Taking Tablets - cure my muppetry please PH!

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Yes, yes, I know...

Just MTFU etc. I'm embarrassed.

But I've just never been able to take tablets. Think I tried as a kid, gagged/choked and now can't get my head round taking them. Oh yeah, I'm now 45!!

Been lucky that never needed much medication, always asked dentist for kiddies liquid antibiotics and used soluble aspirin/paracetemol for headaches.

The odd other tablet I'd just crunch up and eat.

But to cure what appears to be an infected ankle joint, I now have boxes of Flucloxacillin, Naprosyn & Omeprazole to get down my neck

So does anyone have any tips for overcoming this? I've tried putting a tablet at the back of my tongue and/or swilling it around with water but I just can't make myself swallow the damned thing...

Thanks.

[BaronVonVaderham]

Dysphagia - look it up. More people than you'd think are in your boat.

[mat13]

I was like this, I got round it by slowly working up to the bigger tablets, started with the tiny hay fever tablets and slowly went up to the bigger ones, still struggle with some of the torpedoe sized antibiotics though!

[Munter]

Pot Bellied Fool said:

I've tried putting a tablet at the back of my tongue

Why do people do this? Putting anything that far into the mouth would make you gag. If you don't want to gag don't do that. I'd suggest putting it exactly where you'd put any bit of food you intend to swallow whole, rather than treat it differently.

[condor]

I have the same issue with taking tablets too. Mine was more down to a habit I'd formed of holding whatever liquid was in my mouth for some time before swallowing. Many years of wine taster training
I have to take Lansoprazole every day, which is a capsule, and I have to concentrate hard on swallowing the water straight away. With tablets I break them up into smaller bits if they're too big.

I've also had Omeprazole, which in the blurb will say, if you can't swallow it then dissolve the tablet in a small glass of orange juice or similar - then when dissolved, drink, make sure you get the rest of the medicine sediment down you by adding water to the glass till it's all gone. As a btw I didn't get on with Omeprazole and have stuck with Lansoprazole.

[smiffy180]

Put it in food?

[Opara]

I knew someone with a similar problem, he'd put it in a banana and eat it.

[Ikemi]

Do what I do and pretend it's an M&M you're swallowing. Mind over matter. Surprisingly, it works for me! Just don't suddenly think about the fact it's a tablet as you're half-swallowing, which I've done before, and then gagged it back up again ...

[jagracer]

Pot Bellied Fool said:

But to cure what appears to be an infected ankle joint, I now have boxes of Flucloxacillin, Naprosyn & Omeprazole to get down my neck

So does anyone have any tips for overcoming this? I've tried putting a tablet at the back of my tongue and/or swilling it around with water but I just can't make myself swallow the damned thing...

Thanks.

I have trouble with Flucloxacillin, they seem to be always get stuck at the back of my throat. Just make sure you take the Omeprazole if you take the Naproxen, the latter can do a lot of damage to your stomach if you're not careful.

[Jasandjules]

Currently having to suck in a fair few painkillers. I was also unable to take them.

What I do is take a drink of something, hold it in my mouth, tilt head back then throw pill in and swallow the lot quickly. So far mainly success....

[mph1977]

take a decent gulp of what ever liquid you are using to wash the tablets down with... it is a case of MTFU to some degree.

[Slink]

try sticking tablet in mouth, take a gulp of water but dont swallow.

tip head back so pill and water goes to back of throat, then swallow.


works every time

[condor]

How are you getting on with taking the tablets OP?

[Pot Bellied Fool]

condor said:

How are you getting on with taking the tablets OP?

A bit of a struggle...!

Ended up coughing tablet across the kitchen several times - to the disgust of my nurse wife who can't understand the fuss!

Managed in the end by swilling with several gallins of water till it got sorta caught in the flow - not ideal though.

I found a Youtube Vid that mirrored what JasandJuleS & slink said, and that seems to be working - ish. http://youtu.be/_hHj48R-4rg

Keep practicing & hope I never get ill enough to need a shedload!

[Pugster]

I used to have this.

Try putting the tablet in some food you know you don't chew. Yoghurt worked for me. A bit on a spoon, put the tablet in and down the hatch.

It's all in your head anyway because after doing this for a while I found I could swallow them with just a bit of water.

[sparkyhx]

I take my 8 morning pills in one go, with a single sip.

The trick is to learn to drink without moving your tongue. Similar technique to the mega fast drinkers, ie. you just pour it down your throat.

when you drink, your tongue goes to the roof of your mouth to swallow and thats why the tablets get stuck. Practice swallowing liquid keeping your tongue flat as possible or using the front of the tongue rather than back on the roof of the mouth - when you can do that, place the tablets on your tongue and they should simply wash down.