Swallowing Tablets

Rarely take tablets but when I do has to be with some food
The thought of five together gives me the heeby jeebies

When I was nursing on an EMI ward we'd have a large jar of jam on our drugs trolley. Same principle as the custard,etc. Works like a charm.

When my husband was in hospital and couldn’t swallow his tablets they recommended he swallow them with a spoonful of custard, it did help him.

Bluesky - at least you know where you are with Anusol.

oldgoat I tried finger in ear and it helped!!

You should not ever break pills or capsules without asking the doctor or pharmacist if its all right.

Ha, ha! tiredoldwoman - I'll turn it into a limerick.

There was an old woman who swallowed a table
Goodness knows how she was able
It took just one gulp
As if it was pulp
What's more, she never read the label.

Boom boom as good old JY would say.

Jura2 your dad is right, I think some pills are meant to be used as suppositories!

Caramac 5 together? I choke just reading this!

My dad was just the same- and got really cross if GP prescribed tablets which he considered too big.

I’m lucky in that I have no problem swallowing tablets - I shove 5 in together every morning .
A trick that often works with children is to take each tablet with a spoon of yoghurt. They seem to go down very easily so might be worth a try. Or in a banana as a pp suggested.
Maybe in soft cheese - works with my dogs!
Good luck in finding a solution, you have my sympathy.

B9exchange it has crossed my mind but as I had it before then went away, I put it down to my anxiety. Now that I'm aware I have difficulties again, the pill will stick in the throat! So it's becoming a phobia. Thanks again everybody will try your various methods!

OH has PD which can cause swallowing problems - PD nurse said to put tabs in a spoonful of yoghurt. Works like a charm!

Just a thought, but if your difficulty with tablets is a new thing, it might be worth having a GP visit to check you haven't developed a narrowing of the throat, which isn't that uncommon, and there are treatments available?

Sorry to hear about your grandson Greyduster bad enough for adults, surely if you explain the situation they could go on prescribing meds in liquid form especially if he is on regular medication?

I shall be watching this thread with interest. My grandson, who is on permanent medication, can’t swallow tablets and we are currently tearing our hair out, having tried many of the things suggested here, because he will not be allowed his meds in liquid form for much longer. He does genuinely try, poor chap.

A friend, whose husband had to take lots of tablets when he was having chemo, told me that he'd been advised to push his finger into his ear just as he was about to swallow and the tablets went down easily.
I've tried it myself and it does help. Presumably acts as a distraction.

Yes, banana is good, or a teaspoonful of yogurt. It spreads the sensation that there is something to be swallowed over a larger area at the back of the mouth, encouraging a stronger swallowing action as well as giving the tablet more lubrication.

My Mum used to give us tablets in a spoonfull of her home-made jam. I think taking them with some mashed banana (it being slippery) would help as well.

I have some large vitamin capsules and I put them in my mouth, take a drink and put my head right back.

I get no sensation of my esophagus closing and after all, sword-swallowers tip their head back, don't they?

There was an old woman
who could swallow a table ,
goodness knows
how she was able .

That obviously should be 'bung the tablet in' - I couldn't swallow a table in one go - even if it was made of cheese!

I have always had trouble swallowing pills and must be the only old lady to get her penicillin for tonsillitis in liquid form! You’d be surprised at how many spoonfuls an adult dose is ?

My top tip is to take your pills followed by a mouthful of one of the thicker , more viscous juices like tomato or peach. The fact that the liquid is thicker seems to make it easier to ignore there’s a pill in there too!

Hope it helps.

I've had this problem for me for a long time. I think it's partly psychological - I worry that a tablet will get stuck - so the tablet gets stuck.
It's mostly all right to pull capsules apart and take them the Mary Poppins way with a spoonful of sugar or jam. Failing that there's custard which is thicker than water. Then there's a small bite of something dry like a cream cracker, bite it into smaller pieces and just before you're ready to swallow, bung the table in and take a big gulp. Mostly this works for me - I tell myself that I can do it.
When I was on chemo I asked for the take-away medication to be liquid. Thirty tablets at breakfast time was a nightmare. Thank God that's over. Good luck.

I always take any tablets with a mouthful of coca cola this helps them go down quicker and they don't leave an aftertaste in your mouth.

That’s interesting Septimia n Squiffy will try and remember this

Certain tablets say to be taken whole, not chewed.