How do you swallow giant tablets like Joint Ace?

my dentist said I should make myself aware just how many large, very large, lumps of food we do actually swallow. Then compare the size of the tablet with that piece of food.
It helped me as I also have to swallow a pill that mustn't be cut. (the medication in the centre must travel through the stomach and release in the intestine). It helped, but it still isn't easy.
I prefer ice cold water rather than a warm liquid - each to their own.

VioletSky

I have to take quite big tablets daily, at first it was awful and if they got stuck, they'd come back out along with what I recently ate..

I've learned to remain calm and not panic and keep drinking and swallowing until they go and now its easier

I honestly think what was happening was that the fear of taking them was making my throat tighter... which might explain why your second is harder?

Yes, I think anxiety does this too.
My sister's MIL was convinced for years that she had swallowing problems but doctors assured them that this was not the case. When she was eating something she really liked it didn't seem to affect her so much!
Quite a lot of vitamins and supplements do show the size of the product but of course we don't always notice. Personally I find that capsules with a coating sometimes get stuck in my throat, I think the coating melts if it stops somewhere so I make a point of drinking a whole glass of water to make sure it has gone down.

25Avalon:

'the advice on the instructions is to take it with food' - that means don't take on an empty stomach without eating something (before or after). It doesn't mean swallow with food!

Daddima

Does anyone know why you are not supposed to break them? Is it to make the drug be released more slowly?

My question exactly.

eazybee

No help but aged sixteen I was on a school trip to Switzerland when a friend was taken ill and became slightly hysterical; the hotel sent for a doctor who came while the staff were fetched and left some enormous tablets for her to take. She was in tears about taking them as the staff arrived, and they too collapsed in hysterics because the 'tablets' were suppositories, something we had never encountered before.

My DH was in a medicine-related job he says the British like tablets, the French and some European countries like suppositories and the Germans like an injection.
He used to get our DD's to take tablets by putting them on a spoon full of jam.
I find I regurgitate chalky ones even if they are small and as some have to be taken at night by the time I have got them down I have to get up about an hour later for the loo.

Does anyone know why you are not supposed to break them? Is it to make the drug be released more slowly?

I find it easier to take large pills with a cup of coffee (not too hot) rather than water.

A nurse at our Doctor's surgery said to take tablets with some fizzy pop.
It actually works very well.

Well I swallowed my turmeric capsules easily tonight. A milky drink and leaning forward. Thank you all.

If you actually mean tablets, not capsules, you can often cut them in two or three bits with a pair of kitchen scissors. I find alendronic acid tabs are too big, and that is what I do.
Many tablets can be crunched up if you don't mind the taste.
When I take senna tablets I crunch them in my mouth

Gingster

Swallow with a mouthful of yoghurt. Slips down a treat!

yes, same advice. My dad use to complain bitterly if his GP prescribed any large tablets and made such a fuss.

Septimia

Many years ago, when I was at school, a group of us used to visit an elderly lady. She told us that she had difficulty swallowing tablets and her doctor had told her to take them with milk rather than water. The thicker fluid carried them down her throat more smoothly.

I was told this by my GP a few years ago.Milk is the way to go, even large tablets go down easy.

Every time I scroll past this I read it as a giant tablet like Joan of Arch. No idea 😂

i have to take 15 tablets in the morning, 4 of them are large, more like suppositories, i find it easier to take with something like orange, apple or pineapple juice, take a drink to wet your mouth and throat, then take 1 tablet, keep it in your mouth, take a drink and keep that in your mouth then bend your head back and swallow, if you still have a bad taste in your mouth take some more juice. i have to repeat the same thing at night but only with 12 tablets.

Swallow with a mouthful of yoghurt. Slips down a treat!

I am really grateful for the tips above. I have torus palatinus, large bony lumps on the roof of my mouth and some tablets are impossible to swallow particularly the turmeric and glucosamine I need for arthritis. I sometimes open a turmeric capsule into yoghurt or kefir but I will try these ideas tonight.

Yes, suppositories are like huge torpedoes, but not that different from my glucosamine tablets and my cod liver oil tablets. Both are large and torpedo shaped. I just open my throat and swallow a goat! I think warm tea, yoghurt, milk and porridge are all better than water for getting them down 'ya.

I read a tip for swallowing tablets recently. It said most people tilt their head backwards to swallow. The tip said to take a good measure of liquid and then tilt your head down to swallow. I'm dreadful at swallowing tablets, but it has worked for me some/most of the time. Worth a try?

Try drinking from a bottle...

No help but aged sixteen I was on a school trip to Switzerland when a friend was taken ill and became slightly hysterical; the hotel sent for a doctor who came while the staff were fetched and left some enormous tablets for her to take. She was in tears about taking them as the staff arrived, and they too collapsed in hysterics because the 'tablets' were suppositories, something we had never encountered before.

Porridge! Always works for me and DH. Even those torpedo size ones slide down easily.

I don’t have problems with capsules but sometimes do with tablets. I was told years ago to try taking them with something fizzy - soda water or lemonade- and I find it helps.

Yes the advice on the instructions is to take it with food but I don’t swallow food whole! Why do the tablets have to be so big? I’d rather take 4 smaller ones.

Many years ago, when I was at school, a group of us used to visit an elderly lady. She told us that she had difficulty swallowing tablets and her doctor had told her to take them with milk rather than water. The thicker fluid carried them down her throat more smoothly.

I have to take quite big tablets daily, at first it was awful and if they got stuck, they'd come back out along with what I recently ate..

I've learned to remain calm and not panic and keep drinking and swallowing until they go and now its easier

I honestly think what was happening was that the fear of taking them was making my throat tighter... which might explain why your second is harder?