Many individuals have difficulties swallowing medicine when it’s offered to them in the form of tablets or pills. Dysphagia or swallowing difficulties can impact men and women spanning various ages including children although it is most frequent in older people as they are more susceptible to the causative illnesses and age associated changes in the functions of the saliva glands. Up to 1/3 of occupants in care homes have problems with Dysphagia which makes tending to their health and well being a much more difficult job.
Dysphagia consequences can be very severe as it can certainly interfere with medicine management and medication management proscribed by doctors if the patient is unwilling or unable to take medicine in pill form. Furthermore there is a threat that capsules ingested orally could cause choking or a blockage of the airway and there’s also a risk that capsules could become lodged in the throat which may result in the incorrect dispersal of the medication to the body and also possible injury to the oesophagus.
Up till now the most widespread way of dealing with the issues that Dysphagia presents has been tablet crushing to make treatments less difficult to swallow. However there are a lot of issues associated with crushing tablets that may have serious implications and may have an effect on the effectiveness of the medicine. Some tablets are sugar coated to make them taste better and while crushing them may not change the way the capsule works it will make them taste very unpleasant. Tablets that have an enteric coating should never be crushed before they’re taken since the coating is made to keep the tablet together within the stomach to either; guard the stomach from the medicine, protect the medicine from the stomach or to release the medicine after it has left the stomach.
Fortunately there is now an alternative solution for those who are afflicted by Dysphagia and the people that care for them. There is currently a broader range than ever before of liquid medicines which can be used orally and have the exact 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 created all the time. Liquid medicines possess a number of advantages over other forms of medications not least of which is the fact that they are much easier to swallow for people suffering from Dysphagia .