兒童用藥大難題：「藥丸，唔吞得唔得呀？」
“A Pill Too Hard to Swallow”— Children’s Version
「藥劑師，我小朋友病咗，醫生開左好多藥比佢食呀！我怕佢唔識吞藥丸，可唔可以壓砰佢地呀？」
“Hello pharmacist, my son is ill now and doctor has prescribed so many pills. I am afraid that pill swallowing may be too difficult and unpleasant for him. Can I crush them for easier swallowing?”
小朋友病咗，作為家長嘅一定仲擔心過自己病咗。唔少家長都識得冷靜咁帶小朋友去睇醫生，不過，就卻忽略咗用藥嘅安全，一個小心反而令小朋友嘅健康受到威脅。其中最常見嘅問題就係 – 「吞藥丸」。當醫生處方咗藥丸或膠囊時，小朋友一句「媽咪，我吞唔落呀」，家長就無可奈可，唯有將藥丸壓碎或將膠囊嘅藥粉倒出嚟，再混入果汁或牛奶，令小朋友較容易吞。
What’s the simplest solution when faced with a child reluctant or refusing to swallow a pill? Let’s crush it! WRONG! Crushing a pill before swallowing may seem like the logical answer but this move can consequently threaten your child’s health by not only reducing the effectiveness of the medication but also increasing unwanted side effects.
原來，咁樣做唔單止有可能令藥物嘅效用降低，甚至有機會引起不良反應添！首先，藥物嘅劑型會影響腸胃嘅吸收。將藥丸壓碎或打開膠囊，就等於影響咗藥物原本嘅吸收及功效。再者，存於膠囊內嘅藥粉通常都係味道苦澀，亦未必能夠溶解於果汁或牛奶中，變相令「自製藥水」更難入口。其次，藥物如果同清水以外嘅飲料混合，一方面會影響酸鹼度，繼而影響藥效。另一方面，果汁或牛奶等飲料，有機會同藥物產生相互作用，輕則減低藥效，嚴重者會導致副作用，令小朋友嘅健康受到負面影響。
Pills are not created equal. Pills come in all different shapes, colors and sizes, as tablets and capsules. However, these different shapes and forms make pills unique and controls how medicine is absorbed by our bodies to exert their effects. Although certain pills are safe to crush, many pills will lose their effectiveness completely if they are broken by either crushing the tablets or opening the encasing capsules. Furthermore, the resulting powder is surprisingly unpleasant to the palate.
所以，如果小朋友有吞服藥丸嘅困難，不妨向藥劑師詢問有關藥物劑型嘅選擇，例如糖漿或水劑，如果無嘅話，就詢問藥物係唔係適宜壓碎。另外，永遠都要謹記，無論成人定小朋友，服藥應以清水送服，確保萬無一失。家長亦應主動鼓勵小朋友學識吞藥丸或膠囊。因為隨著年齡增長，所用嘅藥物好多都唔會再有水劑供應，到時先學識吞藥丸就未免太遲喇。
Hence, next time your child has trouble swallowing their pills, why not ask your pharmacist whether alternative forms of the same medication are available, for example syrup or chewable forms. Furthermore, our pharmacists can advise you whether you’re the pills are safe to crush before taking. Swallowing pills is a life skill that each child will learn eventually. May be this will be a good opportunity to teach your child this important life skill.
屈臣氏藥劑師團隊
Watsons Pharmacy Team
