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I have always been under the impression that the Sinemet CR is a solid matrix and that the rate of dissolution is roughly proportional to the surface area of the pill - among other things. Breaking a pill into two or more pieces gives the pill a greater surface area, so it dissolves faster. Since you are paying more for the slow dissolving feature, breaking a pill reduces the value of the CR characteristic. In order to get a pill that would dissolve at a constant rate, you might expect the pill to be shaped like a lozenge - flat and thin, so that the surface area does not change appreciably as the pill dissolves. This would be fine until the pill gets so thin that it falls apart. I would guess that this is why the pills are shaped like flat (U.S.) footballs - to give them a backbone so they won't disintegrate all at once when they are mostly dissolved. However I share Cari Barrett's concern that the options for dosages are so few that she feels it necessary to break pills. For our designer's disease, it would seem that we should also have more nearly designer dosages. Art At 05:23 PM 4/5/00 -0400, Michel M. wrote: >The label CR indicates a controlled release medication. One method to achieve >the controlled release is to coat the tablet with a special coating of a >substance that dissolves slowly, but the tablet is broken, the slow release >effect is destroyed and that broken tablet works just like any other NON CR >medication. >Michel > >