My Mom is 89 yrs. old, suffers from Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (is not a good candidate for a shunt). She chews some of her pills, particularly the larger ones, including capsules. As some of these medications are intended to break down in the stomach (not the throat and esophagus) she is having throat/ esophagus issues after chewing the pills (sore throat, constant clearing, coughing). She has food with all her medications but it doesn't help. She knows that chewing the pills are causing these problems but she is unable to stop herself. As soon as certain pills go into her mouth, it automatically starts chewing, and telling her to stop chewing does no good. Her mouth seems to have a mind of its own. I'm concerned that serious damage is being done to her esophagus and throat because a few nights ago, she threw up and the vomit was the color of one of her larger pills. Any thoughts on how I can deal with this? She can't go without her medications.
I should add, now that mom is in the nursing home she and many others have swallowing issues (dysphagia) and they routinely crush everything.
I agree with cwillie. See if you can get meds that can be crushed or dissolved in foods or liquids.
I buy chewable vitamins but the medications all go down in spoonfuls of ice cream :)
I gently tell her each time, "Just swallow. Do not chew the pills." Since yogurt doesn't need chewing, she swallows the spoonful of yogurt and the pill down. I watch carefully to make sure she did swallow and didn't hold back the pill and chew it--which she did in the beginning. We continue until the pills are gone, then I hand over the spoon and she's happy to continue by herself.
In the evening, I feed her pills one at a time and she take a big slug from her glass to wash them down.