Help I'm freakin 20 and I cannot figure this out. I've been trying to practice with tic tacs today and I can only sometimes manage to swallow 1/8th of a tic tac and i just. I don't understand. What magic do people do where it's not impossible to just hold solids somewhere else in your mouth while you swallow liquids?
I can usually balance the pill on my bottom lip, these days, and drink something that way (and use the bonus momentum to help swallow the pill) but back when I was a kid, I used to stick it under my tongue (so that I wouldn't have to deal with the taste) till after I'd taken a couple sips of liquid, and then hold the liquid in my mouth for a moment while I pushed the pill back out to where I could swallow it, and then swallow the whole mess. Sometimes I'd shove it into my cheek instead, so that I could hold it there for a second or two while I drank the liquid. The pill's usually on the inside of my bottom lip, for reference. But I don't think most people dry-swallow pills? Or at least, I have no idea how they manage it, if so; I feel like dry-swallowing is probably just a thing used in TV shows to demonstrate that the person is So Very Hardcore and Intellectual.
i read this and realized that i had no idea how i swallowed pills, so i went and took a vitamin for science. what i did was: 1. place pill on tip/end of tongue. 2. take a sip of water without swallowing immediately. 3. once the water had lifted the pill off my tongue and it was swishing around in the front of my mouth with the water, swallow it all together. my grandmother has always had trouble swallowing pills, though, and what she does instead (when i'm there to remind her) is grind them up with the back of a spoon, mix them into yogurt, and eat them that way.
People usually advise to put the pill at the back of your throat but that has a tendency to make m gag and/or panic like I'm going to choke on it. So I put it somewhere in the middle or end where it's more comfortable. Then throw my head back and take a swig of my drink like I'm pounding a shot or something and the sudden rush of liquid and gravity take care of the rest. I usually already have the drink in hand when I put the pill in my mouth so it's on my tongue for maybe one second, and I also pick strongly flavored drinks like soda instead of water because I have a problem with tasting the medicine even when it's coated and even when I swallowed the pill the medicine taste makes me gag and throw it back up. I mean when you give pills to a dog or cat its the exact same principle. Tilt their head up, open their mouth, drop the pill in there, give them some water while their head is tilted back and just having the water in their mouth with their head tilted back forces them to swallow, and you wanna do this as quickly as possible before they panic and start fighting you, but not violently because that makes them panic too. (this is why giving pills to you pets is as much of an art as it is a science and thank god someone invented pill pockets) The only malfunctions I have are sometimes it goes off to the side and hits my teeth (but a second gulp takes care of that) and sometimes I panic and think I need to take in a lot more liquid than I actually do and end up with that painful esophagus thing you get when you swallow way too much food/drink at once.
Many thanks for the advice! I will try various methods soon and give out results. The yogurt thing sounds incredibly easier than taking it with water or other liquid, I'll have to try that. Not sure how successfully I can use that in an airport tho, as the main reason I'm learning is so that I can take Dramamine before my 16 hour flight to hong kong @.@
I usually just have the liquid/applesauce/whatever in my mouth, open mouth a bit, insert pill, and swallow in such a way that it all goes down at once.
I had a lot of trouble with this when I first started. I hold the pill in between my bottom teeth and lip before releasing it when I swallow my drink. Keeps it from tongue-contact.
personally i always fill my mouth with water then tilt my head back and drop the pill(s) into the water and swallow. i can't handle the pills touching my tongue because I am a BABY, so this is the only way that really works for me. Shrug!
some experiments have happened. discoveries: - I am unused to and sorta uncomfortable with tilting my head back to swallow (never understood how kids would chug drinks growing up, still don't really understand) -when i try to swallow a solid in water (i'm practicing with between 1/3 and 1/8 of a tic tac) most of the time my tongue instinctually goes up to catch the tic tac while the water gets swallowed still the only times i've managed to swallow the tic tac is if I can't feel it in my mouth at all. gonna definitely try yogurt/applesauce next, I'm not sure I can learn how to efficiently swallow pills with water rn, all my successful attempts have involved a necessary finagling of the tic tac and water in my mouth so that I can't feel the tic tac at all, not to mention the amount of time it takes for me to get my body to swallow
I guess... just keep practicing? Yogurt and applesauce can really be helpful, it's easier to move the pill in them.
I shall! I'm just in a bit of a rush to find a good way because not being able to take anti-nausea pills for my flight would be a 16 hour long anxiety wreck and boy i am getting on that plane in a week. Also practicing with tic tacs isn't the best idea because while they're the ideal size, I also love eating them and am running low. Probably should've gotten the mint ones instead of orange, I hate mint
im assuming by the fact that youre practicing with tic tacs that the pill isnt that big? in which case, what i do is put the pill in my mouth and take a biiiig mouthful of water or juice (sometimes juice works better bc taste things) and sorta...swish? until the pill is sorta suspended in the liquid and i cant feel it and then swallow the whole thing its also important to try to relax! you might be unconsciously tense about it, which makes it a lot harder. but once you get the hang of it it becomes a million times easier, if thats any consolation :PP
If the only concern is dramamine, they make patches. Is that an option? Also, ginger chews. I don't have problems swallowing things, but I've been having Nausea Adventures off and on the past year or so, so I've tried a variety of things, and ginger chews worked great for me. Also apparently they make chewable dramamine.
Chewable dramamine is half dose so I'd have to take more, and it takes soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo gross. Like, my stomach gets upset taking it. I hadn't heard of the patch thing o3o how does that work?
Apparently those are more commonly prescription? I'm not super sure, I just know I've seen people on ferries, etc. with those behind their ears. When I was going out on a ferry that was hitting storm warnings, I talked to a couple people who'd been able to get them last-minute from their doctor, but that was in Canada. And there are, like, drops that go behind the ears that are supposed to help, but I am vaguely suspicious of those things and prefer the most industrial-strength drugs I can get my hands on. Oh, and apparently the patches are scopolomine, not dramamine.
Might be too late, but orange juice is another alternative to water/yogurt/applesauce - maybe easier for airports than the latter two? It's thick enough that (when I used to have trouble with pills, I am Practiced now) I couldn't feel the pill in there.
A huge mouthful of thick yogurt usually does the trick with the pills I can't swallow with water. You can also cut the pill so it's smaller. If you have liquid nausea medicine you might be able to take some to the airport in those small sauce bottles for lunch boxes? I think they don't ping airport security. (Repurposed hotel shampoo bottles are also pretty great)
I have no advice cuz i am that one person on planet earth who can actually dry swallow most pills. But yogurt sounds like a promising solution, and when i was a kid i would have to have my pills chopped up pretty small and then taken with a very strong flavored sugary drink to help stop me tasting them as they went down. i would have all the pieces at once, which helped me managed to swallow them lol.
my method: 1. stick pill on the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay way back of tongue. until you are almost gagging. 2. swallow copious amounts of liquid. this hopefully washes the pill down. it's not foolproof and I don't recommend it.
all i can probably tell anyone is practice is your best friend and those pill-cutters are great for pills larger than you are used to. also, flavored liquids are best because almost every pill has that 'ugh, pill' taste and the sooner you can swallow it the better, even if it takes a try or two, cause the longer its in your mouth the longer the contact is and pill aftertaste is a thing i do not enjoy. i started by just taking a daily vitamin and if i couldn't swallow it in a few tries i'd try again with a new one, since by then it'd be gross and slimy and i'd need to take a break, gulp some juice to clear the taste out, toss the failed pill and get a fresh one! so that's possible if you don't have like, a certain number of pills that you MUST take like a prescription or something. the less stress ya can put on yourself with meds the better imo. (i was able to take my pills with soda the other day and i was Very Proud)
