pills, my wife has twice daily pills, and my dog has twice daily pills. Each individual’s daily meds are in their own area and are all kept in their original bottles or in the weekly pill case to avoid any confusion.
I want you to give yourself a break. Breathe a sigh of relief, all will be well and you acted in good faith.
btw, i don’t know if english is you’re first language, but “trying to” means “intending to”.
Take it as a lesson to check the pill markings and know them just in case. You can forgive yourself, this is understandable.
Side by side my metformin looks like bog standard OTC acetaminophen. Just be more careful in the future. Mistakes happen, and this one thankfully wasn’t costly. I don’t think there was any malice on your part at all.
Just remember … metformin have a distinct smell
And available in large oval pill … way larger than ibuprofen
I gave my husband his Xanax instead of his cholesterol pills for 10ish days. I was so mad he was sleeping all day … then I went to refill I realized I had mixed up the organizer 😳. Thankfully you guys found out!!
It is pretty rare to have any liver damage from ibuprofen. It is acetaminophen / Tylenol that is really hard on the liver.
Ok I got to ask – where do you find a case big enough for all those pills? I can’t find one and I’m so tired of having to open 10 bottles every night.
But one pill of ibuprofen is nothing to worry about. Heck, 101 blood sugar is not bad for a diabetic, mine is much worse…
Isn’t Tylenol processed through the liver and ibuprofen processed through the kidneys?
My guy. Making a mistake, owning it and sorting it out is not the same thing as attempted murder. The term “trying to kill” means with intent.
I mixed up prescription ibuprofen with my prescription paxil for a week. I went into withdrawal and it was awful and it was totally my fault. Oops. lol
You need to find a pharmacy that blister packs all her pills for you. We had to find one for my mom when my dad had to start helping her & he has memory problems himself. It’s been a game changer for sure.
This is the reason I switched to exclusively caplets for over the counter pain meds. I made the exact same mixup with my metformin.
Sounds like you are a very helpful partner in helping your wife manage her medications! An option that might be available at your pharmacy is having them portion out “bubble” packs of meds. Some pharmacies here will do it at no extra cost to arrange all the tablets for a day into little pop able bubbles for each time of administration. They will give you a few weeks at a time Might be worth looking into to avoid any further mishaps!
I don’t believe I’d a told that, brother….
You were TRYING to kill your wife?!
I thought this was a CK3 post when I saw the title at first
It’s hard managing meds, I do it for my husband who had a heart transplant (he has severe ADHD so it’s safer for me to do it). When I’m refilling pills, I always check the label of the bottle, not just look at what the bottle looks like. I also have a list on my phone of his meds and dosages that I go through after I put in the pills, checking that each bottle is out of the basket to show I had put the pills in. If one is low and needs a refill, I mark the last day in my Reminders app and put in the refill if I can online before I move to the next med. We also stick to the arrangement on the pill container to help me keep track of things. All this said to offer some ideas to help you in the future.
But don’t beat yourself up. Being someone’s caregiver can be tough because you not only have to manage your own life, but someone else’s too. I’ve made mistakes with my husband’s meds very occasionally. We just have to keep trying to do our best.
ETA: Another tip – if you’re not sure what a pill is, you can type in the description and the letter/number on the pill into Google, and it’ll tell you what the pill is. The letters/numbers and shapes/colors are registered to each medication so they can be tracked.
I literally did the same thing to myself. Don’t beat yourself up, it was an essay mistake to make. Those pills look like exactly alike.
Go watch Knives Out if you haven’t. My autoimmune has me on a few meds as well – mistakes happen. It’s a relief you were able to figure it out! Hoping the liver damage is minimal as well. Should probably also keep an eye for seratonin syndrome? Some medications may interact poorly with ibuprofen – I can’t take it anymore for risk of SS. And hey, you caught it, your wife is alive, and you’re able to talk to doctors asap. Handled.
Make sure you let metformin know about the successful results from your double blind study
Breathe, everyone in this world is gonna fuck up bad. You obviously feel that way and that shows a lot about who you are, your remorse and yearning to understand that mistake. Keep on keepin on
Ibuprofen more commonly affects the kidneys. It’s acetaminophen that can harm the liver. She should be fine.
Metformin has a gross smell and taste, I’m surprised she didn’t notice.
If it ends up the blister packs that so many have recommended are not an option, and the ibuprofen needs to come from the pharmacy, ask the pharmacist for ibuprofen that comes in a different color or shape so you can easily tell them apart.
You made a simple mistake. You discovered it and fixed it. Just be honest with her doctor and let her doctor worry about it. Forgive yourself for an innocent mistake.
If you haven’t heard about this already, check if your wife’s pharmacy will sort her prescriptions for you. Where I am this is free service and they will do one week at a time with all vitamins and prescription meds in a bubble pack to use.
Even better is a service like My Easy Dose. My mother is also a diabetic, with stroke history and problems swallowing. She has to take tonnes of meds, and compliance was a problem, also the pill organizers don’t have prescription details, so aren’t meant to leave your home. This service takes all your meds for a month, and puts them on a roll, you rip off a packet at each dose time, and it has everything for that dose. Each packet tells you exactly what meds and doses are in it, and the day and time it’s intended for. Very easy to make sure everything is accurate, and that meds are taken at the right time. They also can add vitamins in at the optimal time so nothing interferes with absorption. Hope these ideas help, caregiving is a hard task, and anyway to make it easier and healthier is a plus.
Doctor here. You did nothing wrong. Your primary doctor needs to simplify her medication regimen. A simple mistake like this cannot be all that stands between healthy blood sugars and glucose in the 400 range.
Have you guys talked to a bariatric surgeon? Your wife might be very hesitant and fixated on side-effects. That’s common. But I would never mention bariatric surgery to a patient unless I was extremely confident it represented a MASSIVE chance of benefit. You can’t realistically expect yourself to go on filling 4x Daily pill boxes for the next 10 years.
It’s time to accept some painful realities, have some conversations we really don’t want to have, and to hold each other close. I’m sort of disappointed with her medical team for not suggesting a bariatric consult more forcefully.
I don’t mean to sound pushy. And while I’m a doctor, I’m also a patient who’s lost 70 lbs and an alcoholic in my 5th year of recovery. I know how my brain works when it comes to uncomfortable truths. I required, and massively benefited from, someone who made it impossible for me to hide from all the truths I didn’t want to face.
There are plenty of reasons not to see a bariatric surgeon. But all those many reasons just aren’t good enough to keep you and your wife away from one any longer. Get in to see one, THIS WEEK.
I’m a pharmacy tech and I do compliance packaging—basically i sort patients’ pills so they don’t have to. A few years ago I had a patient who didn’t call me to tell me about a change in her meds—she just decided to open her daily packets and reorganize the pills herself in a med box. Except… she couldn’t tell the difference between the ibuprofen and her metformin. She took quadruple her dose of metformin accidentally and wound up hospitalized, then came to the store to tell my boss I had tried to kill her. 😬
Why would you throw away perfectly good medication instead of just not putting it next to the other meds?
Look up John Halpert. He has ben doing a study on type II diabetes. has a product out called Gluco. I hope I gave you the right name. It is supposed to stabilize blood sugar levels.
Pharmacist here. IBU 800mg x2 daily for two weeks isn’t going to do anything to her liver. Also metformin is great but it’s not magic – it will absolutely not from your blood sugar from 400 to 100 mg/dl. I’d say either this story is a little sensationalized or it was something else entirely and not OP’s fault.
Look into a pharmacy like Divvydose. They can package all of her daily meds together in a day supply package for you instead of having to sort it all yourself. They can package by day, time, dose, etc., and set up auto ship so they get filled automatically.
Keep trying, you’ll get it
Accidents happen.it may have taken a bit, but you discovered the probable cause of the elevated blood sugars and can conclude that there are no new unknown medical issues. You seem to understand that it could have been potentially poor outcome, and that you have learned to double check the med bottles (a lot of meds look alike). Know that these things do happen and it’s normal to feel guilty, but forgive yourself because it was not done maliciously. Being a caregiver is hard work. It’s hard enough to remember everything to take care of ourselves on a daily basis. Having another human, of any age, depend on you to help prepare meals, shower, get to and from the bathroom, or do pretty much anything at all is hard. Family who become caregivers usually did not imagine that they were going to come home from their careers to be a full time caregiver (even if temporary for surgery recovery).
You’re doing your best.
On another note, there are pharmacies that can prepackage meds into blister packs that can help keep up with what meds need to be taken at what time. It’s really helpful to keep track of what meds you’ve taken/given so it’s harder to accidentally double up meds or miss because you think you already took/gave them. It depends on the pharmacy: I personally use pill-pack, our hospital pharmacy does it, as well as a few of our local ones (cvs, Walgreens, & a family owned). I had a transplant at 21 (38 now) and I’ve used that service option for years because it’s hard to keep track of that many meds.
Can you form the title in a way that doesn’t sound felonious? 😨