ETS Softgels

Many people are unaware of how common it is to be unable to successfully swallow pills. The young, the elderly, and people with neurological conditions may have difficulty swallowing pills, but many healthy people of all ages can have trouble as well. The problem, known in medical terms as Dysphagia, can be caused by many factors including stroke damage, physiological abnormalities, medical conditions such as Parkinson’s, or by psychological factors. If pill swallowing is a problem, one of these pill-swallowing techniques may help.

Tips for successful pill swallowing

Two methods that can help achieve a successful pill swallow are the ‘pop-bottle’ method and the ‘chin down’ method.
The ‘pop bottle’ method
The ‘pop bottle’ method uses the normal swallowing routine of drinking from a bottle to assist in swallowing a pill:

1. Fill a soda bottle or similar container with water. The neck size should easily fit in your mouth – avoid ‘wide-mouth’ bottles. Avoid carbonated beverages or hot or very cold fluids.
2. Place the pill on the middle of your tongue and close your lips tightly around the bottle.
3. Tilt the bottle up and take a long drink. Keep your lips tight on the bottle and use a sucking motion to swallow the water and pill. Concentrate on getting the water down, not the pill.

The ‘chin down’ method
The ‘chin down’ method is based on keeping your esophagus straight by having your chin touch your chest. This removes the arch in the throat caused by tilting the head back during swallowing, allowing pills to flow easily from the mouth downward:

1. Fill a glass with water.
2. Place the pill on the middle of your tongue.
3. Drink a mouthful of water of water, but don’t swallow it yet.
4. Close your mouth and tilt your chin down to rest on your chest.
5. Keeping your chin on your chest, swallow the water. The pill will go down with it.

Having a large pill in your mouth can be intimidating and cause someone to hesitate when trying to swallow. By masking the location and size of the pill with the flow of a liquid, the process becomes easier. There are several other methods that assist in pill swallowing, including hiding pills in soft foods such as applesauce. However,  the pop bottle and chin down methods seem to have the widest success.

There are other methods of taking medicines, supplements, and vitamins including gummies, powders, and liquids. However, some of these alternate methods don’t deliver the bioavailability of today’s capsules. The term “bioavailability” refers to how well the nutrients from foods and supplements are absorbed by the body. Cutting up or crushing pills and tablets is one way people have dealt with pill swallowing difficulties. However, this can change the way the pill’s ingredients are absorbed by the body, sometimes in adverse ways. For these reasons, it’s preferable to have an individual become comfortable with swallowing pills, capsules, and tablets.

One simple approach that has proven successful is to simply make the pill, tablet, or capsule smaller. This is the strategy behind the Tishcon Freedom Softgel ETS (Easy-to-Swallow) capsule. By allowing the user to swallow two small capsules instead of one large one, swallowing difficulties are greatly reduced and any apprehension caused by having to swallow pills is greatly reduced. In addition, the capsule format used to create Freedom Softgel ETS generally provides far greater bioavailability than pills or tablets.

Swallowing involves both voluntary and involuntary muscle movements. Those with swallowing difficulties can benefit from swallowing therapy and exercises offered by medical professionals, but there are limits to what these therapies can overcome.

There are three phases to swallowing, and pill swallowing difficulties can occur at any of the phases. The first phase is the oral phase in which the tongue and / or the liquid pushes the pill to the back of the mouth. This triggers the second or pharyngeal phase, in which the epiglottis closes off the trachea (windpipe) to prevent the pill (or food) from entering the lungs. The final, or esophageal, phase occurs when the pill and liquid enter the esophagus, the tube that leads to the stomach. Some people experience difficulty with the oral phase and are unable to swallow the pill at all. Other may experience difficulty when the larynx doesn’t close fully, which causing choking. Still others experience trouble in the esophageal phase and report that the pill seems stuck in their throat. If a pill bypasses the epiglottis and becomes lodged in the trachea, it may be necessary to perform the Heimlich maneuver.

There are many medical conditions that can cause pill swallowing difficulties including neurological, muscular, pathological, and psychological disorders. People experiencing pill swallowing issues can consult their family physician who may enlist help from a specialist such as gastroenterologist, otolaryngologist, or speech pathologist. If difficulty in swallowing extends beyond just pill swallowing, it can lead to malnutrition, dehydration, or pneumonia caused by bits of food being misdirected into the lungs. Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, is a serious medical issue and needs to be treated as such.