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My husband has trouble swallowing big pills. The anticoagulant Pradaxa is the size of small squirel (kidding, but it's huge). His doctor switched him to Xarelto, which is a tiny little pill and only had to be taken once a day.
Vitamins are too big to swallow too, so we got gummies. They don't have the minerals, but it's all we can do.
Some pills are bitter. They go down easier on the very end of a spoonful of chocolate pudding or tapioca or applesauce. Or Ensure. Or you can kill the taste afterwards with a soda.
Trouble swallowing can also be helped with a thicker liquid. My husband likes to take his pills with Ensure, a nutrition shake, or grocery store chocolate milk, both of which are thickened more than plain milk or water.
Some pills make you feel bad. You have to explain what they're for and hope for the best. Also, moving them to a different time sometimes works--groggy ones at night, nervous ones in the morning. He's happy to take one that makes him sleepy at night but complains about it during the day. I have one pill that gives me "toxic waste" caliber acid reflux. I have to sit up after taking that one and have a little milk or non-acid food with it.
If you already have to grind the pills up and mix them with food, things can get hard. My husband totally quit eating the foods that were used to convey crushed drugs. If you're in that situation, make it clear which food has drugs in it and which is "safe." Also, remember, mixing something bitter with a whole pudding cup doesn't make it taste better. It just means they have to eat more nasty stuff.
Finally, the array of pills can be daunting and a reminder of how sick and old you've become. Sometimes you have to prioritize. If she doesn't want to take a cholesterol lowering pill, maybe that's not as bad as skipping the diabetic control med. Given a choice between a blood thinner and a vitamin, I'd go blood thinner.
One last thing, don't try to force them on her. Put them next to her so she can see them and don't say anything for a while. Then ask something like, which of these is for your heart condition? She might pick it out, or you tell her, and then she might just take it herself, because then it's her idea.
Good luck.
Now, I take the meds that are available in liquid form and mix them with Gatorade and serve in a juice glass as the only thing to drink with meals. Those in pill form are crushed and mixed with peanut butter and served on a cracker. Recently I switched to Jif Whips, chocolate flavor. Mom thinks it’s a treat and gobbles it up first.
Her doctor was a great resource in making this transition and with the grace of God this will continue to work out as an alternative method of medication delivery.
Every Saturday evening, I sort out the week's pills into the compartments of the organizer box and place it at the back of the highest shelf in a kitchen cabinet. Original containers likewise are kept hidden from sight and out of Mom's reach.
As each new challenge arises, it helps to accept that Mom's dementia is progressing and that I am in charge of her well-being since she can't be. Confrontation certainly doesn't work, does it? So we just have to out-maneuver them.
Blessings to you that soon you will find a mutually peaceful way to deal with your mother's (and your) changing needs.
I darn not leave Mother's medication within her grasp; she take them out of container (4x7) and plays with them....my terms. At med time I must administer AND watch until all are taken, that's the only way to assure it is done.
Try a 'reward system' to see if it helps. Get your Mother up and moving around, for short bouts if within the perimeter of prescribed care. Let us (me) know if it helps.
I just tell her, her Mom would have wished to have this medicine,
but they didn't have it then and that she is lucky to have it, works every time!
I don't know your circumstances, but if your mother has dementia... sometimes just waiting for a little bit helps. Mom would forget, and then I could get her to take them. Other times I would crush them and put them into a pudding cup.
Good luck!