Nobody wants to take large horse pills when they are sick, especially when they are suffering from a scratchy or sore throat.
A common solution for people who take large tablets is to halve or even quarter them, depending on their size, to make them easier to swallow.
One woman says she learned never to do this with Mucinex DM after having a bad reaction to the decongestant and cough suppressant.
A clever plan backfires
In a video posted on TikTok, user Jorden (@__jorden__ on TikTok) said she believed she was “cheating the system” by breaking up the pills to make them easier to swallow.
She learned the hard way that this is not an appropriate way to take the medication, she says.
“This is very specific advice, but I’m telling you all now, don’t cut Mucinex DM in half to make it easier to swallow,” she says in the video. “I understand now why they check ID for this shit.”
The inventor says she thought she was “gameing the system” with her Walgreens pill splitter, but claims she was hallucinating.
“I fucking outsmarted myself. People see the hat man when they take too much Benadryl,” she says. “I saw the little Mucinex man from the commercials. I’m sitting there, sipping my water, all dazed, trying to fight the shit, and he’s sitting across the room smiling at me.”
She concludes: “Read the instructions. Swallow the tablet whole.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Jorden via a TikTok direct message and comment on the video.
@__jorden__ I got this 12 hour extended release in about 3 hours
♬ Original sound – jordEn
Why can’t tablets like Mucinex DM be broken?
Mucinex DM is advertised to consumers as providing all-day relief and relief for people with a variety of respiratory symptoms. This is possible because it is a sustained-release tablet when taken whole. If you cut or crush this tablet, the medication will be released all at once, increasing the risk of side effects.
When can you split tablets?
As a rule of thumb, only split over-the-counter medications if they have a splitting stamp, and only split prescription medications if directed by a doctor.
Several viewers offered their own advice, either from experience or because they are undergoing medical training.
“I’m a trainee nurse – extended-release tablets should never be cut!” wrote one commenter. “It totally changes the speed at which the medication enters the body.”
“Some medications have warnings not to split or empty the dose and to take the powder neat because it dissolves too quickly,” echoed another.
“Because Mucinex DM has an extended release effect, but stopping the drug has an immediate effect,” wrote another.
Some viewers said they had a bad reaction to the drug and never wanted to do it again.
“Mucinex in general makes me stumble and I can’t sleep,” said one. “I avoid it like the plague.”
“I took this once and felt like I was dying,” commented another. “It completely knocked me out. I will never take this again. I will continue to be constipated.”
“No, because I had the craziest fever dreams when I took them. I would rather suffer sick than take them again,” wrote one commenter.
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