I think I had my life flash in front of my eyes.  I bought the GNC Ultra Nourishair today and tried it for the first time.  I was surprised at how large one pill was but because I'm used to taking large sized vitamin pills I thought I wouldn't have a problem.  Guess what happened.  The stupid pill got stuck in my throat!  Although I could breathe I couldn't stop gagging and coughing for a good 5-10 minutes.  I seriously thought I was going to have to go to the emergancy room.  

Sparing some of the more disgusting details, I was basically bent over the toilet for a while trying to cough up the pill.  After about 10 minutes my mom came to check on me and when she figured out I had something stuck in my throat she had me drink some warm water and that really helped to get that pill down.  I'm afraid to take that pill again.  I wonder if GNC would accept a return since I had a near-death experience.  If not, I'm going to cut those pills in half from now on!

Sorry if this was on the melodramatic side, but this only happened a few minutes ago and I'm still a little shaken up.   :(

Wow...Thats no good at all. I think taking pills is a bit of a mental task as much as just drinking some water and swallowing. I have a friend who cannot even take tiniest aspirin, because she has a fear of choking. Though she has never had anything like that happen to her. I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune with Nourish hair. Are those the green things that smell funky? I think my Mother takes them. Good Luck and I bet GNC would accept the return, just say you cannot possibly swallow them.

Seriously - get a pill cutter if you plan to continue this - that can be awful ...g

wrote on Jul 4^th, 2005 at 1:23am:

Are those the green things that smell funky? I think my Mother takes them. Good Luck and I bet GNC would accept the return, just say you cannot possibly swallow them.

No, they're white with a funky smell.  Well, at least the coating is white.  The inside is a weird yellowish color.  I wonder how the cashier would react if I said, "Can I return this?  I took one and almost choked to death"?

More seriously, it was stupid of me not to cut the pill in half first.  I think I was over confident about taking big pills and didn't think this one was going to be a problem.  Oh well, at least now I know better.

I can't take them either.  I didn't choke, but I doubt I actually managed to swallow one.  The smell of those things are so bad that I was traumatized before I couldn't swallow it.

I was about 12 before I learned how to swallow pills.  My doctor told my mom to buy a bag of M&M's and give me a 5-6 of them with a glass of water and let me learn to swallow them.  Once I could swallow all of them, I could eat the rest of the bag.  I went through an entire 1lb bag before I could swallow 5 consecutively, so my mom bought me another entire bag.  

I'm glad you didn't choke to death!  I usually put the water in my mouth and then the pill, seems to help.
I would try to return them, and then if they say no you can cut them.  
You'll probably remember your harrowing expirience and have difficulty taking the rest anyway.
Good Luck, I hope you feel better!

Thanks for the support and suggestions, ladies!  I tried being a trooper and cut a few pills in half before taking them.  No good.  Although I was physically able to swallow them, it was hard to supress my gag reflex and so I took the rest back to GNC today.  I felt dumb when I told the clerk what happened, but I was able to return them.  Yay!  From now on I'm just going to stick to a generic multi and bitoin regimen.

The ingredients in Ultranourishair are good- I had trouble with them upsetting my stomach, though.
I took two together, like it says and felt so nauseated afteward.  Also, my skin was breaking out.
They are also hard to swallow, yes.
I didn't buy them again after I finished the bottle.
(I didn't notice any faster hair growth either)

wrote on Jul 6^th, 2005 at 6:46pm:

The ingredients in Ultranourishair are good- I had trouble with them upsetting my stomach, though. I took two together, like it says and felt so nauseated afteward.  Also, my skin was breaking out. They are also hard to swallow, yes. I didn't buy them again after I finished the bottle. (I didn't notice any faster hair growth either)

Uh, that doesn't sound good at all! Now I'm glad I returned those pills.

It really is IMO actually a very decent pill (the size problem just sort of IS, something to watch out for in many pills even prescription) - but high doses of B's in particular, especially on an empty stomach will definitely make you queezy.  this is true of amino acids also, even though some of those are recommended to take on a relatively empty stomach.  Ditto iron, you all knew that  ::)...g

True, true. Did you ever try Ultra Nourishair, Gabi? I don't think I'll try it again anytime in the near future, but I'm curious if you tried it and had a good experience.

I currently use Nature's Plus Ultra Hair - it's comparable and cheaper IIRC (it's been awhile).  I have tried Ultra Nourish and found it good *yoga bow*.   The queasy factor applies to almost all vitamins for me.

I don't eat very well and I exercise strenuously so I really need the help - but I'm working on the eating better thing all the time ...g

Thanks, Gabi! Good luck with the eating better! At least you make the effort to exercise. I tell myself I should, but that hasn't quite translated into actual physical activity. :P

As far as vitamins are concerned, I recommend capsules over tablets.  Often the coating on the tablets keeps the body from breaking it down and digesting the nutrients.  Capsules, both veg & gel are easily broken down and digested.  They are also usually smaller and easier to swallow.

Some manufacturers put the size of their tablets on the box so you can see how big they'll be.

Many supplements should only be taken with food or stomach upset can occur.  Care should also be taken if you tend to take your pills with orange juice or other acidic juice.  The acids can either counteract the effects of the supplement, or cause nausea.  (This is true for many medications as well - always ask how the pills should be taken).

Unfortunately, many supplements come in large pills that can be difficult to swallow.  After almost choking to death as a child when taking a pill, I've learned to always take my pills when others are around (just a bit of paranoia I have).

Sakina - I didn't know that the coating on tablets can actually interfere with the breakdown of a pill. That's really interesting! I guess I'll be on the lookout for capsules from now on.

BB - I almost always take supplements/vitamins with food. There might have been one time when I didn't and felt a bit ill afterward. And that is a frightening thing that happened to you when you were small! I don't think I would ever have been able to swallow pills again if that had happened to me at that age.