In daily life, there will always be times when you are sick and need to take medicine. Many people pay attention to the composition of drugs, but some people may ignore another important aspect of drugs in the process of medication, that is, dosage forms. Some people are more casual, breaking the pills, crushing or opening the capsules to eat, especially when giving drugs to the elderly or children, afraid that the pills are too large to take, they will break them open and take them. Doing so is dangerous for some drugs and can even lead to drug toxicity. So what drugs can't be broken?
These types of drugs can not be broken open to eat, otherwise or lead to serious consequences
1) Enteric-coated tablets
For some drugs that are easy to stimulate the stomach, such as aspirin, in order to reduce the stimulation of the stomach, it will wrap a layer of enteric-coated membrane on the outside of its tablets, which will not be destroyed under acidic conditions, so it can remain intact in the stomach, and under neutral or alkaline conditions, it will dissolve with the change of PH value, so that the drug can be released in the intestine, reducing the risk of causing gastric ulcers and bleeding.
However, if this kind of drug is broken open and taken, then it directly and crudely destroys the enteric-coated membrane, loses the protection of the enteric-coated membrane, and the drug is completely exposed, which will stimulate the gastric mucosa and cause adverse reactions, so the enteric-coated tablets can generally not be broken open to take.
2) Sustained and controlled release preparations
In general, controlled-release preparations must be swallowed in whole tablets (granules) and should not be broken, crushed or chewed to avoid excessive efficacy or serious toxic side effects after sudden release of the dose. Extended-release dosage forms, unless the instructions indicate that they can be broken open, generally can not be broken open at will.
In order to prolong the action time of the drug, some drugs will be made into a sustained controlled release dosage form, so that the drug is released slowly and continuously in the gastrointestinal tract, and the controlled release preparation can even control the speed of drug release. The preparation process of these sustained and controlled release dosage forms is more complex, including film-coated type, skeleton type, osmotic pump type and so on.
Some preparation processes cannot be broken open, because they may destroy the osmotic pump, skeleton or outer controlled release film, which cannot achieve the purpose of sustained release or long-term effect, and may also cause drug overdose or even poisoning because the drug is released too quickly. Controlled-release tablets usually cannot be broken open: for example, the commonly used antihypertensive drug nifedipine controlled-release tablets, which may cause a sudden decrease in blood pressure! An elderly female hypertensive patient in cardiology, after oral administration of nifedipine controlled-release tablets in the morning, the blood pressure is not stable, and the blood pressure drops sharply in the morning (especially in the early morning), while the blood pressure rises in the afternoon. After detailed questioning, it was found that the patient broke open the nifedipine controlled-release tablets and caused a sharp drop in blood pressure.
However, some sustained-release dosage forms can be broken open, and there will be traces in the middle of the tablet that can be broken, and if there are any, they can be broken along the traces. There are also microcapsulation preparations made by the sustained and controlled release process, which can also be broken open, and can even be dissolved after nasal feeding, such as theophylline sustained release tablets. At present, the common extended-release tablets that can be taken in the clinic are: isosorbide mononitrate extended-release tablets (imdo, Xinkang), metoprolol succinate extended-release tablets (betalox), sodium valproate extended-release tablets (debagin), carzobidopa controlled-release tablets (shining), tramadol hydrochloride extended-release tablets (chimantin) and so on.
Therefore, for whether the inhibition reagent can be broken, ask a professional pharmacist or doctor, or use the medicine according to the instructions in the instructions.
It is worth noting that some sustained and controlled release preparations such as potassium chloride extended-release tablets (supplemental Daxiu), nifedipine controlled-release tablets (Baixintong), doxazosin mesylate controlled-release tablets (kodohua) and so on after taking, the drug skeleton can not be absorbed, will be excreted with feces, and the excreted out of the body of the slow, controlled release structure is similar to the complete tablet, so it is necessary to inform the patient in advance, so as not to cause the patient's misunderstanding.
epilogue
In short, when using drugs in life, we should not only pay attention to the composition of the drug, but also pay attention to the administration of different dosage forms of drugs, for enteric-coated preparations and sustained release tablets, when you want to break open and take it, you should consult a professional doctor or pharmacist, and it is recommended to choose the appropriate dosage form and specifications of the drug according to your own conditions under the guidance of the doctor.
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About author:Pharmacist Fang Jian, in 2003, obtained the certificate of practicing physician, in 2012, the clinical pharmacist training post certificate of the Ministry of Health, and in 2016, he won the title of National Pioneer of Science Popularization, and the deputy chief pharmacist of the top three hospitals. Social appointment: Member of the Rational Drug Use Committee of the Guangdong Pharmacological Society; Member of the Science Popularization Committee of the Guangdong Pharmaceutical Society.