Finding Alternate Routes<\/p>\n
Although oral delivery is generally the easiest option, the enteral route, which runs from mouth to anus, isn\u2019t always an accessible or feasible pathway. Factors such as the hostile environment of the stomach, which can break down a medication too quickly, or issues with the gastrointestinal tract\u2019s function\u2014or lack thereof\u2014can make this route a poor option.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was an intern at Los Angeles County Hospital, I had a patient with fairly significant tuberculosis,\u201d Beninger said. \u201cThe upper gastrointestinal tract was not working at all, so giving oral drugs\u2014which make up about 90% of TB medications\u2014wasn\u2019t possible. So I asked a senior resident physician about administering the drugs per rectum.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resident\u2019s response? \u201cGreat idea, figure it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, Beninger worked with the hospital\u2019s pharmacist who created a formulation of the medication that could be delivered via suppository. \u201cThere are a small number of drugs routinely given that way, but for those that aren\u2019t, they require a special preparation, which isn\u2019t commercial,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPharmacists have the authority to prepare what they call compounded drugs,\u201d Beninger said. \u201cWhen they go to pharmacy school, they learn specific skills \u2014which have taken hundreds of years to develop in the field\u2014to be able to create and deliver drugs for specific scenarios, and in many cases that don\u2019t have preservatives in them.\u201d<\/p>\n
In prescription medications, preservatives work much like they do in foods. They extend the shelf life of drugs by preventing oxidation of active ingredients, which can diminish potency. They also maintain colors, keep drugs shelf stable, and prevent the growth of bacterial or fungal contaminants in water-based solutions, such as nasal sprays.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But for some patients, these preservatives can cause irritation, inflammation, or allergic reactions, which is why for some treatments a clinician may seek to use a drug formulation that is preservative-free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finding Alternate Routes Although oral delivery is generally the easiest option, the enteral route, which runs from mouth…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":773258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[210,1060,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-773257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116518020839824878","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}