What You Should Know About Medicines/Tablet

Tablets, sometimes called pills, are commonly used to dispense medicines. Not all pills are the same. Some are time release, gelatine, or medically coated.

Tablets usually contain the active drug ingredient, plus excipients.

Excipients are inactive ingredients, such as a dye for the drug to look more appealing, flavor to add taste to the drug (most drugs don't naturally taste very good).

Time release tablets should NOT be chewed or crushed, since this will produce an overdose of the drug. These tablets are made to be taken only once or twice a day, and are designed so that the drug is slowly released into the body. They are very useful, and decrease the amount of times you need to take medication each day. However, taking a crushed Extended - Released tablet can be very harmful.

The other tablets, which are not time - release or extended - release, generally can be chewed, as they are not designed to slowly release the medicine.

Please ask your pharmacist about your specific medication to guide you on how to take it safely.