Lymecycline- tried and tried to take the capsule but can’t.

[MrsDThaskala]

Hello. Two part question. DD just can’t take tablets. From panadol to even vitamin d. Tonight, we’ve tried many times to gulp the tablet. Nothing worked. We’ve tried all different ways. My questions are these. We tried countless times, and each time she spat it out. After a few attempts we tried a new tablet because I didn’t want it to open as I’ve heard the powder is more worrying to take if it doesn’t have the coating. So after 3 tablets, each time them getting a little soggy we stopped. I’m 90% sure noting opened but now I’m panicking. Do you think that was okay?? She’s fine- eating etc but says from all that gulping her tummy hurts. But not a lot.

second question is has anyone ever gotten, or able to get Lymecycline in a powder or liquid? Ringing the GP to ask tomorrow.

she simply says she can’t- it’s just not going down.

Get some hundreds and thousands and ask her to swallow one with a glass of water.

Then get one of those little silver balls that are for decorating cakes and slightly bigger than hundreds and thousands. get her to swallow a silver ball with water

then get some tic tacs and get her to swallow one with water

then progress to the lymecycline.

Yes it will be ok and she will unlikely have sealed anything if the tablet is intact.

no you can’t get it in liquid form and she needs to learn to swallow tablets. Life won’t just be about ache but all sorts of tablets throughout life. So try my suggestion above. And keep trying until she can do it

Absolutley agree. We tried getting cross, we tried Nutella, bananas, gulping, everything.

Try with a straw. Practice with a tictac. Pop it in her mouth, suck the water through a straw and swallow. Seems to go before you notice. I’m having trouble with a specific tablet and it’s working for me.

Swallowing tablets is easier if you bring your head forward then swallow

I periodically have difficulty swallowing tablets. I never used to and think it’s mostly mental. As soon as I tense up it’s likely to get stuck. (Even then, I usually manage to get it down with a few swigs of water but occasionally gag and bring it up.)

This only happens one time in 20 or so. The best advice I’ve been given is to imagine you’re extremely thirsty, or wait until you’re extremely thirsty, and then take the tablet with a big gulp of squash rather than plain water. (Part of the anxiety in my case is also worrying that I will taste the tablet.)

Thank you. Will try all of these again. To me it is mental as she eats fine. I think the thirsty thing is a good idea. We glug when we’re thirsty.

for me it’s bread and jam that does the trick

chew well and just before swallowing pop tablet in. mush it around unril you can no longer feel it. swallow.

You could try her with a Pilgo cup.

Can there actually be a problem? She can eat perfectly well- but she can’t swallow half a tangerine segment. Like she can’t gulp.

You could check with the GP, does she have any other health issues? It’s unlikely to be a problem beyond anxiety about pills, or you’d be noticing it much more with food.

DH makes a fuss- uses his fingers to shove the tablet down the back of his throat as though he’s trying to make himself sick. He’s better than he was.

It’s about successful practice, I think. Unfortunately we tend to only practise when we really need the tablets taken, so we start out tense. Can you make a game of swallowing lumpy things throughout the rest of the day, so it’s all part of the fun by the time you need to do a tablet?

But basically if she’s needs the meds, you need to ring the pharmacy for advice.

ask if they are available as capsules. those you can break open and mix the content with jam or similar.

I struggle sometimes and take a sip of water, put the tablet in and tip my head back then have a mouthful of water and find that the easiest way to swallow them.

From memory they are hard capsules and shouldn't be opened

The only way I can take tablets is to take a mouthful of squash, then put the tablet in my mouth, then swallow. I didn’t learn to swallow tablets until my early twenties.

Head down to swallow! This is the only way that dd has managed ever to swallow tablets. Lymecycline we had to eat the contents off a spoon. It didn’t help her. Roaccutane was prescribed instead with emphatic rules of no breaking the tablet so we just had to persevere. Head down rather than head back and voila!

Lymecycline doesn’t come as a liquid. There is no data on opening the capsules. The guidance is to find an alternative drug in swallowing difficulties.

If you google it, lots of children’s hospitals have videos on teaching your child to take solid dose medicines. You really will be doing her a favour if you persevere with this.

Tried all your suggestions. Not able to yet. We’ll give it a few days off and try again. I’m going to order one of those pilgo cups and see if that helps at all.

Keep the head down thing going. I promise it works. Dd is nearly 16 and has needed liquid calpol etc even. This has been a game changer.

In the middle of dinner, when she has a mouthfull or normal food that she's already chewed and is about to swallow, she slips the tablet into the middle, looks up to the ceiling, and swallows the whole lot down. Then has a drink of water. The important thing is for her to be focusing on the totally normal processes of eating and drinking rather than the activity being "taking a tablet"

If that "doesn't work" then she actually does not want to take the tablet. Is it just for Acne or is she actually ill?