Crushing Meds Post Op?

[dancinglamb 0]

I was told by my surgeon that I'm going to have to crush my meds for the first 6-8w post op.

I take a nice variety of them-

Metoprolol for tachycardia

Singulair for asthma

Nexium for reflux/asthma

Topamax for Migraines

Wellbutrin XL for, well, sanity :shades_smile:

Singulair, Topamax and Nexium are all available in granule form, and I have scripts written to switch over to those.

I'm going to have to switch over to non-extended Wellbutrin (you can't crush extended release meds) and take it a couple times a day. Besides the current XL is an absolute horse pill...

So, that leaves me with having to crush the Metoprolol, and Wellbutrin, as I assume any pain meds I get post op will be liquid (icky!).

Are there any tricks to crushing meds? Any pill crushers that are better than others? Anything better than applesauce to take the meds with?

Thanks!

-m

[pmcdaniel 0]

I take my meds with my Protein Drinks. Just crush them and blend them in.Couldn,t take the taste they had with applesauce.:shades_smile:

[lottolose 0]

I was banded 3/14 and have had no trouble swallowing my medicines ... even the Vitamins go down just fine!

[Gordon C 0]

I'm six days out from banding and crush all my meds at present. I find that taking the powder with a spoon of yogurt helps. I'm sure some people do manage to swallow the tablets at an early stage but I'm too afraid of triggering a blockage and then problems.

[dancinglamb 0]

I'm six days out from banding and crush all my meds at present. I find that taking the powder with a spoon of yogurt helps. I'm sure some people do manage to swallow the tablets at an early stage but I'm too afraid of triggering a blockage and then problems.

Congrats Gordon!

How are you feeling? Do you deal with your own shoulder pain or do you just blog about it? Are you experiencing any P/S?

-m

Edited March 25, 2008 by dancinglamb
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[Wheetsin 714]

Make sure your meds aren't enteric coated. You don't want to crush coated meds.

I use the screw down type crusher. Sometimes it's a bit of work. I find it's suually easier to just use two spoons ("spoon" them with the pill between the two).

As for getting stuff down, I've had to crush & take some nasty shite. Don't mix it into something that you then have to taste, or the entire something will taste like crap. What I do is fill l arge spoon partway with drinkable yogurt, addpowder, top with yogurt, and pretty much pour down the back of my throat. Any taste I get that way is short lived and insignificant.

[Banded091307 0]

A pharmacist told me to try using Sugar Free Chocolate because I was gagging on some of the pills I was crushing. If you look out there you can find a sugar-free Syrup that will do the trick. Just make sure not to over do it on the chocolate. What I do is put a little bit of chocolate on a spoon cover it with my "powder" and then top with a little more syrup and it goes down smoothly without too much gagging. Good Luck!

[ssdown 0]

Hi! Like lottolose, my pill go down fine, so far. I am due for a fill in a couple of weeks, so we'll see. I did crush some after my surgery a few weeks ago, but tried them without crushing, and viola! They went down fine!

[lrhishere 0]

I haven't had any problem swallowing pills and I just had my surgury 5 days ago

[coltonwade 27]

FYI and i dont want to scare ya Wellbutrin ( I take the generic 2 times a day ) Is NASTY Crushed, I ended up cutting them in 1/4's my doc was ok with that.

Topamax is SO Small i had no issues with that. You might want to ask him if you can do that , or the granules are fine too. But i could not stomach the wellbutrin crushed. It made me gag. So might want to try something before hand to cut down the taste.

HTH Good luck

Mindy

[coltonwade 27]

Make sure your meds aren't enteric coated. You don't want to crush coated meds.

I use the screw down type crusher. Sometimes it's a bit of work. I find it's suually easier to just use two spoons ("spoon" them with the pill between the two).

As for getting stuff down, I've had to crush & take some nasty shite. Don't mix it into something that you then have to taste, or the entire something will taste like crap. What I do is fill l arge spoon partway with drinkable yogurt, addpowder, top with yogurt, and pretty much pour down the back of my throat. Any taste I get that way is short lived and insignificant.

FYI Applesauce doesnt work LMAO

Mindy

[Banded091307 0]

No matter what you do, make sure to crush the pills if that is what your doctor has told you to do...even if the pills are nasty crushed. Some docs are extra cautious and don't want to take the chance of having anything get caught or stuck. I am about 6 months post op and still have to crush pills-in fact my doctor has told me that I will always have to crush pills or take them in liquid form. This is to err on the side of caution, but each doctor is different.

[dancinglamb 0]

LOL Mindy. I'm fully anticipating that. I've gotten a taste of it on my tongue when I've not swallowed the pills fast enough. ICKIES!

I think the basic rule of thumb with him is that you can swallow whole anything smaller than an M&M after the 6w initial period. The generic WellbutrinXR is gianormous, though. So either I switch to something else (not planning on switching my Happy Cat pills, dammit!), or go to the regular non-extended release formula.

I'm seeing the surgeon tomorrow, so we'll have to go through the meds and see what he says. Hmmm. Maybe I should bring them with me so he can see them IRL...

Thanks

-m

[Gordon C 0]

Hi Marissa

Trying to deal with my own shoulder pain at the moment - shoulder tip pain post op seems to be a very common problem - much better today - day 6

Gordon

[coltonwade 27]

LOL Mindy. I'm fully anticipating that. I've gotten a taste of it on my tongue when I've not swallowed the pills fast enough. ICKIES!

I think the basic rule of thumb with him is that you can swallow whole anything smaller than an M&M after the 6w initial period. The generic WellbutrinXR is gianormous, though. So either I switch to something else (not planning on switching my Happy Cat pills, dammit!), or go to the regular non-extended release formula.

I'm seeing the surgeon tomorrow, so we'll have to go through the meds and see what he says. Hmmm. Maybe I should bring them with me so he can see them IRL...

Thanks

-m

The generic wellbutrin is about the size of an M&M ( that's what i take ) and FYI when i have good restriction , like now I HAVE to cut it in half or I have issues . My topamax is fine . I would bring them with you just in case. I have also found the pharmacist tends to know as well which meds can be crushed and which ones cant.

Good Luck

Mindy