I had one heck of a time getting medications into my wife last night. She eats normal food with only a little coughing and drinks clear liquids well. Some times I manage to get pills in using flavored yogurt. Last night it just wasn't working. She held pills in her mouth until they melted then dribbled out. I am at wits end. She has a UTI and needs the antibiotic but I can't get that into her. I even tried crushing and mixing in yogurt. She also needs her blood pressure medication. I'm not sure what the problem is. I don't think she is being spiteful or doing it to frustrate me. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Jimbo
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jimandsharynp
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Found out today that all but one of her medications can be in liqud form and the laxitive in suppository so that will help MAYBE. We'll see once we try the liquid. Interestingly the nurse from Hospice says that perhaps my wife has a fear of a pill getting stuck in her throat/windpipe. That could be true because I can remember one time she coughed quite a bit and very deeply. Maybe a pill stuck that time. Makes sense to me since she eats a normal diet and drinks clear liquid but won't swallow pills anymore. The meds she takes are quite bitter and under the tongue wouldn't be a pleasant thing if they disolved but thanks for the tip.
hi jimbo how s it going you could try crushing the pills like you do and say to your wife ok no more pills and slip them in the yoghurt anyway a bit deceitful i know but drastic times need drastic measures my friend or just remind her of the consequences if she does not take therm sorry im not much more help peter jones queensland australia psp sufferer and slight of hand acassionaly
Peter, read my reply to Matty above. Thanks for the input.
Jimbo
Dear jimandsharynp,
Does your wife like chocolate? With my mother we used to get a thinnish (flat) type of chocolate bar, like Fry's Chocolate Cream, which was filled with a soft fondant centre, eg strawberry cream or orange cream or mint cream, from which we could break off a fairly small piece and 'hide' the tablet, whole or crushed in the cream, then pop it in her mouth. It worked really well for as you say many of these tablets are very bitter and the sweetness masks it . Also, if she held it in her mouth for a bit, first the chocolate on the outside would melt and be nice to taste and then the fondant melts and it all just slipped down. Maybe just an ordinary chocolate, soft centred of course , would be more acceptable to her, especially if you showed her a really nice box of chocs and chose the specially 'doctored ' one for her! and then squish it a bit to fit in her mouth! Can be a bit messy but it worked really, really good for Mum. Good luck, I know how stressed you must feel because you so want her to have the medicine to get better.
I know antibiotics are really important and are essential to cure infection and abate horrible symptoms of infections so have to be taken.... but all Mum's general medications including those for raised blood pressure and diuretics were stopped by her consultant during one of her hospital stays. I was amazed especially as I was not informed as her main carer. However, her BP was regularly checked and sure enough it did not go up as a result of stopped medication. This has always puzzled me, as not sure if BP never needed treating ( though I checked her BP regularly and it was high sometimes but normal at other times) or if PSP side effects cured the hypertension. It may be worth checking this out as any reduction in medication is a bonus. I have sometimes wondered if unnecessary hypotensives were responsible for some of Mum's falls, I know it was for 2 of them.
Best wishes for your and your wife's continued journey.
I think you may have the answer by now as to what to do when giving your wife her meds. Of course with the antibiotics which are important to clear up the UTI, she could have them Intravenously. Short sharp blast.
Brenda brings up an interesting issue about what meds need to be given. My husband is on three medications which all have the side effect of sleepiness. He sleeps a great deal day and night (no surprise). The doctors are reluctant to reduce any of the drugs, but some months ago I did get them to agree to stop giving him an antidepressant. When we weaned off the antidepressant he said he felt no different.
I'll try again when we see the neurologist in a couple of weeks time.
My husband is in a Nursing Home and recently he too has been refusing to take his medications. It usually was the 9 PM meds. After several talks with him, and that's hard because I can't understand him most of the time, I began to wonder if he was getting confused with time of day since he goes to bed right after supper sometimes and is awaken for the late evening meds. He thinks it 's through the night and they are making a mistake. Then the other day he refused the early morning meds. Could it also be that when the meds are in the mouth he has trouble swallowing or it takes a long time to swallow and so the meds leak out of the mouth? Who knows??!!! Anyway he has been taking them lately.
Just thought your experience was very interesting and wanted to share my story with you.
We have just had my mother in laws meds all changed to liquid form to make it easier our next problem is sometimes she will not take them when she has one of her mood swings because she is in care of a residential home can not hide them in her food until they decide she has not got mental capacity all we can do is try to convince her to take them before she throws them at us.
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