Sensitive gag reflex? Tricks can make pills easier to swallow

Gulp!

Many Americans have trouble taking pills—some fear choking, while others suffer from dry mouth or a gag reflex.

The throat condition, which is estimated to affect 10% to 15% of the population, causes people to tire easily when eating, swallowing pills, undergoing dental procedures or simply glancing at certain stimulating objects.

If you have trouble taking pills and have been prescribed one, check with your doctor to see if the medication is available in liquid form or if it can be crushed and mixed with applesauce or yogurt to make it easier to go down.

For those with a gag reflex, Mount Sinai Speech and Language Pathologist Leanne Goldberg has a special trick.

She recommends taking a deep breath and, holding your breath, place the pill in the middle of your tongue, take a sip of a drink, and swallow hard.

There are other approaches to try. German researchers identified two ways to make swallowing pills easier – the bottle-by-bottle method and the forward bending technique.

The pop-bottle method

• Fill a soda bottle with water.
• Place the pill on your tongue and close your lips tightly around the opening of the bottle.
• Take a swipe from the bottle, making sure to keep contact between the bottle and your lips through a sucking motion.
• Swallow the water and the pill without leaving any air in the bottle.

Forward bending technique

• Place the pill on the tongue.
• Take a medium sip of water but do not swallow it.
• Tuck your chin slightly towards your chest.
• Swallow the pill and water with your head tilted forward.

Learning how to swallow pills is an important life skill that should be learned at a young age, three UK doctors recently wrote in the BMJ.

“Pills are safer, cheaper and – with less packaging and missed doses – are more environmentally sustainable than liquid preparations,” the study’s authors said.