Have you ever wanted to take, say, 17mg from a 30 mg pill? Read on...
First, a word on the limitations of this method. The pill you want to split must be crushable. I wouldn't recommend it for very low dose pills because of possible “hot-spots”, although I've never had any trouble with 0.25 mg triazolam tablets.
It doesn't work well for large doses from very large pills, because of a fundamental problem I'll explain in the Errors section. It is very precise (gives consistent results) but not 100% accurate (e.g. 17 mg might actually end up as 16 mg or 18 mg). Finally, it only works for solid drugs (powder-filled gelcaps, tablets), so no liquid-filled capsules. And, of course, use at your own risk, I accept no liability for anything.
Okay, let's get started.
What you'll need:
Preparation
The first thing you'll need to do is cut your syringe, as this will be your measuring device. Cut it at exactly 0, and make the cut as square as you can. If your first try is unsuccessful, cut it again at .1 cc or wherever, keep going if needed. Put a piece of tape over the graduations to keep them from wearing off.
Next, get your pill into powder form. Not a particularly fine powder, but there shouldn't be any clumps. If you're working with a tablet, grind it up. I'd recommend licking off any coating and letting it dry first. For powder-filled caps, empty them out and grind them a little to break up any clumps, if needed. Be sure to give the cap a good tap to dislodge any powder stuck to the inside. I would recommend grinding directly on the plate with a blunt object, or mirror if it's on a good backing, then scraping the grinding tool clean with your blade. The idea is to get all of the pill on the glass surface in powder form.
As an aside, I would recommend taking a trip to your local glass shop and ordering a ¼ inch thick glass plate, ~ 7 x 10 inches. They're relatively cheap, dead flat, and will handle even the toughest grinding, even when deeply gouged and scratched all over on both sides. They'll last practically forever, by which I mean right up until you drop the thing on a hard floor.
Homogenizing
Freshly ground powder is never totally uniform, so you'll have to make it uniform. The process is simple. Scrape all of the powder into a pile. Then stick your blade right into the middle of the pile, dividing it in half horizontally (one half toward you, one away). Then turn the blade ¼ turn, so one half is to your right and one to your left. Scrape the halves back together with a right-to-left motion.
To illustrate the process, I put together a gif of one “turn”. At the beginning, two powders are side-by-side under a UV-light. One is highly fluorescent, the other is UV-inert:
Do this 20 times and everything will be totally mixed. Here's the same pile after 20 turns:
Cutting
Some pills are inconveniently sized and might require extra volume for a good measurement. If this is the case, add a powdered “cut” right before homogenizing. I recommend microcrystalline cellulose, although in theory anything non-toxic will work. After 20 turns, the powders will be completely mixed.
Measuring
Now, using the gelcap / scoop / whatever, transfer your powder into the syringe. Do this over the plate in case anything spills. When everything is off the plate, scrape the sides of the blade to get off any stuck-on residue and throw it in the syringe.
Now, press your blade flat against the end of the syringe to create a seal. Not airtight, but it should stop powder from leaking out. Then push the plunger until you press all of the air voids out of the powder. If you cut the syringe correctly, a minimal amount of powder will leak out. Here's what it should look like:
Multiply the volume by the fraction you want. That's how much you want to take out. For example, in the picture I have 300 uL (.3 cc) of powder from a 30 mg temazepam capsule. To take 17 mg, I'd need 300 uL * 17 mg / 30 mg = 170 uL (.17 cc) of powder.
Now you'll have to press out the powder. Take half of the extra ( in this example, (300 uL – 170 uL) / 2 = 65 uL) and press out that much, or close to that much (I'll go for 80 uL for convenience). Keep the syringe pointing up, over the glass, and push the plunger until you get there. Using the blade, shave off any powder sticking out of the syringe to get the end of the powder column flat, resulting in something that looks like this:
Now, press out the amount you want into its own pile. Again, flatten the end. Finally, dump what's left in the syringe out into the first pile. You now have your desired amount in one pile, and the rest of the pill in the other.
Errors
There is an inherent flaw in this method: the assumption that when you squeeze the powder out of the syringe, you get the fraction the syringe reads. This is inaccurate, because the column of powder in the syringe compresses as you squeeze. If you take a large tablet, say 200 mg Seroquel, and measure out, say 100 mg, you'll actually get more like 70 mg out when the plunger is at half, the other 130 mg still in the syringe as a result of the powder in the syringe compressing as you squeeze it. This effect is negligible for small volumes (< .3 cc), but still present. That's why this method is precise, but not totally accurate. Volumes over ~ .7 cc will clog up the syringe and stop the plunger before you can finish. That's why I recommend smaller pills and going for the middle of the powder column.
Tapering
Finally, a word on tapering. This method will work well for a slow, steady taper for most drugs. For example, I've gone off 2.5 mg olanzapine / Zyprexa by taking 2.5 mg, then 2.4 mg, … 0.2 mg, 0.1 mg, then 0. This table shows how I split the pills: each column is one pill (so each totals 2.5 mg):
I took 2.4 mg and put the other 0.1 mg aside, then 2.3 mg and put the other 0.2 mg aside … then 1.2 mg left from measuring out 1.3 mg, and so forth down to zero. You can, of course, go as quickly or slowly as you want. This method has been a godsend for me, especially for Zyprexa, which I'd never have gotten off of otherwise.
Well, that's it. I'm sure there will be many questions, so ask away. I've been a little absent / busy lately, so you may have to wait a little for a response.
First, a word on the limitations of this method. The pill you want to split must be crushable. I wouldn't recommend it for very low dose pills because of possible “hot-spots”, although I've never had any trouble with 0.25 mg triazolam tablets.
It doesn't work well for large doses from very large pills, because of a fundamental problem I'll explain in the Errors section. It is very precise (gives consistent results) but not 100% accurate (e.g. 17 mg might actually end up as 16 mg or 18 mg). Finally, it only works for solid drugs (powder-filled gelcaps, tablets), so no liquid-filled capsules. And, of course, use at your own risk, I accept no liability for anything.
Okay, let's get started.
What you'll need:
- Glass plate / mirror + razor blade
- 1 cc syringe
- Gelcap (optional but recommended)
Preparation
The first thing you'll need to do is cut your syringe, as this will be your measuring device. Cut it at exactly 0, and make the cut as square as you can. If your first try is unsuccessful, cut it again at .1 cc or wherever, keep going if needed. Put a piece of tape over the graduations to keep them from wearing off.
Next, get your pill into powder form. Not a particularly fine powder, but there shouldn't be any clumps. If you're working with a tablet, grind it up. I'd recommend licking off any coating and letting it dry first. For powder-filled caps, empty them out and grind them a little to break up any clumps, if needed. Be sure to give the cap a good tap to dislodge any powder stuck to the inside. I would recommend grinding directly on the plate with a blunt object, or mirror if it's on a good backing, then scraping the grinding tool clean with your blade. The idea is to get all of the pill on the glass surface in powder form.
As an aside, I would recommend taking a trip to your local glass shop and ordering a ¼ inch thick glass plate, ~ 7 x 10 inches. They're relatively cheap, dead flat, and will handle even the toughest grinding, even when deeply gouged and scratched all over on both sides. They'll last practically forever, by which I mean right up until you drop the thing on a hard floor.
Homogenizing
Freshly ground powder is never totally uniform, so you'll have to make it uniform. The process is simple. Scrape all of the powder into a pile. Then stick your blade right into the middle of the pile, dividing it in half horizontally (one half toward you, one away). Then turn the blade ¼ turn, so one half is to your right and one to your left. Scrape the halves back together with a right-to-left motion.
To illustrate the process, I put together a gif of one “turn”. At the beginning, two powders are side-by-side under a UV-light. One is highly fluorescent, the other is UV-inert:
NSFW:
Do this 20 times and everything will be totally mixed. Here's the same pile after 20 turns:
NSFW:
Cutting
Some pills are inconveniently sized and might require extra volume for a good measurement. If this is the case, add a powdered “cut” right before homogenizing. I recommend microcrystalline cellulose, although in theory anything non-toxic will work. After 20 turns, the powders will be completely mixed.
Measuring
Now, using the gelcap / scoop / whatever, transfer your powder into the syringe. Do this over the plate in case anything spills. When everything is off the plate, scrape the sides of the blade to get off any stuck-on residue and throw it in the syringe.
Now, press your blade flat against the end of the syringe to create a seal. Not airtight, but it should stop powder from leaking out. Then push the plunger until you press all of the air voids out of the powder. If you cut the syringe correctly, a minimal amount of powder will leak out. Here's what it should look like:
NSFW:
Multiply the volume by the fraction you want. That's how much you want to take out. For example, in the picture I have 300 uL (.3 cc) of powder from a 30 mg temazepam capsule. To take 17 mg, I'd need 300 uL * 17 mg / 30 mg = 170 uL (.17 cc) of powder.
Now you'll have to press out the powder. Take half of the extra ( in this example, (300 uL – 170 uL) / 2 = 65 uL) and press out that much, or close to that much (I'll go for 80 uL for convenience). Keep the syringe pointing up, over the glass, and push the plunger until you get there. Using the blade, shave off any powder sticking out of the syringe to get the end of the powder column flat, resulting in something that looks like this:
NSFW:
Now, press out the amount you want into its own pile. Again, flatten the end. Finally, dump what's left in the syringe out into the first pile. You now have your desired amount in one pile, and the rest of the pill in the other.
Errors
There is an inherent flaw in this method: the assumption that when you squeeze the powder out of the syringe, you get the fraction the syringe reads. This is inaccurate, because the column of powder in the syringe compresses as you squeeze. If you take a large tablet, say 200 mg Seroquel, and measure out, say 100 mg, you'll actually get more like 70 mg out when the plunger is at half, the other 130 mg still in the syringe as a result of the powder in the syringe compressing as you squeeze it. This effect is negligible for small volumes (< .3 cc), but still present. That's why this method is precise, but not totally accurate. Volumes over ~ .7 cc will clog up the syringe and stop the plunger before you can finish. That's why I recommend smaller pills and going for the middle of the powder column.
Tapering
Finally, a word on tapering. This method will work well for a slow, steady taper for most drugs. For example, I've gone off 2.5 mg olanzapine / Zyprexa by taking 2.5 mg, then 2.4 mg, … 0.2 mg, 0.1 mg, then 0. This table shows how I split the pills: each column is one pill (so each totals 2.5 mg):
| 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.3 |
| 0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
I took 2.4 mg and put the other 0.1 mg aside, then 2.3 mg and put the other 0.2 mg aside … then 1.2 mg left from measuring out 1.3 mg, and so forth down to zero. You can, of course, go as quickly or slowly as you want. This method has been a godsend for me, especially for Zyprexa, which I'd never have gotten off of otherwise.
Well, that's it. I'm sure there will be many questions, so ask away. I've been a little absent / busy lately, so you may have to wait a little for a response.
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