Does anyone take tranexamic acid for heavy periods? Do you know if it’s ok to crush the tablets?

[SK1973]

We are on holiday with our dd16.

Typically her period has come early. Luckily I packed her prescription tranexamic acid.

She has been taking it for a year or so and as she has trouble swallowing tablets (they are rather large, hard tablets) she has always crushed them and mixed them in jam or Nutella. However, I’ve just been going through the leaflet and it says not to crush and that they should be swallowed while (she will absolutely not manage this).

She used to get the liquid version but it only has a months shelf life and was costing around £20 per bottle so the GP stopped that. She can’t take the pill due to our family history of aura migraines and clots and the mini pill made her feel unwell. Atm tranexamic acid is the only thing helping with her heavy bleeding.

We’ve not had issues crushing them before but I’ve googled and it says crushing may stop the meds from working efficiently.

Does anyone know if it’s ok to crush them? As long as it’s not dangerous to do so I think it will be the only way she will be able to get them in her!

you’re not supposed to chew it, that seems to be the issue
https://www.medicinesforchildren.org.uk/medicines/tranexamic-acid-for-heavy-bleeding-during-periods/#how-should-i-give-it

How about breaking in to halves and swallowing?

She struggles to swallow even when halved but sometimes cuts them
into quarters and can manage that, hopefully that wouldn’t be as bad as crushing?

Halve tablet and it is fine. However my daughter was on this for a long time but stopping her periods completely has been the better option.

She struggles with even halving the tablets but is ok with quarters so she may need to continue with that.

Can I ask which method your dd used to stop her period?

Dd options are a bit limited due to her (and our family) history of aura migraines and stroke. She can take progesterone only meds but the mini pill drive her into deep depression and made her very angry.

We also have endometriosis (I and my sister are diagnosed) and dd will need investigating in the future but we need to be careful with the type of hormones we take.

It is a nightmare tbh as troublesome periods have been the bain of our lives.

I take it for a different reason (500mg)
I was told by both the GP and the pharmacist not to crush them, to take with water or fizzy water

scrapsontheside I’ve managed to find a local pharmacy down the road, off to ask them. Hopefully we can cut or crush them if not she just won’t be able to swallow them whole.

Fizzy water does help me, so might be worth a try. I've only started it recently but with them both telling me not to crush it there must be a reason? Maybe to do with the rate of abortion? I'm not sure

Well if you've been crushing the tablets for a year surely the question is were the tablets still effective at reducing her bleeding or not? If you're not supposed to crush them but the medicine still worked as it was supposed to then I'd just carry on crushing tbh. I take tranexamic myself and the tablets are very large so I understand. Sometimes the brand I'm given has the little divider to snap in half so I presume taking them that way is fine.

@SK1973 did you manage to get an answer?

I don’t understand why those tablets have to be so large. I hated taking them.

I'm a bit crap at pills. I chew toast till about to swallow it then shove the pill into middle of my chewed toast (I side mouth IYSWIM) and swallow - ne er feel anything that way

ArseInTheCoOpWindow they are rather large. I would struggle with them too.

I’ve spoken to a pharmacist and they said it is fine to crush them, add to 30ml water and down it!

This.

@SK1973 glad you're sorted