The Best Way to Crush Desiccated Thyroid Pills

A Cheap, Easy and Mess-Free Step-by-Step Method

Aug 14, 2009 Michaela Spangenburg

An easy and portable method of pill crushing that insures that the patient gets his full dose of thyroid.

Many Hypothyroid sufferers are now switching to Westhroid or Nature-Throid in light of Armour Thyroid's recent reformulation. Especially affected are those who used to take their Armour sublingually as opposed to swallowing it. However, Westroid and Nature-Throid are not manufactured to dissolve under the tongue as easily as Armour's original formula did and must first be crushed in order to dissolve successfully. Crushing any pill can be difficult, but crushing a small, hard, round pill like Westhroid or Nature-Throid can be even more so. This is especially true as the pills need to be crushed very well so as to dissolve quickly.

Pill Crushers Don't Work Well with Thyroid Pills

Some pill crushers just can't do the job, and cutting the pill into several smaller pieces with a pill splitter is a messy process that often results in some of the thyroid being lost and still can produce pieces that are too large to dissolve easily. Higher quality pill crushers may do a better job at this, but getting all the precious thyroid powder off them after crushing the pill can be a daunting task. Plus, most of these higher end pill crushers are hard to find and fairly expensive, usually in the $30.00 to $70.00 dollar range or more!

Crushing the Pill Between One's Teeth is Effective, but…

Crushing the pill between one's back teeth is certainly the most effective way to quickly grind the pill into a very fine powder. However, it’s a very messy method, resulting in powder getting in the teeth and pretty much everywhere except under the tongue. Plus, the unpleasant pork taste is bad enough to dissuade most people from wanting to crush the pill in their mouths.

An Easy and Low Cost Solution to Crushing Thyroid Pills

At this point, a person reading this article might be tempted to try crushing their pill in between their teeth anyway - it's certainly more effective than using a pill crusher or pill splitter. But there is an even better and very simple way to go about crushing your pills to a very fine powder and being able to get all that powder under your tongue without any special equipment! All you need is a small piece of plastic wrap that can easily be tucked into your pill bottle so you don't forget it.

Place pill on plastic wrap.
Fold plastic wrap neatly over the pill, then fold it a second time, making sure that the pill is far from the edges.
Place in mouth, on a molar or premolar and clamp teeth down gently a couple of times. Avoid chewing from side to side as one would normally do or the plastic wrap might break.
Remove pill from mouth, carefully unwrap it and dump the powder under the tongue.

With this method, a thyroid patient can insure they are getting their entire dose with very little, if any, mess or effort and can start looking forward to days of symptom-free living!

The copyright of the article The Best Way to Crush Desiccated Thyroid Pills in General Medicine is owned by Michaela Spangenburg. Permission to republish The Best Way to Crush Desiccated Thyroid Pills in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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