Can someone help me with these questions

[shupagirl]

Hi

I have two questions I need help with.

1. A patient painful has a crop of mouth ulcers which are making eating difficult.
- Recommend a specific drug, available to buy over the counter, which would be appropriate for the patient.
Not sure whether to go for Lidocaine or Hyrdocortisone (corlan pellets)
- What is the OTC preparation called and what form does it come in?
In BNF
- What factors have you considered when recommending this drug?
- What counselling points would you give regarding its use?
- What are the two main problems to be aware of when using a local anaesthetic in mouth care?
Not really sure how to answer these

2. A patient complains of having a very dry mouth. They have recently started a course of amitriptyline.
- What simple measures can you advise the patients to take?
Sipping water, sucking sugar-free sweets or chewing sugar-free gum
- What OTC product could this patient buy?
Either Salinum or Xerotin
- What are the properties of this product that help reduce the dry mouth?
PIL
- The patient is a strict vegetarian; would this affect which product you recommend? Give a reason for your answer.
- Would the dry mouth side effect wear off as the patient continues their course of amitriptyline?
yes?

Any help will be greatly appreciated

[Nik]

What are the two main problems to be aware of when using a local anaesthetic in mouth care?
Not really sure how to answer these
Any help will be greatly appreciated

The 2 that spring to mind are sensitisation reactions, and avoiding using local anaesthetics before eating

[shupagirl]

Thank you Nik for the answer to that question
I feel like I'm dumb for asking these questions

[Nik]

No you're not dumb - a good OTC and pharmacology text will help with these kind of q's, eg counselling, side effects, product availability.

[LeftArm]

- The patient is a strict vegetarian; would this affect which product you recommend? Give a reason for your answer.

Salivix pastilles (and other pastilles) contain gelatin which is not suitable for vegetarians.

[shupagirl]

Thank you leftarm

Could anyone recommend a good OTC book?

[shupagirl]

Thank you leftarm

Could anyone recommend a good OTC book?

Could someone delete this post as for some reason it's been posted twice.
Thanks

[shupagirl]

Regarding what factors have you considered when recommending this drug. Would this be ease of use? I haven't been given any other details of the patient so I can't consider age,
previous history, other medication, duration, etc or can I?

[Nik]

I suppose you could talk about these factors such as age (Corlan > 12), patient preference (applying a gel with their fingers or having an orodispersible pellet), previous use of any products. Good OTC texts include Non-prescription medicines by alan nathan, responding to symptoms, community pharmacy by paul rutter.

[shupagirl]

Thanks for your help Nik