Omeprazole - how to best dissolve tablets?

[hazeyjane]

Ds (18 months) has just been prescribed these for reflux. He has some issues with swallowing, so we are having a bit of a nightmare with how to dissolve them. At the moment I am cutting them in half, and dissolving in a small amount of apple juice, then syringing it in to him. The problems with this is that a) it is fafferama and b) I can't seem to dissolve them fully, so there is quite a lot of grit which ds sometimes spits out, or it clogs up the syringe.

I asked the dr about getting a liquid, but she said it isn't licensed, and to try a few other ways to dissolve it.

Any suggestions?

I also posted this in children's health, but thought some of the lovely people on here might have a bit of experience of trying to get tablets into reluctant swallowers!

Hi Hazey

Not the best for dissolving are they. Our little one has been on them for about a year. We've taken to mixing the tablet with a bit of water and using a small pestle and mortar (forgive me if that's not spelt right) to really grind it up.

Seems to work okay, might be an idea for you - good luck :)

These tablets are a nightmare. DD had them and is tube fed. The tablet dissolved in water but would then set like concrete in the syringe or her gastro tube and block her tube!! Enquired about the liquid version and was told it is a specially made product at a cost of £120 per bottle which only has a shelf life of 4 weeks - so not a realistic option!!! (as DD would have needed a bottle at school and home!!)
No easy answer I'm afraid - have been told they dissolve better in lukewarm water but not convinced that made much difference IMO. Can they be crushed and hidden in food? Not sure if they have to be dissolved to be effective (DD had to have hers in water) and DD not on them now so can't look at patient leaflet - possibly check with your pharmacist.

we had this problem but our HV suggested asking for the capsules which we then open and sprinkle the tiny white balls onto spoon of fruit puree and then he has it from the spoon, have done this from about 10 months! much easier than trying to dissolve them!

We dissolve them in very weak ribena. We used to syringe them, now dd will sip the 5-10 mls of solution.

try and avoid the liquid we had it once but it only lasts 5 days (i think) as it comes out of solution and seperates, very odd as can't mix it again either!

thankyou everyone.

interesting about the liquid, how strange!

In the instructions it says not to crush them, which is why they don't dissolve maybe. When I tried in water they didn't dissolve at all, only juice worked.

I will ask about the capsules, Fairimum, thankyou.

DS1 suffered from GERD and was prescribed a combination of Ranitidine and Domeperidone for his reflux which seemed to work for him only if taken together. They both come in liquid form and don't taste foul.

I know Omeprazole is more stronger than ranitidine so ignore my advice if they have already tried that.

Will they prescribe lanzoprazole instead? they have a dispersable version and I'm pretty sure they are as good, but I'm not sure whether would be suitable for paeds?

I would also ask your Paediatrician for lanzoprazole although they dont tend to prescribe as it so so expensive.

thankyou all.

Ds has been on Ranitidine for ages, and we thought that it was doing an ok job. The paeds have changed it because they are concerned that ds could be aspirating acid reflux (after an infection at xmas).

I will ask his paed about lanzoprazole. We have tried dissolving the lopec in various different things, but today he just dribbled out what i could get into him. Tomorrow i will try again with some sort of puree/yoghurt.