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Dr Uzair
Dr Uzair, Doctor
Category: Medical
Satisfied Customers: 9918
Experience:  MBBS, FCPS (R) General Surgery. Years of experience in Emergency Medicine.
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I have to take Ciprofloxacin 500mg tablets. I have immense

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I have to take Ciprofloxacin 500mg tablets. I have immense difficulty swallowing tablets and these ones are large. I would like to break them up into small pieces however the leaflet says "Ideally the tablets should be taken whole with a glass of water". If I break them up will it affect their action or will it give me problems?
Thank you
Dr Uzair :

Hi. Welcome to JustAnswer. I shall try my best to assist you while you are corresponding with me.

Dr Uzair :

Yes, you can break them up as long as you take all the pieces.

Dr Uzair :

Here is what you can do.

Dr Uzair :

Fold the paper into quarters.
Put the pill into the paper, and then fold it back up again.
And I just happen to have a ball-peen hammer, so this is what I use.
Anywhere I feel chunks, I keep smashing.

Dr Uzair :

This is what I do for pills and this works best.

Dr Uzair :

The paper will keep all the crushed pieces or the powder from scattering.

Dr Uzair :

Hope this helps. If you have any more queries, enter the chat and use reply to respond.

Dr Uzair :

And this will not change their action or give you problems. Pills can be broken and this is done in hospitals all the time to give to patients who can not swallow or are on tube feeding.

Dr Uzair :

If you do not have any more queries, please do leave a positive rating for the service.

Customer:

The leaflet of the medicine says"ideally the tablets should be taken whole....." but the pharmacist has printed on the label "Do not chew or break" so I was worried.

Dr Uzair :

If you chew them you are likely to have a bad taste in the mouth.

Dr Uzair :

But you can break them and swallow them with a lot of water to avoid tasting them.

Customer:

Thank you.

Dr Uzair :

It was a pleasure.

Dr Uzair :

Please do leave a positive rating for the service.

Dr Uzair :

Best.

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