has anyone cut a 100 mg tab of vimpat into half?

[bevali]

hi! I asked my doc if I could cut the 600mg dose I am taking down by 50 mg. He gave me the ok -said it didnt come in 50 mg ( I see now it does) but because initially I believed him before I checked I began cutting a 100 mg in half and taking 50 mg of it along with rest of dose (a drop of 50mg) now I am worried that dose is not exact 50 mg and could cause seizure (will call him ASP. Has anyone else cut a hundred mg tab of vipat in half with thought each half was whole 50 mg? They are not scored.
Also taking clonzepam 1/2 mg they are cut by pharm. but not even--some halves bigger some much smaller not on scored line-actually across line opposite way ---this is scary.

[Travis from MN]

They DO have a 50mg. It's PINK.

They are coated. Not sure if it could cause problems for getting into your system faster than desired, or stomach irritation.

I would split (way back) Tegretol's using a razor blade. That's my suggestion!

WOW 600! They have me on 400/day along with 2 others. I thought the jump from 100 2/day to 200/2x day was bad. It was increased all at once, so NO they didn't titrate it as they usually did. I did NOT like the auditory hallucinations it caused for a few days.

--Travis

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picture shows what the different strengths bottles look like.

[Porkette]

Hi bevali,

I've cut many different AED's in half. I take 2 50 mg. of Vimpat twice a day. When I've broken tegretol and trileptal in half I just snap the pill in two right from the center. If your dosage of vimpat has a line in
the center break it there and it should break with no problem. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!


Sue

[howdydave]

Howdy Bevali!

Go to your pharmacy and get a PILL CUTTER for yourself.

What is the half-life of Vimpat?

If it is longer than 24 hours, you shouldn't have any problems.

I have always been mystified by patients and doctors who reduce doses...
My philosophy is:
If the current dose is working for me, why in the world would anybody want to screw around with it?
(If it ain't broke, don't fix it!)

Unless you are a doctor yourself, reduction from 600 to 50 seems to be extremely drastic!
The policy is usually to slowly reduce, maintain at a reduced level and, if there are no problems, reduce some more.

[Travis from MN]

Half life is roughly 13 hours.

--Travis

[bevali]

thanks for the reply. My doctor titrated up correctly and I am only dropping 50mg -still pretty high though-550 mg eek :O

[bevali]

no line-too afraid to get to less or much morning or nite

[bevali]

thank you Travis!

[bevali]

thanks Dave. I only dropped 50mg-- not down to 50mg. All the research says 600 isn't any more effective than 400mg---just more side affects and drug in your body--doc ok with it

[bevali]

thanks Sue-I just am afraid if not even could cause trouble with level in blood

[Porkette]

Hi bevali,

My Epi told me that if I ever have to go off or lower my dosage of vimpat I have to do it very slowly. I'm to cut back 50 mg. for 1 wk. and then cut back another 50 mg. I had to do the same thing when going on vimpat
and many other AED's that I've tried. I have had withdraw sz. in the past changing AED's but after a couple of days things are back to normal. What I hated more than anything is when my AED's became toxic and that's when I
would have to cut back on them. For no reason the drug level just got high and I felt like I was drunk. It would take 2-4 days for me to get things straightened up again. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue

[sandinmyears]

Ask your pharmacist.