A woman fell into a coma after taking her blood pressure pills! This type of medicine should not be taken apart, it is too dangerous

Recently, a news event about "a woman falling into a coma after taking antihypertensive drugs in pieces" has attracted attention.

On October 18, according to Fujian Health News, a 40-year-old woman had high blood pressure and mistakenly thought that she was not taking enough medicine, so she bit off a piece of antihypertensive medicine with her teeth and ate most of it. As a result, within half an hour, she suddenly felt dizzy, broke out in cold sweats, and her legs became weak and she collapsed on the sofa. She had no strength to open her eyes, and her blood pressure could hardly be measured.

After going to the hospital for examination, it was found that she was in a coma because she was taking nifedipine controlled-release tablets . One tablet of this drug is equivalent to the dosage of three ordinary nifedipine tablets. Once it is crushed, broken, ground and taken, a large dose of antihypertensive drugs will be instantly released into the body, causing a sudden and significant drop in blood pressure.

1. Why can’t controlled-release tablets and sustained-release tablets be broken apart and eaten?

In daily life, many people often break the tablets into pieces to take because of the large size of the tablets. However, if the medicine says "sustained-release tablets" or "controlled-release tablets", do not break them into pieces to take them at will!

Sustained-release tablets are different from ordinary tablets. After taking them, they will not release all the drug power immediately, but will release it slowly and continuously. The release speed can be non-uniform or uniform. Sustained-release tablets can not only make the drug effect last longer, but also reduce side effects and maintain stable blood drug concentration.

Controlled-release tablets are more advanced. They also release drugs slowly, but at a uniform rate. This not only can stably control the condition 24 hours a day and reduce the number of times patients take medication per day, but also can greatly eliminate side effects caused by fluctuations in drug concentrations.

Since these drugs take effect slowly, if they are broken open and eaten, the drug will be released quickly, causing the blood drug concentration to be too high in a short period of time, which may lead to poisoning.

2. What other pills cannot be broken apart and taken?

Except for controlled-release tablets and sustained-release tablets, enteric-coated tablets cannot be broken apart and eaten.

Enteric-coated tablets are also a specially designed drug dosage form, with an enteric coating on the outside that can resist the erosion of gastric acid and ensure that the drug is not released in the stomach. Only when the enteric-coated tablets enter the intestines and encounter a high pH environment will the coating dissolve, allowing the drug to be released and absorbed.

If you break the medicine apart, this special membrane will be destroyed, which may reduce the efficacy of the medicine and even increase gastrointestinal adverse reactions. For example, if you break the enteric-coated aspirin tablets and diclofenac sodium enteric-coated tablets apart and take them, it may not only hurt your stomach, but also affect the efficacy of the medicine.

Therefore, when taking medicine, you must pay attention to the outer packaging and instructions. If there is a note saying "do not bite, chew, or break the tablet", please follow the instructions to avoid poisoning and drug ineffectiveness.

Pay attention to the reminders on the packaging

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