How do people manage to ingest

[Walilamdzi]

large quantities of pills all in one go? Isn't it a struggle to swallow them?

 

[mimo5555]

I can swallow 10 pills in one go without a problem. Some people gag with just one. You can crush them and put them in capsules to have less pills to swallow.

 

[Giraffey]

As the above says, the normal procedure is either to crush them (if they are solid pills), take handfuls if you're capable of taking such big gulps, or in some cases, you can obtain the pills in caplet form and empty the powder into a drink (I've also used gelatin before now).

If you have a bit more technical experience and don't mind the work, then providing the pills are not tamper-resistant you can usually separate the active ingredient from the excipient with some simple chemistry. It varies depending on what excipients (non-active ingredients) are used, but when I did this a few years ago I was able to separate them by density (the fillers were denser than the active ingredient so could be easily separated). This allowed me to then concentrate a large amount of medicinal powder into a single 'shot'.

Do be careful with swallowing large amounts of tablets though and in particular the capsule type tablets, in enough quantity, some of the fillers can gum into a small mass that will irritate your stomach lining and cause you to be sick (can be averted by pre-dosing with an appropriate anti-emetic).