Question:
how do you crush pills after surgery? How small do they need to be?

How much of your meds. do you get in you body with rny distal? will you have to crush them for ever?    — [Anonymous] (posted on March 11, 2000)

March 10, 2000
Wal-Mart has this handy little "pill spliter and crusher" all built into one even has cup to hold water. I think I paid under 3.00 for it.. It's compact fits in your purse even has small place to store pills. I found it in the pharmacy section.
   — Victoria B.

March 10, 2000
Becareful, not all medicene can be crushed. Please read all labels very carefully. I am six weeks post-op and I haven't had any problem swolling whole pills. My surgion placed me on Actigall, which I started upon discharge from the hospital, this capsule is this (----) big. Good Luck!
   — Shelly T.

March 11, 2000
I tried crushing my Zoloft pills for a few days after surgery, but the taste was so awful I could hardly take it even with juice, applesauce, or anything. So, I started just breaking the pills in half and swallowing them one piece at a time. Now I can take the whole pill without any problem. How much gets absorbed depends on the medicine to some extent. Some pills are primarily absorbed in the stomach or upper small intestine. Some are absorbed lower down. The only ones I have heard people have trouble absorbing is time-released pills. These can't be crushed, and they may release too slowly for our new shorter digestive tract. Ask your doctor about your specific medications to see if you need to adjust any of them.
   — Lynn K.

March 11, 2000
I personally have never crushed my pills, I take the follwing every morning, Centrum Vitamin, 2 blood pressure pills, (which has been cut to 1/2 pill of each)lipitor, thyroid, and hormone. My Doc said if they disolve quickly in a glass of water then you should have no problem. Hope this helped.
   — Patricia H.

March 26, 2000
Any pharmacy has a pill crusher or two for sale.They are fairly inexpensive. You can also crush pills with two spoons but, that is kind of messy. Hope this helps!
   — char T.

March 26, 2000
I'm no longer crushing meds at 3 weeks post op. I just put them in a zip lock bag and banged with a cup until they were powdery. Mixed with applesauce or with a shot of really sweet juice (white grape) was the only thing to kill the yucko bitter taste.
   — Toni B.

May 28, 2000
They took me off much of my meds, but the only one I have left is my anti-depressent. I just quit taking it because I don't care what you do to it, it is nastly. I will resume taking it 6 weeks post-op (much to the joy of my family) :)
   — Judy K.