Pill-cutters. Why has it taken me 68 years to find out about these?

[Coco51]

My GP has just advised me to halve my dose of a certain medication. As the tablets are pretty tiny I asked him how. He recommended a pill-cutter.

Well, what a revelation. No messing about with knives and tablet fragments flying all over the place. Just wedge the tablet in the cutter and shut the blade over it. Two perfect halves. Magic.

Someone was asking on the forum the other day about how to cut pills, so I thought some members, like me, don't know about these little devices.

[sotolol]

Took me a few years too. So you are not alone. 👌🏻

[PlanetaryKim]

I just bought my first pill cutter yesterday. Couldn't believe I never knew about these before. Maybe I read about it here.

[Magicfairy]

Thank you, going to get one, 64 and never knew they existed either 😂

[doodle68]

I experimented with different ways to cut Nebivolol (which has 4 sections) in half and always managed to break some of them in bits.

I found by accident the easiest way to break them in half is with my fingers, no breakages now.

[Paulbounce]

Just one word of advice ! Please make sure you buy from a reliable source ie your phamacist. I bought some from eBay once - what a nighmare they were.

Pay a little extra and get the real deal.

Paul

[Coco51 in reply to Paulbounce]

Yes mine came from Boots.

[DevonHubby1 in reply to Paulbounce]

I agree with Paul. I got a cheap one and the breaks were very uneven.

[sotolol in reply to Paulbounce]

I have a picture in my mind 😩

[baba]

And be careful when cleaning it - lethal blade.

[Ppiman]

I've been using one for years to cut sleeping pills into quarters as I hate having to take them! Sadly, mine won't cut accurately in half, with one half being more like a quarter-and-a-bit at times. Is yours better?

Also, I was told not to cut any pills that don't already have a score-line (but that might be wrong advice).

Steve

[Coco51 in reply to Ppiman]

Mine seems to work amazingly well. The blade is very fine and it's new. I guess it won't be 100 percent right but as the GP told me to do it I'll go with it.

[Misty4]

Thanks I’ll look out for these

[baba]

Ask your chemist, if they are supplying tablets that need cutting they should supply a cutter

[Coco51 in reply to baba]

Too late. I bought one!

[Hidden]

I have been using them for years. Actually the pharmacy should either cut them for you or provide a cutter for free.

My Bisoprolol 5 mg need to be cut in half. But it is impossible to handle them as the ones here on Canada are so small you need tweezers to hold them. So I have the pharmacist cut them for me. Still they come out uneven halves.

[Janith]

Anyone not knowing about pill cutters didn’t grow up in the USA!!

[Coco51]

It's Indapamide. It's a BP tablet a diuretic. I have lost weight and my blood pressure has gone lower so we are trying lower dose. There is no line on the tablet. But it works well if you make sure the pill is properly gripped.

[Geonome]

I use a pill cutter also. The tablet does not need to be scored to be cut. I take digoxin which is scored, but I cut it at any spot, works well even if the cut is not in the score.

Just a word of warning, a pharmacy was cutting my tablets for me, until one day I could smell coconut-scented lotion on the pill bottle. I'm extremely allergic to all perfumes, especially the coconut scents. So I moved the pills to a different bottle, took a tablet, and became quite ill and vomited up the pill. The coconut-scented lotion was on the pills! I went back to the pharmacy and complained about it. They said they don't wear gloves when they handle the pills!!! I changed pharmacies immediately, and always, always, cut my own pills.

[Coco51 in reply to Geonome]

How horrible. Thanks for the warning. Fortunately it has never occurred to me to ask the pharmacy to do this.

[Herogenus]

Make sure your tablet is not enteric..in other words it has a special coating & are meant to be taken whole. Ask your pharmacist first before cutting.

[Coco51 in reply to Herogenus]

Good point. Will do.