<Probably baked but can't find it and want someone else to so I can buy one> I take about 7 or 8 different types of vitamins and stuff, all in individual bottles. It takes me a good 30 seconds each day to get one out of each container, and I'm beginning to tire of it.

How about a wall-mounted unit that has several different tubes, into each of which you pour a bottle's contents? One push of the button dispenses a handful of tablets consisting of one pill from each tube. You could have little windows to show you how much is left in each compartment. </Probably baked but can't find it and want someone else to so I can buy one>
-- sild, Sep 03 2002

Personalized Prepackaged Vitamins http://www.halfbake...packaged_20Vitamins
maybe he's thinking of this alternate solution to the same problem [FarmerJohn, Sep 03 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

vitamins from food. http://www.ivillage...65838_23764,00.html
research healthy nutrition - save money [po, Sep 03 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

(?) Bulk Vitamin Dispenser http://www.petsmart...product_10396.shtml
Holds up to four pounds and is dishwasher safe. ;) [DrCurry, Sep 03 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

(?) RxAlert http://www.christop.../2000_finalists.htm
"A team of eighth grade students from Saddle Brook Middle School demonstrates its entry in this year's Bayer/NSF Award during judging this week at Epcot. The team's invention, "Rx Alert", is a wall-mounted pill dispenser that utilizes a timer and alarm system to reduce the chances of medication-related errors. Pictured left to right are Nicole Gerber, Melanie Kim, Gregory Mangini and Randal Reiman." [jutta, Sep 05 2002, last modified Sep 13 2006]

Vuru - a place to get vitamins packaged http://www.vuru.com
a site where you can get the supplements you want packaged. its what is described in this posting [flkorndog, Sep 13 2006]

I did. Where is it?
-- sild, Sep 03 2002


When I read the title I thought it would be like a pez despenser for vitimins
-- Gulherme, Sep 03 2002


with a healthy, well-balanced diet - those vitamins are probably a waste of money anyway.
-- po, Sep 03 2002


Yeah, probably. I do eat very healthily, but take vits just to make sure I'm getting everything. Maybe I'll try to cut down, then I wouldn't need this stupid invention anyway. Always take your cod liver oil though - it's proven to stop arthritis, and I don't think anyone's diet is balanced enough to include cod's livers.
-- sild, Sep 03 2002


there are some supplements which if taken in excess are bad for you. I believe selenium was one in a recent report, zinc; possibly another, potassium?
-- po, Sep 03 2002


sild: oops - missed the bit about pouring the pills in the top. Nevertheless, the prepackaging described in FarmerJohn's link, along with a Google search on "pill dispenser" should take some of the bottle opening chores out of your life. Though I agree with po, unless you have a particular medical condition, you should definitely not need 7 or 8 different types of vitamin pill a day. And it is doubtful that many vitamin supplements give you the same benefit as those same vitamins in regular food.
-- DrCurry, Sep 03 2002


listen to po sild, and save your money.
-- namaste, Sep 03 2002


Forget about vitamins, this would be useful for anyone who has to regularly take medication. (Arthritis sufferers can have real problems with those screw-top bottles.)

The closest easy short cut would involve pre-loading about a months' worth of compartments in a multi-dispenser. Every day, you just open a compartment and take whatever is in it.

The main problem I see with the self-portioning invention is how to guarantee, with medically useful certainty, that exactly one pill makes it out of the machine. That's mechanically difficult, especially with different pill sizes.

If you had help from the manufacturers, you could standardize on some sort of blister strip format that can work reliably.
-- jutta, Sep 05 2002


Surface-mount electronic components come on reels of tape to feed into the pick-and-place machines. All you need are "cassettes" that hold a reel of pills (a bit like a single-pass typewriter ribbon). At given intervals the dispenser punches out the required items, then bleeps plaintively until the recipient comes and takes them. It couls automatically track missed doses, and prevent double or accidental over-dosing.
-- 8th of 7, Sep 05 2002


I know this site is only for ideas so this is not shameless promotion. I too had the same idea as sild.

I wanted this type of service so bad I actually created it. The company I started is called Vuru. You can check out how it works at www.vuru.com. I will also add a link as well.

I hate when people use community sites and message boards for promotion. This is not my goal. That's why i kept this post very simple and to the point. If this some how violates the mission of this site please remove this post.
-- flkorndog, Sep 13 2006



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