Anyone else can't swallow pills?

[Merebear]

I don't know what the problem is, but I CANNOT, for the life of me, swallow pills (even small ones...unless I dissolve them in water first or something.) Does anyone else have this problem?
I think it might just be a mental block in the back of my mind... telling me I'll choke on the pill or something... It's just frustrating.

[hollybree]

Hi Merebear,
I had this problem until I was 19. I could not even get my head around how to do it. I would start to panic every time I tried. But what helped me was a Nurse saying that you actually swallow larger pieces of food on a daily basis than most tablets. Thinking about it seemed logical so I tried and "hey presto" I could do it. I still sometimes have trouble if I am really anxious or they are big vitamins, but once you can get past that mental block (I agree that's what it is) and just do it you will realize it is really nothing. If that doesn’t help and you still need to crush them or dissolve them in water, that's not the end of the world either. I think we sometimes just need to do whatever gets us through and doesn't hurt us.

[olschesky]

i was the same way until i was in my 20s.......chewed baby aspirin for years....ick! not sure what got me over it.......but i drink tons of water when i take a pill.....try to think about it as a piece of food and just swallow....

what amazes me is people taking pills without any water.......grosssss

[BreaRose]

I have to do a whole "OK. Take a breath. Put the pill on the back of your tongue and CHUG SOME WATER" thing to even get a pill down. I can do it now, but I did milk the children tablets until they weren't enough to get rid of my monster headaches and stuff. The only thing I'm worried about is prenatal vitamins. I mean WTF. My friend showed me hers and they are significantly bigger than an advil. !!

[SteveR]

When I was young I used to take pills in honey or peanut butter. You could give that a shot and see if it helps you at all

[deetour]

Me either. At the moment I have to take Vit-D pills because of severe lack of it and everytime it's a pain. I even break them in half and almost everytime my throat goes bezerk and refuses to swallow. I have to really concentrate to get it right and not have it get stuck for a moment halfway down. Argh *lol*

The thing about swallowing food bigger than that is a good thing to remember. Weird how your mind can make your throat do that.

[LeopardGeckoFan]

I've had this problem my whole life and i'm surprised that i'm not the only one. (everyone around me including the doctors made me feel like it was just me and that i should just get over it) I think the problem is that when i'm going to swallow a pill, it feels like i'm going to choke on it and if that happens, then someone is going to have to get it out which will make me "get sick" because there would be no there way to get it unstuck if water can't make it go down. Now the doctors just give me liquid medicine instead.

[katemariexoo]

Me too! Capsules are the worst, too ): The second I tip my head back to swallow one, I can feel it in my move around in my mouth and I feel like I will gag. I just got prescribed 4 really really big pills that I have to take, and I find that sometimes taking them with really really bubbly soda helps. I can't feel the pill in the liquid so it feels just like a regular sip of diet pop (: