Question:
When will I be able to swallow pills whole?

I am 3 wks post op.    — gary M. (posted on March 24, 2003)

March 24, 2003
hi Gary, When i came home from the hospital until my first post-op visit, i had to crush my pills and open my capsules. Bought a pill crusher at walmart. At two weeks, I was able to stop crushing and start splitting. Got a splitter at Walmart. Now at six weeks, I was told I can take whole pills but if they are larger than an M&M, I have to split them. I took a calcuim capsule saturday and it got stuck amd I was sick all day so I will continue to open capsules for awhile.
   — Delores S.

March 24, 2003
Hi! I had a horrid headache in the hospital the day after surgery. They asked what I normally took for my headaches, and I told them Excedrine Migraine, so that's what I got. Ignoring the aspirin thing, which I still don't take, I was able to swallow them with no problem at all. I've never had any problems swallowing pills since surgery, and my vitamins and calcium pills are all pretty good size. I'd say if you could swallow pills before surgery, you should be ok now. Good Luck! Kelly
   — Kelly B.

March 24, 2003
I went back to taking my regular meds when I came home from the hospital. I had no trouble getting anything down.
   — koogy

March 24, 2003
I cut my pills into quarters until I was about 1 month out. Now at 2 1/2 months out, I only cut my calcium citrate pill because it is huge. The others go down fine and I've never had one get stuck, thank goodness. Good luck!<br>Lap-RNY 1/13/03 -83lbs & Counting!
   — thumpiez

March 24, 2003
Hi, Gary, I have been taking all of my medications whole since the morning after surgery. I have several friends that had different surgeons and have to crush their meds. I asked my doctor why this was and he said that different docs think different things and that he had been doing this surgery for years and had discovered that there is no need for crushing the pills. I am glad he does not make me crush them but if he did, I would do what ever my own doctor recommened.
   — garnet156

March 24, 2003
After reading soo much I was scared to swallow any pills. So, I asked my doc, to which she told me that when I got hom with my Actigal for my gall bladder I would be calling her back asking if she was sure I could swallow it because of the size. She said it would be fine. I was skeptical at first but now I take Citrical, which is way bigger than my actigal, and have had no problems. I started on all my vitamins 10 days post-op and never had to crush, split, open, or do anything but swallow my pills. Glad I trusted her on that one and you should do whatever your surgeon suggests. Afterall, he/she is the one rearranging your insides and knows what they did while they were in there!
   — Dee ,.

March 24, 2003
I was given Percocet tablets for pain in the hospital after my RNY, and was sent home on all my previous medications....uncut and uncrushed, and with no changes to liquid medications. I had no problems at all...this seems to be more a physician-preference than anything else. Best wishes!
   — Diana T.