medication - pill cutter question

[Tiiiigergirl]

Several of the meds that both my DS and myself take require splitting. A couple of them can't be split anyway but with a pill cutter. Has anyone had any problems with that in carry on luggage?

 

[winniethepoohsmom]

That should be fine on your checked in luggage, it's just your carry on you can't take it in. If you can take scissors in your suitcase a pillcutter should be fine. You could ask the airline if you want to be sure or you could cut the pills ahead of time and leave the cutter at home. I've been thinking of getting a pill cutter myself for DS's meds, I've been using a steak knife and that does'nt always work well. Do you find the pill cutter usually gets it even?

 

[Tiiiigergirl]

They are currently allowing scissors with blades less than 4 in. in your carryon so I think I'll take an old one in my carryon and check a new one. We won't have a car and I would hate to have to pay for a taxi just for a pill cutter.

Run, don't walk to get a pill cutter. Yes, they cut more evenly! And that way you get more exact dosing. I would cut ahead of time but a couple of my pills crumble and so I can scrape up all the crumbs for that dose. I can only imagine what TSA would make of a pill bottle filled with crumbles and powder.

 

[SueM in MN]

I agree about the pill cutter. I have used them at work, but we don't have one at home. The screeners may ask you what it is (I doubt it though), but I agree that if small scissors can be brought in the plane now, a pill cutter should not be a problem.
They work best with a pill that is scored (already has a small groove for breaking apart), but you can use them for unscored pills. It's almost impossible to get pills cut evenly with a steak knife (plus, you don't want to cut yourself).

 

[zumbergc]

Pill cutters are way better than a knife.

We use the cutters on the cat's meds all the time. We need cut and sometimes quarter the pills. Way easier to use the pill cutter.

One thing to look for which I do not like is the pill cutters that dual as a pill case. They like lock, at the bottom of the slice, you you have to pull up hard to get it to release. If you have achy hands, look for one that isn't a storage thing too.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I had a pill cutter in my carry on bag on a flight last month. It was no problem. I also had knitting needles and some small scissors in my carry on and they were no problem either.

The guy looking at the x-ray did point out something in my bag to a lady who was doing hand-searches. She said she would need to search my bag. She took out my stash of 4 Luna Bars and showed them to the x-ray guy. She said, "Hey, it was just these again!" She mentioned to me that he was in training as she put them back in my bag. Apparently, he had told her to search several bags to look for these solid, rectangular objects. They all ended up being some kind of energy bar!

 

[LauraAnn630]

Cleveland, Atlanta and Orlando let me on the plane with 2 pairs of tweezers, a small pair of scissors and a pocket knife. Atlanta made me throw out my shampoo tho!

Go figure!

They took my DH pocket knife that he had on his keychain from work with his work logo.

 

[cymomtx]

The pill cutter I have has a retractable blade. When you open it the blade is non-accessable! That way the kids can not hurt themselves if they try to play with it. I bought it at Walmart.

 

[ducklite]

They allow safety razors, so I don't see why a medical device (a pill splitter) would be a problem.

I'd use the word splitter rather than cutter if they question it--semantics can make or break your case with the TSA...

Anne

 

[Tinkergurl20]

I can't swallow pills due to a gag reflex problem and take a pill cutter everywhere I go...on a recent flight I had it in my carry-on and had no problems. They didn't say anything about either way through security.