HOW A CHILD'S MEDICINE PROVED A SAVIOUR TO MARY LATE IN THE NIGHT

Mary had just woken up from a sleep which she had gone into in order to relieve her head of all the troubles that had overwhelmed her that fateful eve of Easter.
Now she has been woken up by a headache that seemed unbearable and although she prayed to sleep away yet this new headache, this time a physiological one in addition to the other emotional head-aches she had battled with earlier, she couldn’t find relief as it was midnight and sleep was far. Where do I get Paracetamol or Ibuprofen or Calms night? What do I do? What kind of a home is this? All that are left here are the syrups for children, does it mean that an adult cannot fall sick in the middle of the night, she thought aloud as she walked aimlessly around the house in search of a solution, feeling helpless and dejected.

Suddenly, it seemed a divine thought just flew into her thinking faculty as she made her way to the refrigerator where the children’s medicines were kept. I will take four times the dose of Amaka’s Ibuprofen syrup, by the way, I am almost 4 times her age, she thought. She quickly grabbed two slices of bread and ate and then taking about 20mls of Amara’s Ibuprofen Suspension, she sat on a sofa, shook the bottle and drank the volume. Waking up at about 6am feeling refreshed, Mary discovered that she had slept for over 4hours and the last thing she could remember was simply drinking Amara’s Ibuprofen suspension.

MOST LIQUID MEDICINES CAN BE TAKEN BY ADULTS QUITE WELL

Syrups and Suspensions are liquid preparations of medicinal substances often prepared in such forms mainly to aid administration in persons who may not be able to swallow solid dosage forms such as tablets, caplets and gelatin capsules and in whom injections may not be necessary. Children, old people and persons with swallowing difficulties belong to this category of persons for whom liquid preparations are designed.

Indeed, liquid preparations in form of suspensions and syrups can be taken by older people in an urgent event where the solid dosage forms are not available, the kind of situation Mary in the story above found herself. Her thoughts of being about 4times the age of the child warranting 4times the dose does not always work with all medicines for safety reasons. However, it is important to recommend that adults throw away the belief that liquid medicines do not work for adults because they work just the same way and may even begin their action earlier than the solid dosage forms given that they have been dissolved in liquid whereas tablets will be required to dissolve in the stomach and disintegrate before being absorbed. Furthermore, many pain and anti-seizure remedies are often prepared extemporaneously in liquid forms (compounding) in emergency cases where the solid dosage forms are difficult to come by. Thus, this brings to bare another role Pharmacists play in addition to dispensing finished formulations.

Finally and most importantly, a pharmacist may recommend a liquid formulation for you under certain circumstances and in line with what your doctor must have prescribed for you and considering costs. It will be great to listen to the explanations your pharmacist will give you about this and cooperate with him/her so that with the money you would have spent on treatment, you will be able to achieve adequate therapeutic or pharmaceutical care.

Remain healthy, health-conscious and protect your environment!