Peter Bromhead: Have you remembered to take your pill?

Cartoon / Peter Bromhead

For some years I have taken medication to control mild blood pressure problems - and believe me, if you lead my sort of life, you would not find this remarkable.

The tablets, sealed in silver foil, are imprinted with the days of the week, so the doddery among us can clearly recall whether we have swallowed our daily dose.

It has all worked well, until recently, when I renewed my prescription.

Suddenly, the silver foil packets are no longer available, as Pharmac has decided there is a cheaper substitute available to fill the prescription.

Now I'm given a box full of microscopic tablets, probably produced in some dubious part of the world, providing a low-cost copy of my well-proven drug. One could argue there's a legal argument here, about restricting consumer choice, but as usual there are more important matters to get on with, like writing this column.

As I squawked to the caregiver that now I could not recall if I'd taken my daily tablet, she suggested placing a prompter on my mobile.

In my usual inept way I allowed her to fiddle with the device. Unfortunately, while the alarm she chose works well, it is a reminder for women to take their daily birth control pill.

The first time the warning chimes sounded, I was at a board meeting. My mobile, placed on the table to record notes, suddenly burst into life, glowing bright pink and playing Vivaldi string music.

The intrusion immediately caught the interest of my fellow board members, bored by listening to financial statistics.

The message flashed up "Have you remembered to take your contraceptive pill today?"

The screen displayed an image of a pill packet, with the days dated. I then had to tick a tiny pink box that states yes, I have taken my daily dose, before signing off.

If I don't respond, my mobile keeps activating with reminders every five minutes.

The bemused chairman leaned across the table and drolly murmured: "I'm sure the board will be comforted to learn you're committed to avoiding pregnancy."

I responded by stammering out an explanation about the complexity of remembering to take daily medication.

Clearly, the board thought I was covering up some sort of change of life hormonal problem and remained unconvinced, continuing to tease me unmercifully for the rest of the session.

I'm now thinking of moving to Australia, where the silver packaged tablets imprinted with the days of the week are still available.