I am having a time of finding a chewable or liquid option for my blood pressure meds. The med I am having trouble finding a solution for is Diltiazem. I talked to the cardiologist but they think I can just open up the capsule and take the 2 little tabs inside but those are not crushable either. Anyone experience this issue and have a solution?

3 hours ago, lingre said:

I am having a time of finding a chewable or liquid option for my blood pressure meds. The med I am having trouble finding a solution for is Diltiazem. I talked to the cardiologist but they think I can just open up the capsule and take the 2 little tabs inside but those are not crushable either. Anyone experience this issue and have a solution?

Hmm, they aren't that big, I would just try taking them. I had gabapentin, plus others to take post-op. Gabapentin are quite big capsules and I found if I made sure my mouth was wet first by swilling water around first then I could have a sip and get them down.

Bp tablets whilst important won't be too much of an issue to miss for that first 24 hours post-op. And by the next day should be fine to swallow. BUT the best person to ask is a hospital pharmacist, they will know more about how to take them an alternative way than the cardiologist too.

ps. bp drops pretty quickly-side effect of anaesthetic so you most likely won't be given them to start with because it will drop it too low anyway

Good to know! The cardiologist and pharmacist said to take with applesauce but I won’t be able to do that for a while. I have my first pre-op on Friday so I plan to see what my options are at this point. Thank you for the response!

1 minute ago, lingre said:

Good to know! The cardiologist and pharmacist said to take with applesauce but I won’t be able to do that for a while. I have my first pre-op on Friday so I plan to see what my options are at this point. Thank you for the response!

No problem I will be very surprised if your bp is high enough for the nurses to give them to you anyway, but yeah 24-48 hours without isn't going to kill you and they will be doing your vitals constantly anyway so any 'issues' can be sorted with IV meds if absolutely necessary

This makes total sense and your right...my Bp was super low after my gallbladder surgery. Thanks!

I haven't taken a bp pill since before surgery. It's been perfect.

I haven't taken a bp pill since before surgery. It's been perfect.

Surgeon held off on my bp meds after surgery. I had a follow up with my general dr a few weeks after surgery and she officially took me off bp meds since I had lost some weight and my bp was normal [emoji16]
Good luck to you!

Btw- Today is my 2 month Surgiversary!

SW: 311
Surgery Weight 7/3/19: 281
CW: 231

3 hours ago, alex76 said:

Surgeon held off on my bp meds after surgery. I had a follow up with my general dr a few weeks after surgery and she officially took me off bp meds since I had lost some weight and my bp was normal
Good luck to you!

Btw- Today is my 2 month Surgiversary!

SW: 311
Surgery Weight 7/3/19: 281
CW: 231

Happy surgiversary to you and congrats ?

Ok, so this is still posing issues for me and i still need to know if anyone has a solution to this because it sounds like I should not just stop taking this medication. I should have explained originally that I am not taking this meds for blood pressure but a heart arrhythmia/palpitations that are pretty bad if I don’t take it. These won’t kill me but it wakes me up at night and sends me into a fight or flight response that is no good and keeps me from sleeping. I have asked the cardiologist and pharmacist and there just seems to be so much confusion about my options. I am finding it hard to believe I am the only bariatric patient that is on this drug and had to resolve this prior to surgery. Seems strange and hoping this larger pool of people can help me find somebody in my same position who can provide a solution! I have 3 weeks to figure this out but if I need to switch meds I sort of wanted to do that next week to give me time to adjust.

hi, i looked it up and it looks like you can get it as an oral suspension? meaning crushed and in a carrier liquid ... can you ask and see if you can get that done? you said they thought you could crush but you weren't sure?

i've had my betablocker made into a liquid for the first month post surgery after seeing all the comments about trouble swallowing; and been told i can crush my bp med (like you one of mine is for controlling heart rate)

i went through a run around initially being told mine couldn't be crushed; then that it was disolvable (it sure wasn't), then that it was available as a liquid, then wasn't etc. but eventually got it!

11 hours ago, lingre said:

Ok, so this is still posing issues for me and i still need to know if anyone has a solution to this because it sounds like I should not just stop taking this medication. I should have explained originally that I am not taking this meds for blood pressure but a heart arrhythmia/palpitations that are pretty bad if I don’t take it. These won’t kill me but it wakes me up at night and sends me into a fight or flight response that is no good and keeps me from sleeping. I have asked the cardiologist and pharmacist and there just seems to be so much confusion about my options. I am finding it hard to believe I am the only bariatric patient that is on this drug and had to resolve this prior to surgery. Seems strange and hoping this larger pool of people can help me find somebody in my same position who can provide a solution! I have 3 weeks to figure this out but if I need to switch meds I sort of wanted to do that next week to give me time to adjust.

Really your cardiologist and pharmacist should be working this out for you. If there is no way you can get the medication in liquid form then they should be converting you to one that is. What did they say about you not being able to have it for a few days?

They have a duty of care to sort this out for you if you absolutely cannot miss taking it for 2 or 3 days. I would be demanding (politely of course) that they find you an alternative. It is not your responsibility as a patient to be sourcing medication.

7 hours ago, Zemi said:

hi, i looked it up and it looks like you can get it as an oral suspension? meaning crushed and in a carrier liquid ... can you ask and see if you can get that done? you said they thought you could crush but you weren't sure?

i've had my betablocker made into a liquid for the first month post surgery after seeing all the comments about trouble swallowing; and been told i can crush my bp med (like you one of mine is for controlling heart rate)

i went through a run around initially being told mine couldn't be crushed; then that it was disolvable (it sure wasn't), then that it was available as a liquid, then wasn't etc. but eventually got it!

This is great info! I am happy to hear someone got this same run around too . It just seems like no one has asked this before and it is causing confusion for my doc and pharmacist. I plan to reach out again this week to try and get a final answer on this. Thank you!

7 hours ago, Bastian said:

Really your cardiologist and pharmacist should be working this out for you. If there is no way you can get the medication in liquid form then they should be converting you to one that is. What did they say about you not being able to have it for a few days?

They have a duty of care to sort this out for you if you absolutely cannot miss taking it for 2 or 3 days. I would be demanding (politely of course) that they find you an alternative. It is not your responsibility as a patient to be sourcing medication.

I was thinking this same thing and have been baffled this has been such an odd question to ask. I plan to push harder this week to get an answer about this pronto! Thanks for the encouragement.

Good luck don't let them just brush you off!

I asked about my bp meds and they said I can just swallow meds. They also said I may hold them if my bp is under a certain number. I also take a uric acid reducer that I will need to take post op.

It surprised me, also, that I can take a hard pill post op but yet will be on clear liquids. Go figure!

I plan on questioning this again during my pre op appt with my surgeon in a couple of weeks.