Go to the drug store and pick up a pill crusher, add it to applesauce,pudding, It works for my wife, hopefully it will work for you

I discovered probiotic fruit smoothies that are sold in small bottles( in a six pack or eight pack) perfect for washing down pills, especially the large ones which can be difficult. Plus, they are good for the digestion.

Great article with food insight. Swallowing pills can cause such stress and tensions because we all know how important it is to deliver the correct dose; it's a stressor caregivers do not need. Many people who have difficulty swallowing pills might benefit learning more about dysphagia.

I use a pull up water bottle so NO pills can fall in like capsules. Others with RX approval, I grind up and put in apple sauce with blueberries and mix up.

My husband had difficulties swallowing a large multi-vitamin pill. I was able to find it in gummy form. Now it's like eating candy.

anxious to read the following comments. IF the pill is on MY tongue I can still taste it and this will make me gag if not vomit. I am recuperating from a dissected aorta and surgery that saved me the end of Sept. It was totally miserable for me to be in the hospital and be deluged with the typical Rx they put people on. The food tricks were minimally helpful and took much energy though I tried to be cooperative. In anticipation of this continuing on return home, I knew about and contacted a compounding pharmacy who told me it was against FDA rules to take a medication and turn it into patch form which the article doesn't mention. While in the hospital and rehab things like apple sauce were tried and I found that to be a total fail...yeah, I got it down, but not easily. Same for pudding. ANd once home with the pudding routine, due to my mother's dementia and her thinking everything is HERS, she constantly was stealing/eating the pudding cups. In the hospital they tried little cups of sorbet. I think the coldness of that might have helped and the melting substance as well eased it going down. Once home I was overwhelmed with the regimen, it was haunting my every waking hour, focusing on when next I was due to take something. WORSE, the staff, in spite of knowing of my challenges made me feel immature and "what's the big deal" at 60+ one should have this task mastered that a child could do. I have, thus far, at least been honest with the medical types about my non-compliance. But I was at a point where it was seriously contributing to a depressed mood, more so because I wanted to be well and cooperate with the plan. I know most of the meds were important, but my perspective is if we all have the same goal (my wellness) then we should be working together to find the best solution for me. At that point of coming home and overwhelmed I said to myself the important thing was to be alive. To do that I needed to eat and sleep. The pudding routine, IF I could do it was taking away my comes and go appetite, leaving a taste in my mouth (too sweet) before dinner, and ruining dinner after. So, god help me, I took the pills put them in a corner and got on with my life. Now we're today! exactly 4 months post surgery and here I am alive and well. I'm eating and sleeping, and my PT which minimal, is more so here at home with my every day activities of doing the steps to get food or take my pup out or run an errand to the post office. Note that they were so ignorant they also added to the mix of pills huge supplements of potassium and magnesium, both of which could be obtained in healthy food sources. Some were quick to say I wouldn't get as much, but I say anything is better than nothing and there was no way in hell I was adding to my stress, which should obviously be minimized, but having supplements in the mix with my difficulties. Note that there is some nauseating obnoxious solution they can mix with one or both supplements that is orange based and absolute torture to down, amazingly and sickenly both overly sweet and overly salty in taste at the same time. What we force upon our older patients is unacceptable and never forget...you CAN refuse. I am hopeful the MD's I am scheduled to meet with will not dump me as they can refuse me as a non-compliant patient I would think. But I will not be bullied and stressed by this. I am determined to survive on terms I can accept and tolerate. I did hear there was a patch for blood pressure meds, with some potential side effects. ANyone have any experience with that?? By the way, note they mention CAPSULES. Tiny capsules may be easier than pills of any size. Don't know. But they probably would float in the mouth far easier and not everything is in a capsule form, mine aren't...maybe that is something the compounding pharmacy could do?

My 90 year old mom with vascular dementia only takes her pills with a full cup of orange juice. The gag reflex happens when the caregivers at her memory care unit give her the pills with a bottle of water. She has a full teeth upper plate in her mouth and sipping the water and trying to get the pills down throwing her head back does two things - she doesn’t get enough fluid in her mouth like she does out of a full cup and the pills get stuck. She had started to refuse her pills until I remembered she always took them with orange juice. It helps also with the dry mouth early in the morning.

When she was 90 my Mom discovered for herself that a spoonful of yogurt was the way to swallow pills. As I have always had trouble with pills, tried it and was amazed. Works better than applesauce too!

difficulty swallowing my mother is 98 years old. she is loosing weight.

Thank you - but neither will work on my DH with Dysphagia as even water must be thickened.
However, the hospital crushed pills and put them into ice cream and that works great! Only, some capsules really can't be opened so he still has trouble swallowing them.
Wherever possible, I have switched to chewables for his supplements.

Ask doctor or pharmacist if pills can be crushed and mixed with small amount of soft food like applesauce

I cannot imagine explaining either method to someone with dementia or who is hard of hearing. Not very useful information.

My mom was always choking on pills of various sizes. While in rehab, they started her using spoonfuls of applesauce. This has worked great. We have even discovered flavored applesauce (mango peach) in six packs. I purchased baby spoons at the dollar store. Mom loads a small spoon with applesauce, plunks in 2 or 3 pills and down it goes...even large capsules and antibiotics.

I agree about making pills smaller. You know that most of the pills are fillers...how do we get the manufacturers to listen to us? Also, I am sure it is better if they are not colored but mom has about 3 different pills that are white and round. Yes I can read the little codes but it would be nice if there was some variety.

I would not try either of the methods in this article with my mom. Way too complicated to explain. I would end up with water everywhere.

When taking medications with food or a meal, I find it best to take the medications before i eat the food, otherwise I might be to full to swallow the pills.

The elderly tends to have dry throat, I always encourage them to take sips of liquid and swish it before swallowing the liquid. This way it moisten the throat and pills don't get stock especially when cutting pills in half. Drinking with juice rather than water usually helps especially if its their favorite. As long as its not contraindicated with meds being taken. When all else fails applesauce or ice cream to take with the pills is a winner. The worst thing crushing the pills if its crushable and mixing with applesauce or jello. With a panicky person may have to take the pills one at a time and be patient, divert their attention while you are administering the pills. It helps with a person who is anxious and easily short of breath. But of course the most important thing the person taking the pills has to be sitting upright to avoid choking or aspiration.

I agree with the woman who said why don't they make pills smaller and just take 2 instead of 1. pretty soon we will need to be a horse to swallow those pills. I am only 57 but find that I get anxious over taking those big pills, but what I normally do is drink some water first to moisten my throat area, put the pill in and start drinking while looking/concentrating on something else so that I am not concentrating on the pill going down. Of course this won't work for older people or ones with dementia/other issues. I am also guessing that some medicines come in liquid form (I know that some depressions meds do cause I got some for my dad when he kept refusing to take the pill). mom would mix it in with any liquid that he would drink.

I'm going to try the applesauce method. And yogurt.

Wonderful article! I choke on medium to large sized vitamins and medication, and have always wondered what to do about it. I've tried other methods (didn't help) but will now try these. Thanks. All help is appreciated.

These are OK and work sometimes. The most common one actually used in real life is applesauce. The pill or tab on a spoonful of apple sauce is usually easy for anyone to swallow whole (without chewing). The apple sauce acts like a lubricant, don't usually get stuck in the throat and there is less consistency difference with the applesauce than with water.

Good to know other ways of administrating med's
At times, I give my husband his pills/capsules, one at a time, on
top of a teaspoon of applesauce. I always tell him that is how I am giving it to him and remind him to swallow and not bite down.

Pill manufacturers should consider making pills and capsules in reasonable sizes. My hubby cannot take Amoxycillin or most brands of vitamins because the pills are simply too large to swallow. Why don't they make a smaller pill and take 2 instead of 1?

I have Dysphagia and certainly would not try the water bottle. The lean forward method allows you to engage the throat muscles more effectively and push the pill down. What works for me is to take the pills in a mouthful of soft food such as yogurt and if they still stick follow with liquid. Make sure your mouth and throat are moist before taking any pills

Never heard of these ways to swallow pills. I hate swallowing pills- whether tablet or capsules. My throat tends to tighten when I feel the pills are getting close to the throat. Several times, when I finally swallow the pill, it seems like it got stuck on it's way down. Drinking lots of water trying to force it down.

With the first one - with your lips around the bottle's opening, I won't choke on the water going down? I tend to choke on water when drinking normally from a cup. Maybe I'm reading it wrong.