my adult son has truamatic brain injury and difficulty swallowing. He has a feeding tube and thatg is how I have tgo give hime the Depakote sprinkles. I did no start yet -- any suggestions?
How can I give the Depakote sprinkles through a feeding tube?
Question posted by marieajg21 on 13 July 2012
Last updated on 9 August 2019 by Woody woodpecker
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5 Answers
Woody woodpecker
9 Aug 2019
They is a liquid form called Depakene.
Also you can mix the capsules with applesauce and a little water or orange juice.
yoyie721
12 Aug 2012
Put the sprinkles in a cup mixed with tablespoon of apple sauce and coke/pepsi. This will make the depakote sprinkles dispersed and not clog the feeding tube. If unable to drain via gravity, use the plunger and add more soda as needed.
kaismama
12 Aug 2012
I've been putting meds down feeding tubes for 40 yrs and I've never even entertained putting apple sauce in one.
yoyie721
13 Aug 2012
Well, you only mix a spoonful of apple sauce. I'm a nurse and just did it successfully with Neurologist at bedside.
kaismama
13 Aug 2012
I'm a nurse too, and never found the need for that. Flushing gets it there just fine.
sednave
11 May 2014
We're having some problems with depakote. It's a new med for our son who is tube fed.the med just doesn't dissolved in water. It seems like some of them are being wasted. I am reading some the comments here. Dissolving is water is not the answer. I'll try mixing it with apple sauce like the other lady suggested.
MPsDad
2 Dec 2014
The nurse of 40 years has never administered depakote via the g-tube if that is her assessment. We are seriously struggling to get these sprinkles through our son's tube which we've been using for 12 years and have administered half of the drug store at this point for his seizure disorder... we will try the applesauce... thanks
DzooBaby
13 July 2012
I agree. If you can flush the tube, just mix the sprinkles in water and flush through with enough water so that all the sprinkles go down. You can swirl the syringe to get any sprinkles stuck to the sides of the syringe to go down with the water. It should be fairly easy.
Inactive
13 July 2012
If your son has a feeding tube that you can flush with a syringe, simply mix the sprinkles in water and slowly push through the feeding tube. If that is not possible, call the prescribing physician for a liquid that can be given in a syringe by gravity, that is by holding tubing with syringe full of Depakote above the level of the insertion site, it should just slowly drain in.
Hope that makes sense, and I agree with Kaismama.
Best of luck,
Sweet Hippie
HeadStarter
14 July 2012
Exceptional answer, clear... concise and direct!!! Thumbs UP!!!
Mary
Inactive
14 July 2012
Thx Head,
Between Dzoo, Kaismama and myself, think we covered the whole process. I hope her son gets better soon
If it makes the original poster a bit more hopeful, I myself had a closed head injury when I was 16, in a coma for two weeks, a year of paralysis on the right, and I survived it all. The year I missed school, I worked in every department of the small hospital where I lived. Certainly learned a lot in that year. Actually finished up my senior year in 3 months. Just letting you know, miracles do happen.
The lucky hippie,
Laura
kaismama
13 July 2012
What gauge and type is his feeding tube? I have suspended them in water and given them in gtubes, if they are larger ones. You'd think the doc could use something that comes in liquid.
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depakote, depakote sprinkles, head injury, dysphagia
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