Pill Splitters

I guess the pressure washer won't work too well, so I suggest the angle grinder instead.

Surely the SDS on roto-stop?

SteveW

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Rod saying something like:

I just punch down with a screwdriver.

cigar cutter? JimK

Glazier's / tile setters grozing pliers (big pincers) worked for me.

I have had to quarter 5mm dia x 3mm thick pills for several years now and the only thing I have found works is a sharp craft knife.

Colin Bignell

I have a log splitter, you fill it with black powder bash it into the end grain fit fuse and light it.

Can I ask a daft question? Why would you need to split pills? Do they not make them in various doaes?

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A *strong* pair of tailors' scissors works well.

Cic.

One reason is to avoid strong side effects by taking the daily dose in two or four smaller doses spread through the day.

Often they do, but it is common for the price per pill to be the same, regardless of the dose per pill. Madness! The NHS will always go for the cheapest method of delivering the prescribed daily dose, so if you want to split the dose, you need to split the pill. It's annoying.

I'm diabetic and take several pills that lower my blood glucose levels. One of them is quite powerful and it sometimes lowers my blood glucose level too much, causing me to feel faint with a risk of passing out due to a "hypo". That's especially dangerous if I am driving. So I split the 80 mg pill into two and the risk of a hypo is almost eliminated. The doctor won't prescribe twice as many 40 mg pills because that would cost the NHS double, even though the amount of the active ingredient would be the same.

Morter and pestle, crumble the pill on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to concentrate the dust along a line which then makes it easy to measure the dose evenly.

Ah OK, didn't know that.

You couldn't make it up could you?

Thanks Bruce.

Some diabetic pills (and other meds) are slow release and should not be chewed or cut in half as they then release the stuff too fast. These are usually designed to release over 12 or 24 hours and having two 24 hr a day ones is not going to solve your problem.

Others are film coated so they don't release in the stomach.

Have you checked its OK to split them?

At last: an area where Dennis has real life experience.

Pills.

I did read Bruce's informative reply.

But this particular situation is slightly different. With thyroid hormone the precise dosage is critical. Partner currently needs 125. Pills are available in 100, 50 and 25. Easy you'd think. But no - the formulation of the 25 is different to the 50 and 100. This difference seems to have a significant effect such the 50 is NOT equivalent to 2 *

1. So she takes 2 and a half 50s. (This also allows split dosing - e.g. some at first waking, some a bit later - which can be very beneficial.)

And these pills are very small and difficult to split accurately.

A second form of thyroid hormone she uses is derived from pig thyroid. This is not normally available in the UK so she either has to buy over the internet or persuade her GP to prescribe. Add numerous problems with availability, etc. and getting the right dose in these pills is even more difficult. Therefore she has to make do with what she can get and split one grain into quarter grain (or whatever). These tablets can also be awkward to split accurately.

She currently has a cheap splitter but it truly is nasty. I had been hoping for a nice 'professional' device that might even be made of metal.

The various suggestions have been interesting. To be specific - these tablets are not enteric coated.

Very few are made in the correct doses for small animals, so you have to split human dose pills.

Colin Bignell

Stanley blade and clingfilm

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For that degree of accuracy try a pair of ordinary engineer's side cutters (plenty of leverage) or even professional side cutting toenail clippers.

Cic.

Nightjar