Better than a spoonful of sugar

Doctor helps kids overcome difficulty swallowing medications

The simple act of swallowing a pill can change a child’s life.

Alysa Hauk, 10, suffers from an autoimmune disorder that requires about 10 medications a day to manage. Because she was unable to swallow pills, Alysa couldn’t travel, sleep at a relative’s home, or even play at a friend’s house because of the need to refrigerate and keep track of all her liquid medications.

Now Alysa can do all of those things thanks to some simple pill swallowing tips she learned from Bonnie Kaplan, who works in the Behavioural Research Unit at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

Kaplan — a research psychologist for the University of Calgary — taught Alysa how to swallow pills by simply changing the tilt of her head. Kaplan’s study, published online in Paediatrics & Child Health, finds children who have never been able to swallow a whole pill can become successful by learning various head positions.

“If a child with a chronic or acute illness, such as cancer or arthritis, cannot swallow a pill, it can be a huge problem,” says Kaplan.

“Some medications are very difficult to turn into liquid form or taste horrible when they are liquid. There are cases where children cannot leave the hospital because they have to keep getting their medications through an IV or injections.”

Thanks to Kaplan’s study, Alysa can now have sleepovers and hang out with her friends like most other 10-year-olds.

“It was so empowering for her to be able to swallow pills,” says Alysa’s mom, Fabiola Hauck. “It opened so many doors. We can take trips now, she can go to the park for the afternoon, she is invited to sleep over, just like any normal girl.”

Alysa was even able to teach her older brother Jarad how to swallow pills. Jarad has juvenile arthritis and needs to take medicine for his illness. Alysa used small breath mints to show Jarad how to swallow the pills, just as she was shown during the study.

“This is a case where something very simple can make such a huge difference in people’s lives,” says Kaplan.

“Occasionally something comes up in health care where we don’t need physician expertise, but it is a simple intervention that has broad implications for the lay public, like the Heimlich manoeuvre.”

This research and a training video showing techniques for swallowing pills are supported by the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.

You can view the video at: www.ucalgary.ca/research4kids/pillswallowing

Kaplan and her students are now working with ear, nose and throat physicians to study the dynamics of swallowing in various head positions. They are looking for adults who have no difficulty swallowing pills who might be interested in volunteering for this next study.

If interested, please contact Lucas Badenduck at 403-999-0364 or by email at labadend@ucalgary.ca, or contact Dr. Kaplan at 403-955-7363.