pills to crush or not to crush

[toribug1234 0]

i haven't been banded yet but soon. is it true that you have to crush your pills , you can't take them whole?

[thebandinmarie 0]

it really depends on the size of the pill. Multivitamins and Calcium supplements are often pretty big so I cut them in half and I'll swallow each half but I wait a few minutes in between. Allergy pills are smaller so they should be fine to swallow whole.

[RestlessMonkey 7]

No it is not true and it doesn't just depend only on the size of the pill. I'm at my sweet spot and I take about 20 pills a day (some prescription, most Vitamins and supplements...and that's a choice. You don't have to take 100 Vitamins a day LOL)

My potassium pills (one of the prescriptions) are HUGE I mean HUGE. I used to have trouble taking them even preband. However they go down fine.

It depends a lot on you...your swallow strength, your esophagus, your pouch, how tight your band needs to be for you to "feel the love", etc.

You'll just have to wait and see. Some docs say only M & M sized, mine just told me "Sure you can take then if they don't get stuck or give you any trouble". So, I take them. :tt1:

Somebody once said "but what if they just sit there in your pouch?" The pouch has no (or severely limited) digestive enzymes, so by now they'd be coming back up because I've done this since I was on mushies post band! :thumbup:

Edited September 16, 2009 by RestlessMonkey

[123crod 170]

I was told to crush everything. And I did for the first month. But it was horrible I had to open capsules and just pour them in my mouth. I take a lot of pills a day and for the past month I have just started breaking them ½ and down they go. I was told they would just sit in pouch too and probably repeated it to, but one of mine is a sleep pill and I can feel when it starts working so I know they go down one way or another. I am trying to follow everything my Dr. says but on that I changed. Also be sure not to crush anything that is time released.

[incolorado 1]

I was NOT told to crush or split my pills, including pain pills. That resulted in a major PB just 3 days after surgery, very painful, with a giant Vicodin stuck in my throat and very close to vomiting. Split or crush until you know your swelling has gone down. Now, 2 weeks out, I am fine with the larger pills.

[tnewton8351 0]

I am 3 weeks out and I don't crush or half anything. I did at first and it was horrible. Then I decided I would just try one whole and see what happened. Nothing happened. So now I just spread them out during the day and have no trouble whatsoever. Good luck to you! Seems to me it depends on the person whether or not they can swallow whole.

[RobinAnn 2]

I'm amazed at the surgeons that prescribe post-surgery pain meds in pill form... just amazed.

As for regular pills, my surgeon says crush them always. I take four tiny pills for my blood pressure daily and I've been dutifully crushing them for two months. I grind them up, dump them into my hand, then mouth, then wash them down with iced tea or Crystal Light.

[RestlessMonkey 7]

I'm amazed at the surgeons that prescribe post-surgery pain meds in pill form... just amazed.

.

I am "just amazed" that so many people can't take their pills. I have great restriction and take mine fine. I wonder what is missing from their post op recovery?

Or maybe...MAYBE some can take them and some can't?

[JenFenRen 0]

123crod, did you crush your sleeping pill when you got home from surgery? I am curious because I take one too, and they are small, but I didnt know if you could crush them...

[123crod 170]

123crod, did you crush your sleeping pill when you got home from surgery? I am curious because I take one too, and they are small, but I didnt know if you could crush them...

Yes they made the Pharmacy make sure that they told me I had to crush it. Not to even try to swallow any part of it with out crushing it:rolleyes: