I'm going back to work on Monday after having 6 wonderful weeks off after my RNY surgery. So far, all my vitamins are liquid or chewable. How many weeks out were you when you could swallow pill form vitamins? They would be so much more convenient to transport every day...

i STILL don't do swallow-able vits, unless they're small. and i take my chewables to work [when i remember]. is there any way you could keep a stash of whatever form of vits you prefer at your workstation?

I'm two years out and can just swallow small pills. I was tired of chewable multis and bought regular vits; that was a mistake. I leave a bottle of chewable calcium at work so I don't have to carry or remember to take vitamins in the morning.

By the way, I think Jiffy and I are atypical with our inability to swallow pills. Many people do just fine; I've read of people taking pills while still in the hospital.

I guess the only thing to do is give it a go and see what happens... I'm such a coward though... thanks for giving me your experiences, Jane and Jen... I'll let you know if I survive.

To tell the truth, i CAN swallow pills - i do it regularly. BUT, there's a size limit. remember that the outlet from the tiny tummy is about the size of a nickel, so a pill that's about that size has a high risk of getting stuck. and i DO MEAN STUCK.

for some reason, many multivitamins [and calcium tabs] are HUGE, and trust me, they're NOT going down. not on a regular basis. so that's why i use mostly chewables. but this is just me ...

Jiffy, what I do not understand is why pills seem to get stuck in my throat, not in my pouch. I can't ever recall this happening prior to surgery, but truthfully, I rarely took any vitamins or pills, so I guess it could have been a problem I was unaware of. I was thinking that having Barrett's esophagus is why I have the issue, but that doesn't explain why other RNYers struggle with pills.

So confusing to me.

here's what i SUSPECT [not sure if it's real or just me]. since the surgery, i drink water differently - no more gulping. maybe the pills seem to get stuck in my throat because i'm sipping water - not taking the huge swig that is probably really needed. of course, i could take several sips quickly, but that doesn't seem to help.

one of the issues that i have is that i take some meds that i can't take on an empty stomach. but we all know that liquids + food isn't a good idea. so it's really affected my ability to eat breakfast. don't worry - i manage, but my day starts off with 2-3 cheese/crackers, pills, and then breakfast about 2-3 hours later, which makes it late morning and then it's hard for me to catch up with protein.

OTOH, i'm still here. losing again. can't be doing something TOO wrong here!

Same here, Jiffy. I have to take a proton pump inhibitor that requires 30 minutes without food. I don't wake up early enough to take that pill and then have time for breakfast. As it is, I wake up at 4:15a during the school year; I can't imagine waking up earlier. So, I make breakfast and eat it at school, which by the time I get to it, is rushed and cold. Blah.

Off the topic of this thread, but WLS surgery uncovered two issues that I didn't know I had. Barrett's esophagus, which was only discovered because I had a stricture early out and needed an endoscopy (hence the need for the PPI mentioned above). The second was the blood vessel tumor I had removed last week. They suspect I've had it for awhile, but it was hidden under my fat. Neat, eh?

neat? hmmm. some people would say that you had your WLS and then FELL APART!!! but i do understand. it's unlikely that any doc would have taken the time to look for those conditions if you were heavier.

I could take them after a month...i did breake them in halves though. Now i can swallow whatever i want..and eat whatever i want. But still breake the pills..just a habbit i guess

[QUOTE=jiffypop;4796130]neat? hmmm. some people would say that you had your WLS and then FELL APART!!! /QUOTE]

LOL! It is neat! I had these issues, but didn't know about them and they would have continued to worsen, had I not discovered them as a result of WLS. Neat indeed.