Q. I have to take a pill after meals preferable with milk or other pareve non-acidic drink because of my sensitive stomach. I usually take one after shaleshudes, before benching. Sometimes I forget and remember only after benching. Can I take the pill then before havdala?
Since I have to go to shul to daven maariv and then return to make havdala, I may have to wait about forty minutes or more and that is not a good option.
Do I have to make a brocho on the milk or substitute when I drink them to swallow a pill?
A. Shulchan Aruch (O.H. 299: 1) rules that one may not drink before havdala any drink excepting water. Shevet Hakehosi (2: 124) prohibits also soft drinks, since unlike water, one recites a brocho on them even when one is not thirsty or drinks them to swallow medicine. However, Salmas Chaim (273) is lenient on drinking soft drinks when in need, before havdala.
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that you should make havdala before maariv and take the pill. If it is still before the zman of the end of Shabbos, you should delay the candle bracha until after maariv. If that is not an option you should take the pill just with water.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a