|
May
23
|
Many people have difficulties swallowing medicine when it’s given to them as tablets or pills. Dysphagia or swallowing difficulties can affect people spanning various ages including children although it is most common in older people since they tend to be more vulnerable to the causative illnesses as well as age connected changes in the functions of the saliva glands. Dysphagia is a particularly acute problem in care homes for the elderly where up to 1/3 of residents may suffer from it which makes looking after them a more challenging and time consuming process.
Dysphagia consequences can be quite severe as it can certainly interfere with treatments proscribed by doctors if the affected person is unwilling or not able to take medicine in capsule form. Furthermore there’s a danger that tablets ingested orally could potentially cause choking or a blockage of the airway and there’s also a risk that pills could become stuck in the throat which may lead to the incorrect dispersal of the medicine to the body as well as possible injury to the oesophagus.
Up till now the most typical method of managing the problems that Dysphagia presents has been tablet crushing to make medication easier to swallow. However there are lots of issues related to crushing tablets that may have significant implications and may have an effect on the effectiveness of the medicine. Some tablets are sugar covered to make them taste better and while crushing them may not change the way the pill works it will make them taste very unpleasant. Tablets with an enteric coating should really never be crushed before they are used because the coating is made to keep the tablet together in the stomach to either; guard the stomach from the medication, protect the medicine from the stomach or to release the medicine soon after it has left the stomach.
Fortunately there is an alternative solution for those who are afflicted by Dysphagia and also the people that care for them. There is now a bigger range than ever before of liquid medicines which can be taken orally and have exactly the same effect as pills or tablets. Oral liquid medicine is produced to deal with a wide range of ailments and diseases like those affecting the cardio-vascular system and endocrine system and more liquid medicines are being developed all the time. Liquid medicines are easy to swallow for those with Dysphagia and are available in a number of enjoyable flavours.