Pill crushing VS taking them whole

Hi Everyone

I am getting ready to have surgery in two days and I had a question about pills.  Due to a medical condition that WILL NOT change due to surgery, I take quite a few big honkering pills. Is there ever a point were we can take them whole or do I simply have to accept that I will have to crush them and gag for life? I am having RNY on Thursday 5/5.

Thanks for your responses!

Craig

I take 6 pills most of them small but one large one and my dr told me one week out I could stop crushing them and swallow then one at a time, I do and have no issues in doing so at all....good luck

Thanks Cheryl I appreciate you response!

Craig

I took small pills whole rigth after surgery and large pills whole after not quite a month.  If they are quite large, you can probably cut them in half (unless it is a drug taht says NOT to cut them... in which case, crushing them is also NOT an option) and swallow them in halves.

Lora

Thanks...been having some of the same problems with getting some pills down.  I've had this fear of stopping my poutch up!

Thank you all very much I was so worried I was going to have to crush them for life. They are so vile when crushed, and I dont care what you add to them, yougurt, applesauce they are just nasty. Glad I can probably get by by swallowing them whole or at the very least cutting them up. Thanks everyone for your responses

Craig

Well i have never had a problem taking big pill prior and luckily for me after about 3 - 4 weeks out i was able to take those large Calcium pills without a problem

My doc says to crush pills, period.  For the rest of your life.  I put my nasty crushed pills in sf pudding ....  still nasty but not as bad.  It's great motivation to get off of some of them! 

I found out by accident that my psych meds were not working about 2 to 3 weeks post op.  I was waking up in the middle of the night with terrible insomnia and having panic attacks again.

I finally read in a WLS book that with the RNY there is a chance that your body can't break down pills that have a "tough" outer layer. 

Basically if you take the pill you are supposed to take and put it in a glass of room temp water and it DOES NOT break down within 5 minutes it might not break down in your pouch either.

So with the approval of my surgeon and my psych doc I now cut pills into quarters and take the cut up pills instead of a whole pill.  So there is no nasty taste of a crushed pill, but the tough outer layer isn't a factor anymore. 

This is what worked for me.  You will probably have to talk to your doctors to make sure that the pills you take are ok to cut up. 

This was a trial and error thing for me.  It still amazes me that no matter how well prepared I was before surgery I still have a lot to learn!