questions about pills

[cduval04 7]

ok I only take like 3 precription meds and they are all tiny, but a lot of the supplements I take are capsules with "contents in them" or super big horse pill Vitamins. The multivite, thats easy I can get a chewable. I also take an acidophilus probiotic for my tummy and to help prevent yeast infections, I think thatt wont be too hard to find a chewable. but other questons.....

I take a fish oil supplement, and it comes in a BIG softgel. (I get the omega-3 ones from puritans pride, my whole family takes them they are a mix of like sardine, anchovy and mackeral oil) I will no longer take fish oil if I have to take it by the spoonful or in any other way as a liquid. SO does anyone know if you can buy "tiny" or small fish oil softgels? I dont mind if I have to take 4 or 5 of them, I just don't want to choke.

ok now here is the tricky one. I take this amino acid called n-acetyl cysteine. I take it to help with OCD symptoms, mainly compulsive skin picking. It is currently being used in several clinical trials around the country for obsessive habits such as hair pulling, nail biting, and skin picking with promising results. It also is said to help prevent insulin resistance and diabetes. The thing is, it STINKS and when I say stink, I mean smell the bottle, make you gag stink. It's main odor is rotten eggs because it's primary component is sulfur. I would not take it if it were not in a capsule, the thought of opening the capsule and putting it in ANYTHING makes me want to puke. I may take it if it were in pill form.

And then I take other things that are in capsules, like ginger for nausea, and valerian root for sleep.

pre-surgery I am like the pill taking queen. I could put 20 pills in my mouth and swallow them down all at once with no issues. I don't know about post-op however

what were your restrictions about standard sized capsules?? can you take them at all? please help I am mainly worried about the fish oil but any of these if you can help with suggestions, I would appreciate it. thanks!

[terril 0]

ok I only take like 3 precription meds and they are all tiny, but a lot of the supplements I take are capsules with "contents in them" or super big horse pill Vitamins. The multivite, thats easy I can get a chewable. I also take an acidophilus probiotic for my tummy and to help prevent yeast infections, I think thatt wont be too hard to find a chewable. but other questons.....

I take a fish oil supplement, and it comes in a BIG softgel. (I get the omega-3 ones from puritans pride, my whole family takes them they are a mix of like sardine, anchovy and mackeral oil) I will no longer take fish oil if I have to take it by the spoonful or in any other way as a liquid. SO does anyone know if you can buy "tiny" or small fish oil softgels? I dont mind if I have to take 4 or 5 of them, I just don't want to choke.

ok now here is the tricky one. I take this amino acid called n-acetyl cysteine. I take it to help with OCD symptoms, mainly compulsive skin picking. It is currently being used in several clinical trials around the country for obsessive habits such as hair pulling, nail biting, and skin picking with promising results. It also is said to help prevent insulin resistance and diabetes. The thing is, it STINKS and when I say stink, I mean smell the bottle, make you gag stink. It's main odor is rotten eggs because it's primary component is sulfur. I would not take it if it were not in a capsule, the thought of opening the capsule and putting it in ANYTHING makes me want to puke. I may take it if it were in pill form.

And then I take other things that are in capsules, like ginger for nausea, and valerian root for sleep.

pre-surgery I am like the pill taking queen. I could put 20 pills in my mouth and swallow them down all at once with no issues. I don't know about post-op however

what were your restrictions about standard sized capsules?? can you take them at all? please help I am mainly worried about the fish oil but any of these if you can help with suggestions, I would appreciate it. thanks!

Wow…that is a lot of pills at one time!!!

I also take a few pills. When I went through life skills class, we were taught the rule of thumb is the pill must be smaller than a TicTac if you want to swallow it otherwise it has to be liquid, dissolvable, or crushable! I tried that with my blood pressure pill – but it doesn’t matter what I mix it with the taste is too bitter, so I have started cutting pills in half..and in some cases 3’s 4’s and 5’s…LOL

Right now I am 1 month post-op and I didn’t have much restriction so swallowing the smaller pills was a little easier. However, I just had a fill today 3cc. So far I have taken an Ambien (just waiting for it to kick in) and I didn’t have any problems with that

I have cut up Benadryl and Tylenol and an antibiotic which is a horse pill. I take the Viactiv multgi-vitamins. They are chewable and fairly good. I also take the One A Day gummies and a sublingual Vitamin B12. You can double check but I think the n-acetyl cysteine comes in tablets, powders and liquid capsules. Maybe that will help.

[CalicoskiesNC 2]

There are chewable Gummy Omega3 at target and costco. I take krill oil. They are half size of reg fish oil. My dr says they are ok for now but I have not had a fill. I tried vitafusions gummy omega3 and returned them, yuck.

[CheckYes 46]

I crush my Ambien and sprinkle it on the end of a sugar free Popsicle. The first bite isn't yum but it is so much better than trying to put it into a sip of water!

[vivacious123 0]

My problem is that when I crush my pills into my food, all I taste are the pills, yuck. I tried with

cream of wheat, pudding, applesauce but can't stand the flavor. Can't wait til I don't have to

crush pills anymore.

[Kookeygirl 0]

My problem is that when I crush my pills into my food, all I taste are the pills, yuck. I tried with

cream of wheat, pudding, applesauce but can't stand the flavor. Can't wait til I don't have to

crush pills anymore.

I have the opposite problem. I am 2 days post-op and I can swallow anything! I haven't tried an Omega capsule yet or a Calcium but the Advil liquid gel capsules I was taking were pretty big and so were the Biotin and I had no problem swallowing them. It makes me wonder what's up.

C.

[LargeMediumSmall 3]

Hello,

I might actually be able to help you out here as I am a Certified Herbalist by trade and have gone through some of the same pill issues as you have.

You can get your Probiotics in liquid form. Just check with your health food store or even vitacost.com A great website that carries many of my favorite quality brands at fabulous prices.

You can, if you choose, switch to flax seed oil. It is actually higher in Omega 3's than fish oils. Barlean's makes some great flavored flax seed oils. The strawberry banana is so good you can take it by the spoonfull. Even my 8 year lold will happily take a spoonful of Barlean's strawberry banana Flax Oil. I know that some people don't like to swtich but they are both excellent sources of Omega's and the flax doesn't have that nasty fishy flavor.

N-Acetyl Cystine does come in a liquid . Just google it online and find a brand you are confident in. You could also crush it into a smoothie or Protein drink (which you can also add your flax seed oil to for great flavor). If you are also interested, Coenzyme Q10 also comes in a liquid.

You'd be surprised at how we can get in our herbs, supplements & Vitamins even with a lap band. Almost everything comes in more than one form. There are only a few supplements out there that, due to their nature, don't come in anything other than a tablet. But nature usually provides us with an alternative that does the same trick. I'd consult your closest natural health care provider if you get really stuck. Most smaller natural health stores are happy to help.

I hate to say it but generally places like GNC don't really know their herbs and supplements unless you get lucky and find a knowledgeable staff member.

Your ginger and valerian also come in tea form. As I type I'm sipping on some Fenugreek & Skullcap Tea for a sinus headache I developed yesterday and it's doing the trick.

I actually teach a class in medicinal teas. Teas are just as effective as pills and for we banders, much easier to swallow. And the good news is that they are much more cost effective. And if the valerian doesn't work well for you, I would suggest Kava Kava, Melissa, Chamomile, or Melatonin. All come in liquid forms. A few drops in Water, tea or juice will usually do the trick. There's always something soothing about a hot cup of tea.

Oh, and don't forget about your multi-vitamins. There are some amazing liquid vitamins out there. Life's Fortune, Nature's Sunshine Vita-Wave, and many others are comprehensive, decent tasting & best of all, liquid!

I hope this helps and feel free to ask any other herbal questions. I'm here to help. I've spent the last 15 years of my life studying natural health & herbal healing. So feel free to pick my brain anytime.

[cduval04 7]

Hello,

I might actually be able to help you out here as I am a Certified Herbalist by trade and have gone through some of the same pill issues as you have.

You can get your Probiotics in liquid form. Just check with your health food store or even vitacost.com A great website that carries many of my favorite quality brands at fabulous prices.

You can, if you choose, switch to flax seed oil. It is actually higher in Omega 3's than fish oils. Barlean's makes some great flavored flax seed oils. The strawberry banana is so good you can take it by the spoonfull. Even my 8 year lold will happily take a spoonful of Barlean's strawberry Banana Flax Oil. I know that some people don't like to swtich but they are both excellent sources of Omega's and the flax doesn't have that nasty fishy flavor.

N-Acetyl Cystine does come in a liquid . Just google it online and find a brand you are confident in. You could also crush it into a smoothie or Protein drink (which you can also add your flax seed oil to for great flavor). If you are also interested, Coenzyme Q10 also comes in a liquid.

You'd be surprised at how we can get in our herbs, supplements & Vitamins even with a lap band. Almost everything comes in more than one form. There are only a few supplements out there that, due to their nature, don't come in anything other than a tablet. But nature usually provides us with an alternative that does the same trick. I'd consult your closest natural health care provider if you get really stuck. Most smaller natural health stores are happy to help.

I hate to say it but generally places like GNC don't really know their herbs and supplements unless you get lucky and find a knowledgeable staff member.

Your ginger and valerian also come in tea form. As I type I'm sipping on some Fenugreek & Skullcap Tea for a sinus headache I developed yesterday and it's doing the trick.

I actually teach a class in medicinal teas. Teas are just as effective as pills and for we banders, much easier to swallow. And the good news is that they are much more cost effective. And if the valerian doesn't work well for you, I would suggest Kava Kava, Melissa, Chamomile, or Melatonin. All come in liquid forms. A few drops in Water, tea or juice will usually do the trick. There's always something soothing about a hot cup of tea.

Oh, and don't forget about your multi-vitamins. There are some amazing liquid vitamins out there. Life's Fortune, Nature's Sunshine Vita-Wave, and many others are comprehensive, decent tasting & best of all, liquid!

I hope this helps and feel free to ask any other herbal questions. I'm here to help. I've spent the last 15 years of my life studying natural health & herbal healing. So feel free to pick my brain anytime.

wow that was a big help....does the flaxseed oil really taste good? I guess if an 8 year old would take it, i could. Cuz I spent a lot of time looking around at Omega 3 gummies/softchews, and they all just sounded gross and even if I found one I liked I would probably end up trying A LOT before finding one that was tolerable and that is a lot of wasted $ I don't have lol.

I ended up buying this stuff called coromega-its like a little ketchup packet that is citrus flavored, the guy an viatmin shoppe said all his customers like it and it does have a tart citrus taste but no fish taste, you can suck it out plain or add it to a smoothie etc. its has 350 of epa and 250 of dha. Although I could not try it cuz my surgery is monday and no-omega 3's allowed pre-op I had my bro and his GF try it and they didnt find it very good, but they can be overdramatic sometimes .

If that doesn't work. I'm going to ask my nutritionist if Omega 3 "mini" gels are ok. I don't know if you've heard of them but as far as I know 3 companies make them, one is made by a company called prothera, one is made by is NOW foods, and the other is made by puritans pride, (all easily located with a google search) and they all claim to be less than 1/2 the size of the regular fish pills, and prothera's site was the only one with a picture of the pill and not just the bottle, but I can't really tell from the pic the exact size, nor do I know which one is "actually" the smallest of the 3.

Being an herbalist, have you seen any of the mini softgels? are they "mini" enough for us LB patients? Also some people on this board say they were told not to take anything bigger than a tic tac, and other posts I have read said they were told they could take standard sized capsules, so I'm a bit confused about that. I am confused as to the message are they saying "take them if you can tolerate them without gagging/throwing", or "even if you can tolerate them they are still not good for your band"?

I think the other stuff wont be too too hard to find, its just I am really sensitive to gross tasting stuff and that is the last thing I was after LB surgery lol. So if the coromega and the mini softgels both don't work out, nice to know I have the flaxseed oil idea. One other question though. I have been reading up on Omega 3's and found this article blip while researching

Not all omega-3s are the same. The three main forms are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). EPA and DHA are considered long-chain forms of omega-3 and are found in fish, fish oil supplements, and algae extract. ALA, the short-chain form, is found in plant sources like walnuts, flax seed, canola and soybean oil, and, to a lesser degree, green leafy vegetables. The body needs to convert the short-chain version to a long-chain version in order to make use of it—but this conversion doesn't happen very rapidly, says Willett.

So knowing this, are there any forms of flaxssed oil that provide EPA and DHA instead of just ALA? I've never delved into the flaxssed linseed oil business b/c I am not vegetarian, so that is new for me.

thanks for the help!