LITTLE ROCK — DEAR READERS: Millions of people take medication daily, but some are skipping their medication, or they try to split pills to save money. This may seem like a good idea, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has some guidelines to follow before splitting any of your pills:
Not all pills are safe to split. Time-released drugs, capsules and pills coated to protect your stomach should never be split.
Never split pills with a knife. Use a pill splitter. You can buy one for very little money. Some tablets are hard to split because of their shape or size, and can end up crumbling.
It is difficult to split a tablet, because there is no guarantee that the medication amounts will be equal.
Pills can only be split safely in half; never split them into any smaller portions, such as thirds or more.
Some pills may start to break down and deteriorate if left split for too long before taking. So keep this in mind if you want to split a bunch ahead of time.
Please talk to your doctor or health-care expert to advise you if splitting pills is safe, and about how to do so.
DEAR HELOISE: Regarding your letter to readers about home safety while on vacation, I would like to add the following: Check with your bank for its policy on forwarding mail. Mine does not due to security reasons, but I was not aware of this.
Also, despite leaving a forwarding address with the post office, I unfortunately didn’t receive all of my mail. I suggest calling companies and giving them your temporary address.
- Sally in Pennsylvania
DEAR HELOISE: When disposing of old credit cards, after cutting up, put part in the recycle bin and part in the garbage. This way, if anyone finds it, he will not have a complete number.
- Marilyn F., via e-mail
DEAR READER: Good point. But if you cut it up enough, it would be difficult to put it back together.
DEAR HELOISE: Some pharmacy labels peel off easily. However, the “mail order”- type labels are on permanently. I’ve found that using a fingernail emery board to “sand” off the personal information from the label before throwing the container away works very well.
- Les in Omaha, Neb.
Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or e-mail Heloise@Heloise.com
Style, Pages 26 on 05/29/2012