Pill Swallowing Cup

Did not work as intended for child

As an adult who struggles with swallowing pills, I've tried a few different products. This is the only one that's worked for me, and it's actually helping me be more comfortable swallowing pills without it. Does it magically make the pill disappear? No, I still feel it going down. But something about the angle it forces you into and the water flow helps a lot. I find I need to suck on it like an upside-down straw until empty, but it does the trick.

I've always had problems swallowing pills. But I have a couple of medical conditions and I'm on a pill I have to swallow whole. I'm not afraid to swallow pills whole, I can do it. I just have problems with getting them in a good position to do so and larger pills, especially capsules are my biggest enemy. My smaller pills I can generally choke down no problem. This new pill that I have to swallow whole? Giant capsule. I realized I needed tips and tricks or some kind of aide, so I began a search. Take with foods they said. I can sometimes make that work but sometimes it feels like an all day affair, I don't do well swallowing giant chunks o' food either. Imagine it's something else - rrriiigght. Then I found products like this. Oooh, a sippy cup for taking pills, let's try that. I don't mind looking like a giant baby if it makes taking giant horse pills easier. Verdict? I've followed the directions, right down to freezing the capsule for a few minutes to lessen the chance of it being wet when I put it in the cup. Hold the cup just as they say. Don't fill it full. And I'm actually less successful than just mushing it up in a cracker. In fact I came dangerously close to wasting a pill as I had such high hopes for this cup that I didn't think to have a backup, like a cracker ready, to try again, so I had a wet pill in my mouth that I couldn't swallow on its own that first time. But I'm no quitter, oh no, at least not that easily. I tried and tried. And got the same non-results and then, yeah, I quit. Total waste of money. Not sure who this is working on or what their magic trick is, but I haven't figured it out after multiple attempts.

We have a 6 y/o boy with autism and ADHD and we're just starting on our medication journey. I bought this cup to help him learn to swallow Concerta (a small stimulant medication). We tried several times with no success. The thing is you have to actually tilt your head back quite far, put your whole mouth over the large spout and get the pill down on the first try or it will not work. This is a very unnatural way of drinking and therefore was not something my son was able to do successfully. The cup and its contents ended up being flung across the room in frustration almost every time, and this after I had to dry off the pill grate and the pill itself to try again (because if either get wet then the pill just sticks to the cup and won't go down). We ended up having much more success with me physically putting the pill in his mouth after coaching him that he could not bite or chew it and immediately putting his normal cup to his mouth to drink. I find if I do this first thing in the morning when he's thirsty for milk, he chugs and chugs and it goes down without a hitch. The first week it required a LOT of bribery (much like potty training) of surprises and rewards for big boys who swallow their pills, and within a week he had it down. He still doesn't like to do it but it goes down on the first try every time! That little cup hasn't been touched since. I think it is very thoughtfully and well designed and definitely could help adults and children who can be coached on how to do it properly (which is why I gave it 3 stars), but for our son it was just too unnatural and made the whole thing more stressful and difficult. I also think it's a little overpriced. For those of you in our situation, we practiced swallowing fruity tic tacs without chewing them first and then moved on to the pill. We always use whole milk as the thick texture and creamy taste help mask the feel and texture of the pill itself. I'm so relieved that we're finally swallowing pills now as I was worried it would never happen! I really hope this helps someone else as we were pretty desperate too!