MediStraw Solves Nationwide Pill Swallowing Problem - All Choked Up – A brief history of pill swallowing - when a gag is not funny. Pills are a common means of taking medication, and more recently, vitamins and health supplements. Thought to be a relatively modern invention, pills have been around since the 1840’s. William Upjohn improved them in 1884 to become the common form we find today. One thing has not changed since that time.