how do YOU take your meds, vitamins & supplements?

[jennifer6791 18]

how do YOU take your meds/vitamins, etc? i plan on crushing them and adding to yogurt or cottage cheese or something, but is it necessary to totally crush them? by the time i crush ALL of my meds i'll have a ridiculous amount of powder..probably tastes pretty disgusting, too, right?... i checked with my pharmacist and she says all meds are okay to be crushed or split.

[Foxbins 625]

I take thyroid hormone as a pill and I could swallow it at 5 days post-op. I use Centrum chewable vitamins and wash them down with Water as they are pretty gritty. I take a liquid calcium citrate that tastes like a blueberry smoothie and my Nexium was dissolved in water and swallowed until day 14 when I could swallow the pill. Capsules still seem to stick someplace on the way down so I try to stay with pill forms.

[SleeveGirl-TX 183]

I split my Allegra in half (I started with quarters, but that's overkill for me). I take a long acting blood pressure pill and it has to be taken whole. No problems swallowing it. I am taking Tylenol EZtabs whole too. I think this is YMMV thing.

[MegInNOLA 531]

The only tablet I had any problem swallowing was a Fiber tablet--it sort of got hung midway and was VERY uncomfortable for about an hour. I have other smaller meds that I just swallow--thyroid hormone, Colace, Prilosec, and I have Gummy multi and Vitamin C and chewable Calcium. I can't tolerate bitter flavors, so I tend not to split any pills...

I'm reminded that someone posted a few months ago about their husband making them some Jello shots to hide their Vitamins in--the Jello just slides down with the meds hidden in the middle. I didn't try it but I thought it sounded like a good idea.

[Nancy Rivers 24]

Just be careful to take the medication according to directions. For example, some medications cannot be taken with dairy or any type of food. Some medications cannot be taken with other medications because it will negate their effects.

[Texasmom65 23]

My depression medication is a capsule. I was wondering the same thing. It's small, shouldn't I be able to just swallow it as usual?

[SuperMom 33]

I do take a capsule (B vitamin) but I could not do that until almost week 4. I take my pills in the am with 1/2 cup of coffee. Yes the real coffee but for some reason I enjoy it and it makes the gross Vitamins bearable. Not going to beat myself up anymore over the small stuff. I mostly take chewables large Multivitamin, chewable Iron, but the D and B vitamins are not chewable and I also take an acid pill not chewable.

Thrilled that my scale is no longer in the 190's.......................................Yea!!!!!!! woops sorry got a little happy there!

[SKCUNNINGHAM 298]

I started out crushing any prescription pills I was on (BP, hormones). Then I switched to quarters, then halfs and now I am swallowing pills whole. My viatims are Gummy form, my Calcium is a taffy-like chewable. Vitamin D is a liquid. I am also on chewable Iron (the best tasting / least nasty one is Bariatric Advantage) and sublingual B12. I also take Biotin to help my hair - it is also sublingual.

[kellyw74 258]

i took my meds the same night in the hospital right after surgery without issue. my dr. said if it was smaller than an m&m, i could swallow it.

i had to do chewable vitamins until i was cleared to eat solid food, week 4. however, i can swallow Vitamins now. i use Centrum and they go down fine.

kelly

[jennifer6791 18]

excellent info as usual- thanks everyone!

[jennifer6791 18]

CONGRATS, supermom- that's awesome!

I do take a capsule (B vitamin) but I could not do that until almost week 4. I take my pills in the am with 1/2 cup of coffee. Yes the real coffee but for some reason I enjoy it and it makes the gross Vitamins bearable. Not going to beat myself up anymore over the small stuff. I mostly take chewables large Multivitamin, chewable Iron, but the D and B Vitamins are not chewable and I also take an acid pill not chewable.

Thrilled that my scale is no longer in the 190's.......................................Yea!!!!!!! woops sorry got a little happy there!

[Rootman 1,101]

I just swallow all 3 at one time, I used to take a bunch more Vitamins and Fiber pills and used to gag the whole lot down in one fell swoop - got it from my Mom, she used to do the same thing.

[Wheetsin 714]

Gah, pre-WLS I would down them all at once, or even dry swallow. I have no idea how I did that.

Depends on the med. (I suspect our med taking requirements are similar). Little ones like a Sudafed or something, I just swallow with Water. Larger ones like Tylenol I usually cut into pieces and swallow the pieces individually (I've gotten stuck on a Tylenol before, not fun... and they're too nasty to chew). Anything larger than a Tylenol I typically crush. If it's palatable I just down the powder with Water. If it is gross (e.g. Prednisone...ugggg....), I usually sprinkle some powder on a spoonful of Kefir or similar, and try to down it before it can touch my tongue.

A lot of things are just plain old chewable, or can be found in liquid forms. There's even liquid adult Tylenol. Not so fun explaning why I need liquid, or why I can't take an NSAID, but oh well.

As others have mentioned, make sure you check the "take with..." requirements. And make sure none of your meds are enteric coated/extended release meds - you cannot cut or crush those.