I have the same problem with gagging on vitamins, especially calcium pills. Going to look for chewable, hasn’t even thought of that.
@Nrdsb4 - I no longer buy vitamins in opaque containers for that reason. I know they’re trying to avoid light degrading the vitamins, but I think they’re also conveniently hiding those horse pills!
It seems that smaller bottles tend to be the brown or green translucent plastic that you can attempt to see through. I’d much rather take 2 or 3 smaller pills than choke down a horse pill.
My D bought us chewable calcium from Costco. She finds it much more palatable. I also bought us women’s chewable vita men’s there and she also bought us a chewable vitamin C.
I have the same problem with large pills. That’s why my vitamins are gummy but I couldn’t find calcium gummies I liked so I searched for “mini” calcium pills. Turns out my definition of mini and the manufacturer’s definition aren’t the same but they are manageable.
I checked on Amazon and here’s one vitamin C option that might work for you @Nrdsb4 (I’ve never tried these and they were just the first hit – I’m sure there are others, fyi):
https://www.amazon.com/LIPOSOMAL-Vitamin-Tablets-Swallow-Quality/dp/B07C5LQQ47
Another option is to cut a large pill in half, as long as the rough edges don’t bother you.
@dragonmom, Costco has a chocolate calcium chewable square that many of my friends like. I just tried to look it up and it’s not on their site but, hopefully, they still offer it.
I needed to up my vitamin C and bought powdered Vit C that I add to my water. I am terrible about taking pills, especially big ones, and this has helped me get a decent amount into my diet every day.
You aren’t limited to the 1000+mg mega-caps, you can get them in 500mg or even 250 mg.
You can also get it as a powder or crystals you can dissolve in a drink.
Have you had your vitamin D level checked? A healthy vitD level (50 ng/ml or higher) will have a far greater impact on your immune system and the ability to fight off colds than vitC will.
I take a lot of supplements, if I could only take one it would be vitamin D. It has made a noticeable difference in my health.
If you do not like limes, you have plenty of other choices that you may like better (oranges, chiles, kale, strawberries, etc.), although some of them may be larger than the limes that English sailors centuries ago had as their only choice of vitamin C supplement.
Yellow bell peppers and broccoli are even better sources!
Chewables and gummy ones for calcium and vitamin C are great. No experience with sugar free though.
And I thought I was unusual in not being able to swallow large pills. I’ve been using chewable calcium for years. Many years ago, I had chewable vitamin C tablets.
If I can’t see through a vitamin bottle to see the actual size of the pills, or there’s no pictorial of the pill size on the label, then I don’t buy those vitamins. I’ve used a pill splitter on some pills, but sharp edges can be uncomfortable.
@VeryHappy – the entire floor. It’s a liquid and applied with a dry mop. Looks great. He did it initially about 6 months ago.
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For a really good tasting calcium and magnesium supplement, try adora chocolates. https://www.adoracalcium.com/our-sweet-legacy.php
Taking vit D3 as well. And taking daily walks.
The best source of Vitamin C IMO is hot peppers. I have some flame roasted green chile sauce from Costco that has 120% of RDA for Vitamin C in 2 tablespoons! It has some Vitamin A and iron too.
A lot of the pill bottles now have a picture of the pill “actual size” on the label.
Pills are a pretty standard size, a 1000 mg dose is doing to be a large certain size, a 1200 mg mega-pill is huge, 500mg and 250mg etc pretty small.
I take enough pills that I can now swallow 3 or 4 of the large ones at once. It’s just a matter of relaxing, we all take bites of food far larger than a 1000mg capsule and have no trouble swallowing it.
@notrichenough – correction–I chew my food before swallowing and definitely have trouble swallowing pills.
I generally have no trouble swallowing pills, no matter how large. D, H and my mom all complain about supersizes pills. I must admit, I need liquid (water is fine) to swallow large pills. Small ones I can generally swallow without any liquid.
I’m ok with the chewable, though I’d be fine if they didn’t have so much sugar and weren’t so extremely sweet. Don’t understand why they have to make them SO sweet.
I use powders or liquid supplements whenever possible because I believe they are more easily broken down and absorbed by your body (plus I hate swallowing large pills.) I often mix the supplements into my yogurt and don’t even taste them.