Our 14 year old dog has recently had stomach problems and the vet gave her several pills, including one that was to be given only once a day in the morning. I gave her one on Wednesday morning.
There was a crisis with our daughter Wednesday night and I had to accompany her to the crisis intervention center at a local hospital. I was there from 10pm to 2:30pm the next day. Before I left, I emphasized to my wife that our dog was only supposed to get that pill in the mornings. When I returned home, she told me that she gave her the pill at night because that his what she though I said to do. This meant that she had 3 of these pills in a 36 hour period.
Friday morning, our dog was doing terribly. She would not eat. She had trouble standing up by herself. She was wandering around and frequently falling down. My wife even thought we should go to an emergency clinic to have her euthanized that night. I said I did not want to do that while our daughter was hospitalized if we could avoid it. I also would prefer that our regular vet be the one to euthanize her. (He recently euthanized one of our cats.) My wife was worried about what to do with her body if she died on her own. I had difficulty sleeping and avoided getting out of bed because I feared our dog was either dead or would need to be euthanized that day. To my surprise, she was doing much better--walking without falling, putting her paws in my lap, and eating. She has further improved to be able to go up and down stairs and to go for walks in the park. It would have been a tragic mistake to euthanize her given that she is now doing so much better.
Today, I looked up the side effects of the medication that my wife gave her too much of--dizzyness, nausea, lack of appetite, etc. It all fit how she was behaving on Friday! We could have killed her because of side effects from medicine!
I have no illusions that our dog is going to be around for a long time. But i am horrified to think that we could have missed time with her because of a simple mistake.
BowlofPetunias
Submitted by c ur self on
I admire your strength and faithfulness to your family....I know a little about what you have to deal with daily...I hope your child is well, and thankful your dog is doing better....
c
I’m so glad
Submitted by Brindle on
I'm so glad that your dog is alright and so glad you figured out what was going on!
Knowing ADHD Limits
Submitted by Tenket on
I find in my own experience with ADHD that I carry around 2 books almost everywhere.
1. A smaller than palm pocketbook to write things down in place of my honestly dismal working memory. Like tasks and jobs to remember doing.
2. A larger than palm sized pocketbook to write stream of consciousness to keep track of my mood, possibly to see if it is impulsive or not.
If they are still honestly not asking to have things written down for something as important as medication administering then they are in denial of their abilities. In a lot of ways ADHD is a disability and if ignored or god worse denied it becomes a death sentence. Like the sooner this person accepts they are never going to be enough compared to a neurotypical person they will start to try making up for their deficits, the same way as a person with a missing foot would start using crutches to start getting around.
It might be tricky to talk them into this and god help you you should get advice on how, though I guess the simple question of "how is that working for you?" always cracked me pretty hard. Like asked in kindness I suppose. Though yeah, it's hard to make someone motivated enough to carry books everywhere like I do.
I kinda use losing jobs, loved ones, and anything important to the ADHD disease a great motivator for such behavior.