7 Tips to Avoid Getting a Pill Stuck in Your Throat

A simple solution: Dip the pill into coconut oil (which is edible and comes almost solid), and it will slide down your throat.

What works best for me is putting the vitamins in your mouth and fill your mouth with liquid Don't swallow yet. (thick juices like tomato are better). Swish all the pills around in your mouth for a few seconds so that all surfaces of the pills are wet/moist. Look at the ceiling and swallow. I can down a quite a few vitamins with this method.

I choked on a large antibiotic pill. At first I was making a whistling sound, then no sound came out as no air was getting in or out. Fortunately my husband was there. He tried a couple of Heimlich maneuvers, to no avail. I collapsed forward on my knees and lost consciousness. He says he hit me very hard on my back a few times. The pill popped out and I breathed again. Afterward there was much coughing, gagging and saliva.

I’m a speech pathologist in a hospital dealing with swallowing disorders (dysphagia) for 33 years. If you have this kind of problem, and you’re at home or somewhere where it’s available, take your pills in a little spoonful of anything viscous, such as applesauce, pudding, yogurt. If those are not available when you have to swallow a pill, such as at a restaurant, chew up any kind of food really well until it’s mushy and pop the pill inside the mushy bolus of food in your mouth and swallow. Thin liquids like water or juice are the hardest, especially if chalky on the outside and large. Pill needs to be smooth, or put into a smooth substance such as mentioned above, and mouth and throat need to be moist in order for pills to slide down throat and esophagus, ie not get stuck.

I am only lately having trouble swallowing pills no matter the size. I tried everything to help with this. The thing that finally worked was eating a piece of bread to push it down and some water right after.

I can take "any" size pill with no problem, but if I notice a problem in pill size (very rare), I'll chew a few blueberries to lube the throat. Small football shaped pills NEVER stay down. My throat pushes it down, but because of the shape, and the way a throat works (I guess) it comes right back up--push down, comes halfway up---push down, comes halfway back up. 100% of the time, not 99% of the time, but 100% of the time it gets caught and eventually my throat coughs it up (with good force) and the pill lands onto the kitchen floor it's a relief because at that point I am gagging. I just got some algal oil pills of that, the label calls the "soft gels." Now I just chew them until the contents squirts out into my mouth. Then I toss the empty pill into the trash.

To help me swallow pills I take a large gulp of water, then tilt my head back and wait a moment to let the pill float to the very back of my throat... and then swallow.
Also taking my pills with a mouthfull of food helps.

If you have trouble swallowing pills, often choke on food, and find your voice weak or easily fatigued, you may want to consult a laryngologist: voice disorders can affect swallowing as well as speaking.

I take a lot of supplements and medications. Taking with very cold water definitely helps me!

Briefly rolling the tablet or capsule around in my mouth to coat it with saliva has helped me greatly. And I avoid uncoated tablets.

I always have problems swallowing large pills like calcium, magnesium, etc.

I often open the capsules and empty them into some liquid then consume. Tastes horrid but only briefly.

I always use warm water before and after taking pills. It seems to relax the thorax.

Applesauce works for me too. Thanks to nurses I've been doing this for several years .

Regarding Iron Pills: I brought my hemoglobin from 7.6 to 13.9 in 4 1/2 months by eating 40 g Total cereal with 5-6 oz orange juice daily, 1-2 hrs after eating other food. Total has 18 mg iron in 40 g. My doc recommended this, but of course, I'm no doc--and this isn't medical advice, just my personal experience.

As a veterinarian, one trick my mentor taught me for cat pills is to coat them in a thin layer of butter just before giving them. When I was prescribed a large pill with a porous surface, which I found very difficult to get down, I made sure it was okay to take it with food, and then started doing this, and it worked like a charm!

A nurse told my husband to take applesauce with his pills. It works great!

I take several supplements every day of various sizes. I keep mineral water on hand just for that. It causes the pills to easily "float" down the throat.

When I take my curcumin caplets ( I take several but one at a time but they are kind of large) they would often get stuck. As it turns out, it is best for bioavailability to take a couple of TBSPs of olive oil with the curcumin
(the curcumin with the black pepper extract built in aka piperine for additional bioavailability) I put the caplets into a small cup and pour the olive oil over the caplets. I use a teaspoon to fish them out (one at a time) to put on my tongue and then wash them down with with water. With a coating of olive oil they all slide down easily. When I'm done I then drink the rest of the olive oil that is in the cup (again, makes for better bioavailability of curcumin).

For capsules I take a big mouthful of water that expands my cheeks and this causes my throat to relax then I insert capsule in mouth and swallow. Also believe in leaning forward just a bit and generally relaxing my body. I crush or chew pills. When I take many supplemental caps & pills, I powder them in the blender, then add to liquid to drink.

Applesauce works great.

Take a sip of water or whatever liquid, slip the medication in your mouth and swallow. Please do not wash it around, just swallow. Works every time in the hospital and at bedside of my hospice patients. I am a RN.

I am a 65-year-old woman who hails from the South. My dad, the wisest man I've ever known advised me to take my medication with butter milk. He also treated his heartburn with butter mild and soda crackers. Alas, I have an intense dislike of butter milk. Fortunately, I never get heart burn and I think I could swallow a pumpkin!

When a pill feels like it hasn't gone down, I just take a spoon full of refried beans and some more water and bingo the pill is down the hatch and I'm fine.

I find that if I pave the way with a sip or two of water, the pills and capsules go right down. Speaking of capsules, they float! So take a sip of water and then bend your head forward so that they float in the back of your throat. Then swallow. It could make a big difference.

I found that by putting a pill as far back as possible helps in the pill getting down without getting stuck. The oblong pills or capsules I "point" towards the back of my throat when I place it on my tongue (again, as far back as possible) and they just slide right down. I rarely have problems with pills nowadays, but not paying attention when I'm swallowing always gets it stuck for me.

I find that if I hold the pill between my teeth and start to swallow water then let the pill go with the flow of liquid helps alot

I am 90 yo and never in my life have swallowed a pill with liquid. In the hospital jello is allowed even when food is a no-no. Otherwise chewed banana, mash potato, scrambled eggs always work best. Greek yogurt lets me feel the capsule so it's more difficult but possible. Sometimes pills get stuck and I cough them up. The trick is to not feel them as they go down, then the gag reflex does not seem to be engaged.

Can I chew a pill and swallow it that way?

Nothing tastes better or works as well as sugar free Jello especially for pills that need to be taken on an empty stomach. I keep a bowl in my refrigerator at all times.

I use V-8 juice--works better than water.

I have OPMD and dry mouth.
I try to buy liquid and sometimes gummies. I empty my supplement capsules into applesauce. And if gelcaps are large i chew them.
I found pushing on the side of my throat and swallowing water when stuck on one side helps.

I have Sjogren's syndrome and have very dry mouth and throat. I make sure I take a large amount of water with pills to help flush them down.

I use Yogurt which make swallowing easy.

I have Sjogren's so my mouth and esophagus are very dry. I take all my pills and capsules with milk or non-dairy milk. The glass doesn't need to be all milk; you can cut it with water and the pills will still slide down. If I find myself somewhere with no milk, and I take it with water and it gets stuck, I eat a cracker or two and wash it down with water. That has always worked for me.

I have put a bit of oil on large pills.

I use applesauce with pill taking to supplement moisture need. (Drop pill on spoon that is preloaded with applesauce). I follow it up with sipping a liquid to ensure pill and applesauce have cleared esophagus.

I have great difficulty swallowing pills of any size. All of my medications say to take with food, so I simply chew a bite of food, place the pill or pills in the chewed-up food, and swallow. I don't even feel the pills go down.

My success is with a tablet 7/8-inches long and 3/8-inches wide. I switched to swallowing it after dinner instead of before breakfast. It seems my throat was much more receptive later in the day.

I don’t usually have problems swallowing capsules but here is my foolproof method for hard pills or big capsules- I rub the pill on butter and coat it with the butter - so easy to swallow- slides down!

Warm to hot herbal tea...or non-herbal earlier in the day, will also help get pills down the throat into the stomach a bit easier

I have a gag reaction .. especially to what is considered the easier to take pill: the soft coated ones. But..they float and so it's worse for me to swallow them!... Here's what i do: I IMAGINE A LARGE OPEN TUNNEL... and using my IMAGINATION in this way... it generally works great. I also snap my fingers or raise my arms... this creates a bit of a distraction/command.. to swallow. xok

I have a fail-proof way of swallowing my pills. While I'm eating a meal, I chew every bite thoroughly and pop a pill right before swallowing. It works like magic. But that's only if you don't have to take pills on an empty stomach.

Somewhere I read that swallowing water before taking the pill prepares the esophagus by avoiding a dry pill getting stuck to a relatively dry esophagus. My experience with stuck pills tends to involve fairly dry tonsil areas or dry throat, and swallowing a gulp before the pill makes sticking harder to happen, all the way down to the esophageal sphincter at the stomach, where I've also had a few stuck pills.

I have never been able to take a pill even with water. I take a bite of food, chew it well and then pop in the pill just before I swallow the food. It seems to trick the throat to swallow. I can swallow a whole glass of water and the pill does not move.

Personal experience has show me that taking the pill with milk or a liquid protein drink like Ensure or Boost makes the pill much easier to swallow. It even allows swallowing several pills at once.

Has no one but me figured out the fool proof way to take ANY pill? It's simple. Just take a large sip of water FIRST, but keep the water in your mouth without swallowing. Then, immediately slip the pill in between your lips. No water should leak out if you lips are at all functional! Then, swish the pill briefly so that it gets covered in water and swallow. Follow with another large sip of water. Simple as pie! Never fails.

When pills get stuck, I take a swallow or two of a carbonated drink. It seems to *fizz* the pill loose.

I have found that a teaspoon or more of olive oil helps to get stuck pills to move down my esophagus. Once I feel them finally traveling downward, I drink some water.

Natural Grocers chewable Theanine with mannitol burned my esophagus- kind of exploded, burned for hours! There was a phone number on the bottle but when I called they said they didn’t make that product. Very painful, almost required ER visit.

Wish I had followed #3 but was fooled because of how small baby aspirins are - the 81mg size. After months of taking them dry I finally realized they weren't going down when I developed a gurgling sound originating somewhere south of the back of my throat that hasn't completely healed years later. Recent articles suggest taking even just 81mg of aspirin can do more harm than good, live and learn.

I take a junior Mint to make it go down.

Speaking of vitamins, I don't fight it when swallowing is a problem, just chew it.

For capsules, it works to suck on it and soak it with saliva and it slides right down with water.

I put the pill on the middle of my tongue and press the tip of my tongue to the back of my front teeth and swallow a medium swig of water. But some pills are just too big and get stuck anyway ?? Then I ask about different formulas. It creates anxiety

Taking supplements with a high-viscosity liquid (such as a protein drink, V8 Juice, etc.) helps. Another danger: I was hospitalized with pneumonia after aspiration of a curcumin supplement that (unknowingly) stuck and dissolved in my throat.

Place capsule or pill on a soup spoon of applesauce and swallow; easy does it, one at a time. Pat

I strongly recommend (especially for those huge pills) to take them with a teaspoon of some substance that is somewhat thick. Applesauce, yogurt, cottage cheese, pudding, or any other food that is similar in texture. Most who have difficulty swallowing also are fearful of the pills getting stuck, which leads to a reluctance to perform a vigorous swallow. Taking the pill with something pleasant that (by its viscous nature) requires a vigorous swallow (and adds lubrication at the same time) works wonders for getting the pill down easily.

Ditto on the applesauce!!

In my 60 yrs. of taking supplements and harrowing escapes of blocked pills has taught me some lessons.
And here they are, Always take the hard-coated tablets with buttermilk, reason, it is the thick viscosity
that lets the pill slip on thru. If you do get a stuck pill that is preventing breathing, do the following, Do a deep-knee forward crunch ,this forces air back thru the esophagus and has always worked for me. This should be done very forcefully and repeat until relief is accomplished. If a pill has become lodged but breathing is still possible , then eat a piece of bread , chew well, and swallow tiny bits of it , and this has always worked for me. These situations will happen when we are preoccupied with other distractions. I reccomend liquid. powder form, or the caplets for those that have had previous bouts
of this dangerous dilema. A mortar and pestal for powderizing the hard coated tablets is another method of avoiding the problem. A note here, some mfg.s intend for the hard-coated tablets to pass thru the hi acidic stomach and on to the intestines where it is dissolved and metabolized.
One further note, People with diminishing HCL. (Hydrochloric acid), cannot dissolve the hard coated tablets or the encapsulate container which ends up stuck to the intestinal wall cavity.or will block any critical duct leading to a forced operation to remove the debris. I do not use water to swallow tablets because it is too stringent and not viscose ,(slippery).

I am very cautious when swallowing any size pill - just have difficulty - I crush the pills, break open large capsules and sprinkle on food - best for chewable pills. My last try was Advil PM - seemed small enough, plenty of warm water and it stuck in my throat - I gaged and coughed - really frightening but finally came back up and out.

Good suggestions. I also sometimes coat a pill with butter first.

The best position to swallow is with your chin down. This closes the airway and opens the gullet. Tilting your head back does the opposite. I am a nurse and don’t understand why so many people think that the latter position helps you to swallow. You lose control when you do that.

I take a mouthful of pills with warm water and they go right down. I used to get pills stuck when I took them with cold water.

A viscous substance such as yogurt or kefir is a great help in getting pills down and removing stuck pills.

Since I take many nutritional supplements I used to speed up the process by taking several at a time. Until the day I almost choked to death. I was alone in the house and couldn't breath. I did a sort of Heimlich maneuver on back of kitchen chair and managed to cough/vomit them up. Now it's ONE pill at a time, even if they're tiny!

I put the pill on a teaspoon filled with apple sauce.I put my head down while swallowing. Putting your head back is an invitation to choking. Add more apple sauce after swallowing.

I filed a complaint with the FDA against Puritan's Pride for their Calcium Citrate+Vitamin D3 Miniatures. These pills are square shaped and very large. They are painful to swallow do lodge in the throat. I never heard back from the FDA. I have no financial in this, or any other supplement supplier.

I have also had problems swallowing larger capsules or pills, which often got stuck. I found that water or thin liquids like tea were not the ideal lubricant when pill-taking. Instead I now use thicker liquids like vegetable juice or kefir (liquid yogurt). These make it easier to swallow the pills, and I have far fewer problems.

I saw a tip years ago about tilting the head a bit forward instead of backward when swallowing a large pill. I drop my chin about an inch just before swallowing. Maybe this position opens up the esophagus? It works great for me.

I once ended up in the Emergency Room due to 2 tablets getting stuck in my throat right at the juncture of the esophagus and Trachea. They tried to move it with instruments (very uncomfortable) to no avail. After hours of alternating attempts to dislodge them followed by X-rays they finally scheduled me for surgery the next day. They also told me that If I could just let a few drops or more of Coca Cola go down my throat it would slowly dissolve the pills. I tried that when I had it happen again (but not so deep this time). It worked! I now keep one can of Coca Cola (similar colas would probably work too) in the pantry at all times.

The label on my prescription states to "take medication with plenty of water." Plenty? A large gulp? A glassful? I think the label should be more clear.

My magic formula for taking pills:
Hold water in my mouth first. Slip pills in & then swallow all. Pills never touch, so no gag reflex ; )

I take my pills with tepid or lukewarm water rather than cold water. Seems to help them go down a little more easily.

I have had terrible problems taking supplements in the past with pills getting "stuck". If the other suggestions here don't help, this very likely will work. However, it is more involved, so it is probably not your first option to try.
You need a thickener like guar gum or gum arabic (acacia) and a second non-thickening powder. I suggest inulin. Mix 1 part gum powder with 8-10 parts of inulin. This can be done in sizeable batches. Add a spoonful of the powder blend to water and stir it until all the powder is dissolved. It should make a nearly clear solution. The solution will probably continue to get thicker for a while so it is good to make this 10 minutes or so in advance at least until you have figured out the best powder/liquid ration to get a nice viscous solution that is not so thick it looks like pudding. Take your pills with a mouthful of this liquid and the pills should slide right down. The 8-10 powder ratio is a starting point. You could add more guar but too much makes it very hard to dissolve. Also, the powder will hydrate quicker in warmer water.
BTW, another tip on taking pills: don't lean forward when you swallow. Keep your head erect. Many older people (and, now, many younger ones) have a tendency to lean forward when eating/drinking/taking pills. This constricts the esophagus a bit and makes it easier for pills to get stuck on the way down.

It also helps to look up at the ceiling as you swallow.

The best way for me to take a big pill is how they did it in the hospital with a teaspoon full of applesauce. I keep those small containers of applesauce just for that. You can put the pill on top of the sauce and swallow without chewing.

My husband is a diabetic with type 2 and has Hypertension, Gout. Chronic pain from digestive disc disease and too many other conditions to mention. He takes many pills thought-out the day and he makes sure he drinks plenty of water and sometimes the pill gets struck. The problem is with the pharmaceutical companies. You have NO choice as to the size of pill!

Suggest drinking some water also BEFORE taking the pill. This should lubricate the throat when swallowing the pill with more water.

I once refluxed an antibiotic in my sleep. I got an esophageal ulcer. Taking medication at bedtime can lead to real health issues. Now with the scarring swallowing is more difficult. Thank you for sending out these tips.

You can also move the pill around in your mouth to make sure it’s wet before positioning it to swallow.