Crap. Vent/Advice needed.

realisticdreams

H, P & myself had a small cold a few weeks ago (maybe 3) I felt crappy but no where near as awful as H claimed to feel (yeah..he's one of THOSE men). lol.

M never got it.  

The beginning of this week M started to have sniffles and so did P.  3 days ago P started telling me that her back hurt.  I freaked.  She told me her feet hurt.  I freaked more.  But she was also a lot sicker looking than M.  She started to have a cough too which M really didn't have.  Yesterday she tells me her head hurts and her belly (today as well).  

But she won't take ANY medicine!  The only thing I can get in her is her kidney medicine which we open the capsule into water.  I've been trying to get her to take vitamins, her reflux meds they put her back on, tylenol or ibuprofen, cough meds, you name it.  I've tried every trick in the book, even putting it in chocolate milk.  I've tried bribing, i've tried threatening, their is no reasoning with this child.

So i decided to take them both into the doctor today since M was really green/snotty and P had so much phlegm she got choked on it last night and puked in bed.  

P has pneumonia!

They gave us zithromax which she has taken a lot for ear infections, I was worried it was going to be a hastle.  We tried to talk her into doing it, my grandma tried to coax her so finally we just held her down and I held her nose.She puked while she was laying down.  =(  The medicine and the only food she had eaten all day.  FML.  

I called the dr's office and they said if she wouldn't take it she had to be admitted to the hospital.  Which if her temp goes over 101 (it's just under now) she has to be admitted anyway to be sure it's not bacterial pneumonia.  We finally got her to take it because my grandma told her it was her cousin C's medicine.  I tried to give her some ibuprofen and she spit it everywhere.

Am I missing some secret on how to get kids to take medicine?  M used to puke up all her meds but it was a texture thing.  She gladly takes ANYTHING now.  P knows it will make her feel better but she won't do it.  

I really hope I don't get it because she's coughed in my face more times than I can count over the past week.  I had no idea she was THAT sick.  I thought maybe bronchitis, but of course she won't use her inhaler or nebulizer either.  

Shayna0182

We're in croup hell right now, so I sympathise.  Last night at the hospital, we ( the rn, dh, and myself) all had to hold ds down in order to force the oral steroid down his throat.  I hate doing that, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

This may be bad parenting on my part, but if the medicine is particularly nasty, like certain antibiotics, I will bargain a small piece of chocolate.  It may not set the best habit, but it does work for us. 

I hope you don't get sick either.  Ds has coughed in my face too, and I worry about getting sick too.

lindzed

I had the same issue.  No idea on the meds, but for the Tylenol or Motrin I do the rapid melt tabs.  If you look at the dosage you can probably figure it out.

realisticdreams

Shayna0182:

We're in croup hell right now, so I sympathise.  Last night at the hospital, we ( the rn, dh, and myself) all had to hold ds down in order to force the oral steroid down his throat.  I hate doing that, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

This may be bad parenting on my part, but if the medicine is particularly nasty, like certain antibiotics, I will bargain a small piece of chocolate.  It may not set the best habit, but it does work for us. 

I hope you don't get sick either.  Ds has coughed in my face too, and I worry about getting sick too.

I meant to comment on your croup post.  P has had that a couple of times, and usually 1 or 2 doses of steroid kicks it out.  She won't swallow if we force it down her throat and she pukes.  I would gladly give her an entire bag of M&M's if she would take her medicine lol
But i've tried everything.  It's not even stuff that's gross, it's any medicine, period.  

realisticdreams

lindzed:

I had the same issue.  No idea on the meds, but for the Tylenol or Motrin I do the rapid melt tabs.  If you look at the dosage you can probably figure it out.

She won't take those in any of 3 the flavors either =(  

I'm going to resort to tylenol suppositories because for some reason she doesn't mind having her rectal temp taken lol.  I got some of the mucinex granule thingies she wouldn't taken in water but she seemed not to notice it in milk.  Of course i'm sure the drugs aren't made to be taken with chocolate milk but some is better than none. 

changingnames

Hugs, your story made me remember a similar week I had with my four year old. It was horrible. All by myself holding him on the ground and forcing meds down his throat while he screamed bloody murder and puked them back up. Twice a day. Dh so didnt get how tough it was.

I think I finally got them to give me pills and I crushed them up and put them in an assortment of puddings and ice cream. He didn't notice the powder in things but the liquid he seemed to sense the moment he even looked at the tainted ice cream or whatever I put it in. So sorry you are dealing with that. It sucks t see the look in their eyes when you are holding them down. Ugh. Hope it gets better soon all around.

Louise06

I remember having chewable penicillin as a kid. Maybe you could see if they make those still? My DD does much better with the chewable Meds.

realisticdreams

Spooko:

Would it help to tell her she's going to have to stay in the hospital if she doesn't take it? That she'll have to have an IV and not get to be home in her own bed and be able to watch cartoons or whatever she likes to do? When DS puts up a big fight this is usually what I'll tell him and he backs off. It's easier to swallow a little bit than get a shot in his mind.

no dice.  while she should be capable of understanding that, reasoning doesn't work with her if her mind is set.  I told her she will have to go to the hospital and she just said, "no i'm not even sick mommy."

Sigh.  I'm hoping the same trick from yesterday will work today. 

haleybeth81

When I worked in the ER we would put tons of chocolate syrup into a drink mixture to get kids to drink it (this was for charcoal for poisoning) so that might be worth a try.  The problem is most antibiotics are strawberry flavored so I don't know if that will make it taste worse.  As for tylenol or motrin I would try sneaking the chewable chunks in food that is really chunky.  I'm sorry she's giving you such a hard time, I've never had a kiddo throw up the medicine when I shot it with an oral syringe so I'm not sure what could help with that.  Maybe if you let her use the oral syringe as a water gun and had her shoot it into her mouth (the water first, then meds) she might be more receptive since she's in control and it becomes a toy.  I would do that when kids had to get an IV so they could "get me back" for giving them an owie.  I hope LO gets better quickly and doesn't have to go to the hospital.

finsup

I was going to suggest chocolate syrup.  I've had success mixing small amounts of whatever med it is with teaspoons of hershey's and framing it as a "treat".  they key is the ratio has to be right, too much medicine and they are onto me. 

I used to be able to hide things in applesauce or pudding but that no longer works.  Same for ice cream over here.

I've also had limited success w/ mixing things w/ orange juice.  Its a strong enough flavor that it can mask a lot of things.

I feel for you on this one, its a challenge.  Someone neds to figure out how to make motrin taste like M&M's. 

light52

I know she is young, but have you tried seeing if she will take anything in a pill form?  My oldest used to have problems with meds but once we tried pills it was no problem at all.  We were worried when we found out he had to take pills for his ADHD since the liquid forms he had a reaction too.  We asked his OT for help and she said to practice swallowing M&M's whole.  He had no problem with this at all and was happy when we stopped giving him liquid anything.  You can also put pills in a bit of applesauce or pudding to help them go down.