Hi there! My budgie Valor really hates medicine time and no matter how long I wait for her to calm down she will just scream and scream.
We've had to give her medicine two years ago for a respiratory infection and so I guess she gotten traumatized over being towel'd

She has a lot of anxiety and doesn't like people. She'll only step up if she's stuck in a difficult place and needs help getting down (She'll bite me very hard before stepping up)
She does not accept treats from my hand. And will get frightened when I come near the cage, but will calm down when I speak softly to her and whistle.

She has to take some anti-bacterial once a day and anti-depressants twice a day.
I'm super paranoid I might do something wrong and she'll aspirate.

Once I even get near her with a towel she'll start up screaming and won't stop no matter how long I wait for her to calm. Then I end up just releasing her after toweling to chill out and try over again. But she just doesn't stop.
After awhile I just have to give it to her. But I'm scared she might choke while she screams.
I know it's super stressful for her.

After I put her back in her cage she sneezes for a bit but otherwise seems fine.

I'm a very worried bird mom and I hate stressing her out and hate thinking I might be causing her harm with giving her medication and I'm not sure what to do to make medicine time less hectic.
Wish she was so receptive to taking medicine like my other bird Magnolia is, I barely have to towel her other than to keep her one place long enough to take it.

Did an Avian vet prescribe the medicine?

Make sure you have more than enough time to give the medication, i.e. Not just before you're rushing out to work and are therefore a little stressed yourself.
Carefully have everything prepared and to hand before you start.
Dim the lights or close (or partly close) the curtains if in the daylight. Have some soft noise in the background.
If possible try to have one person holding her and another administering the medication.
You can try to see if gently covering her eyes with the towel will help calm her down a little.

When holding, there are different methods. Whichever you choose, just be sure that the bird's chest isn't being squeezed.
One suggestion is to place the index finger on one side of the neck, middle finger on the other side to minimize movement, thumb bracing his side,and other two fingers lightly laying across the abdomen of the bird. Take care not to squeeze her chest.
If you're right handed, hold with your left hand and give medicine with your right. Try to keep her more upright than flat on her back. With the bird facing you, take the syringe and angle it at the side of the beak on your right, pointing to the bottom left corner of her mouth. If she's screaming, that's perhaps easier, as you can get the syringe in. Depress the syringe slowly, don't rush as it will likely mean the full dosage doesn't go down.
It isn't a pleasant thing to do but you will get better and quicker over time.

It sounds as though, as soon as she sees the towel, she knows what is coming! You said "no matter how long I wait for her to calm down she will just scream and scream. ", therefore, I'd advise you to 'just get on with it' as currently you're actually just prolonging the stress by waiting for her to calm down, when she won't - makes sense?
Prepare the medication outside of her room, then come in and as calmly as you can, catch her. Talk gently as you hold her and administer the meds. Try to act calm and confident, and get it over with quickly (just don't rush plunging the syringe).
Tell her 'good girl' as you return her to her cage and give her a little reward (ball of millet?) afterwards. It'll help you feel better too .

Other members may have other tips to pass along.
Hope it becomes easier soon.

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JRS has given you excellent advice!

Please be sure to let us know how your little budgie is doing.

I'm wishing her a full and speedy recovery.

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Nice to see another Ottawa budgie lover on here

I've never heard of a budgie on anti-depressants before. Have you been to see Dr. Roscoe at the Lynnwood Animal Hospital? She's the only certified avian vet in the city, and she's amazing!

Julia's advice is spot on. Hopefully she'll eventually get used to being medicated.

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Blissfuly Insane.

Hi everyone!

I've been following advice and everything seems to be going ok. Valor is a very stubborn bird with taking her medication and it's hectic but after everything is over and done she's pretty ok. (I wouldn't like to be man handled and force fed medicine either)
She's gotten to the point where she keeps her beak clamped shut and it takes longer to give her the medicine but eventually we get there. I'm not a very busy person so I got all the time.
She doesn't like taking food from my hand but recently after the whole fiasco is over I'll offer some millet and she's been taking some (Which is amazing! She's always been too afraid to accept food from hands)
Tomorrow is her last dose so I hope after this is all over I can develop a better relationship with her so she isn't so terrified of humans.

Our current vet seems to think putting her on some anti-depressant will help with her plucking. Although she still is and there's hasn't been much improvement other than she's been a little more playful and vocal (Ever since her cage-mate passed)

We've been going to blackburn animal hospital recently after an emergency and our regular vet was out sick. They seem to be a lot more knowledgeable with birds than our previous one.
And they're still close by.
During the emergency we called Lynnwood to ask of they see birds but they told us no? So that's weird D: