Making medication taste better

One of the greatest challenges in prescription medication is a simple fact: some patients just don’t like taking medicine. From a child who can’t stand the taste of a cough syrup to a cat who absolutely refuses to take an antibiotic, taking medicine rarely is a pleasurable experience.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Each patient is unique, with certain likes and dislikes. Others have difficulty swallowing a pill, and might respond better if the pill were compounded into a liquid suspension instead. A distinctive solution to these issues is a flavored medicine. Medicine doesn’t have to taste bad.

Adults & Children

A prime advantage of compounding is its ability to customize medication. What’s the easiest way to customize it? Flavor! Compounding pharmacists have access to many flavors and flavor combinations which can enhance the taste and color of a medication to make it easier to swallow.

A child who has difficulty taking a prescription because of the taste is a prime candidate. He or she won’t mind taking medication that tastes like bubblegum, watermelon, or even chocolate. Most PCCA flavors are sugar-free and some are even dye-free, which benefits patients who are sensitive or allergic. And working closely with a physician, your compounding pharmacist can even change the form of the medication. What if a child’s medicine came in the form of a lollipop or a gummy treat?

Many adults also may benefit from flavored medication. As people age or battle a chronic illness, taste preferences can change. Often, sweet flavors can become unbearable, or bitter flavors may cause nausea. In these instances, your compounding pharmacist can alter or mask certain flavors in order to make medicine more palatable – without changing the strength or effectiveness of the medicine itself. When reflavoring antibiotics, for instance, careful consideration is given to the measurement of pH in order to maintain the medicine’s stability. Whether you prefer a distinct flavor – or no flavor at all – compounded medications may be of benefit to you.

Animals

Cats, dogs, exotic pets and even zoo animals also are prime candidates for flavored medication. Cats don’t like pills, but they do like fish. Dogs may not appreciate a squirt of traditional medication into their mouths, but they’ll gladly take it if it tastes like chicken.

Working closely with a pet owner and a veterinarian, a compounding pharmacist can custom-flavor a medication to fit the tastes and preferences of any kinds of animal. There are beef, cheese, chicken and liver flavors for dogs; fish for cats. Horses prefer alfalfa, cherry, apple, carrot and molasses. Even birds, rodents and reptiles have flavor preferences that can be met by a compounding pharmacist.

Like humans, some animals may require alternate medication forms such as pastes, custards, or traditional pet biscuits and treats. Cats are notorious for eating right around a pill disguised in food, but the right combination of flavor and appearance can take struggle out of medicating your pets. Click here for more information on veterinary compounding.

Do you have a flavoring challenge that could be solved through compounding? Ask your prescriber or compounding pharmacist about custom flavoring.

Wound Care

Depending on the location, depth and severity of the wound, we can formulate a wound care treatment that will keep the wound clean and speed up the healing. Choose the treatment form that is easy for you to apply, convenient to carry around and can be removed with minimal disruption to the new tissue growth.

• Cream
• Ointment
• Gel
• Polyox bandage

Pain Management

Unlike temporary acute pain that can be easily controlled by medication, chronic pain causes a lot more stress and affects many areas of your life from work productivity and recreation to basic day-to-day activities. Chronic pain can be much more difficult to manage and may often lead to depression.

At Joule Wellness Pharmacy, we can combine various active agents to attack pain from multiple angles.When absorbed through the skin at trigger points, these agents bypass the gastrointestinal tract, which means their potency is not decreased by the first-pass metabolism (they actually work better than oral medication).

Because these medications are applied topically, the side effects associated with oral medications (upset stomach, diarrhea, etc.) can be eliminated. With a physician’s prescription we can formulate innovative pain management therapies, often using a combination of medications in the optimal dosage, form and strength to manage your pain in the most effective and side effect-free way.

Sports Medicine

Whether you are a professional athlete, a coach, a bodybuilder or just trying to stay fit, you might come across a few challenges while treating your sports-related injuries or other conditions and maintaining your active lifestyle at the same time.

• You want a medication with the least amount of side effects.
• If you are participating in competitions, you need to make sure your meds won’t interfere with your performance and with a drug test if applicable.
• You need a speedy recovery to get back to your training or workout regimen.
• You have to be careful managing your pain – strong pain killers numb the pain, but also make it easy for you to cause more damage to your body.

At Joule Wellness Pharmacy, we can help you treat all sorts of conditions from excessive perspiration and inflammation to muscle spasms and hemorrhoids. Please, refer to the Pain Management section for more information on how we can help you reduce the chronic pain or call our compounding pharmacists to discuss your compounding needs.

Pediatrics

We work together with doctors, nurses, case managers, moms & dads to customize medications and meet children’s specific needs. Administering medication to children can be challenging for many reasons:

• Most kids are frightened by needles
• Small children often won’t hold still
• Oral meds are often difficult to swallow due to their size
• Children may resist taking medications due to unpleasant taste or texture
• Many medications don’t come in convenient dosage appropriate for children

That’s when compounding comes to the rescue. At Joule Wellness Pharmacy, we can make a medication that your child will not mind taking. Think about how much easier it is to give your children (and less stressful for them to take) fruit-flavored gummy bears, colorful lozenges and tasty freezer pops filled with secret healing power. We can also compound certain oral drugs into gels and creams to entirely eliminate the unpleasant taste factor.

Talk to your pediatrician about custom-compounded meds for children and then let us help you fill the prescription.

Dermatology

Skin disorders can occur at any stage in life. Some may be short-term and easily treated, but others may develop into chronic or reoccurring conditions. To help care for skin, dermatologists and anti-aging specialists are relying more and more on compounded products. East Pines Pharmacy works with your physician to develop a formulation that meets your specific needs.

We have formulated compounded medications to treat such skin conditions as:

• Acne and warts
• Scarring and wrinkles
• Psoriasis, eczema and skin ulcers
• Fungal and viral infections
• Melasma (brown or dark spots)
• Sun damaged skin and sunburn
• Allergic reactions
• Diaper rash

Dental Compounding

We can work both with dentists and dental patients to create a wide array of medications for various oral problems. For your individual needs, we’ll compound a medication in the form and potency not available commercially.

Ask your Joule Wellness Pharmacist or your dentist about:

• Teeth whitening solutions
• Remedies for oral lichen planus
• Cold sore and herpes treatments
• Dry mouth relief
• Pre-procedure anxiety compounded formulas
• Periodontal, hemostatic, TMJ, angular cheilitis, thrush, alcohol free-chlorhexidine and other solutions