pills??

I don't see my surgeon till november, but was wondering if we can start swallowing regular pills? I'm not talking big horse pills but like vitamins or tylenol? I have been on gummy vitamins since surgery. thanks, kel

Hi Kel, I had RNY as well. My surgeon and nutritionist work out of the same office so they are pretty tight on instructions. My team had me start taking B12 and chewable vitamins within a month. The B12 are a little bigger than Tylenol and solid. The vitamins are Centrum chewables and would be the horse pill size if I didn't chew them up first. They say I'll never be on the horsey pills but I'm good to take Tylenol and similar sized stuff. But I guess the easier answer is just to call your surgeon's office. Mine encourages calls and questions between visits because they'd rather take the call than find out about something in the ER. Good luck! -- T.Rob

I was forced to take pills while still in the hospital with a tube down my throat. Been on pills since the day after the surgery. Granted it's a lot easier now than it was then, but I still use a pill cutter to cut up the larger pills.

I've been on full solid pills since 1 month post op. MUCH easier than toting around the liquids.

My nut said that if I could swallow them, then to take what ever kind of vitimins I wanted. I take what seems to be horsepill size calcium with no trouble what so ever. I was told to avoid coated pils and capsules, so when I need tylenol I take the liquid gels with the lazer holes. Good Luck Gayle

I was on an antibiotic starting 2 weeks post op that was a big pill that I broke into 3 pieces and swallowed 15 min apart, well the first time I crushed it and tried mixing it in pudding....that was nasty and it almost did not stay down never again will I crush a pill. Now I break big ones in half and do ok. But I still prefer the chewable vitamins and my dr prefers me to take the liquid pain med when I need it. There is also a liquid adult strength tylenol. I find that with the liquid it seems to work faster but that is just my opinion. My surgeon told me little pills like my pepcid or phernegan are ok. So I just as a rule cut any other pill down to that size. But when in doubt call the office and talk to your surgeons nurse. I have found at least mine dont seem to mind questions like that.

I too was swallowing pills the day after surgery in the hospital. I had a lot of trouble once I got home though, but it was all in my head. I was so scared to get something stuck in the stoma. I've had to take tylenol in recent weeks for a couple of migraines though and have had no issues at all. I make sure to get the gel caps so I know they'll slide down without me worrying about taking big gulps of water.