I have a problem.
My mother is 91. She has dementia and she's stubborn as hell. I'm her health proxy.
Her latest tests indicate that she's not taking at least one important medication often enough. I set up a timed pill box to release her pills every morning; it's kept at her neighbor's place, and she brings it over to my mother every morning.
But Mom is a sneaky one. She'll maybe take a pill or two, and then put the rest of them aside and say she'll take them later. Sometimes we find a loose pill or two on the carpet or fallen inside an armchair.
The doctor also ordered her to give up drinking, but there is a wine shop 3 minutes from her door and she has been getting one or two bottles of wine a week. Despite the fact that Mom promised her doctor that she wouldn't drink any more.
Her memory is shot, but she's also capitalizing on that, I sometimes suspect. We need to either get someone to make sure she takes her pills everyday, or she's going to have to move to assisted living.
I live more than an hour away and I work full time. My brother and sister are closer, but they both have very important jobs and are very busy.
My brother thinks we can talk to her and tell her that she needs to take her pills, but I'm not buying it. I spend more time with her then either of them, and I just don't see her cooperating.
So now the question is, are there home health aids that can dispense pills? Or rather, who could make sure she takes her pills? I'm being told that there aren't, but that seems insane.
Anyway, is anyone else going through something like this? Any suggestions to share? Thanks!
#senility #dementia #ElderlyParent #Advice
My mother is 91. She has dementia and she's stubborn as hell. I'm her health proxy.
Her latest tests indicate that she's not taking at least one important medication often enough. I set up a timed pill box to release her pills every morning; it's kept at her neighbor's place, and she brings it over to my mother every morning.
But Mom is a sneaky one. She'll maybe take a pill or two, and then put the rest of them aside and say she'll take them later. Sometimes we find a loose pill or two on the carpet or fallen inside an armchair.
The doctor also ordered her to give up drinking, but there is a wine shop 3 minutes from her door and she has been getting one or two bottles of wine a week. Despite the fact that Mom promised her doctor that she wouldn't drink any more.
Her memory is shot, but she's also capitalizing on that, I sometimes suspect. We need to either get someone to make sure she takes her pills everyday, or she's going to have to move to assisted living.
I live more than an hour away and I work full time. My brother and sister are closer, but they both have very important jobs and are very busy.
My brother thinks we can talk to her and tell her that she needs to take her pills, but I'm not buying it. I spend more time with her then either of them, and I just don't see her cooperating.
So now the question is, are there home health aids that can dispense pills? Or rather, who could make sure she takes her pills? I'm being told that there aren't, but that seems insane.
Anyway, is anyone else going through something like this? Any suggestions to share? Thanks!
#senility #dementia #ElderlyParent #Advice