Friday, January 7, 2011

Meds & a Stubborn 3 yr Old


Medicines are a part of our daily routine. Homeopathic as well as traditional medicines. It's a given that each morning and evening I or my FH am opening the red tin Med Box to start preparing "juices". We use a red "bread box" to hold all the concoctions our boys take. It's crazy the amount of product in there, but necessary.

Bup has thrown us a loop a time or two when it comes to his meds. As a toddler, he would take Trileptal from the syringe with a happy heart and sweet chubby cheeked grin.

Then a year or so later and that happy stage was over. So, we tricked him by mixing it in his bottle with either Rice Milk or Juice. Worked great for another 8 months or so.

Now...we're hooped. He has all the control and is making choices that are not good for his health. He can taste his meds in juice/milk and loudly professes,
"Yuck! This juice tasteses disgusting!"

I've tried hiding them in flavored applesauce and yogurt deserts and ice cream. The real stuff. Dairy even, with sugar, which we don't do, but I'm desperate right? No dice. Unless I keep the Keppra out. If it's just Trileptal, he'll take it. Keppra is bitter. Like chewing a handful of aspirins.

Giving the meds without a mix results in vomiting, not to ignore the amount of crying, screaming and struggling it takes to swallow the nasty culprits before they come back.

This is one more reason for me to hate Keppra! Not only does it change behavior and personality, it's a bitter pill to swallow... in more ways than one.

As a side note, we have been allowed to decrease the Keppra by 25mg and added 100 mg of Vitamin B twice daily to help with mood. It seems to be working! Woot! Woot! I'm still determined to get rid of Keppra all together, but in the mean time, how do I convince R he needs to take it?

Also, we FINALLY have an appt this month with a Neurologist. Ours moved to Nova Scotia in October so we have been without a Doc. Bup needs a full work up and testing as it has been over a year. He's grown leaps and bounds since then, plus we are seeing seizure activity that needs to be addressed and this is not just due to the med struggle. We have been seeing breakthrough seizures on and off for some time and have tried to tweak his meds with some success...but then those sneaky buggers/monsters seems to creep back in.

Any ideas?

Any tricks out there to convince young kiddos to take their meds?

I've heard about pharmacies creating gummy bear meds and need to research this further.

Shall I try crushing and mixing into a paste with Tang crystals? Desperate times...desperate measures!

Here I leave you with a stolen shot of a fevered R crashed on the couch this week on Fever Day. 12 hrs of fever. R slept ALL DAY on the couch. (Snuggled up in his dad's childhood camping blanket.) No other symptoms. Once the fever broke he bounced right back.

2 comments:

  1. I personally would love a Fever Day, and all the sleep it comes with! Where are you...

    On the meds issue, have you explained it to him, and showed SOME of the meds and what they help him with. Perhaps he will start to understand and comprehend his benefits??? For the ones he has no problem taking you could do the same but I would probably still hide them. Too many might get discouraged! Have you tried plugging his nose so he doesn't taste it! Do you engage Warners help! Remember Cayden not taking anything medicine, well if it got bad enough he asks for it! Perhaps if R understood what each does he might consider it or consider it mixed in something for a mouthful and not the whole bottle.

    Me

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  2. YOu know, I could have sworn I left a comment here earlier!

    I think it was something about bribery...maybe a star chart with special 'treats' when he reaches a set goal (a star for each time he takes his meds).
    Although 3 yr olds can be fickle...in my experience =)
    (and so VERY stubborn, but easily swayed by gummy bears)

    On the positive side, he looks so adorable in that blanket. So. Cute.

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