I should consider myself lucky that I don't have to take many pills during the day. However, the few I do have to take, including the pain killers which became my best friends, in the first 3 days, I had to find ways to take them. I bought the, oh so familiar to all, pill crusher from my local drugstore before my surgery so I was ready when I got back home!

It is amazing to me how all pills taste so bitter. What happened to the nice flavors when we were kids? Why nobody thought that adults would like those as well, especially in moments like these!

Before you even start this process, check with your doctor or pharmacist if any of the medications you take come in liquid form. That would be ideal.

Here is what I found useful, during the times of the liquid diet:

1> Make a small cup of hot tea, load it with Equal (or any other preferred sweetener) and drop them in. Put the tea in the fridge and when cold, drink it in 3 sips. [My medication didn't disolve in cold water]

2> Do the same as above but instead of tea, use hot chocolate. I didn't have to use Equal, it was sweet enough on its own and also the chocolate masked the taste. The problem was that I couldn't do it in 3 sips as I had to use a whole cup of water or milk to do the chocolate. For some medications, 1 cup may be to much.

3> Mix them in one teaspoon of honey.

4> Fastest but yucky.... Put the crushed pills on a tablespoon, fill it up w. water and swallow it fast. Then, follow with a cup of juice, sips at a time, or 1/2 a teaspoon of honey to take away the bitterness or even with your cup of hot cocoa.

5> If you are into the mushies, you can mix them in one or two tablespoons of apple sauce, with Equal and cinnamon. I haven't tried it yet, as I'm still in the liquid phase, but it was my doctor's recommendation.

Good luck!

i am actually very surprised your surgeon prescribed pills. i got liquid for both nausea and pain. now when i have to have pills, i ask for a caplet. they dissolve a lot quicker.

congrats on being banded.

were you at NYU hospital? that's where i am going next week. thanks for your very detailed description of what it was like aftewards. that is what's terrifying me. also--eating afterwards. the pre-op diet, that i'm NOT liking--is starting to sound like a PICNIC compared to AFTER surgery.

glad you're feeling better!

best wishes,

girlin

nyc