I really need to get my mom back on schedule with her meds, but I'm at a loss on how to do that. Any advice?
My parents live with me and my husband. It has been challenging over the last few months to get her to take her medicine. She has 5 pills in the AM and 1 in the PM. I work during the day. I used to wake her up before I left and give her her meds. Even bring her an English Muffin or Triscuits (her request) with her meds in bed before I left. Then after about 3 years of doing this, she says it's too early (9AM) and it hurts her stomach to take. Then I would just leave it by her bedside and said she would take it. Sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't. Then she started hiding them, saying she took them. I find them in her underwear drawer,etc. I even asked my dad to help. I called him everyday around 1PM to see if she had taken them. He says, let me check, but he takes her word for it instead of looking in the bowl himself (which she usually brings downstairs with her). So I can't depend on him to help me. I really need to get her back on schedule with her meds, but I'm at a loss on how to do that. Any advice?? Thanks!
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I hope it works for you to give your moms meds at a different time. I finally had to get an aid to come in the mornings to give my aunt her meds. Her thyroid had to be taken on an empty stomach and all other food and meds held for 20 min. No matter what we tried it wasn't happening. Although she had taken her thyroid properly for many years on her own she slowly got off course. Starting about two years ago things began to change. She would have coffee first thing with sugar and forgo the thyroid tablet. She would promise to do different but forgot as soon as the promise was made. I would hold on the phone while she went for the pill and yet it still wasn't taken.
It was a good thing that I got the aid as now her needs have increased and the help is in place. I also stopped all her supplements except for two as she resisted taking so many tablets. I've also found that taking smaller groups at various times works for her. The thyroid first. Then the probiotics with her breakfast. If she needs Tylenol that goes with breakfast along with her laxative powder then after she has gone to the bathroom and is settled in her chair she gets the remainder. If given the remainder before she would go to the bathroom she would sometimes take them with her and flush them.
Recently she started one tablet in the evening so another layer of care is necessary. I put the initial morning aid off as long as I could. After two ER trips that turned out to be caused by the thyroid being off, I had to accept it was necessary.
She also has to have her pulse checked each morning before her bp meds are given. If too low she takes one type, if a normal pulse then a different bp med. That would have been a nightmare without the aid.
About your moms stomach. My aunt used to have issues with her food causing nausea. It was very inconsistent. What she could tolerate one day would be a problem the next day. That seems to be a thing of the past since we started the probiotics, the morning
Polyethylene Glycol 3350
( Miralax) and a regular breakfast.
While things seem pretty settled for now, I've come to realize this will work until it doesn't and then more tweaking. But your mom may do better having a bit more food in her system before taking her meds or adding a probiotic.
Countrymouse- thanks for your response too. But it's her, the stomach pain is an excuse. One time she used the excuse that she didn't know if my hands were clean and she didn't want to take her meds because I was handing them to her. Which is ridiculous- I told her I had just washed my hands. My dad says she's getting like her mom-my grandmom died when I was in 1st grade, so I didn't know her very well. When I asked my dad, like how? He said just stubborn and she knows everything and you don't. One day I asked my mom, "What am I suppose to do with you?!" She said, "Just love me and tolerate me." I had to laugh, or I would have cried. Thanks again for your answers!! I greatly appreciate it and I'll let you know how it goes!
I'd ask her. If she is, and that's the real reason she doesn't want to take them, then don't dismiss it. Many drugs come in different formulations, so there could be one that would be easier on her; or it may be that she needs something on top to counteract the problem.