How much is too much?

3 Apr 2011

From experience, I know that dividing a medication that helps is not effective. For example, I was taking 20mg methylphenidate in the morning and 10 mg in 2 subsequent administrations. Halving the medication and taking it twice instead of once did not help me at all. But if your son just wants to get through the night and does not need to "concentrate" on anything, then I would recommended taking 5 mg to get him through the night.

23 Aug 2011

You should ask your doctor before making any changes in the dosage like that. In thinking about what effect cutting the pill would have, that really depends on how the pill is made, how they actually delay the medication's release into the bloodstream. If they encapsulate little bits of drug into little capsules, then that might not affect the absorption very much. On the other hand, if they delay it by encapsulating the center part of the pill -- having the pill dissolve in stages -- then cutting it in half will probably break the capsule and release all the drug at once.

I am neither a doctor nor a pharmacist. I'm just guessing based on what physics I know. Your best bet: ask a pro, not us generic users.

--H