Large numbers of individuals have difficulties swallowing medication when it’s given to them as tablets or pills. Dysphagia or swallowing difficulties can impact individuals of all ages including youngsters although it is most usual in older people as they tend to be more vulnerable to the causative diseases and age connected changes in the functions of the saliva glands. Up to 1/3 of occupants in care homes have problems with Dysphagia which makes looking after their health and wellbeing a much more complicated job.

Dysphagia consequences can be quite serious as it can obviously interfere with medicine management and medication management proscribed by medical professionals if the affected person is unwilling or not able to take medicine in pill form. Furthermore there’s a threat that capsules ingested orally could potentially cause choking or a blockage of the airway and there’s also a danger that pills may become stuck in the throat which might lead to the incorrect dispersal of the drug to the body as well as possible harm to the esophagus.

Up till now the most typical way of dealing with the issues that Dysphagia presents has been tablet crushing to make treatments easier to swallow. However there are a lot of problems associated with crushing tablets that could have severe implications and can affect the efficacy of the medicine. Many 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 efficacy of the tablet it could make them taste really unpleasant. Tablets with an enteric coating must never be crushed before they’re taken as the coating is designed to keep the pill together in the stomach to either; protect the stomach from the medicine, protect the medicine from the stomach or to release the medicine after it’s left the stomach.

Luckily there is now an alternative for those who suffer from Dysphagia and the people that care for them. There is currently a larger range than ever before of liquid medicines that may be taken orally and have exactly the same effect as pills or tablets. Oral liquid medicine is produced to treat an array of ailments and diseases like those affecting the cardio-vascular system and endocrine system and more liquid medicines are being developed all the time. Liquid medicines possess a number of advantages over other kinds of medicines not least of which is the fact that they are much easier to take for people suffering from Dysphagia .