MEDGADGET EDITORS GERIATRICS, MEDICINE, PEDIATRICS

Many people experience difficulties swallowing their medications, with kids and elderly people being most commonly affected. Crushing pills and taking apart drug capsules is usually a poor solution, since the effectiveness and rate of release of medications can be significantly altered. DS Technology, a German firm, has developed a unique drinking straw that makes it easy and comfortable to take oral medications.

The XStraw, as the device is called, is made to contain a pre-measured dosage of drug pellets or granules. The patient simply dips it into their favorite beverage and sucks on it like a conventional drinking straw. 

Inside, a special porous filter solution from Porex, a company that makes all kinds of filters, works to contain the drug and to make sure that it moves up the straw as it is sucked on. The filter is hydrophobic and so prevents the drug pellets or granules from sticking to each other and creating clumps that would make swallowing difficult and may affect medication effectiveness. Moreover, until the patient sucks on the straw, the medication will not mix with their beverage. As the drink is drunk, the control filter moves up with the medications and sticks in place to signal that the medication was ingested.

Product page: XStraw…

Via: Porex