Medicines on Pesach

Do not stop taking medication over this. Ask your doctor and your rav before making any decision not to take a medicine. The guidance below exists precisely so that people do not put themselves at risk for a question that usually has an answer.

Most adult medicine is not a problem

Creams, non-chewable pills and injections may be owned and used on Pesach even if they contain chametz or kitniyos, because they are inedible.

That covers most medicines adults take. The prohibition on chametz is on food; something not fit to be eaten as food does not fall under it in the usual way.

There is a difference of opinion as to whether the same leniency extends to vitamins, or applies only to medicines proper — which is worth knowing if what you take is a supplement rather than a prescription.

The forms that are a question

Liquid medicines, chewable pills, and pills coated with a flavoured glaze are edible, and may contain chametz or kitniyos. These are the cases that need attention.

The order of preference:

• Substitute, under a doctor's direction, with a non-chewable pill if that is possible.
• If substitution is not possible and there is danger to life — actual or possible — the medication may be owned and consumed. The same applies where the condition is not yet at that point but could deteriorate to it, and there might be any delay in obtaining the medicine during Pesach. Your rav should be asked whether to buy it before or during Pesach, and how to dispose of it once the danger passes.
• If substitution is not possible and a doctor determines there is no possibility of danger, ask your rav. He may be able to establish that the medicine contains neither chametz nor kitniyos, or may permit it given the seriousness of the condition.

Children

Pills may be ground and the powder mixed into food so that a child can take the medicine.

One caution that is medical rather than halachic, and is part of the guidance: a doctor must confirm the child is getting the correct dose, and that grinding does not compromise the medicine's potency. Some formulations are designed to release slowly and crushing them changes what they do.

The point to take away

The framework is built so that nobody has to choose between Pesach and their health. Where there is danger, the medicine is taken. Where there is not, there is usually still an answer — and finding it is your rav's job, not something to work out alone in the middle of the festival.

Ask in the weeks before Pesach, not during it. That is the single most useful thing on this page.

Note that this does not address taking medicines on Shabbos and Yom Tov, which is a separate question with its own rules.

See also medicine, vitamins and gelatin capsules for the year-round question.