Swallowing Tablets

Need to be wary of chewing tablets as many are designed to be slow release and have a coating specifically made for this. DH has a problem with swallowing, he has been advised to use a spoonful of yoghurt.

Thanks everybody interesting solutions will definitely try them!

When I had problems like this, I would just gently crush the tablets under a glass or cup on a chopping board then try to mix them with fizzy drink. They taste foul but the drink covers it a bit. They mix a little better in fizzy. It saves the gagging.

Try taking them with a fizzy drink

I can only swallow tablets with food that I 'pre-chew' before popping in the tablet - no good of it has to be taken on an empty stomach though ! - when I have to chew it to bits first.

My daughter found it very difficult to swallow tablets and a friend suggested she tried practicing by swallowing peas with a large glass of water ! It actually worked. Probably because you know that the peas won’t be horrible if they get stuck .

I throw my head back and they're gone. Larger ones I break in two, like the enormous paracetamol ones when I couldn't get the " tube " ones. Otherwise I don't have a problem.

An elderly lady I used to visit (when in my teens, so a long time ago) said that her GP had advised to swallow tablets with milk rather than water. As it's that bit thicker it apparently helps to carry the tablet down better than water.

My husband puts his tablets in a banana

My friend breaks tablets into pieces then puts them in chunks of food. She drinks some water, eats a chunk - and repeats!

Can you get the tablets that dissolve in water? Just a thought. Sorry I don’t have a solution as I don’t have that problem. X

My son had a phobia about swallowing pills and when he was 16 I had to ask the chemist what the recommended dose of Calpol would be for him, it was the only medication he would take. Can’t remember how many 5ml spoonfuls it was but I had to buy several bottles of the stuff.

My swallow seems to freeze when taking tablets , so I chew a small bite of food and just when it's at the swallow stage I pop my tablets into my mouth and down it all goes together .

I have always had difficulty swallowing pills - I think it is psychological as if I take them with food I don't have a problem.

Both my parents had trouble with this towards the end of their life which makes seem that it could well be due to age. My DF also had trouble swallowing chunkier food.

I have one sort of tablet which is not coated in anything and which which I find hard to swallow. Then I remembered our first aid course when I was in the Guides where we were shown to crush tablets between two teaspoons. I tried that but lost lots of the contents over the edge, so now I just take them into my mouth whole and bite them into smaller pieces and wash them down with lots of water.

I heard recently that, apparently, it's better to swallow tablets with your head tipped very slightly forward rather than backwards. Tipping backwards closes off the 'tube' a bit. It does seem to work for me, so perhaps it's worth trying?

Have you tried drinking from a bottle?