I'd like some advice, please, on splitting tablets.
Firstly though, how can I be reassured that the Pred I take is not coated? I think they are non-coated but am not absolutely sure.
Secondly, I am trying to reduce from 9mg to 8.5mg, V slowly. I bought a Medisure Pill Cutter some time ago in anticipation of splitting Pred. It was quite cheap, I remember, and when I just tryed it, for the first time, it cut the 1mg ok but it doesn't look that even to me. Am I being over cautious ie does it really matter if one half is slightly bigger than the other? Or should I buy another cutter which someone on the forum will no doubt recommend?
I did look at FAQs for advice and found info on splitting Pred but it appears to be about 6 years ago, so thought I'd check for any more recent views. Many thanks in advance...😄
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tempusfugi
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What colour are they? If they are white they are plain pred. E/c are red for 5mg, dark brown for 2,5mg and I think 1mg are pale yellow - they look a bit like small Smarties.
It really isn't the end of the world have a big half and a small half - balances out over 2 days! All that matters it is less than the "old" dose.
All the FAQs are updated regularly and where the original posts were older, they were checked.
You could get to 8.5 with a combination of 5mg, 2.5 and 1mg. If they are white, they are plain and ok to split. Enteric coated are coloured. I don't think uneven halves make that much difference at that dose. Sometimes, if not on a flat surface, the pill cutter does a good at makong crumbs!
I bought this brand years ago whilst still on Pred… have used fairly recently on some different pills…good as ever…as as PMRpro’s says doesn’t have to be exactly 50/50…. And most pills that can be cut have a line on them….a coated one won’t !
If you’re still not sure then check the box - it will probably say gastro resistant or enteric or similar or check with pharmacist -
Or as also suggested - mix and match different strengths.
Grateful for your advice, DorsetLady. My Pred is definitely plain white, so good to get confirmation. I saw the Pillcutter you showed some time ago on here and tried ordering, with some other items from that big river company last year. Unfortunately, the order went awry and I ended up getting a refund. This was after I had a conversation with a 'chatbot' or whatever, being quite convinced I was speaking to a human! Dead clever, these Chinese🤣
Not the Big A but the chatbot I had a dispute with was in India I wasn't impressed as even the clear request "I want to speak to a human" took 5 goes to get through!!!!
I can imagine but they are interesting things, those Chatboxes! I presume they pick up certain words and then respond, suitably, though they obviously took time over your request...praps they didn't like the word 'human'😊
Bet you were pulling your hair out (what you've got left anyway - mine seems to be disappearing by the day since being on Pred)! Friends say, it's an age thing, but I know otherwise😒
I have an awful lot of hair! Shoulder-length and curly It fell out with PMR, improved with prednisolone. went nuts with methyl pred and improved a bit with prednisone. Came out in clumps with methotrexate! Soon stopped that ...
just tap the picture icon below -will ask if you you want to take a picture, go to library or select file. If you select library will take you to your pictures. Select what you want and select Choose or Use (varies) -will also as you to add a title.
OK, many thanks. Actually, I did just tap it and it took me directly to my library ie it didn't ask me the questions you posed. No matter. It will take me to where I want to go...thanks.
in Australia they come in 1mg, 5mg and 25mg so I had to do a lot of cutting over my two years. A heavy kitchen knife, plastic chopping board, and go for it. As others have said, if you get bigger / smaller pieces just alternate which days you take them. At the end I was cutting to get 0.25mg!
Being tight fisted, I have always used my trusty Stanley knife. Works well but, of course not very even. Its never caused me a problem though because, as others have put, it evens itself out over two days anyway.
Thanks Flivoless. I don't know about tight fisted, I'm more ham-fisted, so think I better stick to my pillcutter! If it stops working, I'll try a Stanley knife😂
I have the cutter recommended by DL, but actually I find it gives roughly the same result as a sharp vegetable knife. More of an issue is the tablet. The flat ones are ok, the concave ones crumble, and I wish the pharmacy would stick to the flat ones.
Thanks, Noosat, your pillcutter sounds good and tis good to hear you've managed to get down to 4mg. I look forward to the day but have a feeling it'll be a while yet!😉
Thanks, Viveka. I'm not all sure that the rather cheap pillcutter I bought makes it easy for me to line up easily. I mean, it's worked ok but I may send for the one that Dorset Lady sent a picture of.
I couldn’t get on with the pill cutter I bought but now my pharmacist does a percentage of my tablets each month for me as he has, I assume, a better cutter. Worth asking if you have a friendly pharmacist, it is quite a laborious job.
Wow! Stocdeb, he does sound a friendly pharmacist...I can't imagine my pharmacist doing that but I could be wrong. Will try asking. Probably be blasted out of the place! I live in a village where there are a lot of retirees and, consequently, the pharmacist is extremely busy.😒
if it doesn’t show on here, then it’s not been posted. Sometimes you can leave page without realising it hasn’t gone through -and forum doesn’t always remind you…depends whether you are on iPhone/iPad or laptop/PC
I have a pill cutter. Since at the 7mg to 5 mg levels I cut several 1mg tabs and leave them in the box. So tapering down I use the slightly bigger halves for the first few weeks and then the smaller halves. So I figure that is an even slower taper than half a mg.
Seems to be working. Still feel bit rubbish first few weeks on new dose. Taking it super slow !!!!
I have a pill cutter but find it much easier to just snap the 1mg tablets in half using my thumbnail, even though they don’t have a cut line like the 5mg do. As PMR Pro mentions later, the 2 halves become a whole by the following day.
You must have very sharp thumbnails, MikeVanBC! Hope you don't mind but I looked up your profile because I wondered if you were from Canada (I used to work on a desk that dealt with Canada)! Your PMR journey sounded similar to mine at the beginning, but you're a lot further down the track than me now. Do hope all continues that way.😊
Hello Time Flies My thumbnails aren't long or sharp. I just happen to find it very easy to snap these little tablets in half by pinning one between the side of an index finger and a thumbnail, and then just folding the pill up toward me with the same digits of my other hand. They almost always snap near perfectly in half, and I lose less to dust than using the pill cutter. And it's way, way faster! I just throw all the halves into different compartments of a few pill containers, drop in the 5mg tabs, and I'm fully loaded for another 2-week run
I have a pill cutter, I'll try to paste the picture, £3.99 on amazon. The pill wedges in a V shape and when you shut the box a razor blade comes down onto it. It is certainly good enough for halving pills and serves as a pill box for the other half.
Thanks for clarifying, Temeraire, coz I did think you meant cutters. Was thinking that I would need to buy half a dozen to find the perfect one! I shall persevere...😉
I got a free pillcutter from my pharmacist, about seven years ago. It had a pharma logo on it, long since worn off. Works very well, at least it does since I learned a little trick. Sometimes a pillcutter will give you a good half and a pile of little crumbs and mine was like that until I found out by accident if I held it in the air when snapping it shut it would give me two creditable halves. I suppose there's less vibration than when it sits on a kitchen counter.
Blow me, HeronNS, that sounds even more technical than MikeVanBC's method. Must be something in the air in Canada! Ha! 'in the air' it is, next time I try👍
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I wasn't impressed as even the clear request "I want to speak to a human" took 5 goes to get through!!!! 
It fell out with PMR, improved with prednisolone. went nuts with methyl pred and improved a bit with prednisone. Came out in clumps with methotrexate! Soon stopped that ...
GCA splitting pred dose 
Coated Pred
Splitting Pred Dose Morning/Night
Minor victory - 1mg pred
