We normally stockpile tablets and capsules because they have a much longer shelf life than liquids. However, sometimes a patient can't take a medication for any number of reasons. It's most frequently because the individual is an infant or young child that can't swallow pills yet. Sometimes the person is unconscious. The elderly can also have difficulties due to advanced age. Sometimes medications are better administered in a different manner due to the illness being treated.
We've got a few options here. The first step for all of these options is
to grind tablets into powder with a small mortar and pestle. In the
case of capsules, they just need to be opened up. Then choose one of the
following methods:
- Sprinkle the powder on food. Make sure this is a food the patient will happily eat so that the medication isn't wasted.
- Make a syrup. Use honey (not for infants under one year of age), corn syrup, pancake syrup, or sugar. Just mix enough for one dose at a time.
- Mix the powder into juice or milk. Don't use more than the patient will drink quickly. Do not mix tetracycline family antibiotics with milk.
- Up the bum. Mix the powder into some water--tap water is fine--and put it in an enema bag. Get a little lubricant, send the tubing up the bum and squeeze the solution in.
- Mix the powder into a tablespoon or so of water, maybe with a little juice or flavoring, and gargle it in the throat as long as possible. This is an especially effective way of administering pain relievers to soothe a sore throat. The pain reliever comes into the fastest possible contact with the inflamed tissue in the throat. After a minute or two of gargling, the medication is then swallowed and enters the bloodstream to facilitate further relief.
11 june 2020
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