The day you finally forget to take your medications

Well, it finally happened. One morning as I'm driving down the interstate I suddenly panic that I didn't take my morning medication. Up until this point, I had been psychotic about taking my medication before leaving the house. I would go as far as to put it in a Ziploc sandwich bag if I had to leave early. Immediately, I thought about turning my car around and getting it but then I was already two hours away. In my mind, I went through worst case scenarios about what possibly could happen. After, mulling it over for awhile I stopped at a Walgreens and bought a bottle of baby aspirin. Because who doesn't need a little of that in their car. Now, I've turned my car into a rolling Walgreens. I place the baby aspirin next to my kids deodorant. Why deodorant you ask? Because we all have that moment in parent drop off where the kids forget to apply deodorant and at the end of the day end up smelling like an onion.

You are probably reading this and wondering why is she writing about something as silly as forgetting her medication? Can't, she just take it when she gets home? I could but to somebody who has had a heart attack you look at your medications as a life line. As long as you take them everything is going to be ok you tell yourself. The what if's start to run ramped through your thoughts and occupy endless mind space. 

The American Heart Association wrote about this very topic and why it's so important. It has found that "Medication nonadherence results in approximately 125,000 preventable deaths a year" (American Heart Association) So listen up and take your medication every day! 

There comes a time post heart attack where your life starts to become normal. No longer do you let the heart attack define you! Sure, you think about it now and again but it becomes far less until one day you walk out of your house with out taking your medication. If you had asked me last year about a day like this I would have laughed. But just like anything it starts to occupy less and less of your thoughts.

Although it has been 18 months since my heart attack I still put a huge emphasis on taking my medication daily. Research has shown that this is a proven way to prevent future events. So, going forward I make sure before I leave the house to ask myself "DId I take my pills?"

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