Lake Champlain Cardiology Associates
52 Tom Miller Rd., Plattsburgh, NY 12901  (518) 563-2404
www.lccahearts.com

Cutting Your Pills – Money Saver or Bad Medicine?

Many people cut their pills in half – either on the advice of their doctor or not, to try to reduce side effects, save money, or avoid having to get another prescription. Sometimes the pills may be just too darn big to swallow. According to the FDA and a recent report by medical experts (The Medical Letter Aug. 10, 2009), this may not be a good idea.

Although it would seem logical, the active ingredients in medications are not necessarily uniformly distributed in each pill. For example one half of a pill may have 60% of the dose, and the other half has only 40% of the dose (or less, depending on how the pill crumbles). Tests show that it is very hard, even for pharmacy technicians, to cut pills accurately. People who have arthritis, unsteady hands, or poor vision would be expected to have an even harder time cutting pills accurately. Pills that are not scored will be harder to split. On the other hand, there is no denying that we can save a lot of money if we split pills. And with the price of medications these days, it can be hard to resist.

What to do? Although not endorsed by the FDA, the following are some suggestions:

• Large tablets with deep scores are easiest to split
• Use a pill splitting device (available at pharmacies) rather than a knife
• Split only one tablet at a time, and take each half for successive doses
• Avoid splitting pills when your condition is hard to control – for example people whose blood pressure, blood sugar or PT/INR measurements are hard to control
• Do not split enteric coated medications, or extended release pills (usually identified by having “XL”, “SR”, or “CR” etc. at the end of the name).
• Most combination tablets (pills with 2 medications in one pill) should not be split.
  
  

Please speak with your doctor or pharmacist before making any changes to your medication.