What to do when they won't take their meds?

Miss Ripper

My DH suddenly will not take his meds anymore. He will let me put them in his mouth and then he won't swallow them. He hides them under his tongue, if I look to see if they are gone. What he does is  chew the pills up, swish them around in his mouth with water and suddenly spit (literally spew) them all over the place. Sometimes he'll take more water and walk around spitting it from room to room. I'd love to hear any ideas on how to handle this one. He takes two pills in the morning, one with dinner and  two at bedtime.

Does anyone else have this problem? If so, what do you do?

LadyTexan

I have not had that challenge YET. I am eager to hear ideas and solutions from others.

Ed1937

Check with your doctor or a pharmacist to see if they can be crushed (some meds shouldn't be). If they can be crushed, you could mix them with ice cream, yogurt, or anything else he might like.

Lorita

Hi,

Ed's absolutely right. If they can be crushed or dissolved you can hide them in almost anything.  Don't even mention his medicine to him.  Good luck!

Chammer

MIL w AD loved ice cream and always had a little bowl with a squirt of whipped cream every evening.  When she began to refuse her meds, I crushed them and mixed up in her ice cream and she got to have a special ice cream treat morning and night.  I used the individual serving size and would mix up her morning meds w ice cream at night and put back in the freezer for the morning caregiver as she wasn’t allowed to do that by her company.  While she was still able to feed herself, we just supervised and there was never any left overs!  And when it became necessary, we fed her and there were never any leftovers then either.  It was one less thing to fight about.

M1

Liquid formulations are also available for some; ask your pharmacist. Maybe time to reassess need. I know seroquel comes in liquid-

Miss Ripper

Hi Ed1937 - We tried that last night and it failed. He wouldn't eat his favorite PB & J, even though we made tiny little snacks out of it.

Miss Ripper

Ice cream could be the answer here. He loves ice cream. Thank you.

Miss Ripper

M1 wrote:

Liquid formulations are also available for some; ask your pharmacist. Maybe time to reassess need. I know seroquel comes in liquid-

Actually, I talked to the pharmacist yesterday and he suggested that. It's good to know Seroquel come in liquid because that's one of the problem pills. The other is Lorazepam. Last night we had no problem whatever. Other nights he spits them out or sticks them in his shirt pocket when I'm not looking.

Rescue mom

you probably know this already, but if you  “hide” them in another food, don’t tell him his meds are there.  IME when ground up, they’re pretty much undetectable.

Jeff86

I began grinding up DW’s meds over a year ago when she refused to take them any longer.

She takes her meds in the morning.  I stir them into yogurt or applesauce.  She is none the wiser, and a daily battle is averted.

leslie_ann

I have the same issue. My MWD refuses her meds. She gets very agitated when I try to give them to her. I have tried crushing them and hiding them in juice, nutritional drinks, ice cream, pnut butter and jelly sandwiches. She can taste the bitterness and won’t eat whatever it’s mixed with. She was taking four in the morning and two after dinner. She complains that her doctor doesn’t give her this much medicine. Now I give her one pill at a time stretched out throughout the day. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. My mom is 97 years old. At this point I don’t press the meds. If she takes them, great, but if she doesn’t, I don’t feel it’s worth causing her to become agitated. I do the best I can but I also value her peace and comfort.

ThisLife

All great suggestions to try here. My one thought on the chew them, take water, spew that out and repeat. Probably just trying to get the awful taste out of his mouth.

Ed1937

If the problem is bitterness, find out which one it is. I have one like that, and if I just put it on my tongue, I immediately taste it. If nothing else, put it on your tongue to identify it. Then talk to the doc to see if there is an alternative med.

gampiano

I found that pudding and ice cream , any time of day or night did the trick. keep the portions small so that they eat it all.

Maureen

FTDCaregiver1

Early onset caregiver for DW going on 7 years now. I've gone through all of this, as of now, keep ice cream cups, cut out a couple of Spoon-Fulls, mix in her meds (pill crusher), spoon fed, if she rejects, I back away, let her come me eventually...then spoon feed. Anxiety is our battle...every day.