Hard time swallowing pills

ela656

My mom is in the last stages of Alzhiemer. Taking care of her 24/7 for the last 7 years! 

Recently within last 2 months she has shown difficulty swallowing pills. When I crush the ones I could and mix them with puddings or applesauce or yogurt, she still recognizes the bitter taste of the medicines and spits them out! Sometimes she swallows them without any problem but especially at night she doesn’t want them in any form! She swallows soft easy to chew foods like quiche, omelets even pbj. But not the pills! What stage is this?

Any suggestions?

DCCEPEK

Possibility you're where we are with MIL, stage seven. She's starting to drool/slobber. She on soft foods and finger foods. We have a touch of A through D. Of stage seven all but mobility. She barely walks circles daily until she drops.

Everyone is different. Keep reading others will chime in that are much more knowledgeable. We're on hospice with her at home.

Such a big help!

mommyandme (m&m)

We had success with crushed pills. I used a pill crusher which made the pill powder very fine. If there were any small pieces I’d crush them more. I gave them to her with peach yogurt, which I spoon fed to her in an effort to get every last piece. Sounds like you’ve tried a lot. Have you had a hospice evaluation? If she’s having any swallowing issues and whatever else, maybe she’ll be admitted. We had hospice support here for 1.75 years so don’t think that hospice coming in accelerates your moms end of life path. Hospice helped me remove meds from her cocktail, that weren’t really needed, at the point she wasn’t swallowing them anymore. Hospice is a wonderful added layer of support for both of you if that’s a path you’re able to go down.

My mom started being afraid of swallowing pills late stage 5 early 6 I believe. I was crushing pills by mid/late stage 6.

just a side note, I gave mom an over the counter ibuprofen daily, am and pm, proactively. When it came time for crushing, I’d get the children chewables to crush into the mix. I had to use a lot of them to get the right dosage but it was worth it.

SusanB-dil

Agreeing with m&m. Do check with her doc to see if maybe any meds might not be useful any longer. It sounds like you've already checked for any that cannot be crushed, but check with the pharmacist or doc to see if there's an alternative, or any in liquid form.