BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Low Carb Swallowing Large Pills

OK I don't know what it is with my throat, but I am always choking on the large women's vitamins that I take. I am almost at the point of mashing them up with a mortar and drinking them.

Does anyone have any tips for taking them? I take them with large glasses of water and even so I always choke. They are rough - I don't have too many problems with the other gel cap ones I take.

Try taking them with a thicker liquid - such as your protein shake. This will help coat the "rough edges".

Water sometimes just makes the edges rougher (think of sand being worn away by a stream and revealing stones).

I know when studying for surgical tech we had to do a short stint on geriatrics (trust me there is a point here!). People that have had strokes often have difficulty swallowing, so a thickener is added to their liquids because it is easier for the peristalsis to work on thicker substances than on thinner liquids.

It's worth a try.

Break them in half?*

* just a thought...

I do actually have a pill slicer but that makes them worse because now each one is not only rough but has pointy edges on one side <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I do have a chocolate shake every morning and I wasn't taking the vitamins with it because I didn't know if that would be enough in my stomach, but I suppose I can give it a try! I was about to resort to diet jello shots with the pill stuck in its center <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Since your shake is a protein shake as opposed to a Carnation instant breakfast, it should give plenty of coating on your stomach.

It is generally the iron in vitamins that causes stomach upset - and your protein shake is probably already high in iron, so if you are not getting nauseous from it, you shouldn't from the supplement either.

I can relate to your issue with large pills. Just recently I discovered extraordinary nutritional product that surpasses all vitamin supplements and it's LIQUID . The product is called Himalayan Goji Juice and it's packed with antioxidants, amino acids, minerals and much more. It also contains glyconutrients also known as bio active polisacharides not found in any other food on the Planet.
I have done some personal research and found out that not all the Goji juice on the market has the same potency.
Anyway I love not having to swallow all those vitamin pills any more.

[color:"#666666"]Here is a link to an article about others that had problems with swallowing pills. I know they were talking mostly about kids but some of the ideas might help. [/color]

http://add.about.com/od/askthecoachonmedication/a/pills.htm

[color:"#666666"]Here is a link to the pill cup mentioned. The pill sits on a little ledge made into the cup and it is supposed to make it easier to take medication. [/color]

http://www.healthaccessories.com/pill_boxes/weekly_medication_organizers.htm

[color:"#666666"] Just scroll down the page until you find
Ezy-Dose� Pill Taker� Cup [/color]

I have problems with huge multi-vitamin pills too - sometimes I actually can't swallow them, and end up having to spit them out because they taste so revolting. BUT I found it got easy if you use food instead of liquid to take them - I shove the pill in with a huge mouthful of banana or potato and I don't even notice it going down! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Exactly Raina! That's what I was saying about the peristalsis (the wave-like movements in the esophagus and the rest of the digestive tract) being able to work on thicker substances, but not as well on liquids.

After my gastric bypass, water kept making me horribly nauseous, because my peristalsis was kind of paralyzed. It took much thicker liquids (or posicles) to get it to react at all.

I had to take pills for quite a while broken up into unsweetened applesauce or sugarfree pudding. Lisa, your Jell-o shots joke wasn't so far off. (Of course - I guess it would depend on what all was included in those shots, LOL!) <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

(Note this is me Lisa, I just forgot to log into my personal account) <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Himalayan Goji Juice has SOME vitamins but certainly not ALL that you need, there's no way it can completely replace a good multi-vitamin. You always need to take vitamins too.

Usually the only things they can actually list on the label for having 'useful amounts' are Vitamin C and Potassium. Also note that it's typically 4g sugar per serving.

In any case, I tried sugar free chocolate pudding with my pills last night and it made it worse, because my pudding is VERY thick. So I had trouble swallowing that <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I think jell-o might work better as it's slippery. I'll try that next <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />