[Mia444]

Hello everyone,
My husband is in his 50s. He was given extra strength Vicodin for a painful tooth abcess. He tried one pill and said it was a little too strong (made him a bit dizzy and feel out of it) so a friend suggested I split a pill. My husband tolerated that dosage much better, so I proceeded to split the entire bottle of 24 pills so they'll be ready when he needs them. I thought I was helping him, but he questioned whether the medication will lose its effectiveness because it's been split ahead of time?

For instance, if he doesn't use all these pills and needs to use some at a later time (he has a lot of dental work coming up after years of neglecting his teeth), will the fact I split them ahead of time cause them to lose potency? He thinks they might and I feel stupid for potentially ruining his medication! Can anyone shed light on this? Thanks for any insight/comments!

[Miles]

Mia444:

It's okay to split them. Efficacy will not be lost for quite some time, split or not. As an alternative, he could take one non-split tablet w/ a meal. He might tolerate that better.

Good luck!

[Mia444]

Thank you, Miles, for your help. I feel better now (and so does my husband). :-)

[Miles]

Glad to help! Good luck to you both!

Miles