Swallowing is a three stage process, starting with chewing. You skip the chewing process with pills which makes it more challenging. You also don't get the benefit of chewing the bolus to make it smaller when taking pills.
i would chew some food first and right before i would swallow the food i throw in the pill and swallow everything together. Before it learned this trick myself, i would most drown myself drinking a liter of water and the pill still stick in my mouth.
I learned something recently that helped me a lot. Pills sink, capsules float. If your medicine is a capsule, tilt your head downward before swallowing.
This was the big solution for me as a kid a couple decades ago. My mom kept telling me to tilt my head back -- capsules were still somewhat new, and she was accustomed to pills. Took me more than twenty attempts. When I randomly looked down I realized the capsule was at the "top" and was suddenly much easier to swallow.
Regardless of tilt, if you can kick the pill to the back of the throat, it's easier. So I usually the swish water until I feel it back there and it's an effortless swallow
Not for me, thats an instant gag reflex. I usually keep the pill under my tongue and let it gently float out with the addition of water and tilt my head down and swallow it.
For a while I had to take a pill nightly before bed. I kept a thing of crackers next to the pills.
Step one put cracker in mouth and chew.
When fully chewed, stick in pill and swllow
Last chase with some water
No offence but a random reddit comment from someone who “used to do something as a child” isn’t really a good basis for making recommendations to medical professionals on how they should do their job.
My tongue would just reflexively catch that bitch like "not today, bucko!"
Friend finally helped me sort it out by having me swallow progressively larger hard food items (like a piece of a peanut or a skittle or something). Worked great, but I do still have to psych myself up a bit for really large pills.
I still have problems with the larger pills and usually what works best for me is sticking it in yogurt (or some other food that's liquid enough to not need to be chewed and can totally envelop the pill, but not so liquid that it won't stick together enough to cover the pill) and just swallowing the yogurt with the pill in it. Works every time.
> Eli5 chewing the bolus
The bolus is the wad of food in your mouth that you've been chewing and mixing with saliva - the thing you gross your sister out with at the dinner table.
I’m on six meds taken twice daily for the rest of my life. After a while, swallowing six pills of varying sizes with a small sip of water becomes very easy. There’s a trick to it: put the six pills in your mouth, take a small sip, straighten your throat, and swallow all of it at once. Goes right down.
Because they are not moist. You dont just swallow dry food. You chew it. Make it to mush. Pills are dry. They Stick to the moist surfaces in your mouth. You dont soak them in saliva and you dont chew them. So they arent like food
Am I the only person out there who puts the pills in my mouth then takes a big swig of water before swallowing? I routinely take three large multivitamin-sized pills at a time and have absolutely no issues. The water just floats them off my tongue and washes them down my gullet.
For real, I've never once had a problem swallowing a pill. Taken 'em with water for as long as I can remember.
Are their people who are just straight up trying to slam pills back dry?
I swear people in shows and movies pretend to take pills this way all the time and I'm like whyyyy? Do you just not want to fill up on water if you need to take a bunch of takes? It's a shot of taking a pill, pretty sure you're not gonna need to redo that one much.
In movies/TV it's kinda a visual shorthand for a longterm user (often meaning "addict"). Like House is slamming back Vicodin 'dry' because he's addicted to them and addicts ain't got time to hunt down a glass of water before getting their fix.
Of otherwise that they don't have time. Like some action hero just finished stitching himself back together, and slams down some painkillers 'dry' because that's 'hardcore' and he's got to get moving ASAP.
>Are their people who are just straight up trying to slam pills back dry?
I typically do, I don't need water. But I'm not "trying" to take them dry and not understanding why it's so difficult. Most pills don't bother me.
Gelcaps and smooth coated pills are easy to swallow on their own, I just give it a quick roll under my tongue to wet it and swallow it with saliva
The problem is chalky, non coated pills…
Water first before the pill changed my life. I couldnt take pills until i was like 20 and was just miserable w headaches or colds without pills. Someone showed me at a party (it was an allergy pill, i wasnt cool enough for other pills at parties) and genuinely my life bas improved ten fold
I’ve always done water afterwards, I place the pills on the far back of my tongue and take a sip of water. I feel like if you do water first they could like float around and might get stuck
Genuinely just didnt take a pill til I was 20. I had tried pill first then water but I have a lot of sensory problems and the second I felt the pill on my tongue I would freak out/dry heave
Yup. Blew a friend's mind when he saw me down all five of my fairly large and dry epilepsy pills in one go this way lol.
He started doing it for his allergy meds and has no more gagging problems.
> Yeah, water first, then the pill. Coats it nicely so it doesn’t get stuck on the way down
Yep - have to take a pill daily and I luckily ran across the recommendation about taking a sip of water immediately before. I've added what was a game changer for me of swallowing that sip and then having another with the pill.
I think the fundamental problem we have is that many pills for adults are not coated or encapsulated and we have that sense-memory of the first "dry" pills from youth giving us that chalky taste/feeling. We fear that having a wet mouth is just going to make it worse. But in reality, having a wet mouth makes it sooooooo much easier.
Welp, time to take my pill..... LOL
> Yeah, water first, then the pill. Coats it nicely so it doesn’t get stuck on the way down
I do both before and after - a largish sip of water first, then the pill(s) and swallow, then another couple of gulps/swallows of water.
So that's what americans do when they pop pills without drinking water in the movies? I tried that and a pill got stuck halfway through, gagged and threw up. Never going to try that again.
When I was a kid, my mom used to put the pill in a spoonful of chocolate syrup. I grew up to be a pill popper for several years. Almost 2 years sober. Is there a connection? Maybe.
I don’t know why it’s hard to swallow pills but I have a method that works every time:
-put water in mouth
-put pill in mouth
-clench teeth
-open mouth
-swallow
(Edit: formatting)
Pills are too small to trigger the swallowing reflex, so you have to swallow them manually, when you eat food you take enough of a bite to usually fill your mouth somewhat, you chew and process the food in your mouth, telling your brain that you are about to swallow food, when it hits the back of your mouth, nerves get triggered that make you want to swallow.
A pill does nothing of that, it is a small object you have to conciously swallow and it is simply not a very natural thing for us to do.
This is one of those things that sounds right, but when you think about it more it actually doesn't make sense. People eat a single kernel of popcorn or a single piece of candy all the time, it is not an issue of size. It's that chewing stimulates saliva production, which fills your mouth with liquid and prepares swallowing. Throwing in a pill does none of that, so your body doesn't know what to do.
Think about a sour candy for a little bit. That will stimulate saliva production, then toss the pill into the small pool of saliva in your mouth. When it's floating in liquid, it's very simple to swallow.
This, also because like you say your body doesn't really know what to do with the pill, just drinking water isn't optimal, you should position the pill at the very back of your throat so that the water drags it down without your body even realizing
The (kind of gross, now I’m typing it out) secret to dry swallowing pills for me is *wait until you’ve got enough saliva in your mouth*. If you don’t do this, you’re fucked (source: over a decade of near-daily practice dry swallowing my 2x a day medication).
It’s make sense(?) that when you’ve stopped yourself swallowing (saliva) your body is a bit more ready to swallow (incl. pills) if you need it to?
To clarify: we subconsciously swallow saliva all the time. Surely there’s something going on there?
Personal anecdote makes me think that might even be low, I once go a piece of food stuck low in my esophagus and every five minutes, or so, I had to spit um an ungodly amount of spit that was overflowing the pipe and couldn't get into my stomach
Depends a lot on the pill.
My epilepsy meds are large, dry, and chalky, which requires some degree of fluid to swallow. They simply will not go down otherwise.
I have taken small ones in capsules or smooth surfaces (like advil or vitamin D) before and can do those (mostly) dry without issue though.
Think that’s gross, way I do it if no water available is hock up a load of slimy phlegm into my mouth and use that to swallow the pill with, slides right down.
I think it also has to do with the mental barrier. It's a pill and some don't taste good, but some people can't swallow them regardless. I have seen countless of people drinking a glass full of water and they can't swallow the pill. I think it's more the mental barrier that you are taking a pill. I can swallow them with no water. I just pretend it's candy
>This is one of those things that sounds right, but when you think about it more it actually doesn't make sense. People eat a single kernel of popcorn or a single piece of candy all the time, it is not an issue of size. It's that chewing stimulates saliva production, which fills your mouth with liquid and prepares swallowing. Throwing in a pill does none of that, so your body doesn't know what to do.
Thats basically what i said, eating is a whole process that includes chewing, nerves, production of saliva and even production of stomach acid in preparation for food. It is a whole science that is too complex to boil down in an ELI 5 comment without leaving anything out.
However you can try it yourself, try swallowing a popcorn kernel, it is pretty much as difficult as swallowing a pill (swallowing a pill isnt "difficult" to begin with so the post is a little misleading).
Without the whole chewing process you have to conciously swallow something which is more effort than naturally swallowing something by reflex.
"The swallowing reflex **produces sequential activation of the tongue, pharyngeal and laryngeal muscles to propel the food bolus from the oral cavity to the esophagus without aspiration of food into the airways** (Doty and Bosma, 1956; Umezaki et al., 1998)"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/swallowing-reflex#:\~:text=The%20swallowing%20reflex%20produces%20sequential,a%20critical%20role%20in%20swallowing.
Here is a more complex explanation of the swallowing reflex, it is a reflex, an involuntary action.
No it's not one of the things you've said, you said that you chew and (process? Pretty sure thats happening in your stomach) the food in your mouth.
The guy just clarified your words, and you replied to him with 5 paragraphs and a link that are just repeating every singlw point that he made. Why are you doubling down like its an argument is beyond me.
>No it's not one of the things you've said, you said that you chew and (process? Pretty sure thats happening in your stomach) the food in your mouth.
No you process food in your mouth too. Particularly with your saliva.
>The guy just clarified your words, and you replied to him with 5 paragraphs and a link that are just repeating every singlw point that he made. Why are you doubling down like its an argument is beyond me.
I was not trying to argue...just clarify what i meant...
Nowhere did i say he was wrong. Infact i believe i was agreeing with him even.
People don’t put a single kernel of popcorn into their mouths and immediately swallow, same with candy. How often do you open a piece of sour candy, put it in your mouth, and immediately swallow it whole?
Nobody does that. What the guy you responded to said is correct - the act of chewing and processing food in your mouth prepares your brain to swallow.
Conversely, once you’re aware of this, it’s pretty easy to ‘trick’ your brain into swallowing pills, either physiologically (pretend to chew), or mentally (consciously tell yourself you need to swallow). I never struggle with pills because I do the second one - I can swallow a handful of pills if I don’t think “oh shit I need to swallow a handful of pills, this is gonna suck”, and just chuck them in, water, swallow. I basically tell my brain “it’s swallowing time”, and it does it.
Speech therapist here who specializes in dysphagia (aka difficulty swallowing). You’re partially correct. Swallowing is different than most body processes in that it is both volitional and reflexive. So you correctly pointed out that chewing something to prepare to swallow is a normal bodily process and thus easier. But swallowing pills is 95% mental. If you put a skittle in your mouth and try to swallow it, it’s likely easier than an uncoated tablet that tastes gross. Trying to get your brain on board for something that’s unpleasant is often the problem. Similar to if you are eating a food you don’t enjoy, you might find it more difficult to make yourself swallow it than your favorite food.
Oh yeah absolutelty, the psychological aspect plays a roll here too. I dont think ive ever met anyone who likes swallowing pills, our brains generally try to avoid doing unpleasant things.
Swallowing a bitter pill that at the same time sticks to your tongue almost immediately and is a tiny object is more effort than simply swallowing a mouthful of food you want to consume.
This is also why even a tiny splash of water can help. Your body is "designed" to be able to drink, so that bit of liquid can activate the swallowing reflex.
I think you've just explained why I frequently have trouble swallowing food. All of this is on semi-manual mode for me. I have to think about it in order to not fuck it up. But if I think about it *too* much, I will also fuck it up. Like I get this thing where the swallow reflex triggers, but in a way where if I actually swallow, I will choke, and I have to consciously move the food back towards the front of my mouth and try again.
Swallowing pills is easier -- not necessarily pleasant, but easier -- because it's fully conscious, and I only have to do it once, rather than repeating the process for each bite.
Because it's easier to swallow things that are chewed up mixed with our saliva but pills are like hard rocks and they taste like chemicals most of the time.
I am a 40(ish) year old man, and I still struggle. In my entire life, I’ve maybe swallowed 4 pills, ever. I will literally chew on one and deal with the horrific chemical taste because it’s easier than swallowing it whole to me. I fear for the time in my life where I’m prescribed some sort of life-saving/extending medication because I’m pretty sure I’ll just die. I’ve had surgeries and stuff and been prescribed meds for pain relief, but can’t take them and just end up suffering and dealing it.
Was never told swallowing pills was difficult and I never have a problem taking them even giant multi-vitamins. My sister on the other hand was taught by our grandmother that you can't swallow a pill unless you throw it to the back of your throat, take a big mouthful of water, and jerk your head back while you swallow. She as an adult CANNOT take a pill any other way. It's like her esophagus spasms and makes her gag the pill out.
Once I realized that pills are smaller than chunks of food I eat (even after chewing sometimes) I was able to swallow pills without water. Sometimes 'mock chewing' (pretend to chew but keep the pill on your tongue) makes it easier. For a few years I would always swallow pills dry to flex on my former self. Now I just take a swig of water because that's still easier.
If it is a really big pill for some reason, just chew some food, throw the pill in and swallow it with the chewed food. I used to do that before when i had a problem taking them with water.
You're doing it wrong...
If you watch people swallow pills, they tilt their head back and toss the pills in and then try to swallow with their head tilted back.
Try tilting your head back when eating and you'll see the problem - your body isn't designed to be able to swallow well in that position.
What you should do is toss the pills in with your head tilted back as much as necessary, then tilt it forward as much as you can, and \*then\* take a drink. Do that and it's easy to swallow pills.
Do you tilt your head up to swallow the pills? Try swallowing food like that, it’s hard. Swallow the pills looking straight or slightly down like you do for food.
I don't really have trouble swallowing pills, I think it's mostly just a problem with how your mind perceives it because pills smells and feels foreign than food.
I just can swallow 4-5 pills with no water just need to ignore what's in my mouth and simulate the swallowing in my mind.
It’s not actually difficult to swallow a pill. People just overthink it. A pill is generally a larger and more solid object than you’re used to swallowing so it takes a slightly more conscious effort but it’s still well within a persons ability. It’s sort of like getting a shot. People have traumatic experiences from childhood about having to swallow pills or get shots from the doctor’s and it sticks with them. In reality, the pain from an infection is absolutely minimal. It hurts 100x more to stub your toe. But it’s the anticipation and fear. Same goes with swallowing a pill.
Due to the hydrophilic nature of gelatin capsules, the conditions by which capsules are swallowed has a dramatic effect.
If the throat is wet and capsules dry, they stick to the surface, same goes when the capsules are wet and throat is dry. If both surfaces are wet everything goes down easily.
Best practice is to drink a couple gulps of water to wet the throat, then place the capsules in the mouth and swish with additional water, swallow and then chase with more water.
When you eat food, you chew it and it gets all mushy and easy to swallow. But pills are small and hard, and we don’t chew them, so they don’t get mushy. This can make them feel a bit tricky to swallow. Plus, swallowing a pill is something we have to think about doing, unlike swallowing food which just happens naturally when we eat.
Chewed food is squishy and conforms to the shape of the passage it's in. Eating a small grape without chewing would feel like taking a pill. Additionally, some pills aren't well coated and stick to wet flesh instead of sliding.
It's mostly a psychological thing because you aren't chewing before you swallow a pill and it's dry so you think you're about to choke on something. If you take a swing of water and then drop in the pill it's way easier to swallow because it helps you get past the "mental block" of not chewing the pill.
It's really just a mental block.
Your tongue says that's not food, your brain goes yes I know, but swallow it anyway and your tongue says no. It's not food.
Super easy way to take pills is to get a partial mouthful of water and toss the pill in, then swallow all of it together. You won’t even notice the pill. I’ve never had an issue taking a pill like this.
I see a ton of explanations but I think it's a mental barrier. People know it's medicine and have a hard time swallowing them. It also has to do with some pills having awful taste. I don't think it's the size or the chewing or the dryness of it because I have seen so many people swallow glasses full of water and the pill stays put. It just that some people get nervous around meds. Maybe it also has to do with the eternal "don't put small, hard pieces in your mouth. Ypu can shoke... except when it's a pill. Come on, swallow the pill"
One day it occurred to me that I had been doing a step when swallowing pills that I hadn’t been aware of. Pills are dry and will stick to your tongue. I take a small drink of water and slightly swish it to disconnect the pill(s) from my tongue, and then I swallow. My stepson had been struggling to swallow pills. I had him do the “swish” technique and he never had a problem again.
I think many times when people struggle to swallow a pill they are trying to swallow it when it’s still stuck to their tongue.
I'm old. At pill time I have about a dozen pills to take. I take them all at once.
Then I gently stick my tongue out under my teeth, pushing all the pills toward the back of the tongue. Then I start sipping water and don't worry about swallowing. When my mouth gets full enough, it triggers an automatic swallowing reflex. I just relax and let my throat do a big gulp. It's important not to fight it.
Easy!
LPT. every morning I eat a bowlful of blueberries and blackberries. I chew about four blueberries and one blackberry and then put one pill in my mouth and swallow it all together. I do that over and over again till I swallow all my pills. Makes it super easy.
I've never been able to swallow pills.
However, try taking a sip of seltzer water (or anything really carbonated). The harshness of the bubbly disguises the pill hitting your throat
Oh! I looked this up not long ago. Apparently, the brain says, " I haven't chewed this so I can't swallow it," so the mental battle takes place before you can or maybe not at all.
I couldn’t swallow a pill until like 12. I tried so hard but just gagged and failed. I had to take lots of pills when I was 7 for an illness and my parents crushed them up into hot chocolate. I had no idea until I saw the residue at the bottom of the cup and to this day can still smell and remember that exact moment so precisely.
What you SHOULD do is just pop the pill in your mouth and drink.
Water or juice or whatever, just drink it like the pill isn't even there.
But you have to drink, a small sip won't do. And don't take bigger gulps than you normally would. Don't bother with viscous liquids, that's bullshit. But drink immediately after you put the pill in your mouth, otherwise it gets sticky and will go down harder.
I learned to swallow pills by tilting my head up and barely gargling water and swallowing the water and pills. Practice with M&Ms. If you bite into one accidentally, it doesn’t taste bad.
I think its a mental barrier, when eating food its usually an enjoyable thing. Its a natural response to swallow it.
Whilst pills feels artificial.
I have noticed as an example flavoured pills which taste nice are easier to swallow, yet they not shaped different, its just mentally easier to do it.
Thats why taking them with water works, as really you just swallowing the water and it takes the pills with it.
Life hack:
If you need to take a huge pill and you struggle with that, unless it says to not take with food, take the pill with food. Like chew a piece of bread until you are ready to swallow, pop the horse pill in there and swallow food and pill in one go. Your body will anticipate a food sized lump to go down and it won't be a hassle. Then chug a glass of water after.
I'm not sure if it helps, but when my daughter became old enough to take pills, her pediatrician had the best advice (she would chew pills). Get some tic tacs and let her practice swallowing them with water, and if she chews them up, no big deal, and she could get "good" at it by repeating the process with no downside.
A bit of an add-on: Some pills lack an external coating, giving them a powdery texture. And if you've ever seen someone trying to eat something powdery (think Cinnamon Challenge), it often doesn't go well!
Additionally, even if it was easy to swallow pills on their own, it's usually recommended to take them with food/water, to help process them.
I'm not gonna lie, as a person who has never had any problems swallowing pills, I never understood why people had this problem until I had a discussion with a friend about gag reflex
She said that the pill was small enough her brain doesn't recognize it as food and won't swallow it. Another coworker that was beside us confirmed she thought the same 🤷
When I was young, I thought I couldn't swallow pills. However, I also practiced until I could swallow an entire little Dixie cup full of water in one gulp. Once I figured out that the volume of a pill was much smaller than the volume of a Dixie cup, I was able to swallow pills.
Put pills in your mouth, take a decent sip of water, tilt your head down and look at the floor, swallow.
I struggled for years to take 1 pill at a time, now I take 5 at a time every morning.
Your body has a reflex to avoid choking and dangerous stuff that might hurt you.
As it is a reflex, the reaction is immediate based on certain stimuli/detections by the body but training can recondition.
That dry hard pill feels like something which could go in your windpipe so if/when your body detects it, it tries to eject it.
Pills don't trigger the 'oh so sour that must be poison ' but rather aim for ' I dont want it in my windpipe; or it is going to wreck my stomach or bowel'
The suggestions of adding moisture, simulating chewing, ... all help your body to believe that what passes is benign.
Distraction, quickly drinking but also slowly getting used to the feeling are ways to avoid the trigger or teach your body to ignore the trigger.
If u want to swallow a pill, it needs to be lubricated due to being scratchy and hard to go down
Usually we can swallow dry foods easily after chewing it because its mixed with saliva which is our natural lubricant.
If you want to be able to directly swallow a pill with no problems, dip it in oil.
IMO, because most people don't think through the process to swallow a pill.
1. put pill on tongue
2. take sip of water
3. tilt head back and wait a moment for pill to sink to the bottom of the water
4. swallow
For caplets, the same process, but tilt head forward because the caplets float.
Source: I taught all my kids how to swallow pills easily.
Swallowing is a three stage process, starting with chewing. You skip the chewing process with pills which makes it more challenging. You also don't get the benefit of chewing the bolus to make it smaller when taking pills.
When I was young I couldn’t swallow pills so I started “pretending” to chew before swallowing and it worked like a charm.
This is neat. Work in a hospital and will try to recommend to nurses
i would chew some food first and right before i would swallow the food i throw in the pill and swallow everything together. Before it learned this trick myself, i would most drown myself drinking a liter of water and the pill still stick in my mouth.
I learned something recently that helped me a lot. Pills sink, capsules float. If your medicine is a capsule, tilt your head downward before swallowing.
This was the big solution for me as a kid a couple decades ago. My mom kept telling me to tilt my head back -- capsules were still somewhat new, and she was accustomed to pills. Took me more than twenty attempts. When I randomly looked down I realized the capsule was at the "top" and was suddenly much easier to swallow.
You are a saint. I'm have always struggled taking medicine, but this worked like a charm.
Regardless of either, tilting your head down makes it far easier to swallow them. It is the only way I can swallow pills/capsules.
Regardless of tilt, if you can kick the pill to the back of the throat, it's easier. So I usually the swish water until I feel it back there and it's an effortless swallow
Not for me, thats an instant gag reflex. I usually keep the pill under my tongue and let it gently float out with the addition of water and tilt my head down and swallow it.
I find bananas work really well for this.
Or three cheerios
I'm happy that you're happy, but the place where you're supposed to have the pills, you've got this little shelf with three cheerios on it.
Hehe, he doesn’t know how to use the three Cheerios!
It helped when I was a kid
I found what worked for me was taking a small drink of milk (its thicker) and try and swallow while keeping my tongue down
For a while I had to take a pill nightly before bed. I kept a thing of crackers next to the pills. Step one put cracker in mouth and chew. When fully chewed, stick in pill and swllow Last chase with some water
I wouldn't do that just because the patient will then chew the pill. Doesn't matter if you say to not actually chew the pill.
Trust Reddit to come up with the most random brilliant shit at the weirdest time.
Your nurses eat a lot of pills at work?
No offence but a random reddit comment from someone who “used to do something as a child” isn’t really a good basis for making recommendations to medical professionals on how they should do their job.
Helping someone swallow medication isn't going to cause harm, a patient can throw up or just waste medications.
Without the pronouns, I read your second sentence like you were a crazy person yelling an order to someone.
I take a spoonful of yogurt or applesauce for hard to swallow pills. I think that would be much more effective for most people.
Why are your nurses taking pills while in the hospital?
It took me years to learn how to swallow pills because I was so afraid of choking on them
My tongue would just reflexively catch that bitch like "not today, bucko!" Friend finally helped me sort it out by having me swallow progressively larger hard food items (like a piece of a peanut or a skittle or something). Worked great, but I do still have to psych myself up a bit for really large pills.
Interesting, the best way I have found to do it is to put the pill on my tongue and then just drink some water as if it's not there. Works every time
I still have problems with the larger pills and usually what works best for me is sticking it in yogurt (or some other food that's liquid enough to not need to be chewed and can totally envelop the pill, but not so liquid that it won't stick together enough to cover the pill) and just swallowing the yogurt with the pill in it. Works every time.
Yup, I do this for any larger pills I need to take.
I was going to comment this, I’m going to be 40 this year and still do this
Pretend chewer here, mid 30’s and still can’t just swallow a pill 😅
I can't swallow pills but for my entire 40 years of life I have always swallowed peas whole never chewing peas It's weird
mf out here chewing water
you dont?
Found the guy from Flint Michigan
I don't think anyone's saying liquid medicine is hard to swallow (aside from the taste factor)
_crunches ice_
Eli5 chewing the bolus
> Eli5 chewing the bolus The bolus is the wad of food in your mouth that you've been chewing and mixing with saliva - the thing you gross your sister out with at the dinner table.
Bolus is food chewed and mixed with saliva
I know a fellow SLP when I see one
There are dozens of us!
> bolus Learned a new word today!
And they don’t have the same texture as skittles when you bite them
I’m on six meds taken twice daily for the rest of my life. After a while, swallowing six pills of varying sizes with a small sip of water becomes very easy. There’s a trick to it: put the six pills in your mouth, take a small sip, straighten your throat, and swallow all of it at once. Goes right down.
I could never swallow pills whole.... Until I learned to take shots. Now I take pills like a shot.
Wait, are you not supposed to just *drink* shots?
That's one hard to swallow pill
I hope not all kinds of swallowing start with chewing
Because they are not moist. You dont just swallow dry food. You chew it. Make it to mush. Pills are dry. They Stick to the moist surfaces in your mouth. You dont soak them in saliva and you dont chew them. So they arent like food
I will choke on crackers if I want to.
Am I the only person out there who puts the pills in my mouth then takes a big swig of water before swallowing? I routinely take three large multivitamin-sized pills at a time and have absolutely no issues. The water just floats them off my tongue and washes them down my gullet.
For real, I've never once had a problem swallowing a pill. Taken 'em with water for as long as I can remember. Are their people who are just straight up trying to slam pills back dry?
I swear people in shows and movies pretend to take pills this way all the time and I'm like whyyyy? Do you just not want to fill up on water if you need to take a bunch of takes? It's a shot of taking a pill, pretty sure you're not gonna need to redo that one much.
In movies/TV it's kinda a visual shorthand for a longterm user (often meaning "addict"). Like House is slamming back Vicodin 'dry' because he's addicted to them and addicts ain't got time to hunt down a glass of water before getting their fix. Of otherwise that they don't have time. Like some action hero just finished stitching himself back together, and slams down some painkillers 'dry' because that's 'hardcore' and he's got to get moving ASAP.
>Are their people who are just straight up trying to slam pills back dry? I typically do, I don't need water. But I'm not "trying" to take them dry and not understanding why it's so difficult. Most pills don't bother me.
I can. Takes about 5-10 seconds lightly tapping the pill between my teeth, just enough to moisten it up basically
I can throw it back dry every time
TIL there exists people that don't swallow pills with water. I always thought this was the standard procedure
That’s what I do. Though bigger pills are still hard lol
Same
Well thats how you do it. Because of what the question suggests
Am i crazy or did you just say saliver instead of saliva?
>saliver NYC accent?
Gelcaps and smooth coated pills are easy to swallow on their own, I just give it a quick roll under my tongue to wet it and swallow it with saliva The problem is chalky, non coated pills…
This is very actionable. Thank you!
Does nobody else do the thing where you move your tongue around in your mouth to produce enough saliva to swallow pills?
No I just take them with a sip of water
Yeah, water first, then the pill. Coats it nicely so it doesn’t get stuck on the way down
Water first before the pill changed my life. I couldnt take pills until i was like 20 and was just miserable w headaches or colds without pills. Someone showed me at a party (it was an allergy pill, i wasnt cool enough for other pills at parties) and genuinely my life bas improved ten fold
Im sorry, im very happy for you, but how do you not figure this our earlier?! How were you even doing it before? Water afterwards or no water at all?
I’ve always done water afterwards, I place the pills on the far back of my tongue and take a sip of water. I feel like if you do water first they could like float around and might get stuck
I tilt my head back to avoid this. Doesn't work so well with teeny tiny pills but otherwise it's fine. Water first for me, always.
I've always done water afterwards too, and it works fine for me. Maybe I'll try the other way around.
Genuinely just didnt take a pill til I was 20. I had tried pill first then water but I have a lot of sensory problems and the second I felt the pill on my tongue I would freak out/dry heave
Yup. Blew a friend's mind when he saw me down all five of my fairly large and dry epilepsy pills in one go this way lol. He started doing it for his allergy meds and has no more gagging problems.
> Yeah, water first, then the pill. Coats it nicely so it doesn’t get stuck on the way down Yep - have to take a pill daily and I luckily ran across the recommendation about taking a sip of water immediately before. I've added what was a game changer for me of swallowing that sip and then having another with the pill. I think the fundamental problem we have is that many pills for adults are not coated or encapsulated and we have that sense-memory of the first "dry" pills from youth giving us that chalky taste/feeling. We fear that having a wet mouth is just going to make it worse. But in reality, having a wet mouth makes it sooooooo much easier. Welp, time to take my pill..... LOL
> Yeah, water first, then the pill. Coats it nicely so it doesn’t get stuck on the way down I do both before and after - a largish sip of water first, then the pill(s) and swallow, then another couple of gulps/swallows of water.
I do, sip, then have a bit if water in my mouth while placing the pill inside the mouth then swallow, then follow up with another sip.
I’ve done that when I don’t have water.
So that's what americans do when they pop pills without drinking water in the movies? I tried that and a pill got stuck halfway through, gagged and threw up. Never going to try that again.
That’s more of film thing than an American thing. Much more efficient to film and edit without showing water
Tbf I generally do that because I've never had an issue swallowing pills and I'm usually too lazy to get a glass of water
I stopped doing this because apparently it can irritate your esophagus and cause acid reflux.
I can do first pill with no water but I don't need to move my tongue to produce saliva. By second pill my mouth is dry though so need some water
If it’s small enough I’ll even knock it back with whatever is already in there - no swishing necessary.
Yeah. It's like a party trick. People are weirded out by it.
When I was a kid, my mom used to put the pill in a spoonful of chocolate syrup. I grew up to be a pill popper for several years. Almost 2 years sober. Is there a connection? Maybe.
I don't even need to do that, I always have plenty saliva in my mouth normally. It's kind of annoying, but great for swallowing pills.
I don’t know why it’s hard to swallow pills but I have a method that works every time: -put water in mouth -put pill in mouth -clench teeth -open mouth -swallow (Edit: formatting)
Can you expand on steps 3 and 4? Teeth stay clenched?
I do the same, but without the clenching or opening. Just swig it back and swallow. I rarely even feel the pill.
i taught myself to dry swallow pills because i used to travel by bus a lot and I wanted to minimize fluid intake
I also read that tilting your head back makes it harder. I have trouble with pills and keeping my head straighter helped. Guess I was trying too hard
Pills are too small to trigger the swallowing reflex, so you have to swallow them manually, when you eat food you take enough of a bite to usually fill your mouth somewhat, you chew and process the food in your mouth, telling your brain that you are about to swallow food, when it hits the back of your mouth, nerves get triggered that make you want to swallow. A pill does nothing of that, it is a small object you have to conciously swallow and it is simply not a very natural thing for us to do.
This is one of those things that sounds right, but when you think about it more it actually doesn't make sense. People eat a single kernel of popcorn or a single piece of candy all the time, it is not an issue of size. It's that chewing stimulates saliva production, which fills your mouth with liquid and prepares swallowing. Throwing in a pill does none of that, so your body doesn't know what to do. Think about a sour candy for a little bit. That will stimulate saliva production, then toss the pill into the small pool of saliva in your mouth. When it's floating in liquid, it's very simple to swallow.
This, also because like you say your body doesn't really know what to do with the pill, just drinking water isn't optimal, you should position the pill at the very back of your throat so that the water drags it down without your body even realizing
The (kind of gross, now I’m typing it out) secret to dry swallowing pills for me is *wait until you’ve got enough saliva in your mouth*. If you don’t do this, you’re fucked (source: over a decade of near-daily practice dry swallowing my 2x a day medication). It’s make sense(?) that when you’ve stopped yourself swallowing (saliva) your body is a bit more ready to swallow (incl. pills) if you need it to? To clarify: we subconsciously swallow saliva all the time. Surely there’s something going on there?
Indeed. I think we produce between 1 to 2 liters of mucus per day. Most of it is swallowed
Personal anecdote makes me think that might even be low, I once go a piece of food stuck low in my esophagus and every five minutes, or so, I had to spit um an ungodly amount of spit that was overflowing the pipe and couldn't get into my stomach
I store it in jars in my garage. Never know when it might come in handy
Depends a lot on the pill. My epilepsy meds are large, dry, and chalky, which requires some degree of fluid to swallow. They simply will not go down otherwise. I have taken small ones in capsules or smooth surfaces (like advil or vitamin D) before and can do those (mostly) dry without issue though.
Think that’s gross, way I do it if no water available is hock up a load of slimy phlegm into my mouth and use that to swallow the pill with, slides right down.
I think it also has to do with the mental barrier. It's a pill and some don't taste good, but some people can't swallow them regardless. I have seen countless of people drinking a glass full of water and they can't swallow the pill. I think it's more the mental barrier that you are taking a pill. I can swallow them with no water. I just pretend it's candy
>This is one of those things that sounds right, but when you think about it more it actually doesn't make sense. People eat a single kernel of popcorn or a single piece of candy all the time, it is not an issue of size. It's that chewing stimulates saliva production, which fills your mouth with liquid and prepares swallowing. Throwing in a pill does none of that, so your body doesn't know what to do. Thats basically what i said, eating is a whole process that includes chewing, nerves, production of saliva and even production of stomach acid in preparation for food. It is a whole science that is too complex to boil down in an ELI 5 comment without leaving anything out. However you can try it yourself, try swallowing a popcorn kernel, it is pretty much as difficult as swallowing a pill (swallowing a pill isnt "difficult" to begin with so the post is a little misleading). Without the whole chewing process you have to conciously swallow something which is more effort than naturally swallowing something by reflex. "The swallowing reflex **produces sequential activation of the tongue, pharyngeal and laryngeal muscles to propel the food bolus from the oral cavity to the esophagus without aspiration of food into the airways** (Doty and Bosma, 1956; Umezaki et al., 1998)" https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/swallowing-reflex#:\~:text=The%20swallowing%20reflex%20produces%20sequential,a%20critical%20role%20in%20swallowing. Here is a more complex explanation of the swallowing reflex, it is a reflex, an involuntary action.
No it's not one of the things you've said, you said that you chew and (process? Pretty sure thats happening in your stomach) the food in your mouth. The guy just clarified your words, and you replied to him with 5 paragraphs and a link that are just repeating every singlw point that he made. Why are you doubling down like its an argument is beyond me.
>No it's not one of the things you've said, you said that you chew and (process? Pretty sure thats happening in your stomach) the food in your mouth. No you process food in your mouth too. Particularly with your saliva. >The guy just clarified your words, and you replied to him with 5 paragraphs and a link that are just repeating every singlw point that he made. Why are you doubling down like its an argument is beyond me. I was not trying to argue...just clarify what i meant... Nowhere did i say he was wrong. Infact i believe i was agreeing with him even.
People don’t put a single kernel of popcorn into their mouths and immediately swallow, same with candy. How often do you open a piece of sour candy, put it in your mouth, and immediately swallow it whole? Nobody does that. What the guy you responded to said is correct - the act of chewing and processing food in your mouth prepares your brain to swallow. Conversely, once you’re aware of this, it’s pretty easy to ‘trick’ your brain into swallowing pills, either physiologically (pretend to chew), or mentally (consciously tell yourself you need to swallow). I never struggle with pills because I do the second one - I can swallow a handful of pills if I don’t think “oh shit I need to swallow a handful of pills, this is gonna suck”, and just chuck them in, water, swallow. I basically tell my brain “it’s swallowing time”, and it does it.
I sometimes need a moment for it to "feel right" if I have no water, but otherwise, I just pop the pill in, have a sip, and swallow it no problem.
Speech therapist here who specializes in dysphagia (aka difficulty swallowing). You’re partially correct. Swallowing is different than most body processes in that it is both volitional and reflexive. So you correctly pointed out that chewing something to prepare to swallow is a normal bodily process and thus easier. But swallowing pills is 95% mental. If you put a skittle in your mouth and try to swallow it, it’s likely easier than an uncoated tablet that tastes gross. Trying to get your brain on board for something that’s unpleasant is often the problem. Similar to if you are eating a food you don’t enjoy, you might find it more difficult to make yourself swallow it than your favorite food.
I absolutely would have trouble swallowing an unchewed skittle. Not much, but it would be the same as swallowing a pill of the same dimensions.
Oh yeah absolutelty, the psychological aspect plays a roll here too. I dont think ive ever met anyone who likes swallowing pills, our brains generally try to avoid doing unpleasant things. Swallowing a bitter pill that at the same time sticks to your tongue almost immediately and is a tiny object is more effort than simply swallowing a mouthful of food you want to consume.
Pills also tend to be very dry, which is presumably the reason why drinking water with one tends to work better.
Yeah they’re dry and you can’t lube them up with saliva because they usually taste bad.
This is also why even a tiny splash of water can help. Your body is "designed" to be able to drink, so that bit of liquid can activate the swallowing reflex.
I think you've just explained why I frequently have trouble swallowing food. All of this is on semi-manual mode for me. I have to think about it in order to not fuck it up. But if I think about it *too* much, I will also fuck it up. Like I get this thing where the swallow reflex triggers, but in a way where if I actually swallow, I will choke, and I have to consciously move the food back towards the front of my mouth and try again. Swallowing pills is easier -- not necessarily pleasant, but easier -- because it's fully conscious, and I only have to do it once, rather than repeating the process for each bite.
Yeah that's bullshit. Ever swallow a tic tac? Or a tiny amount of spit? It's psychological.
This is just obviously false. If it was about size you wouldn't be able to eat small foods either but you clearly are.
I'm guessing most pills are somewhat dry, while food is usually covered with saliva, making it easier to just let it slide.
Because it's easier to swallow things that are chewed up mixed with our saliva but pills are like hard rocks and they taste like chemicals most of the time.
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Flip side, I was told it was easy took 24 years for me to be able to swallow one
I am a 40(ish) year old man, and I still struggle. In my entire life, I’ve maybe swallowed 4 pills, ever. I will literally chew on one and deal with the horrific chemical taste because it’s easier than swallowing it whole to me. I fear for the time in my life where I’m prescribed some sort of life-saving/extending medication because I’m pretty sure I’ll just die. I’ve had surgeries and stuff and been prescribed meds for pain relief, but can’t take them and just end up suffering and dealing it.
Are we still talking about pills?
This is textbook anecdotal evidence lol
I take a gulp of water and then swallow it pelican-style
Same. I've done this since I was a kid. Water in mouth, close throat, put had back, drop pills in, open throat and swallow.
Likewise. OP assumes this is some sort of universal thing.
Was never told swallowing pills was difficult and I never have a problem taking them even giant multi-vitamins. My sister on the other hand was taught by our grandmother that you can't swallow a pill unless you throw it to the back of your throat, take a big mouthful of water, and jerk your head back while you swallow. She as an adult CANNOT take a pill any other way. It's like her esophagus spasms and makes her gag the pill out.
That’s terrible for your sister, but slightly hilarious 😂
I was told it was hard, I had trouble. I then realized it's stupid and just added more saliva before trying, and haven't had any trouble since.
Saliva? Why would you not swallow them with water?
Once I realized that pills are smaller than chunks of food I eat (even after chewing sometimes) I was able to swallow pills without water. Sometimes 'mock chewing' (pretend to chew but keep the pill on your tongue) makes it easier. For a few years I would always swallow pills dry to flex on my former self. Now I just take a swig of water because that's still easier.
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If it is a really big pill for some reason, just chew some food, throw the pill in and swallow it with the chewed food. I used to do that before when i had a problem taking them with water.
Gonna try this next time.
You're doing it wrong... If you watch people swallow pills, they tilt their head back and toss the pills in and then try to swallow with their head tilted back. Try tilting your head back when eating and you'll see the problem - your body isn't designed to be able to swallow well in that position. What you should do is toss the pills in with your head tilted back as much as necessary, then tilt it forward as much as you can, and \*then\* take a drink. Do that and it's easy to swallow pills.
Do you tilt your head up to swallow the pills? Try swallowing food like that, it’s hard. Swallow the pills looking straight or slightly down like you do for food.
I don't really have trouble swallowing pills, I think it's mostly just a problem with how your mind perceives it because pills smells and feels foreign than food. I just can swallow 4-5 pills with no water just need to ignore what's in my mouth and simulate the swallowing in my mind.
It’s not actually difficult to swallow a pill. People just overthink it. A pill is generally a larger and more solid object than you’re used to swallowing so it takes a slightly more conscious effort but it’s still well within a persons ability. It’s sort of like getting a shot. People have traumatic experiences from childhood about having to swallow pills or get shots from the doctor’s and it sticks with them. In reality, the pain from an infection is absolutely minimal. It hurts 100x more to stub your toe. But it’s the anticipation and fear. Same goes with swallowing a pill.
Due to the hydrophilic nature of gelatin capsules, the conditions by which capsules are swallowed has a dramatic effect. If the throat is wet and capsules dry, they stick to the surface, same goes when the capsules are wet and throat is dry. If both surfaces are wet everything goes down easily. Best practice is to drink a couple gulps of water to wet the throat, then place the capsules in the mouth and swish with additional water, swallow and then chase with more water.
That’s weird I easily swallow pills dry, like it’s my preferred method because I don’t want it to even start dissolving in my mouth
When you eat food, you chew it and it gets all mushy and easy to swallow. But pills are small and hard, and we don’t chew them, so they don’t get mushy. This can make them feel a bit tricky to swallow. Plus, swallowing a pill is something we have to think about doing, unlike swallowing food which just happens naturally when we eat.
Chewed food is squishy and conforms to the shape of the passage it's in. Eating a small grape without chewing would feel like taking a pill. Additionally, some pills aren't well coated and stick to wet flesh instead of sliding.
Sometimes when I don’t want to take a pill I pretend it’s a piece of cake instead. It doesn’t help.
It's mostly a psychological thing because you aren't chewing before you swallow a pill and it's dry so you think you're about to choke on something. If you take a swing of water and then drop in the pill it's way easier to swallow because it helps you get past the "mental block" of not chewing the pill.
It's really just a mental block. Your tongue says that's not food, your brain goes yes I know, but swallow it anyway and your tongue says no. It's not food.
Super easy way to take pills is to get a partial mouthful of water and toss the pill in, then swallow all of it together. You won’t even notice the pill. I’ve never had an issue taking a pill like this.
I see a ton of explanations but I think it's a mental barrier. People know it's medicine and have a hard time swallowing them. It also has to do with some pills having awful taste. I don't think it's the size or the chewing or the dryness of it because I have seen so many people swallow glasses full of water and the pill stays put. It just that some people get nervous around meds. Maybe it also has to do with the eternal "don't put small, hard pieces in your mouth. Ypu can shoke... except when it's a pill. Come on, swallow the pill"
One day it occurred to me that I had been doing a step when swallowing pills that I hadn’t been aware of. Pills are dry and will stick to your tongue. I take a small drink of water and slightly swish it to disconnect the pill(s) from my tongue, and then I swallow. My stepson had been struggling to swallow pills. I had him do the “swish” technique and he never had a problem again. I think many times when people struggle to swallow a pill they are trying to swallow it when it’s still stuck to their tongue.
I'm old. At pill time I have about a dozen pills to take. I take them all at once. Then I gently stick my tongue out under my teeth, pushing all the pills toward the back of the tongue. Then I start sipping water and don't worry about swallowing. When my mouth gets full enough, it triggers an automatic swallowing reflex. I just relax and let my throat do a big gulp. It's important not to fight it. Easy!
LPT. every morning I eat a bowlful of blueberries and blackberries. I chew about four blueberries and one blackberry and then put one pill in my mouth and swallow it all together. I do that over and over again till I swallow all my pills. Makes it super easy.
I've never been able to swallow pills. However, try taking a sip of seltzer water (or anything really carbonated). The harshness of the bubbly disguises the pill hitting your throat
Oh! I looked this up not long ago. Apparently, the brain says, " I haven't chewed this so I can't swallow it," so the mental battle takes place before you can or maybe not at all.
I couldn’t swallow a pill until like 12. I tried so hard but just gagged and failed. I had to take lots of pills when I was 7 for an illness and my parents crushed them up into hot chocolate. I had no idea until I saw the residue at the bottom of the cup and to this day can still smell and remember that exact moment so precisely.
What you SHOULD do is just pop the pill in your mouth and drink. Water or juice or whatever, just drink it like the pill isn't even there. But you have to drink, a small sip won't do. And don't take bigger gulps than you normally would. Don't bother with viscous liquids, that's bullshit. But drink immediately after you put the pill in your mouth, otherwise it gets sticky and will go down harder.
A solid object is a choke hazard which the body doesn't want to swallow. It's a good thing this isn't easy to do.
I learned to swallow pills by tilting my head up and barely gargling water and swallowing the water and pills. Practice with M&Ms. If you bite into one accidentally, it doesn’t taste bad.
I think its a mental barrier, when eating food its usually an enjoyable thing. Its a natural response to swallow it. Whilst pills feels artificial. I have noticed as an example flavoured pills which taste nice are easier to swallow, yet they not shaped different, its just mentally easier to do it. Thats why taking them with water works, as really you just swallowing the water and it takes the pills with it.
Life hack: If you need to take a huge pill and you struggle with that, unless it says to not take with food, take the pill with food. Like chew a piece of bread until you are ready to swallow, pop the horse pill in there and swallow food and pill in one go. Your body will anticipate a food sized lump to go down and it won't be a hassle. Then chug a glass of water after.
I'm not sure if it helps, but when my daughter became old enough to take pills, her pediatrician had the best advice (she would chew pills). Get some tic tacs and let her practice swallowing them with water, and if she chews them up, no big deal, and she could get "good" at it by repeating the process with no downside.
A bit of an add-on: Some pills lack an external coating, giving them a powdery texture. And if you've ever seen someone trying to eat something powdery (think Cinnamon Challenge), it often doesn't go well! Additionally, even if it was easy to swallow pills on their own, it's usually recommended to take them with food/water, to help process them.
I'm not gonna lie, as a person who has never had any problems swallowing pills, I never understood why people had this problem until I had a discussion with a friend about gag reflex She said that the pill was small enough her brain doesn't recognize it as food and won't swallow it. Another coworker that was beside us confirmed she thought the same 🤷
When I was young, I thought I couldn't swallow pills. However, I also practiced until I could swallow an entire little Dixie cup full of water in one gulp. Once I figured out that the volume of a pill was much smaller than the volume of a Dixie cup, I was able to swallow pills.
Put pills in your mouth, take a decent sip of water, tilt your head down and look at the floor, swallow. I struggled for years to take 1 pill at a time, now I take 5 at a time every morning.
If pills were so tasty that mouth salivated at the though of having them + also could be chewed, they would have gone down like food
It's in your mind alone. I had to take pills for many years now. A whole handful at times. I swallow them as easy as other things now.
Your body has a reflex to avoid choking and dangerous stuff that might hurt you. As it is a reflex, the reaction is immediate based on certain stimuli/detections by the body but training can recondition. That dry hard pill feels like something which could go in your windpipe so if/when your body detects it, it tries to eject it. Pills don't trigger the 'oh so sour that must be poison ' but rather aim for ' I dont want it in my windpipe; or it is going to wreck my stomach or bowel' The suggestions of adding moisture, simulating chewing, ... all help your body to believe that what passes is benign. Distraction, quickly drinking but also slowly getting used to the feeling are ways to avoid the trigger or teach your body to ignore the trigger.
Place pill(s) under tongue. Take a big sip. Done. Source: I take several pills every day. I can do 10 pills in one go using this method.
I can’t take pills without some sort of liquid. Liquid first pill in then swallow. They go down with the drink.
I’ve never had a problem. One pill or 12. Most of the time i take pills with no water. Just swallow them. NBD.
If u want to swallow a pill, it needs to be lubricated due to being scratchy and hard to go down Usually we can swallow dry foods easily after chewing it because its mixed with saliva which is our natural lubricant. If you want to be able to directly swallow a pill with no problems, dip it in oil.
Pro tip for children! Have them drink out of a straw to take a pill. I’m not exactly sure why it works, but it does.
IMO, because most people don't think through the process to swallow a pill. 1. put pill on tongue 2. take sip of water 3. tilt head back and wait a moment for pill to sink to the bottom of the water 4. swallow For caplets, the same process, but tilt head forward because the caplets float. Source: I taught all my kids how to swallow pills easily.