I was just wondering if anyone had any issues taking pills. I think that in one of my pre-op classes it was discussed that most people could take a pill about the size of a pencil eraser. I take migraine medicine and it scares me a bit that I won't be able to take it after surgery. My doctor has given me some others that dissolve on the tongue, but they don't work as well. I also take LOTS of tylenol for headaches. Do they make a liquid tylenol??

oh yeah..and those rapid relief gels (the red and blue ones) do not get stuck ..for me...i take them when i have a cold (tylenol that is)

..and my doc says that we can take anything that comes in a capsule.

Take your pills with warm Water. Anything warm will help to open your band. Once you have a good fill, taking pills, capsules or whatever becomes harder. I have had to buy a pill crusher for some of them.

I also take my meds earlier than right before bed. I used to take them and jump in bed but a few times of them coming back up

cured me of that.

Thanks for your reply Denise, that sounds like really good advice!!

Whats a rebound migraine?? My migraines are purely hormonal. In fact for a little while I did hormone replacement therapy and it made them completely go away. I stopped the HRT though due to my mother having breast cancer, specifically an estrogen fed tumor. Low estrogen is what causes my migraines but I'd rather have a migraine than a tumor, and I'm not so sure that the type of HRT that I was doing has been around long enough for the long term effects to be fully realized. Most the time I just have headaches, thats why I take the tylenol. I would say I probably take tylenol 3-4 times a week.

? my mom had bc and has since passed they said I am not at risk but it was estrogen feed by HRT.

I have since been put on birth control pills, is this an option for you?

I have the liquid Tylenol, its okay but I seem to go thru it faster than pills.

do your doctor's tell you that you can't have anything to eat or drink 3 hours before bed? i'm curious about this, because i noticed denise said they come back up. i'm not following this rule right now as i do not have restriction, but i have the same habit of taking all of my pills right before bed.

denise--how long do you wait before going to bed...3 hours is an anwful long time for me, sometimes dinner isn't even ready that long before i go to bed, then trying to take the pills too....

? my mom had bc and has since passed they said I am not at risk but it was estrogen feed by HRT.

I have since been put on birth control pills, is this an option for you?

I have the liquid Tylenol, its okay but I seem to go thru it faster than pills.

Please understand I am in no way disputing that scientists and doctors agree that there is no evidence that HRT will increase the likliehood of developing breast cancer. That being said understand that I can be a little paranoid!!! I'm afraid that the type of HRT that I had was too new to fully realize the long term effects. I was having the SottoPelle HRT which is implants, not a pill or a patch. I can't do birth control pills because I have always experienced hives whenever I have been on any type of birth control. ( I use a copper IUD, works fine, lasts a long time ). Again, I'm just increasingly paranoid about some things.

I get terrible migraines with stroke like symptoms (numbness, facial drooping, inability to talk) and I was on Topomax even though I only got them 1-2 times a year. I was also told to STOP taking tylenol and ibuprofen/motrin. My neurologist prescribed Mobic which does the same thing (actually much better!) and it should keep you from a week long migraine. I love it and now at the first hint of even a small headache I take it and I am great! It is really small, too so it should work fine with the band!

Sorry...forgot to add that now I don't take the Topomax anymore--only the mobic!

do your doctor's tell you that you can't have anything to eat or drink 3 hours before bed? i'm curious about this, because i noticed denise said they come back up. i'm not following this rule right now as i do not have restriction, but i have the same habit of taking all of my pills right before bed.

denise--how long do you wait before going to bed...3 hours is an anwful long time for me, sometimes dinner isn't even ready that long before i go to bed, then trying to take the pills too....

No, you don't have to wait that long. Just make sure you drink plenty of Water so they are going through the band and not stuck in any way in the esophagus. I take most of them about an hour before bed, and my Ambien

I take at least 20 min before going to bed. I used to take my Ambien and jump right in bed. Now I make sure I am sitting up for about 20 min.

If you have tight restriction, you can feel the water going through the band. I have laid in bed and all of a sudden felt the water gurgling through the band, maybe 10-15 min after laying down.

I will have to read back through this thread to see where this 3 hours is coming from .

I always take all my meds with warm water. In the morning I have a lot of

pills and supplements I take. Before banding, I could throw 9 pills in my mouth and take a drink. Now I have to take one at a time, and wait a couple of min. before taking another one. You can definitely feel if they get stuck. If that happens, I drink more water and wait.

I will have to read back through this thread to see where this 3 hours is coming from .

it came from me..my doctor told me that i need to wait 3 hours, but that seems awfully long to me.

I always take all my meds with warm Water. In the morning I have a lot of

pills and supplements I take. Before banding, I could throw 9 pills in my mouth and take a drink. Now I have to take one at a time, and wait a couple of min. before taking another one. You can definitely feel if they get stuck. If that happens, I drink more water and wait.

that was me..nine pills in one gulp. i cut up everything now, but just as a precaution, and i do not take more than one at once. i haven't ever had anything stuck at all, but i hear it's not fun, so i'll try to avoid it.

thanks for your advice on the one hour and warm water thing.

Please understand I am in no way disputing that scientists and doctors agree that there is no evidence that HRT will increase the likliehood of developing breast cancer. That being said understand that I can be a little paranoid!!! I'm afraid that the type of HRT that I had was too new to fully realize the long term effects. I was having the SottoPelle HRT which is implants, not a pill or a patch. I can't do birth control pills because I have always experienced hives whenever I have been on any type of birth control. ( I use a copper IUD, works fine, lasts a long time ). Again, I'm just increasingly paranoid about some things.

I understand and dont blame you...they basicly told my mom that although her breast cancer was not caused by HRT that it did advance it. Then a few years later is when they came out with the relationship bte the incr in bc and HRT. I have to be on bc to treat my pms, endo and premature ovarian failure. :scared:

? another question?: do you have to crush everything or can we take tablets and soft gel pills?

Tiny,

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom and wish you the best in the future.:cry My mother has had a really good prognosis after her lumpectomy. (its been about 3 years now)

phowell,

Unfortunately for me Mobic is an NSAID, and I'm allergic to all NSAIDs. The only thing I can take otc is tylenol. I really am not looking forward to getting old because I'm sure I will have arthritis and almost all anti-inflammatory meds are NSAIDs. Thanks for the idea though. I should probably look into going to a neurologist for mine, I don't have the stroke like ones you are talking about, I do have a cousin that does though and she has had a time. Plenty of horror stories about going to the ER and trying to explain what is going on with her. I guess its pretty rare.

No, you don't have to crush everything. It really depends on how tight your fill is, and how much restriction you have.

Most people are tighter in the mornings, so if you have trouble, try taking things later in the day. I have moved some of my meds to taking them with Breakfast, to taking them with lunch or dinner.

My wife and I had to crush are pills the first 6 weeks after surgery. Now we are doing fine. How ever one thing I did learn was that some of the meds that I was taking the doctor did not want me to take anymore unless I used them only a certian amount of time ie 1-3 days and had to take it the a good coating for the stomach. Make sure that you check with your band doctor about the drugs you are taking as they might effect the stomach and throat area and could cause problems witht he band. There is a list on here of stuff you should not take until you talk with your band doctor about.

Chris