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Large numbers of people have difficulties swallowing medicine when it is offered to them as tablets or pills. Dysphagia or swallowing difficulties can impact individuals spanning various ages including children although it is most usual in older people as they are more prone to the causative illnesses as well as age related changes in the functions of the saliva glands. Dysphagia is a particularly acute problem in care homes for the elderly where up to 1/3 of residents may well suffer from it which makes caring for them a far more challenging and time consuming process.

Dysphagia consequences can be quite severe as it can obviously interfere with treatments proscribed by doctors when the patient is not willing or not able to take treatments in tablet form. Furthermore there’s a risk that pills ingested orally may cause choking or a blockage of the airway and there is also a danger that pills may become lodged in the throat which may lead to the incorrect dispersal of the medication to the body as well as possible injury to the oesophagus.

The most prevalent and common technique of coping with Dysphagia has been tablet crushing to ensure they are more palatable and a lot easier to swallow. However there are a lot of issues related to crushing tablets that could have severe implications and may affect the effectiveness of the medicine. Many pills have a sugar coating on them to make them taste more enjoyable and although crushing them will not have any effect on the efficiacy of the pill it could make them taste very unpleasant. Pills that have an enteric coating should never be crushed before they are used since the coating is made to keep the tablet together within the stomach to either; guard the stomach from the medication, protect the medicine from the stomach or to release the medicine soon after it has left the stomach.

Fortunately help is on hand for sufferers of Dysphagia and the people who take care of them. There is now a larger range than ever before of liquid medicines which can be taken orally and have the exact same effect as pills or tablets. Oral liquid medicine is made to treat an array of illnesses and diseases like those affecting the cardio-vascular system and endocrine system and more liquid medicines are being produced all the time. Liquid medicines are effortless to swallow for those with Dysphagia and come in a variety of pleasant flavours.

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