Cutting Toprol-XL in half?

njoracle said:

Because of apparent reaction (feeling faint and low heart
beat) to metroprolol, my cardiologist has cut my dosage of
metoprolol to
12.5mg/day from 25mg/day. He prescribed 25mg Toprol-XL to
be cut in half. The pharmacist said you cannot cut an
extended release in half so the doctor said to take it
every other day.

The pharmacist is wrong. Toprol-XL can be cut in half.

Quoted message said:

I went to the AstraZeneca web site and it said "Extended
release metroprolol succinate tablets are scored and can
be divided; however, the whole or half tablet should be
swallowed whole not chewed or crushed."

Therefore, it appears that while many XL drugs cannot be
cut in half, Toprol-XL is a drug that can be cut.

Correct.

Quoted message said:

Based on that, I believe I would be better off cutting the
pill in half and taking it every day. I have no problem
making a clean cut using a pill cutter.

Comments?

Would suggest you inform your doctor and let him/her
authorize it.

Servant to the humblest person in the universe,

Andrew

--
Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Board-Certified Cardiologist
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Dr. Andrew B. Chung said:

njoracle said:

Because of apparent reaction (feeling faint and low heart
beat) to metroprolol, my cardiologist has cut my dosage of
metoprolol to
12.5mg/day from 25mg/day. He prescribed 25mg Toprol-XL to
be cut in half. The pharmacist said you cannot cut an
extended release in half so the doctor said to take it
every other day.

The pharmacist is wrong. Toprol-XL can be cut in half.

Quoted message said:

I went to the AstraZeneca web site and it said "Extended
release metroprolol succinate tablets are scored and can
be divided; however, the whole or half tablet should be
swallowed whole not chewed or crushed."

Therefore, it appears that while many XL drugs cannot be
cut in half, Toprol-XL is a drug that can be cut.

Correct.

Quoted message said:

Based on that, I believe I would be better off cutting the
pill in half and taking it every day. I have no problem
making a clean cut using a pill cutter.

Comments?

Would suggest you inform your doctor and let him/her
authorize it.

Thanks for your response. I'll check with the doctor but
since he authorized it in the first place, I'm sure
he'll say okay.

njoracle said:

Dr. Andrew B. Chung said:

njoracle said:

Because of apparent reaction (feeling faint and low
heart beat) to metroprolol, my cardiologist has cut my
dosage of metoprolol to
12.5mg/day from 25mg/day. He prescribed 25mg Toprol-XL
to be cut in half. The pharmacist said you cannot cut
an extended release in half so the doctor said to
take it every other day.

The pharmacist is wrong. Toprol-XL can be cut in half.

Quoted message said:

I went to the AstraZeneca web site and it said "Extended
release metroprolol succinate tablets are scored and can
be divided; however, the whole or half tablet should be
swallowed whole not chewed or crushed."

Therefore, it appears that while many XL drugs cannot be
cut in half, Toprol-XL is a drug that can be cut.

Correct.

Quoted message said:

Based on that, I believe I would be better off cutting
the pill in half and taking it every day. I have no
problem making a clean cut using a pill cutter.

Comments?

Would suggest you inform your doctor and let him/her
authorize it.

Thanks for your response. I'll check with the doctor but
since he authorized it in the first place, I'm sure he'll
say okay.

Good :-)

Servant to the humblest person in the universe,

Andrew

--
Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Board-Certified Cardiologist
heartmdphd.comheartmdphd.comOpen ↗

**
Who is the humblest person in the universe?
makeashorterlink.commakeashorterlink.comOpen ↗

What is all this about?
makeashorterlink.commakeashorterlink.comOpen ↗

Is this spam?
makeashorterlink.commakeashorterlink.comOpen ↗