To wonder why you can't get paracetamol tablets coated like ibuprofen are.

[TommyandGina]

Life would be so much more simple if they were easier to swallow. The powdery texture of the caplets gets stuck in the throat and the plasticky capsules get stuck as well. Does anyone know of a solution or a reason why you can't get easy to swallow coated ones.

Hi you can get liquid paracetamol for over 12s i had to have it when i couldn't swallow properly due togag reflex going nuts a few years back I did get it on prescription though. Also i think asda own paracetamol is round and coated

Suppository anyone?

My daughter finds fresh choc milk easier thing to take them with as it is thicker. Discovered from taking two different antibiotics and paracetamol.

I've just remembered that my mum used to break them in half and cover in melted chocolate. They were much easier to swallow as it didn't have the horrible chalky texture and also tasted nice going down.

You can get the calpol 6 plus in meltlets form now, just dissolve on the tongue type of thing. Would that be an alternative?

I swallow up to 7 tablets at a time so don't think paracetamol is too bad. I do have a tablet that is so dry it makes me gag at times!

Have you tried the calpol meltlet style ones for 6+? DS aged 10 struggles with tablets, and liquids (ASD) but these melt so quick he barely needs to swallow with a drink.

I take around 15 tablets a day with various coatings. I find it best to avoid liquid completely and have some toast. Just as I'm about to swallow, I pop a tablet in. It goes down every time! And I used to not be able to take tablets at all until I got sick.

Cross post with likepeas!

butter them?

i swallow water then paracetamol with more water then i have toast

Just...

Make a cup of your hand. Dump the tablet in their and drink everything in one gulp? So you don't feel the tablet at all?

Idk. I've never had a problem swallowing tablets, even dry. I was just always so glad when I got one 😅

I don't have any trouble with them but like another poster, I have to take up to 8 at once and tend to just toss them all back in one mouthful. Would he be able to swallow them in a mouthful of yoghurt?

I crush them on a dessert spoon and mix with juice or squash. In the OPs situation I'd source suppositories though.

You could try to put your tablet in a spoonful of yoghurt.

Great minds Bubble!
I only know about these as I have them in my bag for my son when out and about. Loads better than those flaming sachets that always used to leak!

We discovered them last week when DS was ill with a cold! He's too young at 10 for lemsips, but wouldn't take tablets paracetamol or the calpol liquid. We found them in superdrug and I literally cried - as a child he was hospitalised with febrile convulsions for avoiding medicines, so to find something that he will and can take, has saved us!!

I am a pharmacist and can clarify that an adult strength paracetamol suspension is available on prescription - as other users have stated this would allow a lower volume to be administered (5ml of this suspension = one paracetamol tablet). You can also get paracetamol capsules, these are more expensive but again available on prescription and are cheaper than branded products such as the melts discussed above.

I believe the reason you cannot get sugar coated paracetamol is a practical one in the manufacturing process. Sugar coating involves quite a physical action on the tablet to coat it in the sugar mixture. due to the nature of a paracetamol tablet it would break and not be able to withstand this process.

Just get Calpol 6+ strawberry. Orange is rank.

Suppositories are a great alternative, if he would let you use them instead?

Thank you. There are some great ideas here, suppositories I agree would be good if I could convince him, that's doubtful though, he's fully aware of everything and is 14! It would also mean hoisting him out of his wheelchair and onto the floor, removing his pad and hoping he would stay still for long enough. Uncontrollable movements mean he is like a fish out of water most of the time. Given that he's a full time wheelchair user he's frequently constipated so goodness knows what I might encounter if I tried them but I'll ask him for next time.

Thank you all. It's a minefield sometimes and getting ideas from a wide range of you is really helping me. Chocolate coating might be a workable idea, whoever suggested that.

Panadol actifast paracetamol have an easy to swallow coating. Not sugary like ibuprofen but not bad.

If he is well enough to eat mouthfulls of food without throwing up or other motor troubles, I have also been able to swallow a pill by taking a big bite of something yummy and quite sticky like bread and honey or cake, chew it up till it's just at the point when you are about to swallow the mouthful and slip the pill into the middle of the mouthful then swallow the whole mass down in one gulp. The oesophagus doesn't notice the little tablet in the middle of the mass of food.

Panadol are definitely easier to swallow and are actually the best over the counter painkiller I have taken. The GP told us to use them fir my late father as he had problems swallowing due to MS related issues.