The Dangerous Side-effects Of Crushing Pills: By Medical Experts
One of the most difficult parts of oral medication is that most people find it hard to swallow their pills and tablets. Hence, they try to take a different route to consume their medicine. You guessed it! They break or open the tablet and capsule.
Although this might solve their swallowing problem, it exposes your body to several medication risks. Crushing tablets and consuming them comes with its fair share of side effects. In the worst-case scenario, it can even lead to death.
Why Crushing Pills Is A Bad Idea?
Most tablets that we consume today have a special coating on them to regulate the release rate when they enter the body. Hence, crushing them can change the rate of release and lead to a temporary overdose phenomenon.
For instance, the pills that you take once a day have a special coating that takes its time dissolving. This way, its effect lasts the entire day. Crushing such a pill might be equal to giving the patient too much from the start.
If you have problems swallowing your pills, instead of breaking and crushing them, try using Gloup swallowing gel. It is a medically safe gelatine substance that coats the pill and helps it slip down the throat smoothly. What’s more, it doesn’t affect the medicine’s medical properties.
Side-Effects Of Crushing Pills
If you are someone who crushes the pill before swallowing just because you cannot swallow whole, stop doing that. You might not know. But by doing that, you are exposing yourself to future medical complications.
Before you crush your pills, you must understand that there is a reason why a capsule comes in the form of a capsule and a tablet comes with a protective coating. They are meant to be consumed as they are. If you are crushing them, you might be changing their reactive time.
1. Pills Might Interact With The Other Medicine
One of the reasons why pills and tablets come with a protective layer is to delay their effectiveness. Most of the time, we are prescribed different medicines at the same time. Consuming them together might allow the medicine to interact with each other. This can further complicate things.
However, with the protective layer, the medicine has a different reaction time. But crushing the pills breaks the protective layer allowing the different medicines to react together.
2. Crushing Prevent Pills From Working properly
Some medicines are intended to work when they reach the small intestine. Having protective layers ensures that the pills survive their journey to the intestine and then dissolve.
However, breaking the medicine takes away its purpose. As a result, you might find that the pill has lost its effectiveness.
3. Your Body Might Respond Differently
Some pills are taken once a day. That means the effect of the pill will remain for 24 hours. This is maintained by the slow rate of dissolution of the pill.
But crushing the pill removes the protective layer. It gives a temporary overdose. You might not normally react to the overdose medicine.
What To Do Instead Of Crushing?
It is important that you do not take any unnecessary action with your pills. You must never crush your pill unless your pharmacist or doctor says so. Instead, visit your doctor to see what they have to see in this matter.
Discuss with your doctors whether or not you have an alternative, such as liquid medication. Today, most of the tablets and capsules have their liquid form. So finding one might not be hard.
Being a patient, it is your responsibility to clear out any queries by asking questions to your doctor. If you are aware of your swallowing problem, let the doctor know about it. This will help both of you save some trouble.
Verdict
Call your doctor or pharmacist to handle situations like these. So don't go making decisions on your own. Instead, tell them about the difficulties so that they can offer you an alternative. That being said, one thing is certain: never crush your medicine before consulting your doctor.
