Taking pills

I was taking panadol capsules, 2 at a time while in hospital after the op. I waited a week to start taking my vitamens when I got home, just to be on the safe side. The hair, nails & skin one I take is quite big, but they all went down ok & didn't cause any damage. :)

I have epilepsy, so I need to continue to take my medication. Unfortunately, the particular medication that I was on did not come in a liquid form, so we pulled apart the capsules and I swallowed down the granules as they were in one or two goes four times a day. Better than having a seizure and possibly doing damage to my new stomach though.

I was taking pills the day after the op. Panadol was split in two, and whatever the others were, they were tiny. Used to be able to take a few at a time, now I'm taking one at a time, getting the Natures Way mini pills for vitamin needs, and take Nexium for the dreaded reflux. That one, I can't split in half, but it goes down fine.

I take pristiq (which is an anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication) which I'm NOT going to be able to stop taking (it leads to horrible side effects if I stop suddenly as the chemicals in it act on the brain).

So I hope I'm going to be able to work out how to take them.  I always know within 24 hours if I've missed a dose.  I get nauseous, my mouth and lips start to tingle and go numb and I get dizzy and sick.  Not pleasant at all!

I also take Lyrica, however I think I'll be able to skip a couple of doses of those with out too many problems.  Everything else can wait until I can swallow again. :)

Every Surgeon seems to have different requirements. My Doc didn't want me to take tablets immediately post op. He expained that he does a tight sleeve and he didn't want tablets getting jammed in the still swollen stomach. He said that initially it can be so swollen it is only the thickness of a pen so no tablets for a week or two. So I had to take soluable/liquid panadol and anti-reflux granules. The only tablet I was allowed was my blood pressure tablet because it is really small. I wasn't allowed my HRT tablets because they increase the risk of clots. 

So your doc will sort out what tabs you can have.

cheers Nini

Hi, many surgeons seem to have different requests for the taking of pills etc,many will only let you have them crushed or in liquid form and some let you take them a couple of days after your op. Due to what the surgery entails and risk of a leak being quite easy to form in the early days I took no risks what so ever.I waited for my first checkup with my surgeon which I had at 5 weeks,as I live a fair way from him, I took all the vitamins etc that I take  with me so he could see the size of them and asked if it's safe to take these now and he said yes. It is much safer to err on the very safe side of any actions you do so you do not increase the risk of a leak,i am 11 months out and can take any size tablet or capsule,although the Krill Oil capsules I am starting to balk at as they are getting bigger by the day,dam near the size of a big bullet so I hope they don't make the dam things any bigger. Its also a bummer with their packaging of these as you cant see through the bottle to actually see how big they are before you buy them,not till you get home and open the bottle,then bugger me they are huge,so I space my vitamins so that one is taken on it's own.You can also get a Liquid Womens vitamin from the Chemist which is what I used in the early stages. I would still play safe taking tablets a few days after surgery,damage may not happen by taking tablets that are too big but it is always a RISK in the early days and by you yourself being careful and wary of the size of things you put in your mouth you are taking a big step in the right direction by avoiding any pain and complications. All the best.

Veronica,

You'll be fine mate.

They'll possibly have you swallowing the medication pills (not the Vitamins) on the 2nd or third day after surgery.

Of course heal up first, but once you are all healed you should have no problems getting them down.

I swallow a hand full of about 10 every morning - no worries.

Tara

At present I take a blood pressure pill, a pill for hair and nails and 2 pills for cold sores every morning. Also take panadols for headaches.  Will I still be able to take these???? do I need to crush them or just take them whole??