My mother is 80+. She struggles not only with pill bottles but opening cans, jars, etc. Many of the food items are handed to me and I struggle to open them.
It boggles my mind that such things - in an "advanced society" - are still not solved.
It's amazing that so many things that are medicinal, or otherwise intended for people who are not at 100% are packaged in a way that makes them impossible to open.
Zyrtec-D, and Flonase come to mind. Two great examples of companies that must really hate their customers.
Zyrtec-D has to be opened by peeling a micro-thin layer of foil away from a paper-thin piece of plastic.
Flonase is sealed inside a plastic blister pack that can only be opened with stout scissors or garden shears. It is designed to not be openable by human hands.
I'm sure this packaging saved the companies 1¢ per package in costs, and earned some North Shore middle manager the bonus he needed to buy his kid a second boat.
Sadly, the number of things sold on Amazon in "Frustration-free packaging" is dwindling by the day.
All of this goes along with what I call the Elderly Tax. As a society, in many ways we punish people for living a long life.
For example, at the grocery store, a theoretical eight-pack of bottled water costs $3.00. A theoretical 32-pack of bottled water costs $5.00. But no older person can lift a 32-pack of water. So to get 32 bottles of water, an older person has to pay 140% more just because they made the mistake of not dying young.
timely coincidence — World Parkinson’s Day is this Monday. We’ve put together some assets and things to help spread awareness, if anyone is interested.
If you have relatives who struggle with pill bottles, let them know that many prescription pill bottles are designed so they can be re-capped by screwing the lid into the bottle upside down.
That allows them to be re-opened much easier because there's much more gripping surface, and there's no need to squeeze to get past the child safety feature.
Here's an article with a picture if anyone wants to see what reaperducer is talking about [1].
On a much lighter note pill bottles aren't the only common container that has a mode of operation that most people have completely overlooked. The little paper ketchup cups common at many fast food places in the US have an operating mode that seems almost completely unknown. I've never seen any use it.
You see people having to work to hit the small cup when dipping their french fries, not realizing that the cup can be opened up make it easier to access the ketchup. Those sections on the side where the paper is folded back on itself can be unfolded to greatly increase the size of the cup.
That is just plain awesome. I have to tell my neighbor who has been having issues with gripping etc.. I can't believe I hadn't noticed the screw threads on the top side of the lid all this time.
He started his foundation to treat/cure the disease. Somehow I thought we’d have had made more progress in 25 years.
I also find it interesting to look back at the US national debt and wonder how the world would have been different if we invested more of that into research (e.g medical, pure science, etc)
In 1998, the national debt was $5.5 trillion and today is $30 trillion.
The "national debt" is just non governmental wealth. It's an accounting artifact. The fact that interest is paid on most of it is entirely through choice.
Edit: The point is the policy space available to you has nothing to do with national debt and everything to do with politics, the same in the past as now.
I'm a dad, and I have a soapbox to stand on and talk about child proof container. I have memories of my young children discovering over-the-counter pills and rat poison.
BUT, there is a distinct population of people who don't need or want child proof pill protection, and they should be served, too.
I used to work in a drug store. An older gentleman used to come in and say "Don't put my prescriptions in child-proof bottles because I don't have any children at home to open them for me."
Smack in the middle of the page is a TikTok video with obnoxious music, completely irrelevant to the article. What is the point? Showing TikTok that I accessed the page?
I'm guessing they maybe just grabbed the wrong tiktok video link from Jimmy Choi's profile. Doubt it's anything nefarious. The story is about a product that was kicked off after folks watched one of his tiktoks.
I have never seen a website with so many pop-ups. I counted 6 while visiting this website on Safari. It really makes me question my choices on why I'm even browsing the internet not through Firefox, but rather than Safari. I do it with Firefox every now and than, but still.
Either way, couldn't read the article in this state.
While I absolutely approve of this, I’m constantly amazed at how far we’re (and mainly the US) is willing to go for ridiculously small percentages of the population. Parkinson’s is estimated to be about 1% of the US, but now every pharmacy in the country needs to buy and stock these bottles?
Every time I’ve been to a pharmacy in the US in the last 20 years, they’ve had an option for “arthritis” bottles - something that isn’t child-proof, has a big top, etc. That is not going to help you dispense the medication, but it seems obvious it would help someone with Parkinson’s open it.
In Europe everything (literally everything) comes in a box in blister packs. I can’t imagine trying to open those with Parkinson’s.
>While I absolutely approve of this, I’m constantly amazed at how far we’re (and mainly the US) is willing to go for ridiculously small percentages of the population. Parkinson’s is estimated to be about 1% of the US, but now every pharmacy in the country needs to buy and stock these bottles?
Where did it say anyone has to stock these bottles? The article describes people who are 3D printing them: "Because of this thousands of people responded to Brian’s post and are now printing the bottle."
SIX huge ads for a tweet and 100 words of content.
Subscribe!
Join!
JFC.
I can create a better revenue strategy while making the site much less viewer hostile, hire me.
On topic, bottles for shaky hands, yes, that's exactly what our society will come up with instead of allowing people to try more experimental medication.
[+] [-] chiefalchemist|3 years ago|reply
It boggles my mind that such things - in an "advanced society" - are still not solved.
[+] [-] reaperducer|3 years ago|reply
Zyrtec-D, and Flonase come to mind. Two great examples of companies that must really hate their customers.
Zyrtec-D has to be opened by peeling a micro-thin layer of foil away from a paper-thin piece of plastic.
Flonase is sealed inside a plastic blister pack that can only be opened with stout scissors or garden shears. It is designed to not be openable by human hands.
I'm sure this packaging saved the companies 1¢ per package in costs, and earned some North Shore middle manager the bonus he needed to buy his kid a second boat.
Sadly, the number of things sold on Amazon in "Frustration-free packaging" is dwindling by the day.
All of this goes along with what I call the Elderly Tax. As a society, in many ways we punish people for living a long life.
For example, at the grocery store, a theoretical eight-pack of bottled water costs $3.00. A theoretical 32-pack of bottled water costs $5.00. But no older person can lift a 32-pack of water. So to get 32 bottles of water, an older person has to pay 140% more just because they made the mistake of not dying young.
[+] [-] dev912|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Eric_WVGG|3 years ago|reply
https://worldparkinsonsday.com
[+] [-] SubiculumCode|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reaperducer|3 years ago|reply
That allows them to be re-opened much easier because there's much more gripping surface, and there's no need to squeeze to get past the child safety feature.
[+] [-] tzs|3 years ago|reply
On a much lighter note pill bottles aren't the only common container that has a mode of operation that most people have completely overlooked. The little paper ketchup cups common at many fast food places in the US have an operating mode that seems almost completely unknown. I've never seen any use it.
You see people having to work to hit the small cup when dipping their french fries, not realizing that the cup can be opened up make it easier to access the ketchup. Those sections on the side where the paper is folded back on itself can be unfolded to greatly increase the size of the cup.
Here's a photo [2] and a video [3].
[1] https://bestlifeonline.com/prescription-bottle-cap/
[2] https://twitter.com/davefrancois/status/998574865027338240
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkeWoO0MJes
[+] [-] pthreads|3 years ago|reply
Thank you!
[+] [-] melling|3 years ago|reply
https://www.michaeljfox.org/michaels-story
He started his foundation to treat/cure the disease. Somehow I thought we’d have had made more progress in 25 years.
I also find it interesting to look back at the US national debt and wonder how the world would have been different if we invested more of that into research (e.g medical, pure science, etc)
In 1998, the national debt was $5.5 trillion and today is $30 trillion.
[+] [-] jotm|3 years ago|reply
"What if the side effects are bad, we need more testing". How about you let those who suffer decide? No? OK then.
[+] [-] maxerickson|3 years ago|reply
The thing that causes the symptoms is brain cells dying at an abnormally fast rate.
It's really hard to treat cells dying from poorly understood causes.
The foundation has helped get a number of new drugs approved to help with the symptoms.
[+] [-] hgomersall|3 years ago|reply
Edit: The point is the policy space available to you has nothing to do with national debt and everything to do with politics, the same in the past as now.
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] vmception|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] geoduck14|3 years ago|reply
I'm a dad, and I have a soapbox to stand on and talk about child proof container. I have memories of my young children discovering over-the-counter pills and rat poison.
BUT, there is a distinct population of people who don't need or want child proof pill protection, and they should be served, too.
[+] [-] dreamcompiler|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] otterley|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] renewiltord|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danuker|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] badwolf|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] cjsawyer|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] nerdponx|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hetspookjee|3 years ago|reply
Either way, couldn't read the article in this state.
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] chrismeller|3 years ago|reply
Every time I’ve been to a pharmacy in the US in the last 20 years, they’ve had an option for “arthritis” bottles - something that isn’t child-proof, has a big top, etc. That is not going to help you dispense the medication, but it seems obvious it would help someone with Parkinson’s open it.
In Europe everything (literally everything) comes in a box in blister packs. I can’t imagine trying to open those with Parkinson’s.
[+] [-] whatshisface|3 years ago|reply
Where did it say anyone has to stock these bottles? The article describes people who are 3D printing them: "Because of this thousands of people responded to Brian’s post and are now printing the bottle."
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] jotm|3 years ago|reply
SIX huge ads for a tweet and 100 words of content.
Subscribe!
Join!
JFC.
I can create a better revenue strategy while making the site much less viewer hostile, hire me.
On topic, bottles for shaky hands, yes, that's exactly what our society will come up with instead of allowing people to try more experimental medication.
[+] [-] jimjambw|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] kaapipo|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] uuyi|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xlance|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]