# What's going on when a pill gets stuck in your throat? (Slight TMI) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496 "2015-07-07T18:43:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/21 "2015-07-08T20:49:21Z")
I’ve always had trouble swallowing pills. I’m 77 and finally am able to do so with relative ease, in spite of a previous post that it becomes more difficult with age. When I did have a problem, I would swallow a large gulp of water and the pill would float down with the water. I’ve been on a clinical trial called the “VITAL.” It’s an acronym for vitamin D and fish oil (EPA/DHA). I’ve been on it for years, and I was about to quit the study because the vitamin D (or placebo) is a real horse pill. I’ve been able to swallow it with a large gulp of water, but I read fairly recently a method that is almost foolproof, and that a prior post mentioned. Take a gulp of water and place the pill in your mouth (quickly, else the water will come out). Now close your lips. That creates a suction allowing the pill to be sucked down. The read also said to bend your head forward (not backward); however, I find it better just to keep your head level. On the rare occasion when I still do have trouble, a large gulp of water will do the trick. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/22 "2015-07-08T22:24:21Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Yesterday I took a fish oil mini soft gel like I do every day. The damned thing got stuck in my throat. I chugged half a can of soda and it still wouldn’t go down. > > Then I took a couple of my other pills and they went right down, past the fish oil gel. > > Realizing sometimes it only feels like a pill is stuck when in fact it went down, I let it be. But 15 minutes later it still felt like it was there. > > So stuck my finger down my throat an gagged myself. Soft gel popped right up out of my throat (not my stomach). > > WTF!?! 😕 > > Where was that thing? Why didn’t it go down after drinking 8 ounces of fluids? How did the other pills go down past it? Normal thing in throat a pill could get stuck in: piriform sinus- this is prob most likely, if symptoms are not recurrent > **[Pyriform sinus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriform_sinus)** > > The pyriform sinus (also piriform recess, piriform sinus, piriform fossa, or smuggler's fossa) is a small recess on either side of the laryngeal inlet. It is bounded medially by the aryepiglottic fold, and laterally by the thyroid cartilage and thyrohyoid membrane. The fossae are involved in speech. > The term "pyriform," which means "pear-shaped," is also sometimes spelled "piriform".\[citation needed\] > The term smuggler's fossa comes from its use for smuggling of small items. > Deep to the mucous ... Abnormal thing in throat a pill could get stuck in: Zenker’s diverticulum > **[Zenker's diverticulum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenker%27s_diverticulum)** > > A Zenker's diverticulum, also pharyngeal pouch, is a diverticulum of the mucosa of the human pharynx, just above the cricopharyngeal muscle (i.e. above the upper sphincter of the esophagus). It is a pseudo diverticulum or false diverticulum (only involving the mucosa and submucosa of the esophageal wall, not the adventitia), also known as a pulsion diverticulum. > It was named in 1877 after German pathologist Friedrich Albert von Zenker. > When there is excessive pressure within the lower pharynx, ... Esophageal stricture seems less likely, if other pills passed, pill could be regurgitated without vomiting, and if symptoms are not recurrent. You say you had a lower esophageal stricture in the past- this still may be considered, especially if there is any difficulty eating solid food, such as meat. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/23 "2015-07-09T00:22:30Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > … > > I’ve been on a clinical trial called the “VITAL.” It’s an acronym for vitamin D and fish oil (EPA/DHA). > > … Study acronyms are just nuts nowadays. They bend over backwards to be “sexy”. I bet it’s: **VIT** _amin D_ **A** _nd fish oi_ **L** :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/24 "2015-07-09T00:41:24Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Study acronyms are just nuts nowadays. They bend over backwards to be “sexy”. > > I bet it’s: **VIT** _amin D_ **A** _nd fish oi_ **L** :dubious: Close _ **VIT** _amin D and Omeg_ **A** _-3 Tria_ **L** _ ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/25 "2015-07-09T01:01:42Z")
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**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/26 "2015-07-09T01:04:08Z")
My wife can’t swallow medium to large sized pills at all regardless of type. I’m the complete opposite, I can swallow most any pill without water and it’s not too often pills get stuck in my throat. If I drink water I can usually down several pills at the same time. Like those supplements that say take 3 twice a day or whatever, I can down all 3 at once with water. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/27 "2015-07-09T01:58:24Z")
Small comfort: you didn’t, like this one … person … I know, scarf his morning handful 'o pills, wash it down with a small gulp of ice coffee and ravenously cram some breakfast toast in his mouth, impeccably timing the food’s chewing and swallowing to follow even as the pills went clattering down the esophagus–or so he thought, only to find that that _one_ gel capsule stuck around for a bit and got caught in the crunching teeth. Biting into a fish oil pill is truly disgusting. I smooshed one once in my pill box and the house reeked for days. ---
**Author:** ![Drtomclay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@Drtomclay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drtomclay)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/28 "2017-03-07T02:18:01Z")
On both sides of the back of the throat are small outpouchings called the piriform sinuses. This is where pills can get stuck, eventually dissolving or the pill can come back out. Everyone has these; a Zenker’s diverticulum is pretty rare. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/29 "2017-03-07T15:23:59Z")
Zombies don’t care about pills being stuck in their mouths. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/30 "2017-03-08T02:42:45Z")
This is another of those “What do you mean I’m weird? Isn’t everybody like this?” I developed the habit of getting pills stuck half-way down about 4-5 years ago. I can force them back up by constricting throat muscles. The only help was a MD who commented that the opening at the back of my mouth was tiny by human standards. I have an 80% full bottle of multi-vitamins - the “Horse Pill” variety. Just one day, they stopped going down. Chugging a soda will (rarely) wash it down - either I choke it back up or wait for it to dissolve. I take 2 magnesium pills - about 1/2" in diameter. I now break them into quarters before trying to swallow. Try chewables - an absolute godsend for me. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/31 "2017-03-08T04:28:07Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > This is another of those “What do you mean I’m weird? Isn’t everybody like this?” > > I developed the habit of getting pills stuck half-way down about 4-5 years ago. > I can force them back up by constricting throat muscles. > The only help was a MD who commented that the opening at the back of my mouth was tiny by human standards. > > I have an 80% full bottle of multi-vitamins - the “Horse Pill” variety. Just one day, they stopped going down. > Chugging a soda will (rarely) wash it down - either I choke it back up or wait for it to dissolve. > > I take 2 magnesium pills - about 1/2" in diameter. I now break them into quarters before trying to swallow. > > Try chewables - an absolute godsend for me. I started breaking pulls in half, which sometimes makes them worse because of the sharp edges. I eventually got a pill grinder. The trick with that, I learned, was to make a very, very course powder. Think gravel, not flour. I found that if I make it very course, I can put it in my mouth, take a sip of something and goes right down. When I grind it into a powder, it just turns into a chunk of goo…which sometimes gets caught. In the end the endoscopies/dilations fixed everything. My sister, on the other hand, her issues are 100% in her head, but she still chews pills. To watch someone a Tylenol in their mouth, then hear them chomp down on it is a bit unsettling. It sounds like they’re breaking their teeth. BTW, Mg pills, run through a pill grinder, taste exactly how you’d expect them to taste. But they taste a lot better than most other pills. ETA, I remember now why I only kind of half grinded them. It was for the taste, that was it. If you grind pills to a powder, they taste much worse. If they’re just sort of like gravel, I could get them down much faster without all the powder sticking all over the inside of my mouth…or reforming and getting stuck. But, really, any drug store will have a pill grinder, they only cost a few bucks and they work really well. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/32 "2017-03-08T09:45:12Z")
The pill may have contained salmon oil. Salmon tend to move upstream. ---
**Author:** ![luvrbcs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@luvrbcs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luvrbcs)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/33 "2017-03-08T13:18:12Z")
I have difficulty swallowing, and the method they suggested to try when having difficulty swallowing large pills is to take it with something like applesauce or pudding. Works everytime with me. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/34 "2017-03-08T21:17:52Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > piriform sinus- this is prob most likely, if symptoms are not recurrent > [Pyriform sinus - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriform_sinus) These are useful if you need to hide or smuggle small items: [QUOTE=Tetrapod Zoology] …people have learnt that they can create pouch-like structures in their throats by keeping lead discs inside their pyriform sinuses, thereby enlarging the sinuses over time (the pyriform sinuses are yet another set of paired pockets, this time positioned on either side of the opening to the larynx). These resulting pouches – termed ganahs – were said by Guthrie (in Anon. 1927) to be used by Indian criminals “as a safe hiding place for coins or precious stones”. (source: [http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/10/04/mammal-pockets-sacs-pt-i/](http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/10/04/mammal-pockets-sacs-pt-i/)) [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/35 "2017-03-09T11:44:02Z")
^Wow. These cargo shorts pockets aren’t really necessary, I can use my pyriform sinuses? ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/36 "2017-03-09T15:14:42Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > I have a friend who had difficulties swallowing pills. He can swallow White Castle sliders in two bites but pills get stuck to the back of his throat. I recommended that he take a small (1/2 shot glass) drink of water but not swallow it. Tilt his head back. Drop the pills into the water in his mouth, and swallow the pills and water together. He no longer has a problem swallowing pills. No bitter after tastes, either. > > I learned that trick while I was on an extended hospital stay. Take a pill, sip of water, take another pill, another sip of water, etc., etc., etc… Twice a day. To heck with that. Put all the pills in one cup, take a mouthful of water, pour the all the pills into the water, and swallow. ymmv. Great, now I want White Castle. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496/37 "2017-03-09T17:39:04Z")
Well, OP was lucky he didn’t bite into the salmon oil pill, which I did once. Probably still has the taste in his mouth. I once crushed one open in my plastic medicine box/organizer, and it stank revoltingly for a week or two. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-when-a-pill-gets-stuck-in-your-throat-slight-tmi/724496.md?page=1)