Bay Life Compounding Pharmacy: How Compounded Medication Works for Hospice Compounding.

It’s always a difficult time to watch a loved one in hospice care. The feeling of helplessness and inevitability as the clock winds down can be overwhelming, but there’s much  caregivers or families can do to lessen the toll of end-of-life illnesses that may have painful symptoms and discomforts. Compounded medication can lessen the hold terminal diseases have over loved ones during these challenging times, easing their pain and ensuring a much more peaceful and graceful transition.

Best practices for better hospice management 

Family support

You can’t do it all alone. A support system is essential to providing the mental and physical relief necessary to get through this difficult time. If family or friends are hard to come by, consider professional home aides. 

Dietary needs

Doctors may recommend dietary changes for hospice patients. It’s important to ensure every nutritional requirement is addressed. Same way it’s also key to steer clear of specific foods your physician may have warned you off. 

Managing symptoms

The primary objective of hospice care is to make end-of-life as hassle- and pain-free as can be. From compounded medication plans to therapies and more, you have many options at your fingertips to ensure that’s the case. 

Comfort in spirituality

Spiritual activities like meditation or prayer can provide refuge and comfort, especially if your loved one is a spiritual person. Your support network can help by taking turns to participate to ensure this stage of life is a lot more peaceful. However, do not force anything upon them. Be respectful of their wishes and most importantly, be patient. 

When is hospice compounding necessary? 

1) If hospice patients have trouble with their form of medication 

Seniors can have difficulties swallowing not just compounded medication but food as well. This condition is called dysphagia and typically sets in with age as mouth muscles and teeth become weaker. Consequently, it becomes that much harder to ingest solid or dry substances. 

Alternatively, the elderly in hospice may also have skin problems that may rule out topical medication. In such cases, a compound pharmacy such as ours can alter medicine forms to ensure an easier route of administration. For example, we can alter forms from solids to injectables if your loved one is facing the challenges we’ve outlined above.

2) When patients find their drugs to be unpleasant 

Many hospice patients have thrown in the towel on their medication regimen because they find that the pills leave a bitter taste in the mouth, which makes them not worth the effort. To make drugs a lot more palatable, hospice compounding is the way to go as pharmacies can: 

• Take out unnecessary ingredients that may not be too kind to the taste buds
• Add new flavors that make pills more tasteful

3) If the medication burden becomes too much to bear

It’s quite common for patients in hospice care to receive a world of medication, as they are often battling multiple symptoms at a time. This extracts such a high toll and can make the hospice experience significantly more difficult. 

If hospice medication is taking a lot out of your loved one, a compound pharmacy can take some of the load off by fusing multiple medications into a single dose. This way, your loved one can get it over and done with quickly so medication time doesn’t always feel like a chore.

Symptoms that hospice compounding can help suppress

Compounded meds for hospice can cushion and sometimes completely do away with some of the most common symptoms for patients in hospice care such as:

• Pain: Towards the end of life, patients can experience sharp, uncomfortable pains which can negate their will to go on. Compounding pharmacy solutions can ease the pain and ensure higher levels of comfort at this difficult time. 
• Diarrhea: Hospice patients may not have the best bladder and bowel control, which may also be exacerbated by other factors like the medication they’re on. Compounding can help them take back their bowel and bladder control, as well as their dignity. 
• Nausea/vomiting: Medication is one of the leading causes of nausea and vomiting for hospice patients, with constipation, and other conditions also play a part to accelerate these conditions. A compound pharmacy can alter dosage strength or forms to get ahead of these difficulties. 
• Bedsores: Bed sores set in from prolonged periods of sitting in a wheelchair or lying in bed, which leads to pressure ulcers, sores, or injuries. Compounding can treat these symptoms, enabling individuals to sleep and sit with greater comfort. 
• Anxiety: Naturally, patients gravitating toward the end can understandably have trouble keeping their emotions under control. Compounded meds can help still racing thoughts and provide a clearer frame of mind.

Benefits of compounding for hospice care

1) Access to discontinued or unavailable medication

Medication delays happen all the time, which can lead hospice patients to suffer more than they have to. However, a compounding pharmacy can fill prescriptions promptly even during times of shortage. Because they make their own, patients can also have access to discontinued medication. 

2) Lesser side effects

Hospice compounding can take out allergens in generic medication, as well as surplus ingredients or elements that may come with harsh side effects. Additionally, with the capability to reduce dosage strength wherever possible, these solutions can lessen the severity of side effects. 

3) Customized treatment plans

Compounding for hospice enables your loved one to receive specific medications that address their unique challenges. Generic medication offers a blanket-fit solution that may not have the best patient outcomes. 

Bay Life Compounding Pharmacy:

Many times, the symptoms of hospice care may not be sufficiently tackled by conventional compounded medication. That’s usually due to the unique requirements of hospice patients that aren’t unanimous across the board, as well as reactions between other medications your loved one is on. Hospice compounding enables caregivers to get around these challenges, providing custom solutions that adequately and precisely address the unique needs of individuals in hospice care. If you’d like to learn more about our compounding pharmacy and how it can help improve your loved one’s hospice care, drop us a message today.