Tablet chopping tips please!

[Levojunkie]

Finally got extra Accord tabs to make up a 75mcg/day dose. This means chopping 50mcg tabs in half.

I'm not very good at it! They crumble so easily, instead of clean halves I end up with several little chunks and loads of 'dust'. I have to judge by eye how to sweep this into 2 more or less even piles. (I put these 'half' doses into very handy tiny Systema lidded containers. When taking the morning dose, I pour water into these and drink from them so I can make sure to ingest all the 'dust', after taking the full 50mcg tab as normal.)

There must be an easier way....?

I used to chop my steroid tabs with a proper little chopper from Boots, but that wasn't too satisfactory, there was 'dust' with those tabs as well. Levo tabs seem to be even more prone to crumbling...

[jimh111]

Just snap them between your fingers and thumbs, it doesn't matter if the halves are unequal. Alternatively take one every other day, the seven day half life means you won't notice any difference from day to day.

[Levojunkie in reply to jimh111]

Thank you, I didn't know about the half-life part. So that would mean taking 100mcg every other day alternating with 50mcg? I'll give that a go!

[helvella Administrator in reply to Levojunkie]

Many do some sort of alternate day dosing.

I prefer to stick with the same every day - even if a tablet splitting process is uneven it is closer to same every day than is alternate day dosing. Loss of crumbs is the biggest issue.

I'd be less worried about, say, 150/100 (up 50%, down 33%) than 100/50 (up 100%, down 50%).

[Levojunkie in reply to helvella]

Thank you for explaining the figures. It does seem a big jump both down and up. I'll give the cutter that SeasideSusie recommended a whirl before I go down the more extreme route!

[jimh111 in reply to Levojunkie]

Yes, that would be fine. I split the tablet because I often forget whether I've taken a tablet the previous day. We store around 10 days worth of T4 in our blood so any uneven halves will make a tiny difference given that half a tablet will represent about 1/30th of your blood T4.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

I use Accord and have the 50mcg tablets and I can't snap them (I have arthritis in my fingers so that probably doesn't help). I use this pill cutter:

amazon.co.uk/Safe-Sound-Pil...?

I bought mine at my local pharmacy.

I put the 50mcg tablet in the guide making sure the split line is uppermost and central. Lower the blade very gently (a heavy handed cut will make a mess) and I get a good clean cut every time with no dust. The spare half goes into my Sistema small lidded pot for next time.

[Levojunkie in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you for the link - it's in my next order already! It looks better engineered than my Boots one and the comments are good. I have osteo in my basal thumb joints which makes everything manual complicated and painful. I didn't know what I was going to use those tiny Sistema pots for when I got them (4 came with a Sistema bundle) - so at last they've found their proper niche in my life!

[Babette]

I use a very sharp knife and hold the tablet either side of the blade.

[imogen2010]

I’m on 125mcg so have the same problem 😫