Vitamin pill too big!

longforgotten

I bought Mum, who is in her 70's, a bottle of multi vitamin tablets a while back, sorry cannot remember what brand they were . Anyway, I did not look at the outside of the bottle where it did show the size of the tablet. Opened up the bottle to find the tablet was too big, even for me. It was the size of a small bomb! Ok if you are confident about swallowing tablets, but the size put Mum off.

So how do you get multi-vitamins without taking numerous tablets?

Do you use something like Berocca, which is soluble in water. Berocca seems to have many vitamins/minerals in it, but many are over the RDA allowance, so perhaps its not good to take it every day ?

Grateful for any advice.

Ted_Hutchinson

Have you thought about using a pill splitter or crusher. If you use Healthy direct then it will be cheaper via quidco. But you may find the same type of gadget in Poundland or similar.

longforgotten

Thanks Ted, never heard of 'em before.

Psychobot

If the vitamin is a time-release supplement, it will no longer work as such if you crush it. If not, then crushing it is fine.

Perhaps you could try finding a liquid supplement to give to your mother- something like Floradix:

https://www.yourhealthfoodstore.co.uk/search_results.php?keywords=floradix&brand_ID=-1

Psychobot

longforgotten wrote: »

I bought Mum, who is in her 70's, a bottle of multi vitamin tablets a while back, sorry cannot remember what brand they were . Anyway, I did not look at the outside of the bottle where it did show the size of the tablet. Opened up the bottle to find the tablet was too big, even for me. It was the size of a small bomb! Ok if you are confident about swallowing tablets, but the size put Mum off.

So how do you get multi-vitamins without taking numerous tablets?

Do you use something like Berocca, which is soluble in water. Berocca seems to have many vitamins/minerals in it, but many are over the RDA allowance, so perhaps its not good to take it every day ?

Grateful for any advice.

Berocca is a good idea to take - but it's emphasis is on helping the body to support respiration and energy release (It contains high doses of vitamin C and the B-group vitamins, but disappointingly low levels of calcium magnesium and zinc).

Both the B group vitamins and vitamin C are water soluble and are excreted is ingested in excess (passed out of the body via the urine) - so not to worry too much about high dosages. There are some warnings about levels of vitamin B6 over 50mg. It's thought taking a very high dose may cause nerve damage.

Many of the B vitamins are needed by the people as they age- there is evidence that folic acid helps contribute towards the maintenance of a good memory and patients with a high cholesterol level are often advised by doctors to increase their intake of vitamin B3.

If your mother is taking any medication, please ask your doctor if taking any supplements would interfere in some way with it- for instance high doses of Vitamin C have a funny way of altering blood sugar readings- no good for diabetics! The mineral Chromium also increases insulin sensitivity in the body which is actually a good thing for those with type 2 diabetes- but not if they don't reduce their insulin dosage as directed by a medical professional! It can send their blood sugar level down too low.

I definitely think you should pop into your local healthfood shop and see what liquid supplements they sell.

longforgotten

Thank you Psychobot.

Will have to get into a healthfood shop for advice, or perhaps the pharmacy.

Mums not on any medication. She is a smoker, I wish she would give up. Her appetite is good but she does not eat as much as she used to.

Would just like a good all round multi-vitamin that she can take easily., ooh and something for her bones as well would be good, whether calcium, or cod liver oil ? Will check into it.