How can I get DD to swallow tablets?

[Canshopwillshop]

My 14 year old DD has been prescribed antibiotics which come in a rather large capsule! The problem is that she hasn’t had to take tablets before and is finding it really hard to swallow them. I feel a bit of a failure for not getting her used to taking tablets before now but thankfully she has rarely needed to take medicines so it hadn’t really occurred to me.

Any tips please?

I can’t remember what tablets she had but I know she had to change antibiotic when moving over to liquid as the one prescribed originally didn’t come in liquid form.
The liquid she had was erythromycin. The GP said it might be less effective than the tablets she had tried to take. But it worked wonders for dd. It cleared her skin up brilliantly.
She now only uses Duac cream daily which the GP gave her once antibiotics had done their thing.

Thanks again namechange and snozzle. Good to hear the antibiotics worked for your DD snozzle.

I have the same issue with my 15 year old son, he can't even swallow an anti histamine! Which is tiny. He's on antibiotics at the moment but thankfully the chemist changed it from tablets to liquid. He is moaning about the taste but all i keep is that's the joys of liquid.

I learnt to take them with milkshakes - apparently the thicker consistency helps!

You have my sympathy OP! We're on day 4 of a three month course for the same reason with my DD and I'm trying so hard to be patient! I'll be trying some of these tips too.

Out of interest which capsule are they? My Dd is on Lymecycline - I was wondering about opening the capsule up to make it easier but wasn't sure if that would be ok.

@roamingseams - yes it’s Lymecycline. The pharmacist told me it’s ok to open the capsule but an unbelievable amount of powder comes out of it and it tastes disgusting!

I wouldn't open a capsule without checking with a pharmacist.
They're usually in that plastic shell so the meds aren't released until they reach the stomach. Might do some damage if they're taken out of the plastic.
I tried absolutely everything with my dd.
I gave her some ideas and left her to do it on her own, I stood with her and coached her gently through it and I got cross with her and tried to be hard handed with no sympathy to get her to do it. But nothing worked.
She's practiced with tic tacs as well but it just doesn't go down.
We've discovered that she can't gulp drink down so she never has enough liquid to wash it down.
We tried yoghurt, milkshakes and fizzy drinks as well.

@snozzlemaid - I did check with the pharmacist.

Yes. I saw your next post after I posted.
At least you can do it that way for now.

Thanks @CanShop. Will try that if all else fails. Wish me luck, she's due home in 10 mins and it's tablet timetables time...yay!

Good luck roaming - going to try later with my DD when her friend has gone.

@roamingseams -,How did you get on? Success here - she managed it after about 8 attempts! She seems to prefer the fizzy drink method.
Also thought I would double check with a different pharmacist about opening the capsule and this one told me it’s not a good idea - it won’t cause harm but will make it less effective.

Mushed banana here - took a loooong time to disappear though and so it had probably dissolved in her mouth before she swallowed it. I'll try the fizzy drink method tomorrow. At least we have three packs of tablets to practise with - she might crack it sometime in the next 3 months!

Good luck to you and your DD roaming. Fingers crossed our DD’s manage this and it helps their skin.