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Idaho2790

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Joined
Dec 22, 2017
Messages
150
Reason
PALS
Diagnosis
01/2018
Country
US
State
Idaho
City
Leadore
For the second time, I have received a drug sent in a capsule when I can only take drugs through the PEG. This one is for Neudexta. My husband called the mail order pharmacy and after 30 minutes on the phone he was told that Neudexta only comes in a capsule and that I should contact my doctor to be sure the PEG will accept the med. since this is a Saturday and I will be lucky to hear back by Monday, I wondered if any of you took Nuedexta by feeding tube. Thanks once again for your advice!
 
I have taken neudexta thru my tube for years, but I took it by mouth for years before that.I just open the capsule in a little bit of water, stir, and dump it in. If it is a new medication for you, I would wait and talk to the Dr about it. Nuedexta made me very 'jumpy' when I first started taking it and I had to adjust my dose. I have heard that there is a generic that is a liquid, but I don't know that for sure.
 
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I take Nudexta and other meds through a g-tube no problem. A good quality blender is keeping me well nourished on my wife's excellent home cooking.

Bruce
( typed with eye tracking technology on a Tobii I12 plus)
 
Bruce, so you just open the capsules and crush the contents? I think we will try that too. Thanks so much
 
It will already be a powder form inside the capsule so be careful when you open that you don't have the puff effect :)

Just stir it into some slightly warm water :)
 
I have it mixed with warm prune juice thru the tube. Double purpose!

started with one capsule a day to make sure I could tolerate it. I believe it has helped my swallowing quite a bit.
 
Our plungers are sticking in the syringe. Much force is needed just to free the plunger from the syringe. I've visited two med supply stores and searched the Internet but cannot find a supplier for the particular syringe/plungers we use. We will be visiting our ALS clinic in four days to replenish our supply.

Are there others that have had this problem? Will it continue with the new ones?

We have found that cooking oil helps when allied to the rubber tip of the plunger.
 
We get our syringes from our formula supplier and every time we have some delivered to us they are different brands. Sometimes we have received different brands in the same order. As to the length of time they last, it varies each time, but we think we average about three days of use with each one.

We have noticed that the thickness of the fluid will effect the plunger and can wear it out quicker. The water that we mix with the formula is warmed up and this seems to help. We also mix the formula 1 to 1 with water, this may be a bit much but it works for us. We have liquid hope and osmolite for formulas.
 
I gravity fed through a 60cc syringe - never used the plunger, I'm sure that would have made Chris totally nauseous as we had to be very careful not to let it gravity in too fast.

Can you try without using the plunger?
 
From memory I think we went through 2 or 3 syringes the entire time, as rinsing immediately kept them very clean without any kind of scrubbing which would have worn into the surface and made me through them faster.
 
I definitely had a lot of trial and error when my husband got his PEG last month! The VA didn’t show me anything. At first I was using the plunger, but it just wasn’t working. I looked it up on YouTube and watched several nursing videos. Gravity is the way to go. I have my husband sit in his recliner and I just pour it in. Just mix each med with a little warm water.
 
Got the ok from UCSF today to break the capsule and mis contents with warm water. We put all meds into the PEG with a syringe so guess we are good to go! Just so very much to learn! So glad to have joined this forum.....don’t know how we would make it without all of you. I especially appreciate those CALS who have lost loved ones but who continue to support us.
 
We use gravity feed but also use the plunger to siphon small particles of crushed pills from the bottom of the crushing container (a measuring glass with a pour spout) that will not pour out.

We also use the plunger to push liquid to the stoma that remains above the tube clip that will not empty by gravity.

For me, it's important when plunging that you do not push a lot of air into the stoma.
 
After getting so much valuable information from all of you, I took Neudexta for four nights before giving up on it. In addition to ALS, my only problem is restless leg syndrome . I take Neurontin for that and it really helps. Once I took Neudexta I found that my leg cramps were so bad that I couldn’t sleep at night. I would even take Tramadol and it wouldn’t help. So after reading about the side effects, I found that one most common was muscle cramps! I’m wondering if anyone has had that problem. Maybe I gave up too soon(?).
 
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