Trying to swallow horse tablets
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325809)
Rockingham, Australia
November 6, 2019 6:44pm CST
This is my ‘breakfast’. I don’t usually eat breakfast but I was recently diagnosed with osteoporosis so now I’m taking a calcium and Vitamin D supplement. The tablets would choke a horse they are so big and the only way I can get them down is to cut each one into four. Then I pop them in the middle of a mouthful of food. Bread and Vegemite works best.
I should have put a whole one on the plate too so you could see how big it is but too late now. There doesn’t seem to be a brand that makes these in small sizes.
Heaven help me if I end up in a nursing home and no-one can be bothered giving me bread and Vegemite so I can take my pills. Do you have trouble swallowing tablets? I know most don’t. Perhaps I’m unique!! 
34 people like this
36 responses
@FourWalls (62145)
• United States
7 Nov 19
I think I’d have far more trouble swallowing the Vegemite than the pills!
4 people like this
@JudyEv (325809)
• Rockingham, Australia
7 Nov 19
@hereandthere I could go with peanut butter.
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
7 Nov 19
I am able to get them down with liquid or food.
4 people like this
@RachelleDD (823)
• Canada
7 Nov 19
Have taken many "horse" pills over the years, i usually just fill my mouth up with water and toss the pill in. It worked for me. :) Vegemite...what does it taste like? I'm up in the way Canadian North, have never even seen Vegemite.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (325809)
• Rockingham, Australia
7 Nov 19
Vegemite seems to be an acquired taste. I don't think I've ever met anyone but Australians who like it. It is hard to say what it tastes like but it's very salty.
@JudyEv (325809)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Nov 19
@RachelleDD Asian countries have some foods that would seem very 'off' to many Westerners too. They eat insects of all sorts for starters.
@Alexandoy (65308)
• Cainta, Philippines
7 Nov 19
Whoa! That big a tablet? I wonder why they have to make tablets of calcium that big. Perhaps it is better if they make a syrup type.
2 people like this
@Alexandoy (65308)
• Cainta, Philippines
7 Nov 19
@JudyEv are there no alternative medication for that?
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325809)
• Rockingham, Australia
7 Nov 19
@Alexandoy I think there is a syrup but it's much more expensive.
1 person likes this
@Spontaneo (14703)
• United States
7 Nov 19
Do what works for you. Don't worry about other people. Yes you are a unique person. From all of your discussions, I can sense you are a good person!
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (169966)
• United States
7 Nov 19
Sometimes I do, if they are too big or I am taking a few at a time. Good luck with your horse pills lol.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (169966)
• United States
8 Nov 19
@JudyEv if it was me I'd be choking on the marmitr..lol.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325809)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 Nov 19
@snowy22315 Most Aussies my age grew up on Vegemite!! 
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118448)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Nov 19
I struggle to get pills down. If they are horse pills like the ones you are taking, I'd have to break them like you do to get them down.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325809)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Nov 19
@moffittjc Haha. Well, that's one benefit I hadn't thought of!
1 person likes this
@paigea (35692)
• Canada
9 Nov 19
The calcium tablets were huge and for some reason upset my stomach. Now I chew Tums© (antacid) and the pharmacist said that is just as good. The vitamin D are oil filled capsules which I also chew because I like them.
Usually I can swallow pills.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (129482)
• Israel
7 Nov 19
@JudyEv
I am sorry. That is not fun. My mother had it. Glad you are taking something and what are the tablets for? I am lucky that I have not trouble taking my medication. I am very lucky when fasting because I cannot drink anything to take them.
1 person likes this
@amitkokiladitya (171936)
• Agra, India
7 Nov 19
My mother also has a great trouble in swallowing medicines
1 person likes this
@amitkokiladitya (171936)
• Agra, India
7 Nov 19
@JudyEv yes...and I very well know how tough it is for you
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (12597)
• Ireland
7 Nov 19
@JudyEv I had very bad flu in Paris once, lost my voice too, so my wife Had speak for me When the chemist showed her a box of tablets she looked at it and said “Oh my husband wouldn’t like that”. We went elsewhere and got something and she told me the first guy was offering suppositories. For my voice?
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325809)
• Rockingham, Australia
7 Nov 19
'Suppositorial style' does not appeal at all, thank you very much. 
@porwest (78761)
• United States
13 Nov 19
Most of the time I do not have trouble swallowing pills. But most of them have a certain kind of coating on them to make them more slippery when wet. But recently I started taking an NAC supplement. I have no idea what it is but it is supposed to support lung and liver function. It's not any bigger than the multi vitamin I take, but it will NOT go down whole. So I cut it into two. It's the coating on this one that makes it difficult for me. Not the size of it.
1 person likes this
@dilleo (980)
• Canada
8 Nov 19
Yeah, taking pills in general, is a bummer. I have had to take fairly large tablets before, but I can definitely relate, it has/had been hard for me to swollow them before, but over time, I kind of got used to it, not so bad anymore. I am 29, and I have a ton of meds I have to take, due to mental health stuff. All good though haha.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325809)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Nov 19
I am much better than I used to be. It was like I was two people - one saying 'just do it. Stop stressing and give a big gulp' and the other one crying and gnashing teeth saying 'it's too hard. I can't'. But now I mostly manage if they're not too big.
But now I mostly manage if they're not too big.1 person likes this
