How Hard Is It To Get Pills Down After Surgery? I'm scared!

[PrettyGirlLosingIt 4]

I am really afraid I am going to have a hard time swallowing all my pills plus all the Vitamins after surgery.
I asked my doctor about it at my pre op visit Friday and he told me to just coat them in vegetable oil. Really? I hear just getting your food, water and vitamins down is hard enough and not something everyone can do. I can't come off them because they are to treat my Chiari Brain Malformation Symptoms and my Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome , which is also why I have gained all this weight. I spend about 15 hours a day in bed. Can anyone give me any insight on swallowing pills and vitamins after surgery? Or is anyone else out there scared of this as well? Am I just being silly?

[sammy246 235]

I was scared to take my pills after, granted it was just pain meds and PPI. It was so easy I almost laughed at myself! It's amazing how I feel the full liquids I take and the. Can barely feel anything with a pill.

I'm sure you'll do great [emoji4]

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

I took all my pills normally, within 24 hours of surgery. They give you pain pill and other pills.

I'm not sure where all this pill fear comes from or the ideal you can't swallow them.

[PrettyGirlLosingIt 4]

Thanks all for the info. I had read and heard this is a problem for a lot of folks. They even discussed it with us in the class we attended and changed me to a few smaller pills. I guess they kind of put it in my head.

How about drinking? they said that can be difficult as well?

[kimberb 323]

I take chewable vitamins. No problem there. I started swallowing pills day after surgery with no problems. Little Water with each pill or pills.

[futurefeatherweight 64]

If you run into trouble trying to swallow your pills after surgery, use a pill splitter or pill crusher ( (be sure to check whether it is ok to crush your pills. Ask your pharmacist.) I had a very strict surgeon who wanted me to crush all my meds for the first 21 days. For me, this meant I had to ask my Dr to switch one of my extended release meds (not crushable) to an immediate release form. I would recommend checking with your primary doctor or pharmacist about how safe your medications are to swallow whole without much liquid to wash them down (there are a few meds out there that really must be taken with plenty of Water or they can potentially cause trouble.)

Drinking more than 1-2 ounces of water at a time is not really recommended for the first few days. I found it relatively easy to drink from the start. My surgeon's instructions had me drinking 1 oz of water or Protein Shake every 15 minutes while awake for the first 21 days.

[Diana Prince 53]

I took all my pills normally, within 24 hours of surgery. They give you pain pill and other pills.
I'm not sure where all this pill fear comes from or the ideal you can't swallow them.

That's awesome news! My nutritionist and the surgeon's assistant bot said it would be hard to swallow pills. Thankfully I only take Allegra-D for allergies, unlike so many other people who take a boatload.

R u saying that u were able to take the Vitamins and Calcium 24hrs after surgery?

[Katriena 70]

I was allowed to swallow pills from day 2, but even now not all pills feel good. Sometimes breaking them in half helps. I used a liquid multi for the first week or so.


RNY 14 April 2017
SW: 295 lb / 134 kg
GW: 187 lb / 85 kg (I'll see when I get there)

[SleeveMe88 30]

Yes i would recommend chewable pills all my pills are chewable Walmart carry them.

Sent from my LGMS330 using BariatricPal mobile app

[Pam_2-06-2017 375]

I did the whole chewable Vitamin thing after surgery. After they ran out, instead of buying more I took the ones I received from my NUT. They went down fine. Now I take two Omega 3s, one big multi, one collagen, two Biotin and one sublingual b-12 in the am about an hour after Breakfast. No problems at all. Like food I think it will depend on your personal tolerance level. Mine is apparently pretty good.

[Myaiku_Kuraitani 245]

I'd get chewable vitamins. With other pills I was told that any pill the size of a pea would go down fine. Anything bigger than that, you'd have to crush. But everyone is different with how well they do with pills after surgery. I also got GB. So that may make all the difference if you got the sleeve. Just take it one baby step at a time.

It was easy for me to get pills down as long as they weren't too big.

[it's time 4 me 14]

On 5/6/2017 at 11:37 PM, PrettyGirlLosingIt said:

I am really afraid I am going to have a hard time swallowing all my pills plus all the Vitamins after surgery.
I asked my doctor about it at my pre op visit Friday and he told me to just coat them in vegetable oil. Really? I hear just getting your food,water and Vitamins down is hard enough and not something everyone can do. I can't come off them because they are to treat my Chiari Brain Malformation Symptoms and my Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome , which is also why I have gained all this weight. I spend about 15 hours a day in bed. Can anyone give me any insight on swallowing pills and vitamins after surgery? Or is anyone else out there scared of this as well? Am I just being silly?

I had my surgery March 28th 2017 and I use a pill crusher to crush all my pills that makes it so much better

[erica_ozzy73 241]

No problems a day after surgery taking my tablets normally. Not crushed or halved. In fact I had no problems with gulping Water either. Never had to sip which I thought I would

[Katriena 70]

Almost four weeks out and pill taking is still not fun, though I can do it. I take a fair number of pills (I'm participating in a research project and their pills are the worst, lol). I kind of dread swallowing them.


RNY 14 April 2017
SW: 295 lb / 134 kg
GW: 187 lb / 85 kg (I'll see when I get there)

[LittleLizzieLilliput 919]

My doctor was explicit about this, no pills for 12 weeks. Crush them or take a liquid form. Then after that I was OK'd for pills and I just dealt with them slowly.

He said that pills will sit on the seam of your stomach and has a great chance of causing irritation or ulceration prior to healing. I guess he had some patients have some bad repercussions because of this so now he doesn't allow it at all till the recovery period is over.