put it in something they wont notice ..crushed up in a drink if it will
dissolve, or in mashed banana or their dinner, etc.

Wait 10 minutes and then act like these are their first meds of the new day.
Every minute is a new day.

In our case, my mother in law would occasionally question her daily meds.

I would explain what each pill was, and what it was for.   For some strange
reason she trusted me.   I told her early on that I would not deceive her
and that I would take care of her, and I could see in her eyes and with what
she replied, that she believed and trusted me.    I believe that somehow she
sensed my honesty and good will for her.

In my husbands case, he would just tell her she had to take them and to just
do it.   Usually she obeyed, because he was her only child and he was a man,
and she was used to listening to men.

Between the both of us, and our different approaches, she took the meds, and
was better off for it for the years she lived with us, and then when she
went into the nursing home, and until she ultimately passed away last
spring.

***

OK, so that was our experience, but your circumstances may be different.   I
would say that it was important for the person to take their "vitamins" or
whatever excuse or story you could possibly use to get the person to take
their meds.

You are the one with an intact brain, and you have to do the thinking for
the person who has the illness.

In this newsgroup, we have a name for it..... "Loving deception."
Sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to look after your
loved one.

I would say that anything you needed to do or say was fair, unless it made
the person fearful or upset or afraid.

Taking Meds  

Group: alt.support.alzheimers Date: Wed, Nov 9, 2005, 10:17am From:
akiross58XXX@XXXyahoo.com (Octavia)
How do you handle it when they don't want to take all their medication?

Ronny:
Most times Mom will take hers;but if she absolutely refuses to and is
upset,then I wait 10 to 20 minutes or so and try again. Usually by
then,all goes well. If not,then I just wait another 5,10 minutes or so
and try again;but usually the 2nd try works. And for a good long while I
told her she was taking her vitamens which of course,are good for her.
Or sometimes I say your doctor ordered these and said you needed
this;but that last one doesn't always word because Mom will sometimes
say the doctors doesn't know what he's talking about,etc! LoL

I've done various things.  Liquid meds into a small amount of juice
(you do have to be aware of potential side effects with some fruits
though) worked at times.  Crushing pills to add to liquid, pudding, ice
cream etc worked also.  I've also given liquids with a syringe.  There
were times we'd ask the dr to reorder the med as a liquid or if
possible a dissolvable one.  Luckily more of them are being made that
way.

I had one patient that would not take anything at all by mouth unless
it was given at meals. She would not accept medicine in any form.  Her
stroke related dementia compounded with a long history of mental
illness, she thought people were poisoning her.  Hers had to be crushed
and added to a scrambled egg every morning before serving her.

One of the strangest though was a woman with a mild dementia as well as
severe mental illness. She thought medicine was being given to her to
"kill her sex".  She used to put her husband at risk also by constantly
harping on him not to take his b/c she said it was killing him.   We
had a time getting meds in that one.

Another one would go through periods where she thought she was
pregnant.  She would demand that her baby be checked first to be sure
it was alive before and after she took her meds. More often than not
she'd refuse to take them at all saying it would hurt her baby.

Having dementia or mental illness is bad enough, but combine dementia
with a history of schizophrenia or another severe mental illness is
horrible. Administering meds can be a challenge.
Luckily with my in-laws giving meds was rarely a problem.

I used the pills in the juice.  She figured out the banana thing and would
not eat them.  She was positive I was trying to poison her.
'so Juice rules, for me.