More and more people have difficulties swallowing medicine when it’s given to them in the form of tablets or capsules. Dysphagia or swallowing difficulties can impact people of all ages including children although it is most frequent in older people as they are more susceptible to the causative illnesses as well as age related 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 challenging job.
Dysphagia consequences can be quite serious as it can obviously interfere with medicine management and medication management proscribed by medical professionals when the patient is unwilling or not able to take treatments in pill form. Furthermore there is a danger that pills ingested orally might cause choking or a blockage of the airway and there is also a risk that pills could become lodged in the throat which may lead to the incorrect dispersal of the medicine to the body and also possible harm to the oesophagus.
The most widespread and common method of coping with Dysphagia is tablet crushing to make them more palatable and a lot easier to swallow. However there are a lot of problems related to crushing tablets that could have serious implications and may have an effect on the efficacy of the medicine. Quite a few tablets have a sugar coating on them to make them taste more enjoyable and even though crushing them won’t have any impact on the efficiency of the tablet it may make them taste very unpleasant. A lot of the pills and tablets manufactured today have an enteric layer that’s intended to keep the tablet together inside the stomach. Pills with an enteric layer should never be crushed because the covering is there to either guard the stomach from the medication or to guard the medicine from the effects of the stomach .
Fortunately help is readily available for sufferers of Dysphagia and also the people that care for them. There is now a wider range than ever before of liquid medicines that may be taken orally and have the exact same effect as pills or capsules. Oral liquid medicine is produced to treat an array of illnesses 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 painless to swallow for those with Dysphagia and come in a variety of pleasant flavors.
