Lets some you have like 10 mg pill of ritalin. If you break it in half, will each side be 5 mg? I heard if you break a pill it loses some of its potency. If im wrong let me know, but if it does lose potency, can you give me a link or some resource that says so. I have an arguement with someone else on this topic
You’ll notice that many prescription drugs that come in tablet form are scored. That refers to the fact that they have an indented line dividing them in half. That scoring is there specifically to help you break it in half.
I have a prescription that comes in 40 mg tablets and my MD wants me to take 20 mg at a time, so he’'s asked me to break them in two.
I can’t easily imagine why they would lose potency, outside of losing an insignificant portion of the dose to dust while breaking the tablet.
It depends on the drug, and the intended delivery. Some pills have a coating to allow it to dissolve in a particular part of the GI tract. These shouldn’t be cut. Cutting would release all of the drug at once, in the stomach. Some drugs are deactivated by the acid in the stomach and need to pass along to a more neutral environment, so they would lose effectiveness, however, if the pill is coated as a time release cutting would mean an overdose.
Some drugs have a clear coat whose only use it to mask the taste. (the pill itself may have a surface ID color under the clear coat.)
I don’t know if this helps, I don’t know any websites that might varafy this, but 30 years of Critical Care counts for something 
Hi picunurse. I didn’t think of the coated pills. I would doubt those are scored.
So the apparent answer at this time is that it depends on the pill.
Your pharmacist would be a great source of information on your specific med.
picu is right- it does depend on the pill. You can always call a doctor or pharmacist and ask if the pill is OK to be split, and they’ll let you know.
Oh, one more thing, there are a few (Vitamin E comes to mind) that are oil filled. Don’t split them, you’ll make a mess!