Taking Pills with warm water is Dangerous ?

I received this Chain Letter via email from a friend. It says "Taking Pills with warm water is dangerous". I was skeptical when I read this because I have been taking pills (when sick) with warm water for years and I am still alive.

This is the full text of the chain letter (e-mail)

Taking Pills with Warm Water is Dangerous Most people when they're suffering from flu commonly consume Capsulated tablets with warm water, not knowing whether the pill would safely reach the stomach. This could be serious and perhaps you should consider proper ways of swallowing pills.

Doctors Advice: Pills can be taken singly by using cold water.After swallowing, a person should drink a lot more water. Take your pills 30 minutes before you go to bed, don't go straight to bed immediately after taking pills.

Incident: One day a guy took some antibiotics and for not drinking enough water to flush it straight down to the stomach, the pill was lodged on the food tract and caused an inflammation. For six days he could only take cold milk and water-soluble food and was hospitalized for five days. The Doctor warned that should it get any worse, an ulcer in the intestine may result. So please exercise caution. When taking medicine in pill or capsule form:

DO NOT use warm or hot water/fruit juice/all kinds of sweet drinks to wash down the medicine. The right way is to down it with cold water. If you feel discomfort in the throat after taking a pill, drink lots of water or cold milk. Stand or sit straight when you take your pill and do not lie immediately.

PLEASE BE INFORMED AND PASS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS!!!

This is an article on the same topic in BreakTheChain.org website.

I have not been able to find any source that definitively supports or disputes the claim that taking pills with warm water is dangerous. In fact, my searches led to many herbal remedy sites, which actually recommend taking medicines with warm water for several reasons, including to relax throat muscles and to speed the dissolving process. I don't know the veracity of these claims.

Most medical references recommend taking any pill with a full 8-ounce glass of water or milk (no temperature specified) - not to avoid the apocryphal worst-case-scenario described above, but to prevent choking. Many kids' health resources recommend giving pills with (or crushed up and added to) sweet drinks, food, etc., but caution to check with a physician first.

It is more likely the medicine itself - not how you take it - will cause problems. Some drugs irritate the digestinal tract and stomach. In these cases, experts usually recommend taking the pills with milk or with meals.

Most prescription drugs these days come with an informational leaflet describing the correct way to take them and any possible side effects. Over-the-counter medications include the same types of information. These materials, and your doctor or pharmacist should be your best resources for medical advice, not anonymously authored and haphazardly forwarded e-mail chain letters. Break this chain.

Stop junk e-mail and misinformation by not forwarding Chain Letter.