I spoke with a pharmacist at the manufacturer of Allegra today to clear up  questions about dosing and breaking Allegra tablets.  I'd thought the 180 mg. strength was time-release, and so shouldn't be broken.

Both strengths of Allegra (60 and 180 mg.) are designed for immediate release.  None are time-released.  None are enteric coated either.  Still, the manufacturer recommends not crushing or breaking the tablets because they didn't study them to see if there'd be any adverse effects from breaking them.  I guess that means they don't know if the active ingredients are spread evenly throughout the tablet.

He said that doctors or pharmacists might, in their clinical judgment, tell patients to split the tabs, because they don't think it'll be a problem, but the company could not recommend or sanction that, because they haven't studied that way of using them.

As always, do check with your doctor before deciding how to take this drug.

I did notice that it says on the zyrtec label (10 mg) that sometimes it is more appropriate to take 5 mg if your allergy symptoms aren't bad.  Does this mean it is safe to break them? I have broken most of my meds as I can't tolerate taking them all at once.