This country’s a mess. We all know it. Dwelling on it won’t fix anything. Preparing now to meet the challenges is the best course of action.
One of my greatest concerns is being able to deal with whatever medical issues my grandchildren will face. So far, I’ve only got one grandchild. She’s been incredibly healthy and hasn’t experienced any of the strep throat or ear infections that her aunts and uncles did. Her Uncle Jared got a lot of them and he started with them quite early. He’d get a cold, and within a day or two he was tugging on an ear and not sleeping. Trip to the doctor, a check of the ears, and then to the pharmacy and home for the fun of getting an infant or toddler to take the amoxicillin or Augmentin suspension, whichever Dr. Diedrichsen deemed the best choice that day.
Most of the time the kids were pretty good about taking the syrup, but sometimes there was a bit of a struggle, especially with Augmentin. It’s not very tasty, even when they do try to cover it up with sweetener and flavoring. Mary Poppins taught us that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, but sometimes young children need a little something extra. Older folks may also benefit from some flavoring to mask nasty smells or tastes.
As any parent of small children in this country knows, amoxicillin, the first choice antibiotic for treating ear infections, is incredibly hard to find right now. Most every news article blames the “tripledemic” of covid, influenza, and RSV. Nobody blames the corrupt politicians who allowed our production of critical medicines and supplies to be offshored. Rarely do they mention that the shortage mostly involves the pediatric oral suspension of amoxicillin.
Naturally, no one would dare whisper that a parent could DIY an amoxicillin suspension or syrup at home. (And yes, most ear infections can be treated without antibiotics, a topic that has already been addressed, link below.) Alternative methods of administering medications were covered in another article (link below). Yes, physicians or pharmacists would have to calculate the exact dosages from a capsule and how much syrup to mix them in, because too many parents in this country wouldn’t be up to the challenge. And it would be best to make only one or two doses at a time, which would be highly inconvenient.
And, of course, no one mentions that amoxicillin “for fish” is still available online. CalVetSupply.com is one retailer I checked just now. (I’ve never ordered from them, so I can’t comment on their business, but I have heard good reports from others.)
The other problem with making a medicinal syrup for children as I indicated above, is flavoring the syrup. And that’s the point of today’s article.
Liquid antibiotics just taste nasty, and children have particularly sensitive taste buds. One or two bad experiences with a dropperful of unflavored syrup, and you may not be able to get the child to take another dose. So we’ve got to be able to mask the off-taste of the antibiotic. The first thing that comes to mind is an extract, like vanilla. Unfortunately, vanilla is a bit mild and won’t do the trick. The other problem with it and its neighbors on the grocery store shelf—banana, orange, lemon, cherry, etc., is that they are alcohol extracts. You’re dealing with alcohol, which some would object to giving to children, the burn of the alcohol which some children would object to, and the fact that the extract isn’t going to be strong enough to mask the taste of the antibiotic.
The solution is candy flavorings. They are three to four times stronger than extracts and not alcohol-based. I got my first couple of bottles—actually they are small vials—in the grocery store when they went on clearance. The LorAnn candy oils are generally sold in cake and candy supply shops. I don’t have anything like that around here, so I ordered online. As the minimum order for free shipping through their site (LorAnnOils.com) was a bit high for me, I went through Amazon.
Before you go scrolling through the list of flavors there, remember that children’s medications are usually grape or cherry flavored. I don’t know for sure, but I think I read that it is because those flavors mask the taste of the antibiotics the best. Tutti-frutti and bubblegum are also good choices.
And lest you think that young children’s taste buds are the only ones that need accommodating, remember that some elderly folks can become very picky as well. My mother-in-law has become notorious for this and it becomes a real challenge for my father-in-law to feed her at times. These flavorings can be used to make smoothies and shakes as well as to help disguise the awful taste of some tinctures.
Of course, they also work well for making sore throat lozenges and regular candy.
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