Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Subscribe American Journal of Medicine Free Newsletter
DrugsThe Risk of Pill Cutter Sharing

The Risk of Pill Cutter Sharing

The most frequent cause of secondary adrenal insufficiency is the prolonged exposure to exogenous glucocorticoids (GCs).(1) The source of GCs is most often obvious (oral or parenteral, or even inhaled), but it may be occasionally more difficult to identify, as GCs may be found in “traditional” or “alternative” medicines.(2) We describe here the case of a patient with secondary adrenal insufficiency due to using the same pill cutter for her medications and her dog’s prednisone.

A 45-year-old woman with history of depression presented to her internist complaining of 4 weeks of decreased appetite, nausea, weakness, and 4-kg weight loss. Symptoms had started about 1 week after her dog died…

The patient denied ever taking oral, topical, or parenteral GCs or any alternative medicine preparation. Her dog had a history of Addison’s disease and had been on prednisone for the past 6 years. She had been administering prednisone to the pet by breaking twice daily a 5-mg prednisone tablet into quarters, using a pill cutter. Over these years, she had frequently used the same pill cutter to cut her own antidepressant pills.

–To read this article in its entirety, please visit our website.

–Sritika Thapa, MD and Roberto Salvatori, MD

–This article originally appeared in the November 2012 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

Latest Posts

lupus

Sarcoidosis with Lupus Pernio in an Afro-Caribbean Man

A 54-year-old man of Afro-Caribbean ancestry presented with a 2-month history of nonproductive cough, 10-day history of constant subjective fevers, and a 1-day history...
Flue Vaccine

Flu Vaccination to Prevent Cardiovascular Mortality (video)

0
"Influenza can cause a significant burden on patients with coronary artery disease," write Barbetta et al in The American Journal of Medicine. For this...
varicella zoster

Varicella Zoster Virus-Induced Complete Heart Block

0
Complete heart block is usually caused by chronic myocardial ischemia and fibrosis but can also be induced by bacterial and viral infections. The varicella...
Racial justice in healthcare

Teaching Anti-Racism in the Clinical Environment

0
"Teaching Anti-Racism in the Clinical Environment: The Five-Minute Moment for Racial Justice in Healthcare" was originally published in the April 2023 issue of The...
Invisible hand of the market

The ‘Invisible Hand’ Doesn’t Work for Prescription Drugs

0
Pharmaceutical innovation has been responsible for many “miracles of modern medicine.” Reliance on the “invisible hand” of Adam Smith to allocate resources in the...
Joseph S. Alpert, MD

New Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factors

0
"New Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factors" by AJM Editor-in Chief Joseph S. Alpert, MD was originally published in the April 2023 issue of The...
Cardiovascular risk from noncardiac activities

Cardiac Risk Related to Noncardiac & Nonsurgical Activities

0
"Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk for Noncardiac and Nonsurgical Activities" was originally published in the April 2023 issue of The American Journal of Medicine. Cardiovascular risk...