Help with swallowing pills?

Dussing

thank you for all your wisdom and help for us dealing with Dementia and aging parents.

Mum has lived with me for just over a year now, and her dementia in progressing so that I'm sad, especially when I am tired - which is now so I'm asking for help.

She is having more issues with swallowing her pills, so I have a pill crusher. Problem is, the Tylenol she takes (3 gms / day - 2x 500mg 3x daily) when crushed tastes AWFUL. I''ve mixed it with applesauce, yogurt, food. Those pills are so awful she doesn't want to take them - so we just coach her swallowing them as that''s better than eating them. Liquid tylenol isn't a good option either due to expense, sugar, amount.
Are there any suggestions on what I could add to her crushed pills? Fortunately we have wonderful caregivers who are so patient to give her the pills one at a time which is good for now, but as her dementia progresses, this will be more difficult.

Appreciate any help for what to do next.

harshedbuzz

IME, something highly flavored is the best bet- chocolate syrup and grape jelly worked best for my son. 

If the swallowing is starting to be an issue, you might want to get an SLP to evaluate her swallowing as food and liquids could be an issue, too and that can have dire consequences. The other thought is that if your mum is developing swallowing issues, it might be time to consider hospice which might make other pain relief option available free as part of the service. 

HB

MN Chickadee

I've had luck with cutting some pills. A regular Tylenol pill, not a gel cap. Try cutting it with a chef's knife on a cutting board into halves or quarters. Then there isn't pulverized dust tainting the flavor of everything, just a few small bits. We have the most luck with pudding to mask the medicine. The med quarters go in one spoonful of pudding, so down the hatch it goes and you don't have to try to get her to take another bite right away. Make sure you consult a pharmacist on any prescription drugs because there are some that cannot be crushed. And also her PCP. It could be they could write a prescription for a liquid version that would be covered by insurance. 

I would second the swallowing evaluation and/or hospice. 

M1

I agree with potential hospice evaluation if she's having trouble swallowing.  I'm curious, is she taking that much Tylenol for arthritis pain?  There might indeed be other options.  That's a pretty hefty dose.

mommyandme (m&m)

I found out that crushing extended release arthritis strength Tylenol is bad bad.  

Yes Tylenol crushed tastes disgusting!  I got the go ahead for ibuprofen and we use chewable ibuprofen and crush it.  (Did you know that orange chewable Ibuprofen is cheaper than grape chewable ibuprofen, jeesh..)

We put her crushed meds in peach yogurt, usually.  But pudding works for us too.  I also put some in jelly on her toast for awhile.  The grape ibuprofen chewables don’t bother her if she gets a little chunk. I try to provide yogurt without pills after she’s gotten the meds down so she won’t associate gross tastes with the yogurt.  No clue if that helps but so far so good.  Also as far as I know, she doesn’t know that the twice a day yogurt snack contains meds.  

We are not concerned with sugar at this point. Not sure the cause for your concern but for us, meds are more important than increased sugar.  She couldn’t take swallowing pills anymore. Too much fear of choking or discomfort or who knows.  Her confidence with swallowing meds just disappeared and she’d often refuse.  We have scaled back on many pills due to this “pill burden”. 

All’s going well for us and her meds for now, I hope you can gain some peace in this area for your mom too.  

May flowers

I have not tried this, but would a liquid form like this work? https://www.amazon.com/Acetaminophen-Strength-Tylenol-500mg-strenth/dp/B00597UJ00/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=liquid+tylenol&qid=1644189701&sr=8-8

Dussing

She's been on tylenol for a long time - aleve with long term use wrecks one's liver.  She has really severe scoliosis hence her back (along with the arthritis) is really a mess.  It helps her to cope as she can't take anything stronger.  Lying down in bed is her best therapy.  I'll try the suggestions on the stronger pudding/jam/jelly is a great idea.  Thank you so much

LicketyGlitz

Awesome tips here, I'll toss in my two cents...

For the morning pills: oatmeal with maple syrup, and the pills tucked inside fresh raspberries. We'd let it sit and cool for a little bit, and also let the pills get mushy. Worked darn* near everytime!

In the evening, the ones we could we did crush, then mixed them in chocolate pudding. The others we would again tuck in a raspberry and let it mush up a little in the pudding then have a go at it.

Namenda was my absolute nemesis. Couldn't be crushed and if she was gonna notice a pill and spit it out it was always that stupid Namenda.

Hope something works for you guys!