Hi Roxanne,

My 12 year old has the same problem. He won't even practice with tic tacs. He starts to gag even before he puts it in his mouth. His doctor had to prescribe a capsule that can be opened up and then sprinkled on yogurt. It works best with apple sauce because of the texture but my picky son does not like applesauce. Adderall, Ritalin and Vyvanse all come in these capsules. My son says the Vyvanse taste the best and it is a powder form that can be stirred into any drink. My husband gets a shot class with orange juice and adds the Vyvanse to it. My son says he can not taste it. It is very frustrating but some day they will outgrow the fear of swallowing pills, I hope!!!

Quote

My child found it easier to take the pill if it was in applesauce. No disrespect intended, but when I couldn't get my dogs to take pills even when I mixed it in with their food, I tried putting it in peanut butter,and that did the trick.

Aside from that, I would talk to his doctor who may have some suggestions.

Quote

thanks for the replies. My son is on Straterra and it has a VERY bitter taste to it. I guess I could ask the doctor about Vyvanse, I have not heard of this medicine. Thanks again everyone for your input.

Quote

My parents had the hardest times getting me to take pills when I was younger. Like probably starting around 5. They eventually crushed them and mixed them with jelly and put the jelly mixture on a spoon then shoveled it in my mouth. Sometimes it took them forcing me, not abusively, but i eventually took it. :-) Now that I think back, it would have prolly worked to crush the meds and then make popsicles out of them. Homemade popsicles were always good. It would probably hide the taste best if you used a yogurt popsicle. Well....let me know if this works! I am sure I can come up with more ideas...they may not work. But its worth a try. GOOD LUCK

Quote

I had a hard time swallowing pills as a child and when my son started taking meds, he had a hard time to. You are not alone. I would be careful about crushing the tablets (ask your doctor first), if it is an extended release you could have issue with to much being release when you crush them (I remember reading this somewhere). My son is on Adderall now and we can sprinkle it on applesauce which is great. But when he was on a tablet med, it was a battle with crying and all (my crying probably). It sounds strange, but the only way we could get it to work was to have him open wide and stick his tongue out, then I just pushed it down with my finger. It made me feel like giving a pill to a dog, but it worked with less stress to all. Then once a week we would try to do it the regular way, pill in, follow with liquid. If he couldn’t do it still, we just keep going as usually. He just keep trying to do it himself, and it was less stressful. With the Adderall, we don’t have to keep trying…so he still can’t swallow, but there are worse things than that!

Good Luck to you!

Quote

My son has been on many different medications since March, some we could sprinkle, some crush, we even tried the patch. Vyvanse turned him into a zombie so that didn't work. Unfortunately (for him and us) the only one that seems to be effective is a pill that has to be swallowed whole. He also seems to have a psychological block, he has been able to swallow the pills by himself 4 times in the past 5 1/2 months. We even tried buying him a cup we found online that was supposed to help ADHD kids swallow medicine. That didn't work. We, too, resorted to the pushing it down with our finger method. Then, we had the bright idea of jello. We put the pill in a clump of jello and as long as he/we can get the jello in his mouth, it slides right down, pill and all.

Quote

Instead of taking pills, there is another option that my step-son is on. He uses the Daytrana Patch. It is a patch that sticks to his hip. This way there were no pills to swallow. But, becareful, there are other side effects. Check with your doctor.

Quote

My 10-year-old has been taking Adderall XR for about 3 years. We tried everything at first, and finally got him to swallow it by sprinkling it a small amount of yogurt (and of course it has to be a specific brand and flavor), which he swallows down with a small bit of apple juice. But it works, at least.

Now we have new health insurance and they want us to pay a "non-formulary" price for Adderall XR (just generic) of $60 a month. I know it's much cheaper than no insurance at all, but we're paying lots in premiums each month. The least they should do is pay for our prescriptions. Any ideas?

Quote

OK...I know this idea sounds a bit over the top, but this comes from one desperate parent to get her child to take his meds! My child was diagnosed at age 5/12; he's now 10 1/2. Since my son also has sensory integration dysfunction, his ability to handle textures and tastes made it extremely difficult for him to take a crushed pill or a sprinkled capsule, and there is no chance to even bother with trying to get him to swallow a pill!!

So...I came up with this...why not bake it in a cookie! I took the pre-made seasonal cookies and either broke or sliced it in half, sprinkled in the meds, pressed it back together, baked it as directed and- tada "here is your pill Jimmy!" "Sure you can have a cooke for breakfast!" What kid doesn't love that! It worked like a charm.

Is there a problem with heating the meds to that temp? Well to be perfectly honest, I was lectured by a pharmacist how wrong it was. I told him this was the only way I could get his meds down my kids throat other than holding him down and literally shoving it down his throat! No way I'm doing that!!! Anyway, I never saw any side-affects other than what was part of the perscription.

My son will turn 11 in April...about 6 months ago he started swallowing pills! He still complains about swallowing them, but we finally passed that hurdle.

Quote

Quote:

Abigail848 said: My child found it easier to take the pill if it was in applesauce. No disrespect intended, but when I couldn't get my dogs to take pills even when I mixed it in with their food, I tried putting it in peanut butter,and that did the trick.

Aside from that, I would talk to his doctor who may have some suggestions.

Quote