This is good. I’ve been using the reminders App for years to help remember to take my multivitamins.
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iOS 16 and watchOS 9 Add Support for Tracking Medications
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I suspect this might only work in the US… medicines are commercialised with very different names in every country, it’s a bit of a mess. And some are only available in specific countries
The list of things which interfere with absorption of levothyroxine is long. Ranging from foods, drinks, any calcium, aluminium, magnesium or iron supplements, and many, many others. The way that list has grown over the past twenty years is incredible.
Iron supplements was a big one - with the advice for a four hour gap between levothyroxine and iron. The levothyroxine can catch up with iron, or iron catch up with levothyroxine, as it passes from stomach through jejunum and ileum. The two together form a stable purple complex - which removes some of the levothyroxine from any possibility of absorption.
Given that there had been little research in the previous fifty years since levothyroxine became available, I'd wager many more issues will be found.
There is hope that some levothyroxine oral solutions and gel caps (in which the active pharmaceutical ingredient is dissolved or dispersed in a liquid such as glycerol) are much less prone to interference. The makers of one promote that coffee doesn't interfere as a major reason to choose their product. But the considerably higher costs put people and funding sources off them.
However, even this is only looking at interactions which affect absorption into the body/bloodstream. There is a slightly more modest list of interferences with other medicines.
I take mine at bed-time - which helps with first coffee of the morning not interfering.
The very issue I was expecting someone to raise.
From what I have seen so far, it isn't clear how they will handle international issues.
In the USA, the C3PI database stopped being updated in 2018, and Pillbox is long gone. I think Canada is continuing with image collection. The UK likes to think medicines images should be kept locked up - accessible only to doctors and bona fide researchers.
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases/download/pill_image.html
Given re-use of brand names - and not always even for medicines with the same active pharmaceutical ingredient - it is a big job maintaining international data.
There are at least three different products (all levothyroxine but with different formulations) branded Eltroxin. At least three liothyronine products branded Cytomel. Merck KGaA Euthyrox varies in formulation around the world, sometimes containing lactose, sometimes mannitol, and branding/name - being Provell Euthryox in the USA.
If the Apple API for health provided access to even basic information about medicines worldwide, that could be of great benefit.
It would also be a significant enhancement if the medicines data linked up to recall notifications. (But could only work if users make sure the app knows exactly what tablets are being taken.)
Reality intervenes and I end up assuming all it does is a quick OCR scan and leaves it at that - with images being entirely generic. But the example already shows some variations. So some hope remains.
while I think there's merit here to suggest the iPhone 7 could have made the cut... it's really not as bad as this comment is making it out to be.
iOS 16 supports iPhone 8 and on, so anything up to 5 years ago, including the 2020 iPhone SE which looks like one can have for under $200 at Walmart right now.
watchOS 9 supports series 4 and above, so 4 years old. series 4 can be had for $169 on amazon atm.
less than $400 pre tax, and one can have this functionality on both devices (assuming they were buying into the ecosystem for this purpose right now.)
excluding the watch, this can be had for less than $200, plus of course a fully capable smartphone sporting an A13.
again, I think this feature itself *probably* could have been on the iPhone 7, but apple's not known to back port major OS update features anyway.
so it's hard to accept this as a planned obsolescence issue when they *do* offer this to a cheap, but highly capable smartphone. A13 would be more than snazzy at this particular task, among others.
This can be handy for people who just need to keep track of medications, but it will not supplant specialized apps.
For example, I have epilepsy and use a great app called EpiDiary - so, if any epileptic out there is looking for an app, give this one a try -, not only it keeps track of medications - along with reminders via push notifications - but it makes it very easy to create a report with various metrics that are extremely relevant for epileptics, like sleep, side effects, mood - anticonvulsants do affect your mood -, triggers, seizures - type of seizure, duration, description -.
I know that you can create a report regarding sleep using Apple's solutions, I'll create one for my next visit and see what my neurologist thinks about it.
For example, I have epilepsy and use a great app called EpiDiary - so, if any epileptic out there is looking for an app, give this one a try -, not only it keeps track of medications - along with reminders via push notifications - but it makes it very easy to create a report with various metrics that are extremely relevant for epileptics, like sleep, side effects, mood - anticonvulsants do affect your mood -, triggers, seizures - type of seizure, duration, description -.
I know that you can create a report regarding sleep using Apple's solutions, I'll create one for my next visit and see what my neurologist thinks about it.
I am looking forward to loading my nightly dose of Coonawarra Shiraz.
(I expect to warned to not try Zyrtec with it).
(I expect to warned to not try Zyrtec with it).
Have a half dozen pill reminder apps but always come back to Round app. It does auto fill the name as your typing and it allows a window of time when you are reminded and nags you during that window. I can’t always take the pill exactly at that time.
Also allows you to untake the pill or change the time when when it was taken. Also allows 1/2 pill doses and allows multiple dose times for each item eliminating duplicate listings.
Also gives a history calendar and allows take as needed options.
Also allows you to untake the pill or change the time when when it was taken. Also allows 1/2 pill doses and allows multiple dose times for each item eliminating duplicate listings.
Also gives a history calendar and allows take as needed options.
Interesting, I'm sure some of my iOS savvy patients will try this but the ones who need this most are those who need help from family members or other caregivers and aren't capable of using iOS apps themselves to any extent. I doubt Apple has included functionality for managing meds for another person.
This seems like a great idea to include this functionality and integration with the health app.
I think you need to be able to add multiple other people. Start with parents with children who need medicines - even temporarily. Then go further and think how to handle medicines for families where the children go back and forth between parents (or whoever) - a way of sharing could be very helpful.
Well, the problem is that “planned obsolescence” is a bit of a conspiracy theory. While there’s truth that Apple would like you to buy a new phone, they actually do a pretty good job of offering extended support, when possible. As an anecdote, remember the battery/throttling fiasco a while back? As someone who experienced random shut downs on an iPhone before they introduced throttling and who experienced throttling on a different iPhone after they introduced it, I felt like the throttling actually extended the usable life of my phone. It was frustrating to have to connect my phone to a power source multiple times a day (and to see the battery at 50% when it started back up), and eventually the battery couldn’t deliver enough power to handle the voltage needed to boot the phone. On the other hand, I barely noticed the throttling and I likely only would have noticed if I were regularly playing graphic intensive games. Yet, the idea that Apple was “slowing down older phones” got people going “see, see?! Planned obsolescence! Help, help, I’m being repressed!”, when, in my experience, it actually extended the usable life of the phone. As soon as they had something that seemed like a partial evidence point, they went into a frenzy. What I’m trying to say is that it’s a bit of an unfalsifiable belief (as well as a bit of a persecution complex, as most conspiracy theories are), and something like this plays into that.
Could a caregiver simply use their own iPhone but input all the meds and reminders for their patient?
Will be a very useful feature on iOS and watchOS. Glad to see this.
Surely they could. But what do they do if they themselves need to take medicines? Or provide care to two elderly parents?
Really interested to see if this is any sort of an improvement over what's already available. I had surgery in December, and keeping on top of all the medications was a complete nightmare. Despite trying apps like Medisafe, I still had to resort to a frigging spreadsheet to keep track of everything I needed to take, when, and if I remembered to take them. At one point I was taking something just about every hour, and when you add OPIOIDs to that mix, you don't stand a chance of keeping it all straight. It would be really nice if the app would handle instructions like "Take every X hours," or "Take Y times per day," ask what time you want to start, and just figure out the rest of the reminders from there.
I had never heard about it . Downloaded it to try out but it doesn't work out for me . There is no way to schedule once every 3 months.
Will that be possible in the new medication tracking ? Does anyone here know ?
What about the option to schedule every 90 days? Or are you looking for something like first Monday each quarter?
I saw that possibility . In Reminders I can choose the 1st day of the month . I guess I'm a bit OCD ;-)))
I'd like the same thing others have brought up - track consumption of advil, tylenol, alcohol and tell me about things I should worry about. Their website mentions that they will tell if theres any interactions with marijuana that are known. I'd love more - warn the people who do other substances too. Let college students who pop an adderall know it they should worry. This can be so powerful!
Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical and medical industries themselves have little understanding of interactions.
Too much that is known is locked away and inaccessible to doctors, let alone patients.
Since I first became aware of levothyroxine, I have seen the patient information leaflets grow hugely. Far more information and medicine interactions and the impact of food and drink on taking it. It is improving but I strongly suspect that many are missed. One example, they missed the interaction with ferrous sulfate which reduces how much you can absorb. When first added, they specifically identified ferrous sulfate but ignored all other iron supplements. Despite many other iron supplements having a very similar impact.
(This was just the simplest to put as an example.)
Anyone actually tried this in release version of iOS 16?
When I add medication, there is no assistance, no suggestions, when entering the drug name, you just have to type it all in - correctly. Most obviously there is NO camera icon to use that. You can try ‘Scan text’, but that’s not the same thing (and basically useless).
In fact, iOS 16 seems to have no camera access requests. Apps that previously were listed as having asked for and been granted camera access are simply not listed in Settings/Privacy/Camera and nothing I can do seems able to change that. In particular, Health.app is not listed, doesn’t ask for access and never provides the option to use the camera.
Is this an iOS 16 bug or a problem just specific to my iPhone (13 Mini)?
When I add medication, there is no assistance, no suggestions, when entering the drug name, you just have to type it all in - correctly. Most obviously there is NO camera icon to use that. You can try ‘Scan text’, but that’s not the same thing (and basically useless).
In fact, iOS 16 seems to have no camera access requests. Apps that previously were listed as having asked for and been granted camera access are simply not listed in Settings/Privacy/Camera and nothing I can do seems able to change that. In particular, Health.app is not listed, doesn’t ask for access and never provides the option to use the camera.
Is this an iOS 16 bug or a problem just specific to my iPhone (13 Mini)?
Tried it out this morning. I find it odd that notifications show up with the Heart icon on the phone and Medication icon on my watch. I set the notifications to Persistant to be certain it would not go away before logged in . I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how that works out .