Crushed Meds - Phase 1, Phase 2 diet - need tips/tricks

Does anyone have any tips and tricks for taking your daily (crushed) meds for the first 30 days post-op? I haven't found a solution that doesn't cause me to procrastinate and then take forever to get them down. Ugh.

Any help appreciated. Thank you!

No reason to crush meds.  Cut in half if you feel you must.  Your esophagus and it's connection to the stomach was not altered in any way by the surgery.  You can swallow anything you could swallow pre-op.  Now your stomach is smaller and you may have to take 1 pill, wait a while and take another.

I didn't think so either, but trying to follow doctor's orders.

I had trouble with this guidance too and talked to the dietitian about it. She said to cut pills in half or quarters. She also said to experiment and if I didn't have trouble with capsules to do those. You can also dump the contents of capsules into protein shakes if they aren't the nasty tasting kind. The vitamins that are nasty tasting usually contain vitamin B vitamins but calcium, D3, K1 and K2, magnesium citrate, vitamin A (palmitate) don't have a lot of taste. I think the reason they want you to try to crush meds and vitamins is because the sleeve is so swollen at first, but you can experiment and see what you can handle.

Good luck!

--gina

I'm going to do that. The issue I have is that at the bariatric center I went to (Mexicali), they make no distinction between post-op instructions for a full DS and a second stage DS (I had the sleeve 4 years ago at the same place), which doesn't make sense to me...

Early on, I used to take my vits with yogurt. It makes them slip right down.  I also used to make a high protein egg custard for the same purpose.  Just be aware that some supplements, like certain forms of iron, shouldn't be taken with dairy products.  Hang in there, it will get easier!

I'll give that a shot when I get to the appropriate phase. Thanks for the tips! Right now, I've found that the best way to avoid the bitter taste is to make a little envelope out of jello and swallow a number of those until the powders are all gone. Not perfect, but a lot more tolerable than the other things I've tried on this clear liquids phase...

Jello is a good idea.  When you think you're ready to swallow capsules or half-pills, maybe you could pour the jello into an ice cube tray and have little square "pill pockets" as a result.  Then you could easily just push a capsule or pill into the jello and swallow without tasting the meds at all.

I'm quite convinced I'd have no problem swallowing either whole pills or capsules at the moment. I'm just looking for a means to avoid the bitterness of the crushed meds in an attempt to follow "doctor's orders"...

So you didn't even have stomach surgery?  Just the switch?  Seriously, call your doc on this one.  You were given incorrect information.