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What you would not learn from your mother, the world will teach you. However there are some things that neither your mother, the globe or any business school have the curriculum, textbooks or teaching methods to instill.
A large number of people continue to struggle on how to swallow their medicine because of this untaught skill. The choking, hopping and shaking behavior that accompanies your average pill swallowing session is evidence that many people would benefit from competent instructions in this skill.
Weapons of war
Pills come in two varieties:
- Capsules
- Tablets
A capsule has a highly antisocial shape, because everything else that has that kind of similarity is a bullet and a missile, which is a weapon of war. It has that shape purposely to move smoothly through the air and kill a person, in the case of a weapon of war, or to move smoothly down the gullet and kill a few microbes, in the case of a capsule.
The problem is that there is a good possibility of misfiring, especially when the capsule has moved around the mouth in some water before being fired or swallowed. There is nothing like the feeling of a capsule forcing its way down the gullet at an angle.
Swallowing a tablet is even worse because tablets are prone to maliciously disintegrating in the mouth, targeting the exact spot of the tongue that is capable of tasting bitterness. That is a bitter pill to swallow.
Challenges of administering drugs does not end with the round things. Pharmacies are full of drops for eyes, nose and ears, inhalers, ointments, injections and all sorts of other aids which should have a certificate course to master.
Opening your eyelid, and then hope that some of the liquid will find its way in as water always seeps in at the lowest point. For inhalers, I can never figure out whether you have to breath in first or vice versa. Which of us know how to keep nose or ear drops in place when both gravity and anatomy conspire to make sure that the relief never quite hits the spot?
Communication issues
Before encountering the medicine taking problem, it is likely that you have been to see a doctor. Do you know how to talk to one? I suspect that this is another area where education is deficient.
When faced with a medical problem, most human beings seem to revert to one of two types of behavior. There are those from whom extracting any information flows so freely that stopping it is like getting water from an open tap. Others are those from whom irrelevant information flows so freely that stopping it is like trying to seal a leaking pipe with bare hands.
Hi Cynthia Thank you very much for letting make you smile
Geoffrey, this gave me a chuckle because it is so true. My 17-year-old son still can't swallow pills! He refuses to even learn, yet he thinks he might go into the military! Do you think they are going to give him liquid Tylenol? LOL! Not! But this might help some of your readers. My mother taught me to swallow pills and she would give me a glass of water and tell me to put it back as far on my tongue as I could, then drink and swallow. I choked more than I got them down, however, over time I learned how to swallow my pills. When I was taking care of my mother I learned that we were doing it all wrong. When she was in the hospital one time, a nurse told me that you should put the pill in your mouth, then lower you chin toward your chest and it would go down easier. It really does work. It took me a little practice, but they go down much easier like that. Have a GREAT day!
Hey Joyce, Thank you very much for your comment 0n my article. Your comment almost left me laughing at myself. My mood changed and I put a broad smile on my face instead.
thank you very much Sheri for your positive comment on my artile
The seem to make some pill really dry and difficult to swallow, good tips!
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I salute you Shawn Lee for your encouraging comment. Thank you very much
this is really an informative article.keep it up Geoffrey .
Hi Geoffrey.....love your article...as usual....i enjoy your writing.....your style.....and I have had a haital hernia since I was born and I cannot swallow pills....it seem like there are little pockets in my throat...hahaha...well really it does....and I can swallow very very little round pills sometimes if I am relaxed...without putting food in my mouth to get the pill inside of it......I have had many pills stuck in my throat and had to cough them back up....thanks....k
hey sister kaite, how are you today. your comment about my article sounds very interesting. may be you are not alone in this area of medicine swallowing. doctors might as well not know how to do it. they just give medicines to us to swallow. since we the have the experience, it is our turn now to teach them how to swallow. at least they should have a taste of their own medicine. any way thank you very much for your interest in my article and your comment about it.
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