Difficulty Swallowing Pills?

[iwannaprettyone]

Date: 8/23/2009 10:05:46 PM
Author: paeony
I don''t know if this will help at all-- but I used to tilt my head back to swallow a pill, but if it floats, it floats to the front of your mouth. (I think people are able to ''throw it back'' to their throat, but if you hesitate at all, it floats back to the front)
I get a lot of water in my mouth, tilt my head down slightly (pill floating in back of mouth) and think about swallowing the entire mouthful of water in one big gulp to open up the throat. Then immediately follow with drinking the full glass of water to be sure the pill makes it all of the way down.

I was going to say the same thing.

I put the pills in my mouth then touch my chin to my chest and swallow...take another swig and you should be golden.

 

[AdiS]

Date: 8/23/2009 1:37:48 PM
Author: decodelighted
String an ordinary house key on a ribbon or something. Put it on like a pendant but drop the cold key down your BACK. Swallow a bit of water first ... then put the pill on your tongue, take another swish of water so that the pill is floating around in the mouthful ... slosh the whole gulp down.

That is the only method that worked for me ... eventually I was able to stop using the key & just stand up in the slightly arched back way that the key forces you into. (From the cold)

Even now I have to drink cold water before brushing the back of my tongue, or scraping it when brushing teeth. TERRIBLE GAG REFLEX!

Sigh. Same here, deco! Thank God my father is a dentist and he puts up with all my nonsense during examinations. I don''t know how I''d be able to deal with them otherwise.

 

[roverchic]

I have never been successful at pill swallowing.
It is 100% mental for me.

I usually take a bite of apple, banana or a few grapes, start chewing and pop the pill in my mouth right before I swallow the food.
For me that works for all size pills...just adjust the amt of food in your mouth so the pill can "hide" and you can''t feel it as you start to swallow.

Pretty pathetic, I know, but I rarely have anxiety anymore about taking pills...just a little embarassment when my friends joke about it!

 

[Lorelei]

I used to find it difficult but now can manage, I just take a large mouthful of water and gulp, this method works for me. Sometimes if they are large tabs I also tip my head back a little as I swallow, this seems to help too.

 

[Delster]

I wouldn''t say I have a huge difficulty but I do find pill swallowing thoroughly unpleasant. Someone posted the ''key on a string'' trick a while back and I''ve found a variation on that to be very helpful. I didn''t want to go to the hassle of finding a key and stringing it etc so one day I just put my hand down my back and gently rubbed the centre of my back while I took a pill. I was amazed to find it really helps!

 

[jcrow]

i hate swallowing pills too. i''m always worried it will get stuck in my throat. i always drink gobs of water afterward because i always seem to feel it in my throat. doesn''t help that one time a capsule did get stuck. i coughed and a big puff of cloudy stuff spewed out of my mouth. it was disgusting and i flipped out. sigh.

 

[Lorelei]

I had to take lots of penicillin tabs when I was a child for chronic tonsillitis and that was very difficult, I couldn''t swallow pills then so I had to have them mashed up with jam which was also terrible, I still shudder to think of it....