The Natural Bite

I just got a great question from Lily about getting those pills down when you can’t open your mouth! Ok, this is a very common, and sadly ironic, reality for many jaw / mouth trauma patients. I don’t know magic, but I do know… ice cream!

Submitted on 2009/01/31 at 11:14pm

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience and excellent recommendations with us all Susan.

I’m 3 1/2 weeks post-surgery (upper and lower) and am getting ready to try the Bromelin and Tumeric but one question- how did you get these pills down. I still can’t open my mouth enough to pop pills in so was thinking of grinding them up and adding them to smoothies, etc…

Do you have any advice? Thanks!!

Hi Lily,

Thanks for visiting my blog, and congrats on being three weeks post-op!!

How to get the pills down.. hm, if even one at a time is too much, then yes, I’d suggest opening them up and mixing with a small amount of orange juice and just gulping it down as quickly as you can.

I was lucky in that I had no problems swallowing pills (I probably took hundreds of them over the course of my recovery!), but I know that some people need to grind them with a mortar and pestle or open them up and take the powder.

Personally, I like to take gross things in small, but highly concentrated, doses, then quickly follow with something delicious. I prefer not to spread it out by ruining an entire serving of delicious smoothie or juice.

You know what the best pill / medicine chaser is? Ice cream. Yep, ice cream. I think it’s because it has some fat to it, so the fat coats your tongue and takes away the yucky taste immediately. Non-fatty things - like fruit juice - actually did not work as well for me as a chaser. Just a thought