Miralax & thickened liquids

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I'm having a terrible time trying to mix up Miralax with thickened liquids (nectar). If I use pre-thickened liquids, the Miralax literally de-thickens it. If I make my own thickened liquids (with h2O) I get chunks, goo... if I use milk or juice and thicken my own, there is some de-thickening, plus disgusting chunks... and it doesn't seem to matter what my mixing technique is...

Anybody know of any other way...?!

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Specializes in Critical Care; LTC.

I have found if I dissolve the miralax first like 5 minutes before I add the thickening agent the thickener after the miralax is totally dissolved. It is thick and not too chunky atleast tolerable. hope this helps

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I know that for people I've had with thickened liquids, lactulose has ended up working better, just because we didn't end up with that chemical reaction. What are you using to thicken your liquids? I do know that for the one person that we ended up leaving on Miralax, we ended up having to use Simply Thick instead of Thick-it, because we didn't get the clumps from two kinds of powder mixing in one liquid. (Simply Thick is a gel.)

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I'm so glad to see that someone else noticed this. I have brought this fact up to our facility pharmacist and he was surprised and not aware that it dethickens liquids. He was going to look into it but I think he forgot about it. I don't think most pharmacies are aware or the Miralax company for that matter and they should let people know on the bottle. Anyway to answer your question, I have tried taking a thicker juice such as honey thick and see if it still thins as much, or I usually tell the MD that this person is on thickened liquids and needs something instead of Miralax. I have mixed it with applesauce and then had them follow up with 8 oz liquid. Sorry for the long rant.

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Thanks for the replies, yes, nobody else at my facility seems to notice... or mention it, anyway, lol. I've had that same thought about honey thick! Tried it and the exact same thing happens - I'm right back to completely unthickened liquids. I usually stir my Miralax until completely dissolved anyway, but the second I put in thickener, I get this massive clump of snot looking stuff that I can literally dish out with a spoon. It's disgusting. I think I'm going to have to call the pharmacy and see what they suggest.

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Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

Very informative and helpful posts. Pistolchick, what are you packing?

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a witty retort - lol - as in, "she's a real pistol" - not firearms! probably a silly name for someone who doesn't really believe in guns.

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Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

Got ya, my bad.

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I haven't ran into this yet as a nurse but I have noticed at home (my son takes Miralax) that if the mix sits for bit it will thicken, not unlike a mixture of thickened water.

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I find that with the bottled thickit aqua care h2o you can mix in the miralax without it ruining the consistency - the ready made bottled thickt water is expensive but avoids this dilemma -

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