Drugs: Is it Safe to Split Your Pills?

You may wonder if it is safe to split your pills in half. It really depends on the medication and the dosage your doctor has you on. Some are enteric coated, and other tablets are designed to degrade over time; those medications are called timed-release drugs.

Some drugs are very expensive, and not covered by insurance. Oftentimes, the doctor will order a medication that can be split in half, so that money is saved on buying prescriptions. For instance, a person taking 20 mg of Lipitor daily might be prescribed a 40 mg tablet. The tablet is scored so that it can be easily broken or cut. 30 pills can be cut into 60; buying expensive drugs in this manner is cost effective because one prescription can last for 2 months.

How to split a pill or tablet - It's best not to break a tablet, because it may not break evenly. You might get more or less than the recommended dose of the medication if the tablet or pill does not break evenly. It is best that you use a pill splitter. A pill splitter is a device that has a razor blade or some other type of sharp edge in it. It is designed to hold the pill or tablet in place while it cuts it in two.

I take vitamins; they are large tablets. I don't swallow big pills easily, so cutting them in half makes it easier for me to swallow them. I saw on Dr. Oz that it is good to cut your vitamins in half and take half in the morning and half in the evening, so that you get the maximum benefit of the vitamin.

Is it safe to split your pills? You will need to ask your doctor whether you should split your tablets in half. It's usually safe to cut your pills in half as long as you do it correctly, and as long as you are cutting the right types of medications. Brand-name medications such as Ambien, Accupril, Bextra, Celexa, Cipro, and Plavix can be split. Generics, such as Aspirin, Amitriptyline, Clonazepam, Diazepam and Furosemide can also be split. Click here for a list of medicines that can be split.

Medications that should not be split - There are certain types of drugs that should never be split, like the timed-release and coated drugs mentioned above in this article. Other drugs that should not be split are anti-seizure medications, chemotherapy drugs, anticoagulants and birth control pills.

Precautionary note: Health professionals have different views on pill splitting. Some doctors feel it is safe, as long as the medication is designed to be split. However, the FDA advises against splitting medications for specific reasons:

One reason the FDA is against pill splitting is that the distribution of medication may not be the same on both sides of the tablet. Another reason this practice is frowned upon is that the person splitting the tablets may not know which ones are safe to split. It is also possible that the person splitting the tablets may get confused over the prescribed dosage of the medication

Before splitting your medication, make sure it is okay to do so. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if it is safe to cut your tablets or pills in half. Always remember that if your tablets and pills are coated with a hard substance, that coating is designed to dissolve below the stomach. If you cut the pill or tablet, you will destroy the coating and could harm your stomach and/or intestinal lining.

Sources:

FDA.gov

Health.org

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