How do you swallow big vitamins?

I have Centrum Multi-vitamins Ultra Women's and they are not gel and are huge! How do you swallow those kind of pills? Even if I break it in half it's hard to take cos of it's texture. Is there any tools for turning it into powder? I don't wanna get rid of them just because of that.
Any suggestions?

Just crack it in half, or smaller pieces and guzzle with a lot of water. I think your body will actually absorb it better if split up anyway---I do this with all my pills. You CAN crush it up on a plate with the back of a spoon, but I think the taste of the powder would just be icky.

I better taste the crapiness than choke to death. Maybe my throat is so tiny it can't take it.. When I break it up and swallow piece by piece it scratches my throat :-/

Well that's no fun! I've heard of people "parachuting" pills that are too big. You have to crush up the pills super finely, then wrap in a thin layer of tissue and swallow like that. I tried it for my horse-pill multivitamins, and almost gagged...

I had to crush my husband's pills after he got his gastric band. I found a surplus store in my area & got a tiny mortar & pestle for like $7 & it worked PERFECTLY. My multivite is big too but I've never had problems swallowing pills. A big chug of water is all it takes.

I wonder if you practice chugging would that train your throat muscles to be less sensitive? Like work up to chugging 1/4c-1/2c of water in just a few gulps, no breaks.

Try practicing a few swallows with whatever liquid you are using to get the feel of how your swallow works.
You can also learn to "work" your swallow a bit too..before you try the pill.

You may notice that with different liquids you actually swallow differently. maybe a warm tea works better than cold water..
and a certain time of day might be better.

I agree with jo60 on the different liquids make you swallow differently. I too have a hard time swallowing large pills, they get stuck and I gag. I make a protein shake in the morning and the thick beverage makes it so I don't even feel the large pills and they go down with no problem - unlike with water or juice. Carbonated beverages can help loosen a pill if it gets stuck too.

My problem is half the time I vomit after taking vitamins even if I eat before. I still do it but for whatever reason my stomach does not approve. I figure its better than nothing and hopefully my body absorbs some of it.

You could sprinkle the vitamin into your food after you crush it up. Add it to a smoothie or your oatmeal or something.

I can try that! Thanks for the idea. The worse culprit for me is the 1000mg Vitamin c horse pill. Bleh!

You can Vit C in powder or capsels and open the capsule.

I try to get capsules or powder form for as many things as possble and mking a shake is a great idea.

Just be careful some pills aren't supposed to be crushed as you would get dosage to fast. But with vitamins sometimes different brands have same vitamin amount but smaller pills. I know one I got at supermarket was a little smaller then the Centrium. Also instead of cutting in half maybe try lengthwise and make them skinner.

That happens to my friend as well. The pharmacist recommended the chewy gummy vitamins instead because they aren't as harsh on her stomach, she hasn't had problems since. In February I was sick for almost a week and couldn't ever figure out what was causing my stomach pains. Until I realized I'd forgotten to take my vitamin 2 days in a row that I felt good, took it that night and woke up at 4am almost wanting to go to the hospital the pain was so bad in my stomach. Haven't taken vitamin since and haven't had problems. In college I found I was allergic to larger amounts of Zinc when I took zinc tablets, and my vitamin has zinc and iron in it, both of which can upset your tummy. Try switching or try going every other day instead of every day. Some vitamins are fat soluble so you don't need to ingest them every day. Can't remember off hand which ones are fat v water soluble, but fat soluble ones absorb longer.

I will give that a shot too. Thanks for that information.

Or hide it in a swollow of something quite thick and slippery - thick Yoplait yogurt or sugar free pudding... something along those lines.

I can tell you that the gummy vitamins are awesome! I have them, and they don't even taste vitamin-y, so that's a bonus. I buy mine from Costco and they are a TOTAL bargain.