Help!!!

gazgod

Registered User
Oct 8, 2013
3
0
my Dad has had a urine tract infection for a month or so , he has had trimethopin - no good . and now has keflex capsules , ( that are huge ) , to take .
Any ideas how to get Dad to swallow them ? ... he justs spits them out HELP
 

juniepoonie

Registered User
Jun 11, 2013
727
0
essex
can you break them open an mix with bit icecream? some you can some cant. also rolo choc sweets are good because you can put tabs in the centre. just couple ideas good luck juniepoonie
 

lin1

Registered User
Jan 14, 2010
9,350
0
East Kent
Hi welcome to TP
I would phone the GP first thing tomorrow and explain the problem
My mum used to call large pills that were hard to swallow, horse pills.

Has the GP sent a urine sample off to the labs to test the urine or just relied on what I call, a dip stick test ?.

As it may well be that your Dad needs to have a specific Anti biotic , (rather than the broad spectrum ones they usually prescribe) to kill off the pesky critters causing the infection, some bugs nowadays just shrug off some Anti biotics.

Hope this helps and I hope your Dad is better soon
 
Last edited:

Izzy

Volunteer Moderator
Aug 31, 2003
73,998
0
72
Dundee
Good morning

I agree with Lin. I recently had to phone the GP and say that my husband could not swallow the bombs he had been prescribed. We got a liquid antibiotic instead. We've also had a dispersable form of ABs.

Take care. x
 

gazgod

Registered User
Oct 8, 2013
3
0
can you break them open an mix with bit icecream? some you can some cant. also rolo choc sweets are good because you can put tabs in the centre. just couple ideas good luck juniepoonie

thank you for that great tip !!
 

tiggs72

Registered User
Jul 15, 2013
142
0
We asked for a liquid form which my dad took no problems . If that's not possible I think mixing in food is a good idea x
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,075
0
Bury
Breaking open the capsules without checking with a pharmacist is not a good idea, they are intended to be swallowed whole, breaking them will meant that the contents come into direct contact with the upper gastric tract.

The generic name for Keflex is Cefalexin which is available as a liquid suspension for oral use.

One listed side effect is diarrhoea, I know from experience that this can be very violent!!
 

Nebiroth

Registered User
Aug 20, 2006
3,510
0
Always check with a doctor or pharmacist before breaking up capsules and tabelst and mixing them with food or a drink. This is because some drugs come in capsules or have special coatings that are designed to make them dissolve slowly over a given time, to deliver a specific steady dose of drug through that time, or have coatings that resist dissolving in some parts of the gut because some drugs can cause unpleasant side effects or cause irritation in, say, the stomach. Breaking open the capsule, crushing the tablet and mixing it with food or dissolving it in a drink can circumcent this process.

A pharmacist or doctor can tell you if this is safe and appropriate to do. Alternatively, some drugs can be prescribed in a liquid form; less commonly, they may be available in tablets that dissolve in the mouth (called "oro-dispersible" form). Although the liquid and dispersible forms often taste just as nasty because they are so artificially sweet so as to disguise the nasty bitterness!

Diarrhea is a common side-effect of antibiotics. It usually happens because the antibiotics not only kill off the nasty bugs causing infection, they also kill off the nice "helper" bugs that naturally live inside our digestive systems. Everyone has these, in fact we could not live without them, they are essentialy to the digestive process - and they also help our immune systems by competing with harmful bugs that try to set up shop down there.

Sometimes, patients who have disrupted digestive systems (for example, long term treatment with powerful antibiotics) are given special capsules that contain "helper" bugs, in order to repopulate their guts with them.

Did you know the healthy human body has several kilos of bacteria in it, all the time?
 

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