Losing medications

[Greddy]

My mum has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, she is also partially sighted. I recently had most of her medicines put into dosette boxes by the chemist,but they can't put her warfarin in them, every time we go to see her she has opened the wrong sections in the dosette box, even though we try to label days on it more clearly. She also loses tablets or we find them on the floor, she just keeps saying she has taken her tablets.Apart from me going to her house twice a day and watching she takes her meds correctly,we don't know what else to do,carers would work out expensive just for this small task. Any advice anyone

 

[cragmaid]

Hello, this was a great problem for my late Mum too. I often would find various pills on the floor when she had dropped them whilst taking the nine pills each morning. We did get Carers in to supervise her and yes she had to pay, but this is exactly what Attendance Allowance is designed to help with..... I hope your Mum has claimed it. It is not means tested and the forms can be downloaded. Just make sure that when the forms are filled in, they are completed on a "worst case day" and not just that sometimes Mum has needed help. Ask Age UK to help with the forms, if you need them to.
Good Luck...Maureen.x

 

[Beate]

Expensive or not (and you can't know that before she hasn't been assessed yet), taking the correct dose of the correct medication at the correct time is absolutely vital. If she's also partially sighted, I'm sure there are other things a carer could help with to justify two visits a day.

 

[nitram]

You can get automatic dispensers e.g. http://www.pivotell.co.uk/ ,maybe provide free by the DN or OT.

Pharmacists will not put warfarin in dosette boxes because the dosage depends on the persons INR.

If a responsible person, with knowledge of the INR, can load an automatic dispenser this should not be a problem.