To ask how you swallow tablets?

[GarlicBreadStan]

For as long as I can remember (I'm 27, if that matters) I've had real issues with swallowing tablets. I can swallow my contraceptive pill absolutely fine, but anything bigger than that and I really do struggle. I often end up with the tablet dissolving in my throat, or I gag when trying to swallow it even with water. I've had to result in taking Calpol before because it was just easier. Because of my difficulty with swallowing tablets, I often don't take painkillers and just suffer through pain (and I have a migraine at least twice a month).

How do you take tablets or, if you can't, do you get prescribed/buy liquid painkillers?

Thank you x

P.S. sorry for saying the word "swallow" so many times :s

Lob tablet in far back, swiftly take gulp of water.

Break the tablet in half ?

OP for just normal painkillers ie not prescription ones, yes I have had nurofen meltlets in the past but I prefer just getting soluble paracetamol or aspirin. Then I just have a little bit of squash in a cup (so I don't have to drink the whole cup) and dissolve it in there. I find that much better than the meltlets.

Or if I needed something stronger I got the solpadeine dissolvable tablets.

Otherwise the doctor would prescribe liquid unless it was a small tablet. They do prefer to prescribe tablets and they never know what size the tablets are so they seem to first do the prescription for a tablet. If I go to the chemist and see the size of the tablet then now I'll just say I can't do that and don't take it and ring them back up and ask for liquid prescription.

Buy soluble paracetamol. The official name is effervescent paracetamol. This is a Tesco link, but they even sell it in Home Bargains.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/257095683

These

If in feeling lazy i sometimes treat myself to taking tablets with food.

I grab a handful of something tasty (cereal, nuts, doesn't really matter), chew it and then pop the tablets in at the point I'd normally swallow. Trick the bidy into thinking its food.

I take many each day and just swallow with water. I have no choice as I have a chronic health issue that needs to be managed. You get used to it.

Well to be fair some people don't get used to having to swallow tablets just because they develop a health condition.
my problem swallowing tablets hasn't gone away just because I had to start taking medicine every day.

My husband marvels because I often take relatively large high strength co-codamol capsules with the smallest bit of water and sometimes dry (only because I was in a lot of pain and had nothing to drink) as he struggles with tiny tablets. Isn’t the trick to put your head down?

I struggle with this too.

When I was a teenager I had a choice between tablets or injections. Tablets were the lesser evil so I decided to teach myself to take them. I did lots of practice with swallowing smarties and raisins with water in place of tablets, to try and teach myself not to panic and gag.

I have a drink of water. Put the tablet in my mouth but hold it between my back teeth (to stop it getting wet from my mouth and starting to dissolve!) then take a drink of water, to my head back slightly and release the tablet from my teeth. Usually works. I also give myself permission to spit out the tablet if I'm going to gag, no feeling guilty for wasting tablets.

Also, if it's a nasty tasting one I reward myself with a sweet after 😊

Haven’t RTFT but find it easier to put tablets in and then suck a load of water through a straw (I use a bottle with a flip up mouthpiece and internal straw as that’s what I generally use). Gets more water in without having to open your mouth too much.

caplets over round tablets for paracetamol

for capsules, tilt head forward before you swallow - gets it closer to the throat (floats)

Paracetamol capsules are much easier

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet (not rtft) but I learned to swallow tablets by chewing bread until the point of swallowing, took it out of my mouth, stuffed the tablet inside and then swallowed the bread with the tablet inside 😂 it was a bit weird but it worked and now I can knock tablets back normally but it was definitely a process

Like OP I've always struggled with swallowing tablets. I think my oesophagus must be very narrow because I can't swallow food either unless it's been chewed to a liquid. I've spent decades gagging, coughing, spitting tablets out etc, when they just wouldn't go down.

However, I've recently discovered that if I pretend I'm not taking a tablet and just focus on drinking a big glass of water, the tablet will go down by itself. No tipping my head back or forward, no trying to position the tablet at the back of my mouth - I just keep my head completely in a natural position and drink normal-sized gulps of water without stopping for air. Normally after 2-4 sips it has gone down! It's been a complete revelation to me!

Unless there's a specific reason not to that's how I always take pills. A million times easier than with liquid.

I didn't.

You probably have an overactive gag reflex. I do but I didn't know this until I went to see an ENT about tonsil stones.

For years the way I took tablets was to chew a bit of something that sort of stays in a solidish lump (e.g. a sandwich) and then I'd quickly push the pill into the inside of the chewed lump of food just before swallowing. That seemed to trick my body into accepting it especially if I could seal the lump of food so I couldn't taste the tablet!

I do now take capsules every day and have got used to swallowing them with water or even without 😬but I couldn't explain how I did this - anyway the food method worked fine for a while. DS1 has the same problem and he uses a gummy sweet with a strong taste e.g. a couple of Haribo.

For me it was fear of it getting stuck - we used to take aspirin when I was a kid and if it got stuck the taste made me gag. But I learnt to relax my throat, put the tablet as far back on my tongue as I can (sometimes breaking it in half first) and only using a small amount of fluid - too much and I realise I can't swallow it all plus the tablet so the tablet gets left behind. But relaxation mostly. And don't think too much about the process, just get on with it.

Also during covid I had to take regular tests for work. You were meant to scrape your tonsils - that made me gag so I couldn't go through with it, but I tried it every time I did a test, and hey presto, one day it was easy - no more gagging.

I think some people can open their gullet better, I’m one of them. My husband cannot take pills at all, so has soluble or liquid form. Either that or it is a complete drama of gagging and fussing. The pharmacist will usually advise if its OK to crush or dissolve them - eg Ramipril is OK in apple juice, apparently. He recently had to take some quite serious meds and was allowed to soak them in water first.

You can also try tinned peaches or mango, slippery food.

That's why you need to try my method. If you take multiple quick gulps as if you were REALLY thirsty on a hot day, your throat can't close because of the sheer volume of water. Seriously, until I discovered this, I was like you. Now I have no problems at all.

...if I pretend I'm not taking a tablet and just focus on drinking a big glass of water, the tablet will go down by itself. No tipping my head back or forward, no trying to position the tablet at the back of my mouth - I just keep my head completely in a natural position and drink normal-sized gulps of water without stopping for air. Normally after 2-4 sips it has gone down! It's been a complete revelation to me!

Yes! Exactly that!

Tablets in mouth, seal lips round straw or water bottle, keep the seal while drinking/glugging normally and the tablets just disappear. The seal seems to be important for some reason.

The bigger the tablet, the bigger the mouthful of water. Just gulp as much water as you can fit in your mouth and knock it back fast.

I think its psychological i could never take tablets would panic start choking now i take 11 every morning in one go no issues