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Comment by vconnor | Hacker News Reader

I always wondered if in the US people take pills by the handful as they are commonly portrayed in movies and TV. I am pretty sure I have seen represented a person with an heachache fill their palm with 10 pills of clearly marked Tylenol bottles, and somehow always gulp them down with no water.

To this day I wonder if it’s artistic choice or that’s how people take pills over there. Would explain a few things.

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I can only speak for myself and those I've observed, but I've never seen anyone outside movies do that. It's always one or two pills depending on recommended dose, with water to slide it down.

Being from the US, I don’t think the average person _does_ that (even with OTC meds).

But people in the middle of a health / mental health crisis aren’t thinking straight and may rush to try and relieve an issue with their body ASAP. Famous American celebrities have done this (Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Prince, Tom Petty, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anna Nicole Smith, etc) so it happens, but I’m not sure it’s a thing people do when they aren’t in crisis.

I barely remember this trivia (a bit from Tom Scott podcast?) but the reason you don't see pills sold by the bottle in Europe is that pharmacy are required by law to sell them under blister. The reason is that this little it of friction apparently significantly reduce the suicide rate. And thus for me euro eyes having someone taking pills by the handful seems very wrong.

I have had to tell several people I know they can't just take whatever OTC meds they want whenever they want with no side effects and it is always important to read the bottle's instructions/warnings.

Unlike most people I know, I am able to swallow a pill without water.

Like everyone I know, I just take one or two pills at a time when I have a headache or whatever according to package directions.

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