Medication after Surgery

[farmerchick]

Hey ya'll, I'm scheduled for surgery on April 28th! However, I'm on several different medications twice a day. Some have large pills. How difficult will it be for me to take these after surgery? I'm worried I won't be able to get them down, or keep them down. Could someone please share their experience with this?

[HGfromOmaha]

I take 6 different medications each morning and have a total of 10 pills (3 large ones) and have had no problems. I take my medication first with a splash of juice or Gatorade. I then take my multivitamin (chewable), Vitamin-C, and B-12. I can't take the Vitamin C on an empty stomach but all of my other meds have caused no problems. I wait about 20-30 min before having "breakfast" (protein shake) and I'm fine.

[BladeFox]

They generally request the medications that you take prior to and the day of surgery and they know if the pill form will be too big for you and will make the adjustments for you either in a smaller pill or in liquid form. Caution however...the liquid form is not that easy to take after surgery.

[sociologist]

Talk to the dr that prescribed them to see if a liquid form is available. After a couple of weeks out, you can try swallowing them. Shortly after surgery you probably wont be able to take a large enough sip to get them down. Also check with the dr to see if they can be crushed...usually okay unless time released but check first. I was able to crush mine and take it in applesauce.

[andreaf]

I just visited my family doctor to ask him about my meds before I go. He said in general anything about the size of an M&M should be ok but I have one that's larger so he told me to crush it and mix it with a little water and sip it down. He told me to expect it to taste horrible which I'm not looking forward to. I know not all meds are crushable though so you'd have to find out if yours are or not. Your pharmacist would know.

[Emilia]

I had no problem taking my medication started back on 2 days after the surgery.

[Mich-D]

As Bladefox mentioned, generally two options exist, getting the medication in liquid form or breaking the pills in half. I found it easier to go to CVS to get a pill splicer. I used it for the first few weeks.

[Kindle]

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