Taking Medication

[tibni]

Ds (low functioning ASD and lots of co-morbids) has tablets to take. He takes melatonin, which is "bedtime drink" in a liquid form but has never had tablets (he is 9).

I am thinking about crushing and mixing with a little yogurt but am expecting to end up wearing it (challenging behaviour is one of the co-morbids). Just wondered how others manage with tablets. Ds has food issues; his diet is limited but not too bad. I will be telling him there is medicine in the yogurt as I try and keep him as informed as possible.

He will not just swallow a tablet and they will not disolve and bits in a liquid would be a huge issue. There is no liquid alternative. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks.

crush between 2 spoons and get him to swallow the powder followed by a drink of milk or juice to take away the after taste.

could always try adding a droplet of water to it to help

Thanks. Im going to go crush between the spoons but don't think I will get the powder down him, he will just spit it out. He doesn't have the level of understanding to reason with him and im concerned about tomorrow being as stress free as possible or Thursday will be impossible.

What's the tablet? "does not dissolve" is relative. Some things dissolve reluctantly if crushed to a fine powder and shaken vigorously in water. We have a dedicated pestle and mortar for meds. Ribena usually works to cover the taste - at least 50/50 ribena/water.

Another option is the crushed-meds-and-jam sandwich.

It is ritalin and tomorrow will be our first attempt! Thing is once he has been put off it will be difficult. He loves fresh orange could try and pestle and mortar tablet and put it in his morning drink.

We manage melatonin liquid in squash at night and he does understand its "bedtime drink" and will get the bottle and spoon out at night.

I second Ribena! DS has to take soluble co-codamol every day which tastes foul, so I use blackcurrant squash, also 50/50. But don't try a high-juice, for some reason these go very bitty and stop the tablet dissolving entirely.

No ribena in! Think I will go shopping in the morning - thanks for that. Have orange squash in and ds would drink it concentrate if I let him (he has tried and liked it)

Initially it is 1 dose in the morning, going to 1 in the morning and a second at school at lunch time so we need to work out some method.

Resisted meds for so long but accept that it is the right time to try now to see if we can help ds. Have been warned we may be in for a rough ride for next few weeks but its not like its easy now!

Thanks for the tips - appreciate it.

Thank you so much . Ds took his "morning drink" without any issues. It is vital that we get it right at the start as this could be a lifetime issue.

Have to admit I have very mixed feelings about the meds but I want to give ds the best life chances possible and feel we have to give them a try.

when ds started ritalin at 6 we put them in a marshmallow and he eventually took it on its own.

Are you sure you can't get liquid? All our meds are in liquid which we put in a juice carton using a syringe. Although crushing pills works it is a palarver and you may lose some of it.

davros it's not available in liquid form, as there's a chance of them not getting the full dosage.

Bummer!

It is early days for ds. He was diagnosed at 2 with severe ASD, Learning Difficulty and Challenging behaviour and sensory disfunction was added at 7. ADHD has just been added and after careful consideration we decided to try the meds.

I have done a little reading and I understand that you can not crush the slow release form which his consultant thinks might be appropriate for ds at a later date. But im not going to run before we are walking and am just glad to have got him to take his first dose.

I will be curious to see what the home school diary says tonight. I have been told if he is not ADHD the ritalin will make him hyperactive while it is in his system, if he does have classic ADHD there will be immediate results. He is a big boy and on a low dose so im not expecting huge differences but I have been told we should have an idea if it will work within days rather than weeks.

I think we will need to work toward him taking the meds without crushing but right now im just happy he took it. Thanks for your help and support, this is all new to us and im sure I will look back and wonder why I worried but right now its a bit tough.