Can You Crush Azithromycin Tablets?

Hi and thanks for reaching out to us. 

Azithromycin is a very commonly used antibiotic to treat a variety of infections such as sinus infections, ear infections, upper respiratory infections, and several other common bacterial infections.

It is perfectly safe to crush up your azithromycin 250mg tablet if you are having a difficult time swallowing it, with a few exceptions.

In general, with most medications, as long as the tablet doesn’t say extended release, delayed release, or specifically not to cut them, it’s usually safe to cut or crush these medications. However, exceptions do exist, so please continue to double check for each individual medication.

Now, about those exceptions.

One major interaction with azithromycin is drugs or foods that contain a sizable amount of calcium or magnesium.

For example, if you were to take azithromycin with a glass of milk, the calcium in the milk would bind to the azithromycin in your stomach and wouldn’t get properly absorbed and may not work well enough to kill off the infection.

You can still have calcium or magnesium, but if you take with azithromycin in the morning, you should wait until at least the late afternoon before you have anything with a sizable amount of calcium or magnesium.

I looked at the nutrition information on several different brands of applesauce and it doesn't look like they contain a sizable amount of calcium, so it should be safe to take azithromycin with them... but double check the nutrition information of YOUR product specifically. Likewise, it would be fine to crush up and dissolve the azithromycin in a drink, as long as it doesn’t contain any calcium or magnesium. 

If you decide to take the azithromycin in a drink, I would make sure that you use a small volume of liquid to make sure that you drink the entire dose.

Lastly, azithromycin doesn’t taste very good. It has been reported to have a bitter taste. It may be a good idea to have another drink or food that you like next to it to “chase” it with. 

I hope this helps! Feel free to write us again in the future.