Dallas County Living Well Magazine Fall 2014 | Page 18

A Bitter Pill to Swallow

Simple Solutions for medication
and supplement administration
Mika Bradford, CN, CPhT

S

o often clients and customers I work with ask
how they can reduce the number of pills they
are taking each day because the number of
pills seems daunting when they combine their
medications and dietary supplements. The reasons why some clients want to reduce the number of pills
they’re taking can vary but quite often it is because they are
no longer able to easily swallow them. Complicating side
effects from health conditions, limitations from surgical
procedures, poor absorption of pills through the gastrointestinal tract, feeling nauseas or simply being tired of choking down handfuls of pills each day were the most common
of reasons.
If clients are taking medications, the first step is to have
them meet with their physician to see if there are suitable
options that could substitute the medications currently
being taken, whether it is a smaller pill or change in the
frequency of administration or delivery method. We then
review their dietary supplements to ensure specific nutrients are not overlapping in excess of what their individual
needs actually are. Once we have identified all small pills,
liquid and powder substitutes that are available over the
counter we would begin to identify which products were
not. Working with the client’s physician and our local compounding pharmacy, we proceeded to identify which products and formulas can be compounded into liquids powders
or creams. Quite often products can be combined to lessen
the number of individual items being taken. Of the many
compounded delivery methods for medications and dietary
supplements, clients are often surprised that many products can be compounded into a topical cream.
The market for compounded topical medications including lotions has grown tremendously in the past four years.
Topical formulas allow products to be absorbed easily
through the skin allowing the medications to bypass any
problems with malabsorption, moving too slowly or too fast
through the digestive tract. Topical medications are often
prescribed for individuals who have chronic pain, allowing
the medication to be applied to a specific area of the body.
The benefit is twofold in that the medication is applied to
the specific area of concern and its effects can strategically impact a specific region of interest instead of being
dispersed throughout the entire body. This also minimizes
the possibility of creating a dependency for drugs that are
known to be addictive. Other products commonly compounded into creams are scar reducing formulas, nauseas

reducing medications and some dietary supplements.
Not all medications and dietary supplements can be compounded into a topical cream. The size and structure of each
ingredient must be small enough to pass through the skin
when combined with an appropriate carrier agent or base.
Topical medications can be helpful for many different reasons. Some of these reasons can include the following conditions or circumstances:

• Swallowing difficulties
• Having texture and taste sensitivities
• Diminished absorpti ۈYH