Are antibiotics less effective if crushed and swalled in food?

Question

I cannot swallow pills. No sense telling that to every doctor trying to prescribe me medicine. Well, I just use a handy dandy pill crusher and mix my yucky horse pills in with my apple sauce and voila!

Is this as effective as swallowing whole? It does taste awful and gives my belly a bit of a churn!

Answer 1

food retards the absorption of most antibiotics ,

Answer 2

I used to have difficulty swallowing pills--I would gag on them every time!  Eventually I developed a technique that worked pretty well for me: First I put a small amount of water in my mouth and keep it there (not swallowing yet); then, I place the pill in my mouth and swallow immediately.  Now I have no problems taking pills.  It's mainly a mind over matter sort of thing, but perhaps you can try this technique and see if it works for you.

I doubt the antibiotic would be less effective if crushed and eaten with your food, but my experience has shown that it is very difficult to overcome the awful taste that this produces.  And like the answerer said above, you should make sure you can take it with food first if you do this.

Answer 3

Read the label.  Some antibiotics should be taken with food, others without.  Crushing them does release the ingredients a bit more quickly into your system but with antibiotics that shouldn't matter.  Most are flooded into and out of your system surprisingly quickly.  

Answer 4

It depends on the anti-biotic, some are meant to be taken with food and some are meant to be taken on an empty stomach.