What happens if you accidentally inhale a pill?

Answer 1

Several things could happen.You could choke on it until your windpipe snapped the pill or you could cough it back up. Some or all of the pill could stay in your lungs, potentially causing breathing problems. Also, it is possible that the pill/pieces could stay in your lung for much longer than possible in your stomach, due to the lungs' lack of digestive acids. These pieces could potentially lead to infection.

OR, none of these things may happen and the pill may sit in your lungs until it dissolves completely from the mucus and water vapor in the air you breathe. Your lungs are not empty air pockets, but densely packed air sacs held together with blood and platelets and wrapped in mucus.

If the pill you choked on was an important medication that you must take regularly, call a doctor immediately to find out whether he believes you should take another pill to keep you healthy/safe. If you have chest pains or difficulty breathing, call a doctor or make your way to the ER immediately before things get worse. Even if the pill does not block your airways completely, it could lead to inflammation which could do so. If you have no immediate adverse affects, find someone you can be around for the next few hours in case any new symptoms arise as the pill dissolves.

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Answer 2

Spiriva is an inhalerdrug.

As with inhalers of this kind, they treat the lungs locally from inside.

It will ofcourse slowly be absorbed into the entire body but by then it has done what it was designed to do, ease breathing problems due to Asthma, Kols, Bronchites (others not included not excluded).

You should not have any adverse effects from swallowing this medication.

In general it only mean that the active part of the drug has got a much longer and slower path to go before it is working where it should be. You treat the entire body with the drug instead of "only" the lungs. By treating the entire body you also get a far less effect from the drug.

It is sort of the same as taking painkillers for painrelief after a waspsting (treating the entire body with painkiller medicine) versus treating the localized insect sting with some painkilling fluid for local treatment.

Regards.