painful periods

[nosecretlies.livejournal.com]

i have awfully painful periods, the kind that keeps me up at night. it gets so bad that i find myself crying sometimes. the problem is, im unable to swallow pills. it sounds stupid, i know but ive tried. it always results in me gagging. so my question is, does anyone have any alternative suggestions?

Comments

[soulsearcher139.livejournal.com]

i have the same problem with swallowing. i asked my doctor what to do and he said that alot of pills depending on what they are can be taken vaginally or rectally. definitely check with your doctor about this before you attempt it. I take my pain meds this way and it works just as well.

good luck

[nosecretlies.livejournal.com]

im glad im not the only one with that problem. it made me feel like there was something wrong with me. thanks for the advice.

[echan.livejournal.com]

Took me 4 years of trying before I was able to swallow pills. The way I finally figured out how was to gulp them -- make a huge swallow, with lots of air, and the pill went down to. Maybe that will help.

[anonyteen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too.

[kaelstra.livejournal.com]

You also might want to talk to a doctor about the possiblity of having Endometris.

[lilmizevolution.livejournal.com]

You could try crushing pills and putting them in something to drink. I used to hate swallowing pills, so that is what my mom did. It doesn't taste the best, but whatever helps the pain is sometimes worth it. Unless you can't swallow them because of the taste, then that really wouldn't help.
You could also try heating pads or bottles. They seem to help me a lot.

[mercy-rain.livejournal.com]

Some pills really shouldn't be crushed or broken, though, so check with the doctor or pharmacist on that. BCPs seem like the sort of thing where that could be a concern.

OP: my sister has a really hard time with pill swallowing. What she does is, she'll chew up a marshmallow until she's just about to swallow, then slip the pill into her mouth and swallow it all. She has to be able to not *feel* the pill (food texture issues). I'm not sure why it has to be marshmallows, but hey, it works for her.

[nosecretlies.livejournal.com]

i understand the marshmellow. maybe i should just have someone hide the pills in my food without telling me. im the same way with her, i cant feel it or ill panic.

[lilmizevolution.livejournal.com]

Now I'm curious...why shouldn't you crush certain pills??

[mercy-rain.livejournal.com]

Depends on the medication, like I said, but crushing some pills will alter how they work. Googling, here are a few hits (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGGL%2CGGGL%3A2006-14%2CGGGL%3Aen&q=%22do+not+crush%22+pills&btnG=Search) for pills with warnings against crushing.

[lilmizevolution.livejournal.com]

I was just wondering how it would alter how they work, since I always thought since you were still getting all the medication it wouldn't matter how it was ingested. Thanks for the info.

[nosecretlies.livejournal.com]

baths during your period? how does that work?

[x--uhohretro.livejournal.com]

ah baths are wonderful during periods.
i just took one for that reason a few nights ago.

[sawyerlove.livejournal.com]

In order to help swallowing pills, start with those (if you can get them) and move up to skittles or m&ms or smarties. you could even cut them in half. that's how i started. advil and m&ms are around the same size so if you can swallow m&m's, you can swallow advil. best of luck.

[-xdominox-.livejournal.com]

if it's getting to the point of crying, i'd really suggest seeing your doctor. if it's endometriosis, a form of hormonal birth control that's not pills (eg depo, implanon etc) could help with the pain.

[womdigo.livejournal.com]

before I could swallow pills my mom would crush a pill and mix it with a little jam for me to take. still tasted a bit nasty but it worked.
to learn to swallow pills my dad used smarities with me, actually broke them into quarters to start with. One BIG thing i learned was don't tip your head back to swallow, it constricts your throat and makes it worse. I take a big gulp of water and hold it in my mouth, then tip my head back to drop the pill in, then tip my head back to a normal position to swallow if that makes sense
heating pads are awesome for cramps, also drinking lots of water is suppose to help too i think.
sleeping it off is my best plan if i can manage it
good luck!

[nosecretlies.livejournal.com]

the thing is, its not regular cramps that i get. i guess its like the same cramps you get as if you were constipated.

[http://users.livejournal.com/omgyes__/]

There was a girl on another message board years ago who couldn't swallow pills and I told her my method and it worked. What I usually do is fill my mouth with water, put the pill in my mouth and swallow the water. You can't feel the pill because it's mixed in with all the water, and you don't have to worry about crushing it.

Hope I helped.

[myfavouritescar.livejournal.com]

It is possible to get things like ibuprofen in a liquid form that's made for children, just check with your pharmacist and they should be able to tell you the correct dosage for an adult.

[scien.livejournal.com]

You can get ibuprofen in saches that you mix with water, pills that melt in your mouth, and liquid rather like cough syrup.

You can also train yourself to swallow pills by using small chunks of food such as cucumber. It feels weird at first, but it's very doable. The trick is to just relax your throat and swallow as though it was a normal mouthful of food/drink. If you clench your throat you'll gag.

[zellie-bean.livejournal.com]

I learned to swallow pills by putting them with yogurt or ice cream. Trying to swallow candy didn't help because it would scratch my throat. It took me a LOT of practice to learn though. My partner still can't swallow pills so you're certainly not the only one ;) he doesn't have to deal with cramps or BC though. A lot of women will go on HBC for cramps. I used nuvaring because I couldn't remember a pill and while it didn't end up working out, it DID totally free me from cramps.