Tablet swallowing

Swallowing tablets is a skill taken for granted. It is indeed one of life's more important skills to have after the ability to boil water.

I was about 16 years old when I first forced myself to swallow a tablet. I used to find it quite difficult and I'd gag and the tablet would dissolve at the back of my throat. If I was prescribed a capsule I'd open the contents of the capsule onto a spoon and take it that way.

When I was about 16, I went to the doctor and she wanted to give me some tablets. I told her please give me the suspension instead. She said "Ish dah besar panjang pun makan ubat air lagi? Telan la pil!". "Susahlah doktor" I whined. She said "Nonsense. Balik ni cuba try telan pil".

So I tried. Nenek even suggested putting the tablet in a piece of banana and swallowing that. She said imagine you're swallowing the mangosteen seed (I like to swallow mangosteen seeds- weird I know). It wasn't that difficult really. I had to coordinate my swallowing. You see when I drink I like to hold water in my cheeks for a while before swallowing. That's why it's difficult to swallow a tablet. It would be swimming in my mouth before it went through my esophagus. Hehehe.

I was just reminded of this because I've come across 2 patients (so far) in the hospital who couldn't swallow pills. They were grown women. We had to give one of them antibiotics in suspensions! KELAKAR SANGAT. Since she couldn't swallow tablets, she had to CHEW her oxycodone (painkiller) tablet. Yucks!! The other one not only couldn't swallow tablets, she refused to have a cannula put in so how were we supposed to give her any medicine at all??? Heheh. Not all medications are in suspension form or intramuscular injection form. Adoilah.

So, if you don't want to menyusahkan diri sendiri and orang lain, please learn how to swallow tablets early on in life. Thank you.