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Sandy3170 Asked April 2022

My 85-year-old dad needs to take sodium pills, but he doesn’t want to take them because they make him nauseous. Is there a cream, spray, or something else?

I need something that provides him with the sodium his body needs but that he doesn’t have to swallow.

Geaton777 Apr 2022
Can you talk to his doctor about prescribing Ondansetron, (also sold under the brand name Zofran) which is an anti-emitic that is a tiny pill that disolves under the tongue and takes care of nausea for 8 hrs? I've used it when I have vertigo and am nauseous. It works great and doesn't really have any side effects, other than making you a little thirstier.

For sodium, does he drink anything like Gatorade? Is he under the care of a physician or an alternative medicine practitioner?

freqflyer Apr 2022
Sandy3170, does he take the pill with food? If not, check with his doctor to see if he can, that might help buffer the side effects.

Does he take the pill at the same time with a bunch of other pills? Could be another pill is battling with the sodium pill. Example, I can't take my blood pressure pill and then take a Tums, it will make me nauseous. Thus, I take the Tums first, then a hour later take the blood pressure pill, and that works.

Or, with his doctor's permission cut the pill in half so his system can get use to the pills.

If none of the above works, what I found with pills, it depends on who makes the pills. Pills contain a filler to make the pills larger so one can handle them.... pills contain a binder that keeps the pill together.... some pills contain a coating which makes the pill easier to swallow. One can be hypersensitive to any one of those things in a pill.

Sometimes finding a different pharmaceutical manufacturer can help as their ingredients are different. To do that, you would need to check with different drug stores to see where they get their pills from.
Sandy3170 Apr 2022
Thank you for your advise. It’s very much appreciated it. What he takes are capsules fill with salt. We tried with food and still makes him nauseous. We spread all the medications so he doesn’t take 2 at the same time. We had run of options. His sodium is very low but he refuses to take salt or her sally capsules.

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