Cutting pills in half is a practice that can put your health at risk, unless the drug’s label states otherwise, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Therefore, medical experts recommend the following tips to avoid complications.
Recommendations for dividing pills in half safely
The FDA advises that “tablet splitting should be done only under the supervision of a healthcare professional,” but also offers the following recommendations on how they should be cut, once a specialist has suggested it.
- Consult with a health professional if a pill can be divided
- Generally, a tablet approved for splitting will have a line indicating how it should be split.
- Wear gloves or practice good hand hygiene before breaking a pill
- Only one pill can be divided at a time
- Both halves must be used before splitting another pill
- Use a specialized pill cutter
- Make fast, downward cuts
Which pills should not be split?
For its part, the Cleveland Clinic in the United States warns which medications should never be split to the half:
- extended release pills
- Liquid filled capsules or pearls
- asymmetric pickups
- tiny tablets
Why can splitting pills be dangerous?
split a pill without prior medical guidance can lead, according to pharmacist Alison Miller, to dosage errors, since not properly splitting a pill or splitting a non-recommended onecan cause an overdose or limit the expected benefits of the drug.
“Every time you split a pill, you probably won’t get the exact dose your prescription calls for.”
Dr Alison Miller, Cleveland Clinic
And he warns that “this can have consequences.”