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Q: Difficulty in Swallowing Pills
When I took lamictal I began having trouble swallowing it because of
its bitter taste. If I tasted it I gagged. I switched to the
dispersable tablets and did a little better but still gagged if I tasted them.
I spent most of my time nauseated and was vomiting fairly regularly.
Ultimately we decided I couldn't handle it and that throwing up my other pills
several days in a row was not worth taking that med. I came off it and the
nausea went away but I'm still gagging when I have to take my pills. I've
learned that pills make me gag and no matter what I try they do. It takes
a great deal of effort to swallow any pills now despite having tried every idea
I could come up with. The next step is switching some of my meds to
liquids but not all are available in that form. I have to take 12 pills
per day. Do you have any suggestions for breaking the conditioning?
Thanks.
Dear Anon --
Haven't run into this. A good behavioral psychologist might have a standard
package for this "re-conditioning". Usually we use "exposure" for desensitizing
to a fearful stimulus; but this is different and I don't have experience with
it. I'd guess that the trick might be to condition a new association with the
pill: see the pill, experience something very pleasurable, e.g. a little piece
of candy, say (sugarless if weight is an issue). There's also a new tradition in
"hypnosis" that's developing (e.g. the work of David Spiegel at Stanford; here's
a
technical example;
and an example of the
use of hypnosis for treatment
of a perhaps-not-very-psychological problem). If you can find a really up to
date, science-oriented psychotherapist who also does hypnosis, that would be
another possible option. If you find something that works, would you write back?
Thanks --
Dr. Phelps
Published September, 2004
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