Question:
I know you have to take chewable vitamins and liquid things after surgery...

but what about prescription medications that you take life-long before surgery. What do you do about these that you must continue to take after surgery? I'm sure they would be gross crunched up! Just wondering what others have done. Thanks. Linda    — lgrace42 (posted on October 9, 2002)

October 8, 2002
I am 19days post op and I take all my regular meds as usual they are small anyway and the larger things i just cut in half. No problems with them. Good luck!!!
   — Peggy A.

October 8, 2002
Surgeons and/or nutritionists will have varying opinions. Our surgeon prescribed Percocet tablets for pain the day after our RNY surgeries, and instructed us to resume our previous medications as usual when we were discharged from the hospital two days later. We did take chewable vitamins for the first three weeks post-op, but took all other medications, including capsules, without cutting, crushing, or changing them to liquid form. We had no problems at all. Best wishes!
   — Diana T.

October 8, 2002
I take my meds just like pre-op. I took mepherdan 4 days after surgery. I took prevacid as well as my other meds..No problem. I did take a chewable vitamin until I was 6 wks post-op then went to one-a-day...
   — Sharon1964

October 9, 2002
I first tried to see if there were liquid forms of the meds I was on, or patches..for some I was able to do that. Some of my meds, like claritin are tiny so I could swallow that. For larger pills, had to crush them and mix in yogurt. It was horrible!! Gag me..had to do this for 1 month
   — Cindy R.

October 10, 2002
After making sure that a pill CAN be taken broken, use an exacto-knife to cut it or a razor blade into managable pieces. Tastes much better than crushing and cuts it with minimal breaking (dust, crumbs).
   — [Deactivated Member]

October 10, 2002
If your pills are ok to crush, they should also be ok to split. I take several medications that I was on before surgery. The ones that are small I didn't worry about but the ones that were bigger I used a pill splitter on. You can get one fairly cheaply from Walmart or any pharmacy. I no longer split my pills (haven't since 8 weeks out) and don't have any problems. But I felt better splitting them right after surgery because I was afraid to swallow them whole. I even broke one into thirds, but it had the marks where you could break it with your hands. I did have to crush my meds for the first 2 of weeks and it is NASTY no matter what you put it in. I "rinsed" and with apple juice and spit it out to get the taste out of my mouth. Mouthwash would probably work too.
   — sheltie

October 10, 2002
I didn't read all the post, but first, don't crush, cut open any capsule till checking with a pharmacist (not your dr, a pharmacist). Dr prescribs but pharmacist is the expert on the pills. Many can be gotten in an exhilar which is less bad tasting than opening and mixing some capsules. I used liquid prozac for about 3 months and then moved back to my pills. You will want to stay away from time release, ask your pharmacyst what you can take instead of a time release and get those changed. After about 6 months I have been able to take all pills in original form even the big caltrate ones.
   — Elizabeth K.