The CCTV documentary "Witness" "Drug Case Trace" broadcast a sad story: an 18-month-old baby lost his life after taking vitamin C effervescent tablets, and the reason was actually caused by the wrong way of feeding the medicine! The parent actually put the effervescent tablets directly into the child's mouth, causing the child to suffocate to death.
Why do effervescent tablets cause choking when eaten dry?
When effervescent tablets come into contact with water, a large amount of carbon dioxide gas is produced. If placed directly in the mouth, a large amount of gas will fill the airways sharply, causing gastrointestinal discomfort at least and hypoxia and suffocation at worst, especially in infants and young children and elderly and frail patients.
Why do drugs come in different dosage forms?
In our lives, we will come into contact with various dosage forms of drugs, tablets, capsules, dispersions, liniments, injections, lozenges, etc., so why should these drugs be made into different dosage forms?
In fact, the main purpose of making drugs into different dosage forms is to facilitate drug administration, achieve the best therapeutic effect of drugs, and reduce adverse drug reactions at the same time, so as to achieve the purpose of increasing efficiency and reducing toxicity.
For example, different administration methods of magnesium sulfate have different therapeutic effects, and different dosage forms will be made according to different administration methods. Among them, magnesium sulfate injection has antihypertensive, anticonvulsant and antiepileptic effects through intravenous infusion; magnesium sulfate is made into tablets and taken orally, which can treat constipation, combined with activated charcoal, and can also treat food or drug poisoning; magnesium sulfate glycerin liniment can reduce swelling and relieve pain when used externally.
Aspirin is a commonly used drug in cardiovascular patients, and when ordinary tablets are taken orally, it will irritate the gastric mucosa, resulting in gastrointestinal adverse reactions such as vomiting and nausea, and may cause adverse reactions such as gastric bleeding in patients with gastric diseases and duodenal ulcers. However, the use of aspirin in enteric-coated capsules or enteric-coated tablets can reduce or even eliminate the irritating effect on the stomach, and it also has the characteristics of delaying release and maintaining long-term effect.
What other dosage forms should I pay attention to when taking medications?
1. Nitroglycerin is a commonly used emergency medicine, especially for people with coronary heart disease, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases, and it is necessary to master the correct way to take it. Note that nitroglycerin tablets are taken under the tongue rather than swallowed directly, because the purpose of taking them is to speed up the dissolution and absorption of the drug, so that it can quickly exert its effect and play a first-aid role.
2. Chewable tablets should be chewed thoroughly. For example, compound aluminum hydroxide tablets can be chewed and enter the stomach, which can quickly form a protective film on the stomach wall. This protective film can effectively isolate the gastric contents from contact with the gastric wall ulcer, thereby significantly reducing the irritation of gastric contents such as stomach acid and food to the ulcer site, and helping to relieve symptoms such as stomach pain and acid reflux. This protective effect is more rapid and effective due to the increased area of contact between the chewed drug and the stomach wall.
Therefore, it is important not to be lazy when taking chewable tablets. It is a good time to chew a chewable tablet for 5 minutes to ensure that the medicine is thoroughly chewed and mixed with stomach acid for optimal efficacy. After chewing, a small amount of warm water can help the drug distribute better in the stomach.
3. Some common lozenges and syrups are commonly used to relieve sore throat, mainly because lozenges and syrups can adhere to the lesion site and give full play to the efficacy of the drug, so after taking this kind of drug, be careful not to drink a lot of water immediately, you can wait for a period of time before drinking.
4. Some capsules are used to block the unpleasant smell of the drug, or the capsule shell has the effect of sustained release and controlled release, so that the drug can be released smoothly and achieve long-term effect.
If you are worried about the capsule stuck in the throat, secretly teach you a small trick, when eating the capsule, take a sip of water, lower your head and swallow, do not swallow with your head up, this is because the capsule is relatively light, it will float on the water, lower your head, the capsule will float above and flow down with the water, and it is not easy to get stuck in the throat.