Medication and The price of peanut butter

‘Idál (Justice), 18 ‘Ilm (Knowledge), 167 BE – Wednesday, November 2, 2011 about 7:32 AM Pacific Time

What, you may ask, has the price of peanut butter to do with medication? In our house, a great deal. Peanut butter is one of the foods I use to hide my mother’s medication. Sometimes, because of the Alzheimer’s disease, Mom does not want to take her meds. She fights taking her meds, so rather then argue with her; I hide the tablets in food.

I can always tell how difficult Mom is going to be. Mom has two meds that are capsules rather then tablets. One of these she takes first thing in the morning. Sometimes she takes the capsules without too much of an argument. At other times, she refuses to take it. This med is for her stomach and prevents heartburn, which she has if she does not take the capsule on a regular basis.

The problems with time-released capsules are that she cannot chew them, but must swallow them whole. The capsule (a different medication) she takes of an evening is easier because she is happier in the afternoon then in the morning. As I was writing, I hide the tablets in her peanut butter or ice cream. If peanut butter prices get too high, I will have to find another food to conceal Mom’s meds.