How Do I Keep My Medication Secure?

Good Evening Damgalnuna!

I use a lockable fire proof cash box at home, and this seems to work pretty well.

You should be able to pick up one of these, at a reasonable price.


SE

I have all my meds in a basket in my kitchen. I have no kids at home to worry about getting into them and if I want to move them if people are over, I just take the whole basket and pop it away somewhere out of sight. It would be pretty obvious you were looking for it if you found it, so I doubt anyone would try

Pam

Post Edited (MsBunky) : 9/4/2010 5:00:54 PM (GMT-6)

I use a metal gun box that has a lock built in. I never tell anybody what is inside or never put meds in when they are here. I keep a few out in a box that is made to look like large book (I have several for decoration) and this keeps the meds out of sight. A couple house things like magazines, one houses remote controls and the last one is for my personal meds, hand creams, and things like that. Nobody ever seems to notice that they aren't even real.

If someone is coming over that I don't fully trust, then I lock even the extras and my purse in the safe.

I understand not wanting to admit that someone might steal things, but you MUST do a police report if you are under pain contract and someone gets your meds. Otherwise, you are likely violating the terms of your pain contract and can be cut off. This happens especially when they give you a random drug screen and you don't have enough meds in your system. If you try to tell them then that your meds were stolen, they will want a copy of the police report. If you don't have one....well, you get my point.

I have a friend who uses a kitchen canister that matches the others on her counter and has sort of a false bottom. She also uses the "books" and keeps them on her bookshelf.

Good luck!

  Pistol safe. no key, touch pad like combination. Securely bolted to cement floor. Ive had meds stolen by family member twice now. Hiding keys here and there were always found. Just last week i changed boxes but left key in last hiding place, old box in usual place,  which was found earlier in week. I was cut short of 25 of one, 12 of another, makes it hell at end of month. Replaced my meds with various brands of exlax type pills, similar in size and color, several of those went missing, kept him kinda bizzy one nite is my guess. No trouble since then. Message delivered! Next attempt will be recorded and sad to say, but its time for John Law to pay a visit.

I use the same safe as SE. I got it at Staples. I found it very good in college, because it was heavy-duty enough that it was hard to break into (at least I would think so.... I've never actually tried doing such a thing), and it was large enough that it could fit all my many meds, yet small enough that I could hide it easily within my dorm room. I always made sure to keep the key on my person, and I left the spare key someplace safe at home.

Now that I no longer live at college, I have a bad tendency to leave my meds out & unlocked. I still have my lock box, but it is just much easier for me to keep my meds on hand next to my bed (since I essentially take them all either at night or first thing in the morning). Additionally I'm not on nearly as much medication as I was at previous times, so I don't worry about it as much. I live in a rural area, and the only people in the house at the moment are my parents & I, and we rarely have people over. I always have the door to my room closed, but if I know that someone that I don't know/don't trust is going to be in the house, I hide my meds, either in the lock box, or somewhere else, like within my bed.

I really should be more vigilant about protecting my meds, but seeing as I've never had a problem, and am generally trusting in nature, I tend to not take all the precautions that I should. However, like at school, when I do use my lock box at home, I hide it as well & don't always put it in the same place. It also helps that really no one knows what meds I am taking, or even if I am taking any at all.

Dam, just a quick suggestion, I wouldn't buy anything advertised as a "medical safe," unless it has NO medical logos on the outside. Otherwise, it's contents are a dead give-away. That's why I went with just a plain fireproof lock-box. There are also companies that make safes & little hiding places out of every day objects (for example a tube of toothpaste or a bottle of lotion). You can't fit much in them, but they can be really sneaky hiding places & great for if you are traveling & afraid of leaving your meds somewhere visible in your hotel room. Unfortunately I can't think of the names of any companies that make these at the moment, but I'm sure you can find them by doing a google search. There are many many different varieties & from what I've seen online, they look quite convincing.

hugs,
Skeye

Post Edited (skeye) : 9/4/2010 9:44:52 PM (GMT-6)

Sadly there is logical but immoral reasoning behind why some people steal other peoples medications. I'm not defending anyone doing this as "theives" make it harder for those legally prescribed medications they need to continue recieving them, a very selfish act in itself. Some people steal from friends or family because thier pain is under treated and some of those people do not have health insurance. The bad thing with free or low cost clinics is that they rarely prescribe anything even moderately strong for pain.....even if the condition can be proven. The governmental view is that low income families are at a higher risk for abuse, so the state run institutions feel that by treating the pain with anything controlled, that they are setting themselves up for future losses (Example: emergency room visits from overdose, detox, patients selling to create additional income, stigma that some prescriptions could act as a gateway to harder substances, and the list goes on). Low cost or government subsidized pain management clinics have been known in the past to treat pain patients with things like anti-phys medications, as they will genuinely believe the patient has a mental disorder that is causing both the pain and addictive personality. MANY of those doctors graduated at the bottom of their class and have a very poor knowledge of proper patient care and cannot discern between a junkie and those in actual need. Some of those patients in pain then turn to the streets, so they still end up costing the state. They end up in detox on a maint program, ironically receiving pain medication to keep them from going back to the street for their needs. It can be a vicious cycle and that in my opinion is how a lot of pain patients become addicts.

This does not excuse them from stealing, especially from family, friends, and loved ones because they are not only breaking morals and laws, but they are taking directly from people that truly love and care for them and in the long run paying a huge price for a quick fix.

These people need our help because they've lost the ability to help themselves. They don't deserve our help because they care more about their fix then their own loved ones, and in reality, its hard to get them back on the right path. I do know its not impossible to get them the help they need though, just very frusterating, time cunsuming and difficult, espcially when they claim to want to "help themselves", but fall into a state of self pity and total reliance on others.