Won't take pills!

[T_Anna]

DS 14 started sliding again. He is 4 weeks post IVIG and yesterday he stopped talking to us. Last night he was stuck in the bathroom until 4:30am (from midnight). It's now 5pm and he hasn't taken any of his morning meds, including Azithromycin and Doxycycline. He is scheduled for his second IVIG tomorrow. How do you make a teen take pills? I took away all the "screens" until he takes the pills, but so far he just lies under the covers staring at me (oh, and he gave me the finger when I told him that Dr.T ordered an IVIG for tomorrow).

 

Any advice is welcome!!!!

 

T.Anna

[Mayzoo]

I have no idea, we have not been there yet and my kiddo is young enough I can force pills/liquids if I have to. If he has any rational thought process left, can you explain that if he refuses pills, he will likely have to be given shots once a week or once a month (Bicillin or Rocephin). Maybe ask the nurse or your doc to put in a firm stance tomorrow during the IVIG?

[philamom]

Not ideal, but will he do it for money. I'm embarassed to say I have done that in the past. Hopefully, the treatment will help.

[T_Anna]

Thanks for the suggestions. i will ask the nurse to talk to him.Taking away screens combined with my going out to a school event seems to hav helped. He took his meds and asked my mother to bring him food.

 

Looks like DH and I are on some sort of evil list in his mind. I know it's not personal and I'm glad he's at least talking to his grandparents and siblings.

 

Praying this next round of IVIG does more.

 

T.Anna

[SurfMom]

I am so sorry! As you know DD became so averse to pills and then swallowing that she ended up with G-tube. As such, this is a huge issue at this house.

 

The first thing you have to do is find out if this is purely a control issue or if there is some OCD involved (pills are poison, contaminated, do not like the taste/texture.)

 

We have thrown all the traditional rules out the window and gone to pure bribery and rewards. I bought a pill crusher and have some meds put in liquid form so we can hide them if necessary.

 

I also explain ever single medication, what it is for and why she has to take it. I think that during office visits it is very important for the physician to talk DIRECTLY to your son about the prescriptions since it is his treatment and the pills are really going from the doctor to your son....not from you to your son which a lot of teens balk at.

 

One of the things you can do is make him understand that he WILL get his medications and that an NG (nasal) or G(stomach) tube are not out of the question and that you know one family - us - who had to resort to this. To make sure that it was not a control issue with our daughter and confirm that it was OCD, we had her doctor explain the procedure and show her pictures. We even resorted to showing her videos of the insertion and placement of the tubes. That she STILL refused to swallow confirmed out understanding that in our case, it was not a control issue but an absolute OCD aversion problem.

 

So hoping this helps, I know it is really tough and sorry for any typos..huge rush tonight.

Edited March 14, 2013 by SurfMom

[T_Anna]

SurfMom, thank you so much. I will definitely use this information if it happens again. It does seem as though it was a control issue as he also stopped speaking to us. And then took them when he was in the room with just his brother.

 

Late last night I texted him that I'd like to get h something in light if the second IVIG (this one was a quick surprise to all of us). He opened up immediately (via text), I guess I forgot the saying "you can get more bees with honey."

 

Praying that our kids finally turn a corner to fast healing.

 

T.Anna

DS 14