Medication Can You Open It Or Not.. Posted: 07-26-05 11:11am
Not sure if this is the correct forum to
post in but here goes.
Like many ppl I suspect I have a problem
with swallowing medication. Really small
tablets or capsules smaller then your
pinky finger nail I can swallow but any
larger and I can't.
As a child i'd just open it and swallow it
even though my doctor said I shouldn't but
had no choice as I jsut couldn't swallow
them.
Anyway the last time I was pretty sick I
had to take keflex and the capsules wern't
huge but they were big enough I couldn't
swallow them.
So I went to the pharmacy and talked to
the pharmacist telling him about the
problem and what I was taking and he said
it's only in the capsule to get it into
your stomach easier so just open the
capsule, mix it into some apple sauce and
swallow bits of that with a mouthful of
water. He said I could just swallow the
contents with water but it may get stuck
in my teeth and I wont get the full dose
while mixing in apple sauce i'll
definately get most of the dosage.
Anyway I have a different docotor now and
I talked to him about the problem too and
told him how the pharmacist told me to
take it mentioning which antibiotic it was
and he said he'd be surprised if you would
get most of the dosage as the reason it
was in the capsule wasn't just to get it
into your stomach since anytihng going in
your throat ends up there but it was in
the capsule to get it past your stomach
acids so opening it and taking it in apple
sauce he thought alot would get destroyed
by your stomach acids.
I've been to another pharmacy and the
pharmacist there also told to me just to
mix it with apple sauce or something and
take it like that not to mention the
number of articles i've read saying to do
that if you have trouble swallowing
them.
So i'd just like to know whats right...
Will I still get most of the dosage
opening the capsule mixing with apple
sauce like the pharmacist says or will it
get destroyed by my stomach acids before
most of it gets absorbed?
At the moment i'm on something different
in a tablet not a capsule but it I can't
swallow it either and it doesn't have the
break line in the middle of it so I jsut
cut it in half with a knife. Notice it
looked like it was coated in a very thing
bit of plastic or something as there were
bits flaking off after I cut it.
So I went to the pharmacy and told her
about it but you can't see the tablets in
the package. I told her it had no break
mark and I couldn't swallow them so if
icould break them anyway and she asked if
they were shiny so I said yes they were
and it looked like there was a lining on
them cos I had already broken one and she
just said to crush them and take them like
that.
|
happy_sunshine_yan
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 30 Mar 2005 Posts: 94 Location: Burnaby, BC, Canada
Posted: 08-01-05 00:29am
I'm not an expert.. But generally.. It
is acceptable to take it with apple sauce
or whatever.. Cuz the capsule in ur
stomach juss gets destroyed by stomach
acid anyway to get the meds inside the
capsule... Ur stomach acid is not likely
to destroy the stuff insude the capsule..
It should be designed not to.. Thats how
you get it in ur system.. Hope this
helps.. Good luck =d.. I used to take my
capsules like that.. My doctors said it
was fine. But instead of apple sauce..
I'd mix it in juice or something.
