With a gastric bypass, when will I be able to swallow whole tablets of medicine again?

I am over three weeks post op and to crush these antibiotics and mix it with water to take is soon yucky and bitter.

Try using yogurt instead of water, helps mask the awful taste.

I'm not even 3 weeks post Op and last night I took a small sleeping pill. I just totally forgot about the fact that I had surgery when I did it. In fact, I only thought about it this morning. Like, wait, I took a pill last night and I shouldn't be taking pills. Lol. Anyway, it went down totally fine, no discomfort at all. Best sleep ever - and I'm all good.

Thanks for addressing this topic because I'm someone who takes around ten pills and capsules every morning and around 8 every night. I bought a "Pill Crusher" so I'm ready but the whole idea seems so strange and I'm sure it will be gross. But as with many things about this whole road we've

undertaken, this will NOT be a stroll in the park and so things that are gross or extremely unpleasant? Too bad, I'll have to handle it.

It won't be long. I think it was about 8 weeks post op when I was able to finally swallow small pills. I think at 4 months I was swallowing any sized pill.

I still have trouble swallowing big pills but that is from a different surgery I had done in June on my neck where they went through the throat.

Soon, very soon.

I am a little over five weeks out and I am now taking calcium citrate pulls, which are huge! They're going down. I don't enjoy it but I guess I better get used to them--twice a day. ????

I am 10 weeks out today and I can take small to medium pills but would rather just use calcium citrate chews and all my Vitamins are chewable. I could probably swallow the bigger pills, but just have a preference not to. :-)

Thank you friends!! I guess for this course I have to suck it up.

By the way: don't waste your money on a pill crusher. I crush mine between two Soup spoon, works like a charm.

I was taking very small pills (eraser sized) right after surgery (seriously 2 days). For bigger pills, even now (7 1/2 months out), I break the size pills you show in half just for safety sake.

I started taking most pills right away. The only one I had to wait 2 or 3 weeks to take whole was my ursodiol capsule, because it was pretty big. I've always done chewable calcium and Multivitamins, so those were never an issue.

I used a pill cutter and was able to take my meds in little pieces five days post op. Could not handle crushed stuff. Yuck.

Of course check with your doctor, but assuming he/she isn't opposed to you taking pills,, I don't see any reason to continue crushing pills of the size you showed.

I am 3 weeks post-op and am back to taking fill-sized Calcium citrate pills and generic Allegra pills. Both would be considered "horse pills" in size.

My doc okayed any size pill the second week, but warned that the big ones like calcium pills may fill me up for a while (and they do)!

I waited till week 3 just to be safe. I'm careful to take a sip of Water and hold it so the pill can slide down really easily, and I take only one pill at a time, no matter it's size.

One alternative to taking the crushed pills is getting your meds in liquid or "quick-melt" form. They did this for my antibiotics right after surgery (I had pneumonia so was on antibiotics for 2 wks). I bought children's formulas for all my other meds, though now I've switched back to regular.

Edited January 19, 201610 yr by talkingmountain

I had to take very large 'horse pills' immediately after my surgery due to a reaction from the blood pressure cuff. They told me it was fine to swallow them and to definitely not crush them. I was also told by the surgery center that any pill the size of your pinky fingernail was fine to swallow.

I found a great line of spay able Vitamins.Yes you heard me orally spray able in your mouth.It is by

Garden of Life my kind organics.No added sugar or stevia.Non GMO.I bought D3,B12,and C.

Bariatric Pal website has Vitamin Patches. Does anyone know if these are enough of what post gastric bypass are supposed to take and if they really work? Thanks!

I've never crushed my pills. Just use a pill cutter(?) to make them smaller. Even in the hospital after RNY the nurse cut the pills, not crush.

I do notice if I don't cut them small enough or take enough Water, I feel a little burning after taking them.