Turns out, not everyone can just toss back an Advil without a second thought. In fact, the more we talked about it on the Bobby Bones Show, the more we realized this struggle might be way more common than any of us expected.
It all started with a simple confession: Morgan can’t swallow pills easily. Then Bobby realized his sister-in-law can’t either. And Abby? Same. Suddenly we had three adults, all close to the show, who approach vitamins like they’re Olympic-level obstacles. Then came the voicemail that changed everything. A listener shared a swallowing hack she learned from a coworker: Instead of leaning your head back to take a pill, lean your head forward. Apparently, leaning backward can actually close your airway, making it harder to swallow. Tilting forward opens things up so the pill can float right back and go down smoothly. Quick, easy, and shockingly logical once you hear it.
And guess what? That trick actually works, at least for most people. Abby swears by it. Her boyfriend taught it to her recently, and she said it was like discovering fire. A total game-changer. She went from avoiding pills altogether to finally being able to take Advil like the rest of us. Morgan, on the other hand… panicked. Leaning forward while something is supposed to go backward just broke her brain. The pill floated around in her mouth, chaos ensued, and she tapped out.
So what do pill-strugglers normally do when they get a headache? Morgan says she’ll just suffer until things get so miserable she has no choice but to fight through a full dramatic scene, head tossing, water chasing, borderline meltdown. Abby avoided pills her whole life until very recently. Her solution was gummies and kids’ chewables.
But it does raise the question… Is swallowing pills an “adulting” skill some people just never master? Based on our studio alone, the answer is absolutely yes. So if you’re someone who struggles to swallow pills, you’re not alone and you’re not weird. And if you want to give this head-forward hack a shot, do it. It might be the thing that finally works for you.
