Hi, I am scheduled for banding in Nov. and I can't wait. I take several prescription medications and was wondering how hard it is to swallow pills and use very little water. Guess I'll have to give up swallowing all 7 at a time. I am 61 yrs old and don't want to spend the rest of my life fighting the weight...any regrets out there?:thumbup:

Hi spitfire!! My name is Becky. From what I have read, there are some medications that you can get in liquid form and some that can be crushed and added to other things you are eating or drinking. I have one that cannot be crushed and does not come in liquid form. I will be meeting with my doctor next Wed. and I'm sure he will have an answer for me. They are not big pills, so maybe there won't be any problem. I have purchased chewable vitamins, chewable calcium, liquid tylenol, chewable Gas-X, and chewable nausea medicine (just in case I need it). All that chewing might burn up a calorie or two :thumbup: I need to check with him about when it is ok to start taking all but the prescription meds, and hopefully I won't have to take that one pill much longer. That is one of my goals. Good luck to you! November will be here before you know it!!!

Most medicines can be crushed unless they are time released. They have a pill crusher at Walgreen's for about $5.00.. but when I was little my mom used to crush Excedrin between 2 spoons, sprinkle just a tad of sugar on top to help with the taste (or Splenda if you want) and just enough water to get it off the spoon. I'd have a small cup of water but it all went down very smoothly.

As for now, I use the pill crusher add a little water to the container after the pill is crushed, stir and swallow. You'll need a chaser though.

If you can swallow several pills at once, you should be a pro at taking pills, so I'd suggest tossing them to the back of your throat and one drink of water per pill, but don't take them all at once give it a little time in between each one.

It's after banding that you need to be concerned about though. You need to check with your doctor to see if you can crush or get different forms of the medicine your taking now.