Ask the pharmacist who fills your prescription to put it in a bottle that is easier to open. That request is yours to make, and your doctor does not have to sign off on it. A child-resistant cap left loose stops nobody, and neither does an easy-open bottle, so whichever you end up with, a child-resistant cap you have found a way to work or a bottle that opens easily, it needs a place children and pets cannot reach. Which of the two suits you depends on who else comes into your home. Until the new bottle is in your hands, put the open one somewhere high today.
Who has to agree to a bottle you can open
Under the federal Poison Prevention Packaging Act, a pharmacist dispenses prescription medicines taken by mouth in child-resistant packaging unless the medicine is exempt, or unless you or the prescriber ask for packaging that is not child-resistant. Some medicines are exempt from the rule altogether, so ask the pharmacist who fills your prescription whether yours is one of them. If you live in a nursing home, the staff are not required to give medication in a child-resistant container, because nursing homes are exempt from the law as institutions.
The moment to make the request is when a prescription is filled. Before you leave the counter, check that you can open the container, and if you cannot, ask the pharmacist to put your medicines in bottles that are easier to open.
You need not repeat the request at every refill. It can be a blanket request, one standing request that covers your prescriptions, and it is good practice for the pharmacist to check with you from time to time that easy-open packaging is still the choice you want. A blanket request keeps working after the reason for it has changed, so if a young grandchild starts staying with you, or a family with small children moves in, tell the pharmacy and ask for child-resistant caps again. Filling all your prescriptions at the same pharmacy keeps your records in one place. If you use more than one pharmacy, make the request at each pharmacy that fills for you.
What you give up with a cap that opens
Child-resistant packaging is meant to keep children aged five and younger from easy access to items such as medicines and household chemicals. A cap that opens easily gives a young child that access back, so keeping a child out of the bottle depends on where you put it.
So the change of cap comes with a change of place. If your medicines are kept in bottles without safety caps because those are hard for you to open, be extra careful about where you store them, and keep them out of the reach of children and pets. If you take prescription pain medicines, keep them in a locked cabinet or drawer, child-resistant cap or not.
If no children live with you, plan for the days a child visits, and for any pets, who are in the house every day. A shelf above a child's reach works, and so does a cabinet with a childproof latch, provided the latch is one your hands can work.
Choose the new place before you collect the easy-open bottle, so the bottle never spends a night on the counter. While you are deciding, ask the pharmacist about any special instructions on where to store the medicine, such as whether it belongs in the refrigerator or another climate-controlled place, because a high cupboard is no use if the medicine needs the refrigerator (see Move the weight medicine off the fridge door if young children visit).
Keeping the child-resistant cap and still opening the bottle
If you have arthritis in your hands, a device that helps you grip, such as a jar opener, may help, and whether one works your child-resistant cap is something to try on your own caps before you decide. If none works, ask for the easy-open bottle.
If osteoarthritis in your hands is what makes the bottle hard to open, an occupational therapist may help you find a way to open it. Among the professionals who may help treat osteoarthritis, occupational therapists teach ways to protect joints, minimize pain, perform activities of daily living, and conserve energy. Opening your own medicine is one of those daily activities, so it is a fair task to bring to one, even if you expect your hands to stay as they are. Next time you see your doctor, ask whether a referral to an occupational therapist would suit you, and name the bottle as the job you want help with.
The same pharmacist can help with what is inside the bottle, too:
- If you have trouble swallowing pills, tell the pharmacist, because there may be liquid medicine available.
- Before you chew, break or crush a pill, ask the pharmacist first whether that will change the way the drug works.
- If the label is hard to read, ask the pharmacist to use larger type.
Moving the open bottle off the counter today
Do these today, in this order, starting with the bottle:
- Put the cap back on as far as it will go, even if it will not lock.
- Put the bottle somewhere high, or in the cabinet you can latch, away from the counter where it has been standing.
- Phone or visit the pharmacy that filled it, and ask for a bottle that is easier to open, or for the blanket request that covers your prescriptions.
- Keep the Poison Help number, 1-800-222-1222, in a place where you can find it in an emergency, such as inside the cupboard door where the bottle now sits.
If someone may have swallowed medicine from the bottle
Whether it is a visiting child or an adult who took a pill by mistake, get medical help right away, without waiting for symptoms, which may take time to develop. If the person is not breathing, call 911. An adult who has trouble breathing, passes out or faints, or is suddenly confused needs 911 or an emergency department, and so does a child who has trouble breathing, passes out, faints, or suddenly becomes hard to wake, too sleepy or confused. For anyone else, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222, or 911, right away. The poison expert who answers Poison Help can advise you on first aid and may save you a visit to the emergency room.
Keep the bottle nearby while you are on the phone, because the label carries important information, and, if you can, tell the expert the person's age and weight, any known health conditions, how long ago it happened and whether they have vomited, among the other details they may ask for. If medicine has been swallowed, give nothing by mouth until you have talked to a Poison Help expert, and make no one throw up unless poison control or a health care professional tells you to.
Adults need the number too. Misuse of medicine causes poisonings in teens and adults of all ages, including older adults, and a pill from the wrong bottle, or too much of the right one, is a reason to call Poison Help. The line is free and confidential, open 24 hours a day, and you can call with a question about poisoning or preventing it, with no emergency at all (see A child got into a bag and seems fine. Call Poison Help now).
If a physician you found through NicoCares prescribed a medicine you take by mouth, the easier bottle is still a request for the pharmacy that fills it, as with any other prescription. If someone may have swallowed medicine, call 911 or Poison Help rather than sending a Spruce message to your NicoCares care team, because NicoCares does not offer emergency care and a Spruce reply comes on no set timetable.
