You can crush a pill if you can't swallow it if the pill is designed to be crushed.
Not all pills can be crushed as doing so can increase risk of side effects and change the bioavailability or dosing of the pill and that alters the effectiveness of the medicine.
Only crush pills that are designed to be crushed.
You can tell if a pill can be crushed or not by the bottle as the pill will state do not crush if it cannot be crushed.
Or if your tablet or pill has a line down the middle that is an indicator that it's okay to crush or cut the pill.
The medications that should never be crushed are coated tablets and the following medications.
Acetaminophen ER (Tylenol 8HR)
Aspirin EC (Ecotrin)
Bisacodyl (Dulcolax)
Alprazolam ER (Xanax XR)
Bupropion ER (Aplenzin, Forfivo XL, Wellbutrin SR/XL)
Oxycodone ER (OxyContin, Xtampza ER)
Morphine sulfate ER (MS Contin)
Amoxicillin / clavulanate ER (Augmentin XR)
ABBATIN.
Diclofenac / Misoprostol.
Rabeprazole.
Cyclobenzaprine.
Aspirin.
Acxion ap.
Akineton delayed
Estradiol/drospirenone.
Angiotrofin delayed.
Farma Leal ASOFLON LP 0.4 mg 30 Caps.
Atemperator.
Hazardous medications.
Modified release medicines.
Not crushing the medicines is of particular importance with hormonal, cytotoxic or steroidal medications.
If the tablet is crushed, the drug may go into the air and the dose inadvertently be received by the administrating nurse or carer.
Crushing extended-release meds can result in administration of a large dose all at once.
Crushing delayed-release meds can alter the mechanism designed to protect the drug from gastric acids or prevent gastric mucosal irritation.
Crushing sublingual or buccal tabs can alter effectiveness.
Medications may be inappropriate to crush if they have enteric or slow-release coatings; are sublingual or buccal formulations; have the potential to irritate the skin or mouth when crushed; have antineoplastic, cytotoxic, or teratogenic properties; or have a potentially unacceptable taste.
Crushing enteric coated tablets may result in the drug being released too early, destroyed by stomach acid, or irritating the stomach lining.
In general, manipulation of enteric coated and extended-release formulations is not, therefore, recommended.