Struggling to swallow pills all of a sudden

[graceviolet]

Hi guys, I'm hoping someone has some advice for me because this has become unbearable and im not quite understanding the cause! Im 7 weeks pregnant and for the last 2 weeks I've been struggling to swallow tablets and it's now become every time I try? I swallow it absolutely fine, it doesn't feel stuck in my throat but then seconds later I gag and it comes back into my mouth, it's not like throwing up as only the tablet and saliva come up. I have been experiencing quite a lot of random gagging and a lot of nausea this time around but this is specific to swallowing tablets and does happen every time. I've never had this issue before, it's taking me like 6-7 attempts to actually get medication down and when I do it comes with a lot of nausea and I have to sit over the toilet just to try it!! For reference I'm absolutely terrified of sick and I haven't been sick in this pregnancy or my last and not since childhood so I do kind of have a block where I get to the stage of excess saliva and then have to wait for it to go down but this is the stage I'm at every single time I have to try and keep medication down. I was hoping someone has also had this issue and knows how to combat it, im not sure if it's worth getting antisickness tablets because I also won't be able to swallow that lol!

oh, this is me with all my pregnancies! I rarely throw up but it's like my gag reflex is way more sensitive and I struggle with things like swallowing pills and brushing my teeth.

Only thing I've found with pills is to always get the smooth capsules if available, which go down easier than powdery tablets in my experience. For stuff like paracetamol most pharmacies have both options but if it's prescription medication it's very likely worth asking pharmacist/gp if they have other options.

If all else fails, I once accidentally bought paracetamol suppositories in Amsterdam because I was flustered and couldn't read Dutch 😅but they have been useful to me now and again. Suppositories are I think quite a normal way of taking medicine in Europe and you can get them here too with a bit of effort so it might be worth looking into if you're really desperate.