When taking medicine, we sometimes encounter embarrassing situations, that is, if the tablets are too large, we will feel stuck in our throats and cause discomfort during swallowing.
Therefore, many people want to break the tablets or open the capsules to facilitate taking medicine.
Is this method possible? What should I do when the medicine is too big to swallow? Today we will talk about this matter.
Can tablets and capsules be broken?
Not recommended, especially for drugs with the words “slow release/controlled release/enteric-coated”.
Because most of the skins of these drugs are specially designed, they can adjust the dissolution speed of the drugs according to actual needs and play a role in the dissolution parts of the human body to protect the drugs from going to the places where they should go.
Once it is broken off, this layer of protective measures will be gone. Not only will it not be effective in the treatment area, but it may also damage other originally healthy organs, which is really not worth the cost.
However, for some tablets, there is a score on the surface, which can be eaten along the score. You can carefully read the instructions to verify it.
For capsules, even if there are no words such as [sustained release/controlled release/enteric-coated], it is not recommended to break and pour out the powder and take it with water.
Because a small amount of powder will stick to both sides of the capsule shell when pouring out, resulting in a smaller dosage, thus failing to achieve the desired therapeutic effect.
Can’t swallow the medicine, you may have missed 4 points
Since the medicine cannot be taken at will, some people are even more confused. In fact, make four preparations to make you swallow the medicine more smoothly:
Take it in batches, it is really not possible to take one tablet at a time.
Some people need to take several drugs at the same time. In order to save trouble, they like to swallow them in one hand.
In fact, this increases the difficulty of swallowing, and it is best to take it one by one in batches.
Drink a few saliva to moisten the esophagus first.
Drinking a few saliva before taking the medicine can moisten the esophagus, thus reducing the resistance when swallowing the medicine and allowing it to be swallowed more smoothly.
The posture of swallowing medicine is very important.
For some people with dysphagia, they should try to take medicine standing up and avoid taking medicine sitting and lying down.
However, some special drugs, such as antihypertensive drugs and gastric mucosal protective agents, are recommended to be taken in lying position. This can avoid orthostatic hypotension caused by antihypertensive drugs. However, gastric mucosal protective agent can expand the coverage and produce better curative effect.
Drink enough water
Sometimes we don’t have enough water at hand, so when taking medicine, we just want to make do with it and swallow it half and half.
In fact, it usually takes about 150 milliliters of warm water to make the tablets reach the gastrointestinal tract smoothly.
Sufficient water can not only make drugs reach gastrointestinal tract smoothly and quickly to play a role, but also prevent some drugs from adhering to esophagus and causing esophageal mucosal damage.
One action helps you swallow medicine easily.
This action is-head up and swallow tablets, head down and swallow capsules. The specific operation is as follows:
When taking pills, wrap your lips around the mouth of the bottle, raise your head and start drinking water, and swallow the water and pills with sucking action, so that the water can completely wrap the pills and swallow them better. Be careful not to let air into the bottle.
When taking the capsule, you can put the capsule on your tongue, drink a mouthful of water but don’t swallow it, then lower your head and swallow the capsule and water. The capsule will float on the water surface because it is lighter, and lowering your head can allow the capsule to pass through the gap between the water surface and the esophagus, thus being swallowed down.
Studies have shown that this action can greatly improve the swallowing effect of people with dysphagia. Compared with the old method of drinking a mouthful of water from a cup and then swallowing, these two methods have improved the swallowing effect by 60% ~ 89%.
Next time you take the medicine, use it quickly. I hope you can take the medicine more smoothly and recover quickly after reading it.
Let’s make a summary:
- Take it in batches, but it is really not possible to take one tablet at a time. Drink a few saliva first to moisten the esophagus. Try to take medicine standing up and avoid taking medicine sitting and lying down. Drink enough water; Lift your head and swallow tablets, lower your head and swallow capsules.