Many adults who have trouble swallowing medicines, have dysphagia, and can’t take capsules or tablets because of medical conditions or any other reason prefer oral liquid form of medication. This form of medication is prepared by combining one or more active ingredients and can be administered as they are or after diluting them.
Flavoring agents, coloring agents, and even sweetening agents can be used for preparing adult oral liquid medication. They make the medicines more palatable and appetizing to look at. Solutions, suspensions, and syrups are some of the different types of oral liquid form of medication. Before we check them out in detail, let us first find out why one should choose oral liquid medications.
Why Choose Oral Liquid Medications?
For patients who have trouble swallowing or those who must receive their medicines through nasogastric or gastrostomy tubes, oral liquid medications have become a necessity. They are also the prescribed way of administering drugs to patients who have mouth or throat cancer.
Moreover, medicines taken in liquid form can be easily swallowed and start acting more quickly than solid dosage forms. They can minimize discomfort in patients and improve patient compliance.
Further, some patients may end up crushing commercially available medicines to prepare liquid medication. It should be avoided at all costs because the active ingredients in the solid form of medicine may react negatively with the liquid formulation. Even their concentrations are not known, making them incompatible with the liquid formulation, posing a risk to the patient. Therefore, one should get liquid medicine for adults compounded by a professional only to avoid any potential threat to their health.
Different Types of Liquid Medications
Compounding pharmacists administer medicines in liquid form if solid medication is unsuitable for their patients or they cannot administer it practically. They can prescribe liquid medicines in three forms:
Syrups: Having large amounts of sucrose, sweetening agents, or other sugars as a base, syrups contain one or more active ingredients in the solution. They may contain ethanol for preservation or antimicrobial agents to maintain the antimicrobial properties of syrups.
Suspensions: Such types of oral liquid medications are prepared by suspending one or more active ingredients in a suitable base. They are more palatable than solutions. The settling of drug particles may affect the accuracy of the dosage of suspensions.
Solutions: Just like suspensions but, the solid ingredients, along with active ingredients, are dissolved in a suitable base that can be aqueous, organic, or a combination of both. It is difficult to formulate them and make them palatable. Elixirs, aromatic waters, and lintuses are examples of oral solutions.
Final Words
Oral liquid medicines are an excellent invention for people with swallowing difficulties. Whether you need to consume medicines in syrup, suspension, or solution form, we can compound liquid medicine for adults as per their needs. To compound medicines for yourself or your family, contact us today!