Warning: Crushing or chewing that med could kill you!
If you’re taking at least one prescription drug (and 90 percent of seniors are), you know how big some of these pills and capsules have gotten.
They call them “horse pills” — but I think Mr. Ed himself would have struggled to choke down these meds.
But if you’ve been crushing, chewing, or splitting your pills to help get them down the hatch, there’s an urgent warning you need to hear.
Because researchers are warning that modifying your meds isn’t just dangerous — it could actually end up killing you.
But as Jane and her family learned, it can be a matter of life and death.
Jane was in her 80s and got in the habit of chewing her blood pressure drugs, because they were too difficult for her to swallow.
And, believe it or not, it ended up killing her.
The problem in Jane’s case (and lots of others) is that she was taking an “extended release” drug that’s designed to dole out its active ingredient over the course of hours. But when you crush or chew one of these pills, you can get the entire dose all at once.
Other meds are coated to pass through your stomach and withstand the acid, and then begin working once they reach your intestines. So if you change the “design” of the drug by breaking it down before you swallow it, it won’t work as intended.
Although crushing, chewing, or splitting pills can be incredibly dangerous, research out of France found that lots of people are still doing it. And that goes for both prescription drugs and OTC meds.
The ones that are the most dangerous to chew or crush are the drugs that have a very small difference between a “safe” dose and a toxic one. Things like blood thinners, and heart and high blood pressure meds (like the one that killed Jane).
For example, the French review found that digoxin, taken for heart failure and A-fib, if crushed, can cause a possibly fatal heart rhythm — either by making the heart beat too slow or too fast.
And even when modifying a pill or capsule doesn’t endanger your life, it can still cause other health problems.
One study found that when cut or crushed, some drugs can send out tiny, airborne particles that can cause skin irritations and trigger inhalation allergies. Some of the drugs tested were common anti-anxiety ones like Valium and Xanax, as well as sleep drugs like Lunesta.
As a rule of thumb, never crush, chew, or split a pill without talking to your doctor or pharmacist first. That simple, two-minute conversation could end up saving your life.
And if you have trouble swallowing pills, speak up and let your doctor know. There may be a liquid formula you can take or an alternate drug that can be safely crushed — or a compounding pharmacist can work with your doc to figure out another option.
Sources:
“Crushing prescription pills could trigger allergic reactions,” Leah Zerbe, Rodale News, rodalenews.com
“With some drugs, crushing tablets or opening capsules could have fatal consequences” Worst Pills Best Pills newsletter, worstpills.org
