Aristo Levothyroxine Tablets - Splitting - Thyroid UK

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Aristo Levothyroxine Tablets - Splitting

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK
48 Replies

I have just been reading the German language documentation for Aristo Levothyroxine.

Unlike most products, it has express instructions on how to divide a tablet evenly.

Does anyone reading have Aristo Levothyroxine on which they could try this?

The Levothyroxine Aristo tablets can be divided into equal doses

Note on Divisibility

Place the tablet on a firm, flat surface with the score line facing up. To break the tablet, press directly in the center of the tablet with your thumb

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helvella
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48 Replies
tattybogle profile image
tattybogle

not got aristo , but just dug out one of the Teva 25mcg that i no longer take ... tried it ..and lo and behold if you press firmly for long enough.. you do get a little 'crack' and 2 equal halves :)

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to tattybogle

Thanks for trying!

I hope we get a range of tablets tested - but don't destroy ones that are important to you.

tattybogle profile image
tattybogle in reply to helvella

does anybody want two halves of 12.5mcg Teva ? cos i don't

reporting myself now for trading in tablets :)

Hay2016 profile image
Hay2016 in reply to tattybogle

I have TEVA but I’m not sure mine are scored. I’ll have to check now and snap some in half just to see if I can. 😂😂 Six years. They’ve got a score mark and do snap 25 and 100’s but 1 crumbled a bit.

tattybogle profile image
tattybogle in reply to Hay2016

i've been biting mine in half since last year.... what a slattern !

BB001 profile image
BB001 in reply to tattybogle

Beats using a pill cutter to divide up Teva then, as I ended up with 3 unequal pieces, or two unequal pieces, or whatever it felt like.

TSH110 profile image
TSH110

I wonder if it needs a score mark or if you can just keep dividing in this way.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to TSH110

I think the score does matter.

But we have a whole load of statements about score lines.

Such as, they have no function and are just to identify tablets. Or, they can be used for breaking but are not accurate enough for dose splitting. (Pretty much, only useful to make big tablets easier to swallow.)

nellie237 profile image
nellie237

Hi Helvella,

I've just tried this with Aristo 100mcg. At first I thought it hadn't worked because I'd expected to feel it break, which I didn't.........so, I picked it up and held it like I'd hold something that I wanted to snap in 2, and it broke apart really easily. Not perfect, but good enough in my opinion.

Hopefully a useful tip. 👍

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to nellie237

Thank you!

TSH110 profile image
TSH110

ThyroidS has no score line and pressing it in the middle does nothing at all it just stubbornly sits there whole. Score lines clearly matter a lot. I suppose one could do a diy score mark in a pill cutter which rather defeats the object of a pill cutter….which is to halve it completely in one press

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to TSH110

I'm also wondering if the Aristo tablets are not perfectly flat on the other side?

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply to helvella

The bevel effect?

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to TSH110

I was thinking more like, um, a Pringle! A slightly curved surface. Such that when you press on the scoreline, the middle of the tablet has a tiny amount of space - it will start by deforming a little, then break.

radd profile image
radd in reply to helvella

A pringle! 🤣

I love Pringles.

tattybogle profile image
tattybogle in reply to TSH110

ok . Soooo.... earlier on, when you said 'you wonder if it works for quarters' ,i pressed my Teva half in the middle and thought ..nope ,nothing happened... tried the other half just for good measure ....nope ......which didn't surprise me cos they are obviously not scored for quarters.However ... curiosity (following on from the pringles /bevel comments) made me go to pick the halves up, to check if my tablet was flat or rounded on the bottom.... and whaddaya know .... i do actually have 4 quarters.

Tablet was rounded on both sides (outwards ,not inwards)

I can see how this can work with the score line , but am very surprised it worked without... but it did .

Does anybody want to swap 4 x 6.25mcg's Teva for 4 Pringles ?

N3ess profile image
N3ess

Please excuse my English. I‘m a german native speaker and always skipped my english lessons.

Your question contains two parts:

1) can I break the tablet in two parts with equal ingredient content and 2) how can I do that.

1) depends on what the manufacturer says. Sometimes the information is not mentioned in the package insert for the general public but only in the specialized information for doctors and pharmacists. (Sanofi only writes in the specialized information that the tablets have a ‚Bruchrille‘ (score line) and that you can split them into equal dose parts.)

2) depends on surface of tablet and/or kind of score line. With a wedge-shaped score you can often break it on a table, with a small one on a flat tablet you better divide it with your hands or cut it with a sharp knive.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to N3ess

Vielen Dank. Das ist besser als mein Deutsch. :-)

Luckily, Sanofi does allow online access to their professional and patient information. But some German companies claim it is illegal to make the information accessible.

In the UK, all these documents are required to be available online. And none of the UK tablets say they can be split!

I use Aristo and I break my tablet up into 4, cutting the tablet is easy and seems pretty equal, but cutting into 4 they do shatter and are not perfect in anyway. My local chemist says they can no longer source Aristo and really didn’t seem to help me at all.

The score line is in the centre and definitely allow an easy cut, but try and cut again and it dose crumble.

I’ll try my thumb next time.

I use a pill cutter :)

tattybogle profile image
tattybogle

well blow me .. from this mornings experiment, it also works with mercury 25's which are pretty small and don't have any score line. (convex ,both sides)

Press for a long time , you feel it 'give' slightly ...it seems to be still whole, but when you pick it up you can then snap it in half extremely easily.

It probably depends on having a very hard surface to press it on, my bedside table has a very hard oak top ... i suspect it may not work so well on a soft pine surface.

edit : have since tried it with wockhardt 25's ....also very small with no score line ... it works on them too .

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to tattybogle

Very much agree regarding the surface. I'd choose a glass or smooth tiled surface for hygiene and effectiveness. If you have one, of course!

Bookworm63 profile image
Bookworm63

I have Aristo and have to cut them up but I use a pill cutter, simples. I will give this a go though. 😊

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to Bookworm63

I'm certainly not recommending anyone changes their existing technique if it works.

But do let us know.

Bookworm63 profile image
Bookworm63 in reply to helvella

I pressed it with my thumb and it split accurately in half 👍

ajb1969 profile image
ajb1969

Hi

I’ve got Aristo Levothyroxine. (They make me poorly so I’m returning them back to the chemist).

I thought I’d try one. It does have a line. I couldn’t use my thumb to cut it in half, as I wasn’t strong enough (arthritis)

so I used my vitamin bottle, to bang it on the counter and it broke in half - voilà!

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to ajb1969

Thank you for doing that and replying!

It all helps to share experiences.

elaine2447 profile image
elaine2447 in reply to ajb1969

Can you describe how they made you feel poorly, thanks. I have just started 25mcg and have Hashimotos and a fairly high TSH. They are TEVA, I was sort of okay the first 3 or 4 days but by the time i got to day 12, yesterday, felt so ill and wracked with pains I can only think this has caused some sort of flare up. Anway, this morning I have cut it in half to see how i go. I used a pill cutter.

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering

I tried it with an Accord 50mcg tablet on my oak bedside table. I ended up with 4 uneven pieces and some crumbs :(

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to SeasideSusie

You helped with keeping us amused! :-)

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply to helvella

Always happy to help 😊

SarahJane1471 profile image
SarahJane1471

Mercy Pharma 100s turned to dust 😂😂😂

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to SarahJane1471

Thank you! :-)

BootsOn profile image
BootsOn

Tried it on a Sinemet tablet (for Parkinson's) and it worked. Then tried a Mexican Cynomel tablet - two perfect halves! Frustrated at all those years of piddling about with T3 tabs and a pill cutter or scalpel trying to get a quarter of a tiny bleeding tablet... Grrr!

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to BootsOn

I am quite honestly amazed that it works - even for Aristo levothyroxine!

Thank you for trying and letting us know.

BootsOn profile image
BootsOn

You're most welcome. I'm amazed too! I hope it works on paracetamol the next time I have a headache. Shame it won't work on my film-coated horse-pill-size vitamin C tablets!

tzracer profile image
tzracer

In the interests of research, I tried 20mcg mercury pharma liothyronine (which are scored) first one even split, second attempt fairly even quarters. 50 mcg accord (scored) quarterd, then did half and 2 quarters.Not very consistent but neither is my pill cutter.

tattybogle profile image
tattybogle

anybody fancy a game of tiddlywinks ?

Lovecake profile image
Lovecake in reply to tattybogle

You’re on, as my Thybon Henning didn’t break (as suggested above), so I have plenty of strong counters with which to play 😈

tattybogle profile image
tattybogle in reply to Lovecake

Cool :) research needed on "which Levo tabs are best for tiddlywinks"

Lovecake profile image
Lovecake in reply to tattybogle

Great idea! I also have smarties………but they are reducing in number quite quickly 🐷

tattybogle profile image
tattybogle in reply to Lovecake

Do you think we could get funding for a double blind placebo study (requiring us to have 3 month supply of Smarties / Pringles / Minstrels ) ?

Lovecake profile image
Lovecake in reply to tattybogle

Someone said “yes” to a 6000% hike in the price of T3, so anything is possible these days 🤪I’d certainly put myself forward for that type of test 😋

Ingrid1234 profile image
Ingrid1234

Won’t it break more easily upside down?

The diagram looks wrong/distorted?

Seems to me that the tablet would split better that way? 🧐

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to Ingrid1234

That is what I thought, but I read, and re-read, the instructions several times. Which is why I wondered if the bottom is slightly non-flat.

Ingrid1234 profile image
Ingrid1234 in reply to helvella

My eyesight is pretty bad so would need a magnifying glass to check out tablet flatness?

BootsOn profile image
BootsOn in reply to helvella

My bottoms are slightly non-flat - that's the bottoms of my tablets, not my actual bottoms. Oh... wait :)

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK in reply to BootsOn

Very good! :-)

tattybogle profile image
tattybogle in reply to Ingrid1234

i agree , the concept is 'illogical' ...and yet.... it works..... dunno how , but it does .

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