Have you ever felt like a pill is stuck in your throat? Is it really, or just feel that way?

They DO actually get stuck sometimes. I had one stuck several months ago, and it took me about 15-16 hours to get it to finally let go. My doctor said that sometimes, if you haven't had anything to drink, the pill will stick to the side of your throat, by a fold or wrinkle of skin. Usually, a piece of bread or several glasses of water will get it to let loose and go on down, but sometimes you just have to wait for it to dissolve enough. It took almost the full day for mine. It actually hurt a little, because it felt like it was kinda "dug in".
So now, with the amount of pills I take, I usually take a drink BEFORE I take the pill, to make sure my throat isn't dry.

Sometimes they are stuck. I had a very large muti-vitamin stick across my windpipe last week, it took about 20min to get it out. It finally came out when I was coughing and jumping up and down. Not a pretty sight but effective.

I think they just feel stuck.

Lol! help i'm in pain. It hurts in my chest area. I just swallowed 3 vitamins all at once and now they are stuck in my throat. I drank alot of water already and still nothing. Now im here looking for suggestions, recommendations, answers or anything on how to get rid of this blockage in my throat. Was thinking to throw up but didn't want to thinking it might block my breathing hole. Let me try jogging in place...............................5 mins later..........phew! omg that was scary as hell. It's all gone now though. Thought I was gonna die.

•Problem: Medicine stuck in throat.
•Solution: Drink water while jogging in place or vice versa.
•Proof: Me of course! I'm fine and dandy with a liter of water in my stomache hope I don't wet the bed!

If you do not want to drink water, DO NOT DRINK soda or anything with a fizz and such.. all the sugars and possibly sodium will help the pill stick, depending on both pill and soda. i did make this mistake today as i drank soda before. Good luck :)

-mfungah

I think it can get stuck, but pills are often caustic (ie asprin), so after you do break it loose with more water or some bread, the feeling remains as the flesh is irritated.

I don't typically drink anything when I take my medicine and vitamin and occasionally one does stick for a moment. It's not a good feeling, for me it triggers a gag reflex. That is when I do drink something and it always goes on down. After reading some of the answers here I think I may start drinking water every day when I take them. I'd hate to have something stuck in my throat for hours on end, or even days. I never imagined that could happen.

yes I do that all the time. It is stuck because I can cough it up. sorry gross

No, I can even dry swallow pills so I never have had this sensation.

Yeah, I've felt like that too. Usually it just feels that way.

it depends. sometimes it just feels tht way. and oter times it qets cauqht but eventually melts down.

I just had this happen to me. I take several supplements and a multi- vitamin. One of the smaller ones got stuck and it was awful. I thought I was gonna end up breathing it in or something. I tried drinking lots of water but it seemed every sip I took made it hurt worse and made my ear hurt too. Amazing how that can hurt so much. Anyway, I finally made myself throw it up- gross I know- but it worked. I got it out but my throat- where it was lodged- is still very sore. I have never had that happen before. It is an awful feeling.

ugh! i'm having this problem AS WE SPEAK and i've eaten 3 pieces of bread and chased each piece with big glasses of milk and i'm still in pain! this is awful i will never take a pill without a drink of water or something again! bad decision!

i felt what mway many times before!

I once had an herbal pill (Echinacea I think) get stuck in my throat, I thought it had gone down, but I burped and the powder that was inside the pill actually came out of the my mouth in a small cloud of dust. It was horrible.

My vitamins in the am...if I run I need extra juice or water to get them down
Ps How have you been hun?

I used to crush them/open them and put them in juice to avoid this, now i usually dont get it stuck in my throat but on my tongue ring, thats a different story.

Yes, sometimes. It's a horrible feeling. Even after it's actually gone down, the feeling remains for a while afterwards. It makes me shudder.

Yes, it really is stuck in your throat. Happened to me. It started fizzing and felt disgusting. Then it went half way down and I could still feel it. Was very painful.

Could be a small ulcer just developing. From experience, by drinking a lot of water, eventually it would go away before you realised it.

hahahaha NoemiF you are so so so hilarious. what a brilliant story. i'm sorry you nearly ended up in hospital. I totally know how you felt though--pretty scary, but you have to laugh about it afterwards!

hahahah you people are making me laugh. I'm literally laughing at my computer reading all your responses. I typed this into google because i just now swallowed a pill and it got stuck past my throat, in my windpipe. it was one of those gastly capsule ones so u cant split them in two. I took it with water too! it was really uncomfortable and when i ate bread on top of it to push it down it hurt. even drinking water on it hurt as it was lodged. i jut kept eating and it went down. i get scared because it was a fenugreek pill--in a capsule case. which means if the capsule breaks in the throat the stuff comes out, and fenugreek is known to be slimy and sticky on getting wet. it swells a little two. so the glue it makes can be dangerous to breathing. Just make sure if u take a pill take it with water and don't drink hot water as this may dissolve the capsule!

Yes, I take 5 vitamin pills every morning and by the time I get to the last one they start to feel like they're stuck in my throat. Sometimes my gag reflex kicks in.

Today for the first time I had 2 pills stuck in my throat. In the past I always felt people were just being complainers. This time I felt it myself. Yes, It was painful, more so frightening because you don't know what to expect.

Home alone and uncertain of what procedure to take to relieve the pain, I grabbed my cell phone and waited for the worst. Was I going to choke, faint, throw up?

After calming my nerves, I thought to get on the internet and look for a solution. I had already tried more water, hot water, attempts to throw up (it just makes it more painful. I could hear my throat gurgling as the water passed through the pills.

After reading the comments made on this website, I remembered once my mom suggested a banana when my toddler swallowed a small coin, but that is another story. I had no bananas, nor apple sauce. But I had butter and cheese. I stuck the string cheese into the butter and chewed very slowly because I was still in pain. The butter made it slippery and the cheese gave it some weight (I chewed it very well to dissolve it so that it would not add to the problem. Between the butter and cheese combination and some more water, it finally dislodged. Yes, it was stuck, and I could feel the relief, no doubt about it! Ahh, Praise God, I won't have a Hospital Bill!!

Now I know why Mom said bananas, they are very slime-like, easy to chew and tasty!

I just took a zyrtec tablet last night but it feels like its stuck right in the middle of my throat how do I take it out if its really in there?

Why don't you just break them,whatever their sizes are??No hassle,no cough.

ive just gone and dry swallowed a pill and it feels stuck but im sure its gone down now. I bloddy hate it when that happens. I coulndt be bother to get a glass of water and i thought 'it would be a real pain in the arse if this happens' and it actually has!

After I swallow a pill, it feels like it's stuck, but it isn't.

I get that sometimes. It seems no matter how much I drink or eat it sticks there for the majority of the day too.

Hi angl-
Pill feeling may be GERD (gastrointerstinal reflux). You may try eating slower, in a more relaxed setting and chewing your food more thoroughly.
Otherwise, if I'm not relaxed, my twice daily Organic Flax Seed Oil (torpedo) pill goes down sideways.....ugggggghhhhh! :)

Yes, or sometimes right it the 'pit' of your stomach. I just drink alot more water.

Yea and it felt like one of those horse pills.

Looking for answer, Sat night I ate PB/J sandwich nothing to wash it down, then took my meds ( one is capsule) with just a swallow of water, I did'nt feel like it went down but went to bed anyway. I woke in middle of night with burning sensation ( felt like alka-selzter in water, fizzing) all day Sunday and now Monday i feel this lump in my throat and its still stuck. I have tried eating and drinking everything in site and have yet to push it down,I promise myself I will always drink before and after taking meds. This is so uncomfortable! Cant wait for it to go down, come up or go away....................

Eat some peanut butter. The pill will go down instantly. I had a pill stuck in my throat today and my mom told me to eat peanut butter and it worked right away.

Yes, I find it that one will get stuck in my throat when I take a hard tablet. That's why I now buy only capsules or gelcaps for the particular multi or supplement I need and make sure I drink a lot of water with them. Since I take a whole slew of them three times a day, I want to make sure they go down easily.

lets just say metronidazole IS ONE PILL you do not want LODGED ANYWHERE!! Its god awful and I been having these moments where i think its stuck and its not
GODDAMN! this is f***** up!

I notice this happens if I swallow the tablet holding my head straight back-where it feels like the pill is going down the middle part of your throat. If I put my head back and to the side when I swallow, it goes down fine-it's like the pill goes down on the side and not the middle of the throat.

Also, you have to drink a bit BEFORE even trying to swallow the pill. It's like you have to lubricate the throat first. If I get up and out of the blue take a pill, it gets stuck-I assume because the throat is dry.

It's recommended that you take pills after a meal and probably with good reason. I guess a lot of it has to do with not upseting your stomach or to aid in absorbing the medicine, but it also seems to make the pills go down with no problem-sort of like your throat has alreay had a 'work-out.' If I take pills after a meal, I have no problem at all.

It's so nice to see that I'm not alone! It is a scary feeling when this happens, isn't it?

I was reading this because I just got one stuck and swallowing a big gulp of air didn't compleeetly fix it but it helped a ton.

Lol! help i'm in pain. It hurts in my chest area. I just swallowed 3 vitamins all at once and now they are stuck in my throat. I drank alot of water already and still nothing. Now im here looking for suggestions, recommendations, answers or anything on how to get rid of this blockage in my throat. Was thinking to throw up but didn't want to thinking it might block my breathing hole. Let me try jogging in place...............................5 mins later..........phew! omg that was scary as hell. It's all gone now though. Thought I was gonna die.

•Problem: Medicine stuck in throat.
•Solution: Drink water while jogging in place or vice versa.
•Proof: Me of course! I'm fine and dandy with a liter of water in my stomache hope I don't wet the bed!

I have had the same thing ALL day. I was searching the internet to find out what it could be, when i tried my hardest to burp, and then it was gone. I think that when this happens to people, it probably is gas trapped in the throat/ airways. So my advice t you is to try to push out a burp. Gas is a crazy bodily function. It can cause serious pain, and does weird stuff like this! :)

lol i just took my vicodin for pain and it got like stuck and now i have the pill treat my pain cauzing more pain....fml and i drank soda and had peanut butter sandwiches and thats a horrible thing cuz they make it more sticky.... fml soo much..

I've been taking medication since I was young. so I could swallow a handful of meds if i needed to (With a glass of water of course.) Chalky ones are a pain. gotten them stuck of the back of my tounge and yeeeeuuuuuck!! That was gross tasting.

Tonight I had a toothache so I popped two gelcaps. Well something funny happened and when I went to take a sip of water, the pill caught and I sputtered water on myself. Real nice move. After two more sips I was sure it'd go down, and then my throat started making weird noises like i was holding in a burp. If I'd had trouble breathing, Idda pulled the bulimic move. I know its no fun but hey, gotta doooo whatcha gotta dooo. Oh yeah, and it's fine. Im breathin' and typing. Just one of those things you have to stay calm about. Anxiety can creep up on you, don't scare yourself stupid. Drink water or toss your cookies.

I still have that feeling and it has been 4 days, i have induced vomitting, burping, but nothing. i eat normally it just feels painfull when i swallow. think i should go to a dr?

Usually it is just a feeling as if nervous the throat muscles constrict!

The best way to clear that pill is to take a tablespoon or 2 of olive/vegetable oil. That should get it moving because the oil lubricates your throat. If it doesn't work with the first 2, try another tablespoon or move on to white vinegar. This works with stuck meat or any other type of foreign object. Hope this helps :-)

Yes, I've had pills stuck in my throat as well as many other items over the years and I will tell you that it can become very frightening and scary. You don't know if you're breathing is going to be cut completely off or not. One time when I was a young boy we were having a huge Sunday afternoon feast that my mother had fixed one Sunday afternoon after church. I mean in the south on Sunday's we really have a southern country spread that everyone loves. Everything from pinto beans, cornbread, green lettuce and onions scalded with with a mixture of hot bacon grease and apple cider vinegar {yum, tangy & delicious], huge skillets of hot fried potatoes, homemade sauerkraut and frankfurters, fresh boiled cabbage cooked in butter with fresh flakes of crushed red cayenne pepper added (yum spicy, spicy & absolutely delicious) to spice up the meal and many other southern delacacies made in a country southern kitchen. Well I was chowing down on my beans and cornbread, [and here in the south a lot of people will have a large chunk of fresh raw onion with their country meals] so I bit off a big bite of that fresh raw onion and began to chewing the delicous food up. I was almost finished with the chewing when the next swallow I tried to take I could feel something stuck in my throat. I had a piece of raw onion husk stuck in my throat and I couldn't get it out. No, all the noises and motions that I tried to make didn't seem to do one thing to released that onion husk - no sir, no way hose'!!! I tried a very tall glass of lemon iced tea, I tried all kinds of food types but nothing seemed to be helping nor dis it seem to do anything to release it from my throat. I suffered all day and way into the night with that big ole piece of onion husk lodged in my throat and I didn't know what in the sam hill I was going to do to get it to dislodge. Around 10:00 p.m. that evening my mother's friend brought over some of that hardened sugary birthday cake decorations stuff that you could buy at your local grocer to decorate you're homemade birthday cakes with...Well, finally after chewing a few pieces of that hardened candy and after masterfully swallowing some different size pieces of the candy I finally felt something beginning to dislodge just a little - yes, that raw piece of onion husk that had been in hiding all day long seemed to finally be moving up and out a little bit... I began to talk out loudly saying Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah - lord how mercy praise the lord hallelujah...thank god how mercy I was free at last....thank god I was free at last of that nasty hull hanging on and on and on in my throat....thank goodness for that old hard birthday cake candy decoration that I would have never ever in a million years would have thought of eating to get rid of that piece of onion but I am so thankful, so very thankful that I did and that it worked for me and I hope that by sharing this little tid bit of information about my dilemma that it might possibly help somebody else along the way that has something unwantingly lodged miserably down in their throat!!!!!!!!!! I really do hope that it will help someone out there.... please try it - it might sound really silly but you see what it did for me - you have nothing to lose and much relief to gain once the piece that you have been choking on is finally gone....lotsa luck to ya!!!

mark t.

Me too. Need help. I had my pill, and because I can't swallow it, it kinda dissolved by the water I drank and it is stuck. I managed to get the bigger piece out, but I could still feel the small piece stuck inside my throat. And when my throat gets too dry and I tried swallowing my saliva, it hurts.

PAIN IN CHEST AFTER TAKING VITAMINS

Wow. This just happened to me. I took 4 Vitamim pills, two at a time. They went down just fine but then I realized they were stuck in my chest. OUCH!! Every time I'd swallow anything - even spit - it'd be a horrible pain in my upper chest... behind my chest bone. I couldn't swallow anything without horrible pain. I drank a big glass of water (each swallow being really painful), a full cup of coffee (hoping the warm water would dissolve them quicker), I jumped up and down for a while, even had to jump up and down with every swallow just to ease the pain. Every swallow was painful in my chest. I could swallow fine but when the water hit my chest area it hurt like crazy.

Finally after reading about the butter and banana I tried it. Hurt initially of course and had to jump up and down with each swallow, but I kept eating the banana in very small bites chewing it up very well. After about 5 bites it all became dislodged. Whew! Thank you so much for posting that!!!! I had images of me going to the doctor for this - it was THAT painful. I still feel where it was but nothing is lodged there now. Although it's causing me to burp now but there's nothing stuck.

The hard gel caps are particular bad- when moistened, the pill's surface turns sticky (like an old fashioned stamp). And, I ran some tests wrapping a gel-cap inside a wet paper towel at 98 F (like your throat). Takes about 24 hours for the gelcap to fully dissolve in this situation (only minutes in your stomach).

If you have a pill stuck in your throat and it does not seem to dislodge with bread or lettuce, don't be surprised if it takes 48 hours to fully resolve. That includes the pill moving on and any damage to your throat healing. Drink warm fluids- like lemon and sugar. Also, in the future you might first coat the pill in vegetable oil before swallowing- much less likely to stick on the way down.