I found this today in my search, figured I would share.

http://www.ismp.org/Tools/DoNotCrush.pdf

Great list. I think i had one of the pills on that list after my surgery and I had to crush it because I had no choice...but i only took it for around 4 days, so I don't think any damage was done. I'm thinking long term usage would be a no-no.

thanks for posting the list.

If you have a pill that you aren't sure of the general rule is if it's scored, it's OK to cut or crush. It's usually OK to open capsules since the capsule itself is designed to dissolve upon contact with stomach acid. If it's full of powder it normally tastes horrible, tho.

I take two medications (generic claritan and sudafed) which are on this list and defined as "slow release". I stopped crushing them and now I eat them. I found that the taste was very bad when I crushed them and that by eating them (essentially crushing them with my teeth), the bad taste doesn't stay in my mouth as long. The drugs seem to be working for me to combat my allergy problems. Is there any risk to eating them or does it just mean that the "slow-release" design won't be as effective?

I take various Rx meds every morning. (about 10 pills total) When I was preparing to get banded, I was told to get a pill crusher which I did. I used it one week after surgery.

One of the meds I take is Lovaza, which is basically a fish oil capsule that can't be crushed. I take 4 of these, and they are very large.

Make a long story short, I take all my meds whole, I don't need to crush them even though I have a tight band.