Not taking her thyroid medication was how I first noticed my DH aunt needed help with her medication. She really thought she was taking it. I did what Sunnygirl suggested. I counted the pills in her bottle and compared it to days left on the calendar. According to my calculations, she was seldom taking it. She kept the pills in their bottle in her bathroom. She originally took it every morning when she woke. I asked her to help me figure out what was wrong. When I would pick up her meds at the pharmacy it didn’t appear she needed the thyroid. We both went to the kitchen table with a calendar and the pill bottle. She saw immediately that we had too many pills. She agreed that she must not be taking them as she had believed. This led us to discuss the tricks our memory could play on us and was a wake up call to both of us that her short term memory was slipping more than we had realized and in a manner that affected her health. The first thing we did was put the pills in a separate pill planner and placed it near the coffee pot where she would see them with the visual reminder. With the planner she could see whether or not she had taken it. Much easier than taking one from the bottle each day. I thought that would work and it did for a good while. She knew she was supposed to wait 30 min. before having coffee. She would add sweetener. She didn’t always wait. So she wasn’t getting the true benefit of the meds. It was hit or miss. So I would call her to remind her. Then I discovered that her telling me she would take the meds didn’t really mean that she actually took them. It didn’t help that I lived over two hours away. So I had different family members to check the box to see if she was taking them. Finally I realized she had to have an aide in the mornings to help her with her medication. Over this time frame it was more obvious that she was developing dementia and that may be what’s going on with your mom. Thyroid seems to regulate the internal thermostat. When she would complain of being too cold, I would suspect thyroid. She has had periods where she had too much thyroid “on board” as one ER doctor explained. She hadn’t been taking it properly, so based on blood work, her pcp upped the dosage and the next thing (after taking it correctly for awhile) she was over medicated. It caused severe constipation, nausea and exhaustion. So it’s important to have her blood tested to see if she is in range with what she is actually taking Aunt takes Levothyroxine which is for hypothyroid. If Aunt begins to act “off” I always first suspect a UTI. If it’s not a UTI, I suspect her thyroid is out of balance. Not because it always is but that is sometimes the problem. It’s a tiny little pill but it is important that it’s taken properly.
I’d watch her take it and log it down. My dad keeps his own log and it’s useful. To check, count the pills in the bottle, then subtract the pills that shouldn’t be in there from date of refill to see if she’s taking them properly.
I’m no expert. Is this for hypothyroidism? I was told that in order to get full benefit, should be taken on empty stomach, with no food for 30 mins and no other med for 2 hrs. And no diary for 2 hrs.
Hypothyroidism can sometimes have no symptoms. I would feel very cold, had dry skin, hair loss, fatigue, exhaustion, sleepy, weight gain......I felt terrible. Meds made a huge difference.
She kept the pills in their bottle in her bathroom. She originally took it every morning when she woke.
I asked her to help me figure out what was wrong. When I would pick up her meds at the pharmacy it didn’t appear she needed the thyroid. We both went to the kitchen table with a calendar and the pill bottle.
She saw immediately that we had too many pills. She agreed that she must not be taking them as she had believed. This led us to discuss the tricks our memory could play on us and was a wake up call to both of us that her short term memory was slipping more than we had realized and in a manner that affected her health.
The first thing we did was put the pills in a separate pill planner and placed it near the coffee pot where she would see them with the visual reminder. With the planner she could see whether or not she had taken it. Much easier than taking one from the bottle each day.
I thought that would work and it did for a good while. She knew she was supposed to wait 30 min. before having coffee. She would add sweetener. She didn’t always wait. So she wasn’t getting the true benefit of the meds. It was hit or miss. So I would call her to remind her. Then I discovered that her telling me she would take the meds didn’t really mean that she actually took them. It didn’t help that I lived over two hours away. So I had different family members to check the box to see if she was taking them. Finally I realized she had to have an aide in the mornings to help her with her medication.
Over this time frame it was more obvious that she was developing dementia and that may be what’s going on with your mom.
Thyroid seems to regulate the internal thermostat. When she would complain of being too cold, I would suspect thyroid.
She has had periods where she had too much thyroid “on board” as one ER doctor explained. She hadn’t been taking it properly, so based on blood work, her pcp upped the dosage and the next thing (after taking it correctly for awhile) she was over medicated. It caused severe constipation, nausea and exhaustion. So it’s important to have her blood tested to see if she is in range with what she is actually taking
Aunt takes Levothyroxine which is for hypothyroid.
If Aunt begins to act “off” I always first suspect a UTI. If it’s not a UTI, I suspect her thyroid is out of balance. Not because it always is but that is sometimes the problem. It’s a tiny little pill but it is important that it’s taken properly.
I’m no expert. Is this for hypothyroidism? I was told that in order to get full benefit, should be taken on empty stomach, with no food for 30 mins and no other med for 2 hrs. And no diary for 2 hrs.
Hypothyroidism can sometimes have no symptoms. I would feel very cold, had dry skin, hair loss, fatigue, exhaustion, sleepy, weight gain......I felt terrible. Meds made a huge difference.