I hate trying to “push down and turn” !

[Geezerette]

For opening medicine bottles , household products etc? I’ve got some arth. in my hands & I can only keep trying just so long. And when it finally does come open, I never know exactly what I did that worked.
Is there a secret I just haven’t discovered yet?

 

[Devi]

Ditto here. I'd love to hear people's solutions.

 

[RadishRose]

I hate that too! If I hold the bottle low, I have better luck.

 

[Pinky]

Put the container/bottle on a table, holding it with one hand. Use the palm of the other hand to turn the lid. Works for me.

 

[MrPants]

I hate those too. Had a particularly difficult one last month. Had a little tab you had to open using your finger or fingernail? Was impossible. Drastic action was required.

This worked beautifully. Put a wash cloth over the bottle and gave it a good whack. Put the remaining pills in a zip-lock bag. Just be careful to pick out the broken plastic bits. They really need to rename these contraptions. Senior-proof instead of child-proof!

 

[Jules]

@Geezerette You must have been in the kitchen with me last night when I was trying to open a container. Got it open and then it had the extra security layer that you have a tab to ‘help’ with removal. I end up just stabbing that part.

Once I had to return a product to the store and the healthy, young lady could barely get it open after a major struggle.

If I hang on with a damp washcloth, I usually have more success.

 

[officerripley]

Or use a rubber dishwashing glove. But MrPants' method is in First Place so far.

 

[shedevil7953]

I can & do request non-childproof lids at my pharmacy.

 

[bowmore]

You can request "non childproof lids" for your prescriptions

 

[Chet]

For prescription medicine, once I get it open, I dump the contents into an older prescription bottle that I have labeled and have broken off that annoying locking tab. Then it just opens easily like it should in the first place.

 

[fmdog44]

For opening medicine bottles , household products etc? I’ve got some arth. in my hands & I can only keep trying just so long. And when it finally does come open, I never know exactly what I did that worked.
Is there a secret I just haven’t discovered yet?

Once you open it transfer you pills to an easy open container but make sure if the container is white transfer them in to a container that blocks light. Also, where does it say the pills will lose potency if the cap is not all the way on? How about Tupperware?

 

[Butterfly]

I hate those too. Had a particularly difficult one last month. Had a little tab you had to open using your finger or fingernail? Was impossible. Drastic action was required.
View attachment 149051
This worked beautifully. Put a wash cloth over the bottle and gave it a good whack. Put the remaining pills in a zip-lock bag. Just be careful to pick out the broken plastic bits. They really need to rename these contraptions. Senior-proof instead of child-proof!

This a method I have used, also. Doesn't work for containers with liquids in them, though.

 

[Rosemarie]

Even worse when you have to squeeze the sides while pushing down and turning!

 

[PopsnTuff]

You can request "non childproof lids" for your prescriptions

I've been doing this for years....the bottles open so easy with just one twist....

 

[Aunt Marg]

Now that we don't have little ones in the home, safety caps on bottles are simply set down on top of the bottles, not screwed down and into place after each use.

 

[hollydolly]

Even worse when you have to squeeze the sides while pushing down and turning!

those are the worst, bottles like bleach bottle etc... really difficult or impossible to press both sides at the same time when you have arthritis in your fingers

 

[Irwin]

Most of you probably know this, but those caps are designed so if you don't have children, you can flip the cap over and screw it on, and you won't have to push down any more after that. So you only have to do it once.

 

[Aunt Bea]

The one that frustrates me is the child guard slide on the Tide pod pouch.

 

[RadishRose]

I end up just stabbing that part.

LOL, me too!

 

[horseless carriage]

Profanities, don't know why, but using censored profanities always works. Strange that!

 

[win231]

Most of you probably know this, but those caps are designed so if you don't have children, you can flip the cap over and screw it on, and you won't have to push down any more after that. So you only have to do it once.

I checked mine & they aren't designed so I can do that. But I did try something else that worked OK. I took a butter knife & snapped off a couple of sections of plastic on the liner on the inside of the cap. After that, it took very little pressure for the cap to turn.
If anyone does this, keep the inside pointed away from your face.

 

[raybar]

Try this. You can make small cuts (I use wire cutters) on the bottom edge of the safety shell so it can stretch a little more easily when you push on it.

 

[IrisSenior]

Pepto Bismal bottle is the worst, next is the cough syrup and mouthwash. Thankfully I have some guys at home that open stuff for me. For prescriptions I ask that they are not child-proof stops and they just pull off.

 

[Ruth n Jersey]

I have trouble with safety caps as well. Once you manage to get the top off sometimes you have to deal with the little aluminum and paper piece which covers the top of the opening with its tiny little tab that human fingers aren't designed to grab. I keep a knife in my laundry room because a lot of the cleaners and bleach bottles have the tab and I use the stabbing method for those.

 

[Murrmurr]

I keep an assortment of regular screw-on caps, various sizes and depths. I can usually find a fit for bottles of cleaning products and such. Some child-proof caps have a somewhat clear inner cap that's removable. You have to pry it out, but once you do the cap is a regular cap. I requested non-child-proof caps at my pharmacy but I keep a few extras from old bottles on hand in case they forget.