Prescription Medication and how to take it?

Naym · October 14, 2007

Hi :help:. I'm having my lap band put in on the 23rd of this month and i was wondering how i go about taking my medications everyday. Does anyone have any advice? I have to take a fair few medications everyday as i have a mental illness and this requires alot of different tablets, some small and some large. I'm so scared that i'll muck it up and that it will stuff up my lap band. Do they tell you when you're in hospital? I'm thinking surely that they won't make me crush up my contraceptive pill as it is so tiny, but if they do will that make it less effective?

Any advice would be wonderful.

Thanks for your time

Naomi

sghatl · October 14, 2007

I was told that any pill larger than a birth control pill could not be taken whole. However, you have to ask your doctor what pills can be crushed as all pills cannot be, especially any of those that are timed released.

miri0819 · October 14, 2007

i was banded on the 25th and have been able to take all of my meds, some rather large, with no problem. the one thing for me is that i have to take one at a time and wait in between.

WASaBubbleButt · October 14, 2007

Many meds (especially psych meds) are time released and they CAN'T be crushed! It could be extremely dangerous to crush or break them. A general rule of thumb for pharmaceutical companies is that if the tablet is scored (line through it so it can be broken in half) then it is okay to break or crush. But you really need to talk to your RPh about which ones are okay.

Sometimes you have to crush tablets, sometimes you can break them in tiny pieces and swallow that way. But ALWAYS check with your pharmacist before breaking or crushing tablets.

An example is one form of Procardia. It's a shell of a tablet and there is a teeny tiny laser hole in there. When you swallow the tablet the medicine kinda "leaks" out of that laser hole throughout a 24 hour period. When the patient poops it out it appears that it was never digested. In reality it's called a "ghost" and it comes out looking the same as it did when it went in. It's just empty when it comes out.

If that type of a tablet were broken (blood pressure pill) the entire 24 hours worth of drug would be released all at once and that could potentially be quite dangerous. That's why time released tablets cannot be crushed or broken.

If you have a drug that is time released and can't be broken or crushed just talk to your doc and have him change it to something that you can break. You might just have to take it more often. An example is Effexor. There is short acting and long acting. Let's say the patient is taking 150mg of the long acting. Instead of taking 1 long acting tablet/capsule daily you might have to take 75mg of the short acting twice daily. Also, many drugs come in a liquid form but usually the taste and quantity you have to take is hard. If you can break the tablets it's usually easier to take in the long run.

Hope that helps.

mss · October 14, 2007

I take quite a few pain killers for an injury and I have been using a tablet cutter to cut them all in half and I then take my time swallowing each bit with quite a bit of Water. I haven't had any problems doing this. My doctor gave me information on which tablets I am able to break in half or which are available in capsules or liquid and if needed I will change some of the larger tablets I take to something that is easier to swallow but no problems so far.

2Bthinagain · October 14, 2007

I also take quite a few medications. I've found that taking them slowly at about 2-3 minute intervals works just fine. The only problem I had was with potassium pills. They are huge. My doctor replaced the horse pills with an elixor. The taste is not great, but not too bad if mixed with Crystal Light. I agree with the others - do not crush until you check with your doctor. I was banded 5/31/07 and have lost 56 pounds and am starting to go and do more and have more energy. The lapband is the best decision I've made in a long time. I'm a nurse and injured my back. I've had 2 back surgeries in 2000 and 2001. All I could do was stay in bed, EAT, watch TV, EAT, poop, EAT. As a result, I gained about 100 pounds.

Also, as you lose weight, some of your medications might be stopped. I'm a diabetic and the insulin has already been cut in half.

I really didn't mean to get so carried away with my reply, but felt the need to "talk". Thanks for listening.