Why not break big prescription pills in half and get more for your money? Good idea or silly concept? If you cut prescription pills in half you may be able to slash your prescription costs by 25 to 50 percent per year. However you are also cutting down some health benefits and taking a huge slice out of prescription effectiveness. Breaking pills in half can lead to improper dosages and unusable pills. You may end up costing yourself more in terms of money and health.
There is ongoing research that identifies which prescription pills can be safely split. It does depend on the coating and the way the pill is supposed to act in your body. You can buy pill splitters in a local pharmacy and these devices are equipped with a blade and a tray to hold the pill; this may help split a pill evenly. Prepackaged medications cannot be split and this includes birth control pills and medication in capsule form.
If you do not split the pill evenly there may be a possibility of drug reaction. One example could be the blood thinning medication, warfarin. If you split the pill unevenly and take the higher dosage you may cause internal bleeding or the smaller dosage will not help with any clotting problems. Warfarin is not a great pill to split. Do not divide pills designed to release medication over time; these include calcium channel blockers. The coating on the outside of this pill is vital to the drug’s measured release. Capsules and extended release pills should not be split and you need to keep triangles and unusual shaped pills whole. Do remember that if you don’t split a pill evenly it can have reduced or dangerous effects.
Pharmaceutical companies give similar prices for different dosages since the actual amount of the chemical is a very small part of prescription pills. The high cost of prescriptions comes from packaging, research and development and advertising. Drug companies also try to keep prices between dosages similar; the cost of a low dosage prescription is almost equal to the same number of pills with a higher dosage.
With thousands of prescription pills on the market, there are only forty-eight known prescription pills that can be safely split. You can divide Lipitor, Paxil, and Klonopin (an anti-anxiety drug) safely. If you can split certain drugs equally and carefully you may lower the cost of medications. Work with your pharmacist and doctor to make sure that dividing medications is even a possibility. If your options are splitting prescription pills, purchasing online discount pills or traveling to Canada to purchase unregulated medications; you may want to take the safe road and split pills.
