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.   

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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).