do you take pills or crush them???

Like Kelly, I was swallowing pills even before I left the hospital and never crushed ANYTHING... and never had a problem.

Lora

 I was given whole pills in the hospital, as well.  No problem.  I was also given a pill crusher in case I have any large pills. I'd rather just cut them into smaller pieces.  I've taken my thyroid and hypertension pill every day with no problems.  I am less than a week out of surgery.

Part of it will be your surgeon and part will be whether or not you feel you can tolerate the pills or not.

I passed my water test, they gave me my normal pills with the larger ones halved and I swallowed them just fine. My labwork came back with low potassium so they gave me huge potassium pills which they quartered instead. Even quartered I took one every fifteen minutes to prevent problems.

Since being home I am taking all my prescription pills whole that I was taking whole before and the one I had to half pre-surgery I am still halving. Of course, I also got to drop three pills already including metformin which would have required quite a bit of cutting.

I made sure to triple check with my PCP, bariatric clinic, and pharmacist about cutting and crushing all my meds and whether they would be OK. Some meds should never be crushed or cut, and my PCP adjusted one of the pills way ahead of time to allow for that so I would get used to any changes and the different pill schedule. The pre-op clearance at the hospital also took my meds list including OTC and gave me a list of which ones could be cut or crushed and which ones I had to stop post-op (and when to restart) and which ones I should not take again.

I was convinced I would be crushing forever since I am not a big pill taker and usually have to do the "float" method on anything larger than a baby aspirin. I was past sipping by the time I left the hospital and have had no problems.

Hopefully you will get a similar list and instructions closer to the surgery. My NUT told me I did not have to take vitamins and supplements for two weeks after the surgery but I am since I can tolerate them. (Just B-12, calcium, a multivitamin, acidophilus, fiber, and potassium.) Will wait the two weeks before I dig into the rest of the vitamins and supplements.

They do seem to keep a lot of this information until closer to the surgery which is a pain if you like to be prepared.

I've never crushed any of them and was taking 2 Vicodin (multi-vitamin sized!) by mouth the day after surgery in the hospital. If I couldn't, I couldn't go home!

I was told nothing bigger than a tylenol to swallow. And I was taking pills within hours after surgery in the hospital.

First two weeks-- crush all, even thyroid pill

Two-Six Weeks-- whole thyroid pill and other very small pills, chewable vitamins, Nexium powder

Six weeks to present (8 weeks out)--  If I had larger pills I would chop them, but Nexium is now a capsule, Colace a capsule every other day, whole thyroid and chewable vitamins

I like the chewable vitamins over whole ones anyway, always did so that doesn't bother me in the slightest.  Sooooo Happy to have Nexium capsules now. 

In the end, every surgeon is different.  Mine tends to work patients up to the next level over a period of time.  Haven't had an issue yet.

I used the same practice as you are and I was never told to crush pills.  I have been swallowing pills all along and never had a problem. 

Thanks that saves me a phone call.