Gelatin Capsules for medication what can I do? I'm a vegetarian help with options?!
and my problem is that I also get really bad migraines. My neurologist recently prescribed me a new medication to try (zonegran) but the problem is that it is only available in a gel capsule. I tried speaking with the pharmacist, and the doctor. There is no other form. Any suggestions? It is sickening me to be taking this pill. Any one also know if there is any way to get a manufacturer to make a different kind of capsule.
I've been a vegetarian for about 13 years, and I've never really had to think about this, even most vitamins have had alternatives, but now I realize this form of gel capsule medication is a serious issue.
Answers:
All you have to do is get vegan gel capsules that are sold at a really great price here:
http://store.veganessentials.com/gelatin…
I'm a vegan who transfers my prescription meds from their gelatin capsules into those.
Ive been vegetarian for 5 years. I have had to ask my dr to perscribe me certain pills to avoid this issue. Sometimes I have found that the generic version is not a geletin capsole. I have also had to ask him to find something else close to it to get around it. Good luck. I know it is one of the hardest things to work around.
There is no other form made, so basically your choice is take it, or Don't take it.
Your choice.
Nothing you can do about it.
Big Pharma couldn't care less about vegetarian/vegans. They put in gel-caps because gelatin melts at 98.0F (body temp), is cheap, and makes the medicine easily digestible.
Personally, If it's the only med that works, you can suffer... or you can eat a tiny bit of gelatin.
RN
Check to see if the pill comes in tablet form; if not, just take the capsule. Vegetarian is not a synonym for obsessive-compulsive. It's not like you're eating a bowl of Jello for enjoyment; you're taking a medically-required drug.
I have a bit of a cavalier approach to medication and would open the capsule and just take the powder. You'd have to satisfy yourself that the medicants would reach your stomach to be absorbed though.
I know for a FACT that opening the capsule and ingesting just the medication will not mess with the medications absorption.
Ask for a different drug.
PS: If you've already bought them this time,
what difference does it make to animals if you take it or not?
How do you know it's animal based gelatin?
Most of my supps come in vegi gelatin caps.
I think if your headaches are hurting enough u shud take the pill. its not like eating steak.
If you need the medication, you should take it. You will be no less of a vegetarian.
All medication and medical procedures have been tested on animals, by law; and many, probably most, medicines contain animal by products - lactose is commonly used as a binder, for example.
Does this mean vegetarians and vegans shouldn't take necessary medication? No it doesn't
Only a few veg*ns, who have somehow confused the words 'veg*n' and 'martyr', will claim that they would refuse all medication that's animal-tested or that contains animal products - and those few will be singing a very different tune if they are ever seriously ill or injured, I promise you.
I'm vegan and over the past few years have had to take several drugs for a serious condition. Many were in gelatine capsules, all were animal tested, without a doubt almost all contained animal by products. It doesn't make me any less of a vegan according to Donald Watson, who coined and defined the word, according to the Vegan Society, or according to any other vegan I have ever met.
That's because veganism is about minimising your contribution to animal suffering and exploitation as far as is - in Watson's words - possible and practical.
It isn't a good idea to empty capsules as some have advised. Some capsules are time released and taking the medicine all in one go can make you very nauseous and sick; this has happened to me.
The doctor and pharmacist have told you there isn't an alternative. If there were, it would in any case be animal-tested and almost certainly contain animal products.
Migraine is painful and debilitating, and yours are severe. It would be stupid not to take the necessary medication
Why is it complicated? You're against eating meat or you're not. These people let their child die rather than forgo their principles about medicine! And you only have migraines.
http://letthemeatmeat.com/post/430646676…