are you giving it 30-60 min before a full meal? that is very important.
and also, split it into 2 if not three doses. one full dose is not a good idea.
How Delayed Release PPIs
Work
In
their pure and unprotected form, PPIs are very vulnerable to degradation when
exposed directly to the acid in the stomach. For this reason, DR PPIs are given
an enteric coating. This protective
coating is specifically designed not to dissolve while the drug is in the acidic
fluids in the stomach, but instead it dissolves when the tablet or granules
reach the higher pH (less acidic) environment of the duodenum (the first
section of the small intestine). Here the coating dissolves and the drug is
absorbed into the blood stream, where it is carried to the parietal cells,
where it does its job of blocking proton pumps. This whole process takes 30
minutes to 1 hour.
DR
PPIs should be given on an empty stomach because food in the stomach can both lower
the level of absorption and raise the pH in the stomach, causing the enteric
coating on the drug to dissolve, which then leaves the drug vulnerable to
exposure to pockets of acid in the stomach which could destroy the drug.
DR
PPIs should be given 30 minutes to 1 hour before a full meal (6 oz or
more for infants). As I already mentioned, in order for PPIs to work their best
you want as many proton pumps to be in an active state as possible, and the
primary way of achieving this is by eating a full meal. The timing is important
because you want the meal to be activating lots of proton pumps right at the
same time that the drug is reaching peak levels in the blood stream.
DR
PPIs should taken with water or sprinkled over an acidic food such as apple
sauce or yogurt.
You
should never break or crumble a tablet form of DR PPI, as this will compromise
the protective enteric coating. (Prevacid Solutabs contain enteric-coated
granules within the tablet, and it is ok to break a Solutab in half, as this
should not harm the individual granules)
You
should never give a DR with a non-acidic food (such as milk, formula or
cereal), as this will dissolve the enteric coating and leave the drug
unprotected.
DR
PPIs should never be chewed or crushed, as this will compromise the protective
enteric coating.
For
infants, MARCI-Kids recommends the use of the IR PPI Zegerid over DR forms of
PPIs, as infants can easily spit out, chew or even choke on the granules of DR
PPIs. Of the DR PPIs, Prevacid Solutabs seem to be the easiest to administer
for most parents.
.
