Mom is refusing to take evening meds which consist of her diabetes and blood pressure meds. She has been not eating like she should this past week. The senior ctr is not equipped to monitor her. So I'm concerned that I shouldn't let her go unless the caregiver stays all day with her. I don't want her to think that she can refuse meds and still go to the ctr and do what she wants or not eat like she should and still get to do whatever. I want her safe and as healthy as possible. How do you get them to take meds?
I would think the senior center activities help her stay oriented and happy - I'm not sure that withholding that is a good strategy. If it was me, I'd alert the senior center to the fact that she's not taking her meds as prescribed and to notify you if anything happens with her behavior that is out of the ordinary. And if her caregiver can go with her, great. I'd also talk to her doctor to see if there's another way you can get her meds in her - liquids that you put in a drink or something else. How old is your mom? Sometimes you have to pick your battles as our parents start to go downhill and weigh the benefits and negatives of each situation. To me, the senior center is a benefit to her (and you) that you need to preserve if you can.
It is a difficult situation, I know. Please let us know how this goes. You may find something that works in convincing her to take her evening medication.
. I would not leave her unsupervised at all at the center. If they recommend a certain type of care there, then I would consider their recommendation, since they deal with a lot of dementia patients and they may feel she needs more care than the current program offers.
I would encourage as much enjoyment from the program as possible. Deal with getting her meds into her separately with the advice of her doctor.
Sometimes, it works to just administer the meds. Don't ask her if she wants to take them, just say, "it's time for meds and then it's your desert" or "time for meds and then you favorite snack." I wouldn't open the door to rejection. Plus, there is the incentive of her favorite treats.
Also, when my mom moved in with me, I was able to get her off some of her medications, including the blood pressure one. Do you know how high her blood pressure was when they put her on it? My mom's was so slightly elevated I thought it was ridiculous to put her on ANOTHER pill, yet it seems like the docs are so set on putting people on certain pills no matter what. It took me a few visits to convince the doc to take her off, but she eventually did.
I found that having fewer pills helps my mom take them easier. When she had more, she moaned and groaned all the time -- I think they made her feel sick and feeble to take so many and she was always talking about not taking them so she could just die anyway, etc.
I also recently got her off the statins for cholesterol, another drug that I find is prescribed with perhaps over-enthusiasm. Both of these conditions will be monitored regularly at the doctors, of course, and if they are truly needed I have no objection. I am just very, very skeptical about "true need."
Another one was a pill for dizziness, or vertigo as the docs call it. When I researched her meds, I found that most of them had a side effect of dizziness, yet instead of taking her off any of them, they just prescribed her ANOTHER pill for the dizziness. (This kind of thing makes me nuts.) When I also found out that these dizziness pills are only meant to be taken occasionally, and will lose all effectiveness after a few weeks of taking them daily (although they are sometimes prescribed for daily), I just told the doc I was taking her off and did so. I found some great PT exersizes on You Tube that eliminate her occasional dizziness in one session by resetting the inner ear!