I Can NOT take pills

Post Reply New Topic

Doctors keep not believing me and giving me them.

When I try to swallow them whole, my mouth rejects them and spits them out against my will.

When i put them in water or jam etc, I end up puking it up.

If it's a psychological thing, it's subconscious level.

My body rejects them.

Decent doctors give me liquid medicine.

I tried to have some tonight over this probably, hopefully cist (ie painful lump under a mole...) and it wouldn't go in.

I try my best every single time and go through a palava every single time this happens.

I really don't think this spot is seriousl like I feared. But one day, something will be. And a stupid doctor will give me a pill.

No. I put it in my mouth, it arrives at my throat then my mouth retches and forces me to gag it up. I fight against that so it's not that I'm trying not to. I feel nausea.

When I just put it in, my tongue refuses to flatten and makes a big bridge and it can't get over it into the throat.

I wish you could dissolve the pills in water. You could do that with capsules and some pills.

HUGE DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT CLAIM TO KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.
REALLY, I AM MAKING THIS UP. But when has that stopped anyone?

Yeah, it sounds like your subconscious is being contrary.

Maybe two experiments to try, maybe neither works...

(1) Pop the pill in your mouth and then quickly take a really big, really fast drink of water. (Or whatever strikes your fancy.) Maybe you can wash the pill down your throat before it is ejected.

And if that doesn't work...

(2) Try training your subconscious by practicing with something else it likes, perhaps M&Ms? Or whatever appropriately sized and shaped candy you like.


Good luck. With the benefit of real-life experience I can tell you that as you get older there will be more pills.

Those are the things I always try and don't work.

I wonder if it's cos of my verbal dyspraxia? I was about 4 when I could eat proper food, about 2 when I was weaned. I very rarely actually swallow food without chewing it for ages.
That combined with taste sensitivity for when I open it & it becomes a powder & try that way eg in water or jam etc.

I'm going to try with a hot chocolate that's already powder. Medicine normally has a sweetener to it and pills don't.

If that doesn't work, I'll go to the dr about it if they don't give me liquid medicine.

After all this is over I'm def going to go get it sorted with a dr (ideally my regular one), whatever it is. Whether it's psychological or physical or something in between.

Great minds think alike, and (on this) so do ours?

The idea to dissolve them in water can work with some pills. But some taste like the kind of horrible only medical professionals would dream up. And some pills are supposed to dissolve slowly and it is bad if they get released all at once. But sometimes they just taste normal bad and can be safely mushed with water.

Good luck!

I know exactly what you mean! This became a major problem for me as a pre-teen (when they tried to move me off liquids) and through adulthood. I have always had a very strong gag reflex. The sensation of swallowing something whole is highly disturbing to me.

I was forced to take meds as a teen and dreaded each morning because of it (resulting in daily nausea at the mere thought). The only way I could get it down was too stick the pill in something like applesauce or mashed potatoes. But even then I still gagged and tossed it most times. Since applesauce was more practical that was usually my only option, which resulted in me developing a strong aversion to it.

When I became an adult and there was a medication I benefitted from I became a bit more determined to make it work, but that alone didn't help very much.

Nowadays I have to take 4 pills per day for my stupid diseases. I've finally gotten to the point where I can take them with regular liquid, but it's still something I dread and can easily gag if I'm not careful. Plus all of my pills are small.
When they try to give me new pills I always have to press them about the size and shape. Round tablets or very large 'horse' pills don't work at all.

I had to turn down a pill in the ER once and the nurse was majorly annoyed with me. She kept insisting I could swallow it if I just tried. Clearly she doesn't know how awful it feels to choke on those and toss it up.

Anyways, after many years of taking them in thick mushy food items, moving on to slightly less thick things like smoothy drinks, then milk, and now (finally!) water, here's what I've learned about me. I need a moderate distraction while doing it to keep my mind from acknowledging what's happening. I also need to be very very quick at throwing the pill into my mouth and instantly following it will liquid. I must make the pill suspend in the liquid so that I can't feel it out else I'll gag. I got the movements down so that I can achieve this if throw my head back (so my tongue isn't involved) whilst tossing the pill and liquid in. I also had to make sure my husband would know not to try talking to me (or interacting in anyway) because then I can't do it. But all that said, I don't think I could do it if I didn't have to constantly take meds to stay functioning, and even then it took me 10+ years .

In short, I can relate.

KT67
I've heard of one other variation with water. You probably already tried this but...take a big drink of water but keep it in your mouth. Then push the pill (between the lips) into your mouth. It works for some.

AuroraBorealisGazer
I've seen a number of your posts and think very highly of you...but you just brought back some horrible memories and made me shudder! OK. I'm old. Besides the pills, in February the doctors decided it was time to carve on me. (I felt fine, I was doing fine, and they decided they could fix that!) You mentioned gag reflex...I also have a strong gag reflex. Should you graduate to surgery emphasize that gag reflex to them, really emphasize it, because it is absolutely no fun whatsoever to regain consciousness while still intubated.

I find I have to crunch them to swollow.

^ Oh no I'm sorry Double Retired should I edit parts out?
I had an endoscopy and I was terrified of waking up in the midst of it for that reason you described.

I don't know what a meltlet is.

I can get issues swollowing at times. Never have been good with taking pills unless I chew them before I swollow.

Crush it up (if it’s the kind that can be crushed) and mix it with apple sauce or pudding. That’s how they give medication to people in nursing homes that can’t swallow pills.

Yes, if you can. Crush the pills up with a pestle and mortar.
Grind them into a dust.

Put the dust into any thing tasty that you love. Ice cream, milkshake, fruit juice, deserts.
Eat up.... Yum Yum!

if that doesn't work, perhaps you can get someone to get a big blow pipe like straw,
get them to pinch your nose so you can't breath, and then blow pipe the pills into your throat at force at the point you can't breath.

This is how they force animals and some children to take pills.

Other than that perhaps you can pretend the pills are ecstasy or other types of happy pills.

Eat up.... Yum Yum!....