cutting Lamictal

[crazymama30]

Does anyone know if you can cut Lamictal in half? It is scored, so it looks like it is made to be cut, but I asked the pharmacist and she said it said not to. All the literature I found said to take it whole, as if it is chewed it will produce a bitter taste. Does not say anything about it being extended release and getting too much medication at one time. difficult child's psychiatrist even said I could cut it in half. Usually I go with the pharmacist, but this just does not seem right.

I will e-mail psychiatrist later and tell him what pharmacist said.

 

[gcvmom]

Yes, you can cut it. husband and difficult child 2 had to do this when they were titrating up and weaning off it. husband's neurologist and difficult child 2's psychiatrist instructed us to do it that way.

 

[smallworld]

We have always cut our 25 mg Lamictal tablets in half with a pill splitter, per our psychiatrists, especially when we were titrating slowly up on Lamictal (12.5 mg increase every two weeks). I understand the 100 mg tablet are big enough that you can break them in half with your hands.

I hate to say it, but I think your pharmacist is wrong. If a tablet it scored, it's allowed to be cut in half. It sounds as if the literature says you won't want to chew Lamictal because it has a bitter taste, but that doesn't mean you can't split it to halve the dose.

 

[DammitJanet]

We have cut the lamictal too. I wouldnt want to chew many of my pills...ewwww.

 

[Nancy423]

As a former Pharm tech, I can say that all my pharmacists agree - if a pill is scored, it's ok to cut. Yes, taste may be an issue because you've broken the thin layer of coating.

 

[totoro]

I am cutting my Lamictal right now... yeah. I had stopped, bad. SO I had to start back up, I have 100mg and now cut those.
The only thing I have found is that the last refill was generic they tend to crumble a bit when cut.
My new psychiatrist gave me a huge supply of samples to avoid having to cut any more, or having to quarter any.

 

[Wiped Out]

husband and I have had to cut it for difficult child. I agree with Totoro about a bit of crumbling with the generic.

 

[crazymama30]

Thank you, thank you. I feel better now.


How about this? Is there any difference between cutting and crushing? If you can cut a pill, why can't you crush it? Seems like there would be no difference.

 

[Wiped Out]

Don't know about the crushing. I do know that difficult child HATES the taste of lamictal so almost always swallows it with milk.

 

[gcvmom]

Shouldn't be a problem. Just that you'll likely taste it more, unless you're doing it to mix it up in something to swallow...

 

[Nancy423]

Thank you, thank you. I feel better now.


How about this? Is there any difference between cutting and crushing? If you can cut a pill, why can't you crush it? Seems like there would be no difference.

It depends on how the pill works too. ALL medications that are LA, CD, ER etc should NOT be cut or crushed. Crushing a pill might allow for dose shortage since the powder consumed might be less than the full pill. Or the pill effects might be felt during the fist few hours, but nothing later on. It may also cause the body to absorb it faster than intended because the protective outer layer can no longer protect it from the gastric juices.

Here's what I got direct from GSK (manufacturer) for dosing under the age of 12...(there's nothing said about adults) "The smallest available strength of LAMICTAL Chewable Dispersible Tablets is 2 mg, and only whole tablets should be administered. If the calculated dose cannot be achieved using whole tablets, the dose should be rounded down to the nearest whole tablet"


For kids the mfgr does say it's ok to crush the chewable tabs and take with- applesauce, use in Gtube etc. But it says nothing about regular tabs.