Does anyone know if Pradaxa can be opened and mixed with applesauce?

I know these types of blood thiners are more convenient to us than warfarin and do not require monthly lab visits but warfarin pills are much smaller and easier to take. The monitoring can be performed at home but requires a special machine similar to those used by diabetics. maybe one of the other blood thinners is a smaller tablet. ask your pharmacist. As noted above the pill must be taken whole and will slip down easier if taken with a mouthful of pudding or similar. Put the pudding in the mouth then the pill placed long end towards the back,swallow and wash down. if it feels stuck eat more pudding put chin on chest and swallow hard again. As long as he is not coughing it will go down. Give it before he starts a meal so the osophagus is empty and pill has a clear passage. He may be having general swallowing difficulties which can be easily diagnosed with a simple barium swallow X-ray, he could even sit for that. He could also have a food challenge X-ray where he would be given different textures of food laced with barium and they watch it on a screen while he swallows. Nothing unpleasant and not at all stressful. One bite is enough. If he is having problems you can be advised about a soft diet than he can easily eat plus nutricious drinks

You've gotten good advice here. As a note for the future, and excellent source of this kind of information is your pharmacist.

Pradaxa should never be crushed or have the capsule opened. It can cause serious bleeding as the medication is meant to thin blood, and if it is absorbed too quickly it can cause breakthough internal bleeding. The capsule is meant to regulate how quickly and in what part of the intestines the medicine is absorbed. Please do not do this!!

Angel

From the Pradaxa website:
2.3 Instructions to Patients
Instruct patients to swallow the capsules whole. PRADAXA should be taken with a full glass of water. Breaking, chewing, or emptying the contents of the capsule can result in increased exposure [see Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)].

If a dose of PRADAXA is not taken at the scheduled time, the dose should be taken as soon as possible on the same day; the missed dose should be skipped if it cannot be taken at least 6 hours before the next scheduled dose. The dose of PRADAXA should not be doubled to make up for a missed dose.

Actually my Mom was recently in rehab and had a hard time swallowing and they broke it open and mixed with either pudding or applesauce..

Just make sure you Don't take pill out of bottle/foil until ready to use...

I'm not sure about whether or not it can be opened and then mixed, but you could try it with something thicker like mashed potatoes (put the whole capsule in). You may have to try several different ways before you find the right thing for you Dad. Good luck with this.