Unable to swallow tablets - please help

[Happydaze2]

My DD, now 21, has always been unable to take anything other than soluble pain relief medications because she just can’t overcome her fear of choking and her gag reflex just kicks in. Right now she has a severe throat infection and really needs the tablets the GP has prescribed. Does anyone have experience of this and can offer any advice? I hate seeing her struggling when she’s so unwell

Weirdly, I heard something at random on radio 4 a long time ago where an expert said that if you push in your ear whilst you swallow, it ensures any tablet won't get stuck in your throat or set off a gag reflex. Don't know if it's true, but it always works for me!

The effervescents aren't much more than the tablets bnf.nice.org.uk/medicinal-forms/co-codamol.html#PHP77405

Wrap between 2 small bits of bread. Pinch it together then swallow. Have a glass of water on hand for after swallowing.

The tablets are exactly the same dosage as Solpadeine Plus Soluble Tablets. You can get that OTC from any pharmacy.

Sorry, Solpadeine Max. Those contain 30mg codeine per tablet but also available in soluble form.

I used to have this problem. I learned to swallow tablets by putting one on the back of my thumb and drinking a lot of water - maybe from a pint glass - until it went down by itself with the water. I think it's harder if you're trying to swallow it but just focussing on the water instead worked for me. It got easier over time and now I can swallow them without any water.

I find it easier swallowing tablets with a warm drink rather than cold.

Yoghurt - plenty of - is the tried and tested method.

I struggle a lot too. I prefer to drink with juice, even better a thicker juice like pineapple juice. I also jerk my head backwards to swallow. I’m very sympathetic to your DD.

My son had this trouble. He swallowed it with yoghurt.

As has been said, you can buy that dose in soluble form OTC.

Solpadeine Max. Those contain 30mg codeine per tablet but also available in soluble form

No, they're 12.8mg. But better than nothing at all.

Speak to the pharmacy to see what they suggest. Do you have a community pharmacist attached to your surgery?

Effervescent co-codamol 30/500 is twice the price as the tablets, but still a cheap drug relative to others.

You can get liquid codeine and tiny tiny codeine tablets. I’d take them separately.

My sister can't take tablets with water - and she has a daily regime of tablets. So she puts one in her mouth with other food and shallows it all down together.

I take tablets in food. Chew food, put tablet inside food, swallow food. It makes no sense because the food is never then the tablet but it's the only way I have ever been able to take tablets.

No new suggestion as everything I can think of has been mentioned but just to say my 21 year old dd is exactly the same. She has to chew any tablets she gets given if there is no soluble/liquid alternative. It is so frustrating and worrying because, as I tell her, she is bound to have to take some tablets one day that cant be crushed or chewed. If anything works for your dd, please come back and let us know what it was so I can suggest it to my dd.

Swallow with food. Chew food first then pop tablet in and swallow. Apparently it's easier for people who have difficulty swallowing pills or a fear of choking on them because we swallow food every day thus making it easier to get a pill down. I learnt that on a training course working for holland and Barrett

I have always crushed pills and taken with water.

Update: She’s done it! She read all your posts and decided to give it another try - using the bottle method. And it worked! I think your suggestions and supportive responses really helped today - even though I’d kept telling her she wasn’t being silly and it’s quite a common problem, when she read about your experiences I think it reassured her. Many thanks, Mumsnetters

I've been told there is 8g of salt in a soluble co-codamol. My mother can only take tablets with milk.

I hate taking tablets, especially the rock hard torpedo ones. Ive had a fear ever since childhood. What really works for me is taking them with a really fizzy drink. No idea why it works so well but they go right down

@Happydaze2

Update: She’s done it! She read all your posts and decided to give it another try - using the bottle method. And it worked! I think your suggestions and supportive responses really helped today - even though I’d kept telling her she wasn’t being silly and it’s quite a common problem, when she read about your experiences I think it reassured her. Many thanks, Mumsnetters

Yay! That is fabulous! Well done her

@SorenLorensonsInvisibleFriend

Weirdly, I heard something at random on radio 4 a long time ago where an expert said that if you push in your ear whilst you swallow, it ensures any tablet won't get stuck in your throat or set off a gag reflex. Don't know if it's true, but it always works for me!

This isn't physically possible. Your ear / Eustachian tube has nothing to do with your gag reflex, swallow function or valleculae (where tablets usually stick)

It is however a very good placebo technique!

@Happydaze2

Update: She’s done it! She read all your posts and decided to give it another try - using the bottle method. And it worked! I think your suggestions and supportive responses really helped today - even though I’d kept telling her she wasn’t being silly and it’s quite a common problem, when she read about your experiences I think it reassured her. Many thanks, Mumsnetters

Well done to your dd! It's horrible when you get a fear like this. I hope she finds this helps her every time and the meds can now do their thing.

I couldn't take pills for yrs.
Now in my 50s I'm taking the big torpedo ones that cannot be crushed.
I chew a banana tip my head back chuck the pill in and swallow.
I still cannot do water as I can feel the pill.