Crushing Tablets Can Cause Serious Problems
Large numbers of people have difficulties swallowing medication when it is offered to them in the form of tablets or capsules. Dysphagia or swallowing difficulties can affect individuals spanning various ages including youngsters although it is most usual in older people because they are more susceptible to the causative illnesses as well as age related changes in the functions of the saliva glands. Dysphagia is a particularly severe difficulty in care homes for the elderly where approximately 1/3 of residents may suffer from it which makes looking after them a more challenging and time intensive process.
Dysphagia consequences can be quite serious as it can clearly interfere with treatments proscribed by medical professionals if the affected person is not willing or unable to take treatments in tablet form. Furthermore there’s a threat that pills ingested orally could potentially cause choking or a blockage of the airway and there’s also a danger that pills may become stuck in the throat which may result in the incorrect dispersal of the medicine to the body as well as possible injury to the oesophagus.
Up till now the most common method of managing the problems that Dysphagia presents has been tablet crushing in order to make medication easier to swallow. However there are lots of problems related to crushing tablets that can have severe implications and can have an effect on the effectiveness of the medicine. A lot of pills have a sugar coating on them to make them taste more pleasant and although crushing them won’t have any impact on the efficiacy of the pill it might make them taste very unpleasant. Tablets with an enteric coating should never be crushed before they are taken since the coating is designed to keep the pill together within the stomach to either; guard the stomach from the medication, protect the medicine from the stomach or to release the medicine after it has left the stomach.
Luckily there is now an alternative solution for people who suffer from Dysphagia and also the people that care for them. There is today a wider 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 an array of illnesses and diseases such as 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 pleasant flavours.
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