If you take pills on a regular basis, you may not remember the exact dose that you take. Most people simply know that they take one or two pills each day but they cannot remember the exact number of milligrams the pill contains. This information, however, can be really important for health care providers. If you can't find the prescription label or if you take pills that aren't prescription pills, you may have to try other ways of finding the number of milligrams in your pills.
Step 1
Look for any numbers on the pill. Often pills will have the dose (in milligrams) as part of their imprint. For example, a pill that has "25" imprinted on it may be a twenty-five milligram pill. This method may not be always accurate, but it is a good start.
Step 2
Take the pill to your doctor or pharmacist. According to the National Library of Medicine, if you already know the identity of your pill (what drug it contains) and you just want to know the dose of the pill, it should be easy for the pharmacist or physician to look up the pill in their own reference sources. They will be able to look at images of different pills and match your pill to their reference images. The information provided by the references will tell you how many milligrams your pill contains.
Step 3
Use online pill identifiers. The National Institute of Health as well as other websites (such as Drugs.com) have searchable drug databases. You can enter in the characteristics of your pill (such as its color, shape, and size) as well as the name of the pill. This will let you see images of pills that match your pills characteristics. Once you have found your pill in the database, you can find the number of milligrams it contains.
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