Jerking your head back when swallowing pills.

[ticker]

You know that thing actors do when their character has to swallow a pill; they jerk their heads back as if it's really a big deal. Do real people ever do this? I don't think I have ever witnessed it IRL. Is it some sort of affectation? Do they teach this sort of shit in actor school?

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

I've seen patients do this. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't aid in the biomechanics of the swallowing process, but if it enables the patient to swallow the damn pill, I don't give a hoot.

[DCnDC]

My mother does this. It's to jog the pill to the back of her throat to help her swallow it.

[Shakes]

When I place the pill in my mouth, I put the pill at the very back of my tongue. Once I sip the liquid to help the pill go down, I tilt (Not jerk) my head back so the pill doesn't make it's way back to the front of my mouth.

I blame my Grandmother. She was the one who taught me how to swallow pills.

What I don't get is people who can swallow pills with out the use of any liquid!

[Napier]

I do this. I take several pills in the morning, as a handfull, and think it does aid in the biomechanics of the swallowing process. At least, it feels like it does, which is all I have to go on.

Nobody is watching and there'd be no dramatic benefit in my case.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by Shakes

What I don't get is people who can swallow pills with out the use of any liquid!

A friend of mine not only take aspirin without water he also chews it.

[steronz]

Originally Posted by Shakes

What I don't get is people who can swallow pills with out the use of any liquid!

Not only this, but I can take pills, without any liquid, while my head tilting forward. Fighting gravity and all!

Our mouths are actually very efficient at getting stuff down our throats.

[Eleanor of Aquitaine]

My husband used to have a lot of difficulty swallowing pills, and he did that head-jerking thing. I think it was just a psychological aid. He didn't find it very funny when our 2-yr-old would imitate him - a toddler isn't really mocking you, but if you're already self-conscious it can feel that way.

[Crab Rangoon]

Originally Posted by Eleanor of Aquitaine

My husband used to have a lot of difficulty swallowing pills, and he did that head-jerking thing. I think it was just a psychological aid.

This is exactly why I do it. I'm nervous about it - so I do the jerk thing. It does help. (in my mind)

[Feyrat]

I do the head-jerking thing, always have. No one "taught" me to do it. I do it to knock the pill quickly back from the front of my tongue to the back so I can swallow it without gagging. If it touches the front of my tongue I'll gag.

[Chipacabra]

I mostly only do it when swallowing uncoated pills. They tend to stick to my tongue, so after I take a sip of water a little jerk of my head shakes them loose and makes them easier to swallow.

[TriPolar]

Most pills seem to stick to my tongue and jerking my head back makes the water flow and carry the pill down. Pills that aren't sticky I can just swallow without drinking anything or head jerking.

[Acsenray]

My mom fills her mouth with water, tilts her head back, drops the pill in her mouth, ensuring that it's floating in the water, and shakes her head vigorously from side to side as she swallows it. I can't imagine what's so hard about swallowing.

On the other hand, 99 percent of the time someone takes a pill on television or in a movie, he or she does it without water, just pops it in the mouth and chews it. WTF is that?

[Balance]

Originally Posted by KneadToKnow

A friend of mine not only take aspirin without water he also chews it.

Maybe he just likes the taste of aspirin? I do.

I'm having trouble picturing what the OP is talking about. Does anyone have a scene reference, or better yet, a video link? Is it just tilting their heads back? I just toss the pills in my mouth and dry-swallow them (unless I have a sore throat, which tends to make them get stuck). I guess I tilt my head back during the "tossing" phase of the operation, but it's not a sudden movement.

[Rigamarole]

It's about gravity, man.

[C. Montgomery Burns]

I do it when I dry swallow pills. It's like throwing it at the back of my throat so all I have to do is swallow once. Although it doesn't work as well if my mouth is extremely dry, like after I first get up.

[chizzuk]

I took a whole class on Dysphagia (swallowing problems) and the professor told us that you should actually tilt your chin down to take pills. Because of the way the trachea and the esophagus are aligned, this opens the esophagus more and lessens the odds of you aspirating or choking on the pill while taking it. I suppose it's not really necessary for healthy people, but if you have dysphagia, throwing your head back with a bunch of liquid splashing around in your mouth is not a good idea. Dry swallowing pills is also not recommended.

I am amazed by people that can chew aspirin. I bit into it once by accident and that is the closest I have ever come to instantly vomiting on the spot because of the taste of something. I had to race to the sink to gag and retch and desperately wash out my mouth. Nothing before or since has ever tasted as bad as that did.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by Shakes

What I don't get is people who can swallow pills with out the use of any liquid!

It's easy. Just make sure your mouth is filled with spit first. And don't do it with naproxen.

[dataguy]

Here's all ya gotta do.
Swallow three pills every day starting in sixth grade an continuing into college.
That's what I had to do with anti-seizure medicine.
After that you will be able to swallow any kind of pill with just your natural spit.

[scratch llll]

For solid pills you jerk your head back. For capsules that float you lean your head forward and it floats to the back of your throat. It is known.

[Raguleader]

Come to think of it, I'm not sure if I do this or not. Well, I do this sometimes, but mostly if I feel like being theatrical (I have been known to be a ham purely for the fun of it).

Maybe it's theater shorthand so the audience knows what is going on from the peanut gallery?

EDIT: Oh, and my wife does the "drop the pill into a mouthful of water" thing. She admits it's weird, but it's how she was taught. I put the pill in my mouth first, then take a swig of water. It works as long as I'm not thinking about how it works. Once I start thinking about that, the whole centipede's dillema sets in and the only way for me to swallow the pill is to drink a *lot* of water.

[drastic_quench]

I was going to make this thread!

Joaquin Phoenix does it in the Johnny Cash movie Walk the Line. He also adds in the common thumb to the throat gesture too. IIRC, it's in the hotel scene after his first night with June, and also in his mansion in the woods. But it's a Johnny Cash movie, so pill popping is rampant.

[Antigen]

I see people doing that all the time. It's not always a dramatic jerking movement, but definitely a tilt. I take pills by taking the sip of water first and then plunking the pill into it with my head back. I can't stand the feeling of a pill stuck to my tongue, and this method eliminates that.

[drastic_quench]

As for how I take them, I just swallow them like a normal human. Liquid or no. I think it's a funny hangup people have. Most of us can scarf down huge bites of food. A pill or two is nothing. Unless we're talking the odd horse pill.

What sort of medication do you give to an odd horse? /groucho

[Paintcharge]

I only do that when the pill is large and lozenge shaped to orient the pill in the right direction.

[I Love Me, Vol. I]

I was interested to see this thread come up because, until pretty recently, I had also wondered why in the world anyone would do that when they take a pill.

Then I started taking a medication 6 or 7 times a day that required a fairly rigid schedule and found that it wasn't always easy to find a cup. So I often had to use a water fountain to take my pills and sometimes had to just generate some saliva to help the pills down.

After a few total fails, I started doing the little "head back and shake" thing naturally without even thinking about it. For me it was the only way I could get the pill off the side of my mouth (or my tongue) and mixed with the liquid to ensure it would go down.

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

I put the pill under my tongue, so I can't taste it (most meds seem to be pretty nasty), then take a mouthful of water, and toss my head back to chuck the pill and the water back so the pill is surrounded by water at the opening of my throat, and I can swallow everything. Again, I do it so I'm not tasting anything, and the head toss definitely helps the process.

[drewtwo99]

I don't do a tilt I don't think, but I also can dry swallow pills. I usually take them with water, but I have no problem with whether they are on my tongue or whatever. No problems with gagging while taking pills here!

[Arabella Flynn]

I do it with large solid tablets. Knocks them to the back of my throat. As noted, it doesn't work with capsules, which tend to float.

If you guys think aspirin is bad, you've obviously never gotten a cracked Robitussin gelcap. Holy smokes. I couldn't decide whether to retch or hack or choke or what. Believe it or not, cough syrup tastes significantly better than its active ingredient.

[choie]

I never used to be able to swallow pills, not even kids multivitamins (these little orange capsules, anyone remember those)? Never took aspirin or vitamins. Then when I hit my late twenties, I kinda had to take pills (antidepressants) even though it was still difficult for me, and I admit I hated it so much I was often non-compliant and ended up going off the meds.

Once I was put on beta blockers for anxiety, though, I became so afraid of not taking them (once you're on beta blockers you're basically tethered to them for life, at least that's how it feels like; I've tried tapering off but not gonna happen; my heart hates me no matter how slowly I've tried to taper) that I got into the habit and know I cannot stop taking them. Now I'm taking three pills at a time: the beta blocker, a benzo (also for panic attacks), and an antidepressant.

And hells yeah I jerk my head back.

Actually I use a combo of a few of the methods mentioned above. First I'll pop all three pills in my mouth (young choie would never believe that!), then I take a swig of water or whatever so one of the pills isn't sticking to my tongue -- unfortunately a side effect of the antidepressant I'm on is dry mouth. Now comes the backwards head-jerk to force the water/pills near the back of my throat (though my tongue is blocking them from going down). And finally I actually lower my head again -- this helps the pills float on top of the water, staying in the back of my throat -- and swallow.

Sounds more of a big magilla than it is.

So to the contrary of the OP, in my experience -- and maybe because pill-taking has always been a problem for me -- I've always been hyper-aware of how ridiculously easy it seems for people in TV and films to swallow pills without the slightest hesitation, even without liquid. Always bugs me.

Definitely not an inherited problem though. My father used to take fifteen to twenty vitamins every morning, including these HUGE vitamin E and garlic pills that looked more like horse pills or suppositories, and downed 'em all at once. He used tomato or prune juice; maybe the thicker, more viscous liquid helped.

[CanvasShoes]

Yup, I have to take a lot of supplements and vitamins and it definitely helps to get them where they belong so I can swallow them without choking. I usually have a big sip of water first. I don't do it all dramatically or anything though.

[GuanoLad]

Originally Posted by steronz

Our mouths are actually very efficient at getting stuff down our throats.

I find this to not be so in my case. It can be a bit of a struggle sometimes. And there are some things in particular that cause resistance, tablets being one of them (chewing gum being another). I can swallow lozenge shaped ones much easier, though for all I know that's a mental illusion - because I believe it.

[Rachellelogram]

I do this when swallowing pills because otherwise, they activate my gag reflex. Toothbrushing does too, but eating never has. I can't explain it, I'm sure a great deal of it is psychological. I'd choose to get rid of the problem in a heartbeat, if I could!

Originally Posted by Arabella Flynn

If you guys think aspirin is bad, you've obviously never gotten a cracked Robitussin gelcap. Holy smokes. I couldn't decide whether to retch or hack or choke or what. Believe it or not, cough syrup tastes significantly better than its active ingredient.

I broke open a gelcap on purpose once, because I was curious about the taste. It was awful, but at least I know how awful!

[Arabella Flynn]

Originally Posted by choie

He used tomato or prune juice; maybe the thicker, more viscous liquid helped.

I prefer to take pills, especially big ones like my multivitamins, with milk, juice, or even soda in a pinch. I can do it with water, but using something with a little more "body" helps. I have no idea if it's physical or psychological.

[Magiver]

It's a typical scene in a movie because there is no other visual cue for swallowing a pill.

I take a sip of water, tilt my head back and then draw my tongue back along the roof of my mouth. this maneuver opens up the throat and triggers the natural urge to swallow.

[Shinna Minna Ma]

Originally Posted by Shakes

What I don't get is people who can swallow pills with out the use of any liquid!

I can do this. I used to do it on Jewish fast days like Yom Kippur, but I eventually stopped because my stomach didn't feel right if I swallowed them without water. Maybe it was psychological.

I don't jerk my head back when I swallow pills with water. I hold them between my lips (two in the morning, four in the evening) and let the water wash them down. It's easy.

On the other hand, all three of my kids jerk their heads when taking pills. Must have learned that from their mother.