Finally Vegan Painkillers!

[Ketesh]

There IS hope for some. I say some because I have finally found a way around store bought bull**** filled with animal byproducts, nasty colouring and with a label that pretty much guarentees animal testing.

Find yourself a compounding pharmacy. Unfortunately depending on where you live you might not be able to but I live in a small city and have found one a couple cities down. I wanted some ibuprofen for my menstrual cramps/headaches/various pains because willow bark and valerian and all that jazz doesn't work.

I called the compounding place where they had made me vegan (yes vegan!) zoloft! They told me they could do it as long as I had a prescription from a doctor (even though it would be a regular off the counter dose).

WOOHOOOOOOO. All I can say is WOW! I AM SO HAPPY!:bobo:

[Kristen4382]

What's a compounding pharmacy? The source of the medication?

Serious questions [but yes I am a blonde] :) This is exciting news. I'm not vegan but the idea of medication with gelatin or sodium magneseate [i think that's it...something cow-derived] really grosses me out. Cheers for the positive news! I will have to keep looking on this side of the world :D

[Ketesh]

Yes the main ingredients that aren't animal friendly: Stearates, celluloses, FD &C colourings, and gelatin. They can all come from cows, pigs, etc. Mainly from their bones and ligaments.

Compounding pharmacies are pharmacies that make the drugs right there themselves. They usually do this so you can buy a liquid form or in candy form (for children), sometimes to make it liquid for adults who can't swallow well or sometimes they flavour drugs to make them easier to take (you can get meat flavoured for your pets).

When you do go though, make sure the prescription SAYS vegan/vegetarian and that the pharmacy knows what that means. The one I go to is run by Hindus so they know what's vegan and whats not. But most pharmacies should know.

Good luck!

P.S. God I wish I lived in Australia. What's it like there!?

[Kristen4382]

When you do go though, make sure the prescription SAYS vegan/vegetarian and that the pharmacy knows what that means. The one I go to is run by Hindus so they know what's vegan and whats not. But most pharmacies should know.

Good luck!

P.S. God I wish I lived in Australia. What's it like there!?
Thanks for the hints, I will have to talk to my local pharmacist and see if he can recommend a place. He's known me about twenty years, lol, so it's not like I haven't given him enough business already =D. Thanks for explaining it all really well too :up:

Australia, well... I'm in Sydney, and the last day or so it's been constant light rain [boo!] and Spring just arrived. However to give you a quick evaluation of my life experiences: Great beaches, easy-going people, lots of food variety due to multiculturalism, plenty of sport to play or watch. Veg*n restaurants not too far away, beautiful landscapes, animals etc. Freaking awesome music scene IMO. Not bad at all. If I didn't already live here, I think I'd like to. :nana:

[soilman]

" celluloses, FD &C colourings"

Cellulose is from vegetable matter. It does not exist in animals. FD & C colorings (artificial colors approved by the US food and drug admin) are all made from coal tar, or petroleum, or natural gas. Also, they all require only microscopic quantities to produce very large amounts of color. A single drop of any such color will make about 50 gallons of water quite dark.

[*AHIMSA*]

Please, do take your medication if you need it!

No, for the Devil's advocate:

Some would say that the medications themselves are not "vegan", being extensively tested on animals, and such.

[froggythefrog]

Interesting. It looks like most of the compounding pharmacies in Albuquerque specialize in hormone replacements and veterinary medicines.

[Ketesh]

Soilman: Thanks for the info. I got the "non-vegan" ingredients from a list in a book and obviously they may be right or wrong.

Hearing they could be from coal tar and pertroleum is pretty strange/off putting :S Another reason not to eat them I suppose?

Ahisma: Yes, they might still be tested on animals. (The vegan ingredients that is) but I suppose it's better than all around not vegan.

Froggy: Sorry to hear that. Keep looking!

[soilman]

You can eat small amounts of petroleum without harm. Same goes for gasoline. Coal miners swallow small amounts of coal every day, without harm. It is coal dust in the air that gets into their lungs that causes harm. My friend once swallowed a couple of spoonfuls of gasoline by accident. She called the hospital, they said don't worry about it. Pumping her stomach would have been more risky and damaging than leaving the gasoline in her stomach. And pumping one's stomach is generally quite safe. Of course you can't drink a whole glassful. But F, D & C artificial colors are used in really miniscule amounts. A glass full of artificially colored beverage will have barely a microscopic speck. The only possible risk is if you ingest many glasses of such beverage, day after day, for dozens of years.

[soilman]

Stearates come from animal or vegetable oils, or both. Unless a product is labeled as having "vegetable" stearates, we should probably assume that any stearates it contains are about 60/40 animal/vegetable. However vegetable stearates do exist and are commercially available to manufacturers. Toms of Maine, for example, has listed "vegetable stearic acid" or "vegetable sodium stearate" on some of its products.

But cellulose, cellulose gum, and hydroxypropylcellulose, all come only from vegetable sources.

[Mycoolcats]

My g/f is a manager for Walgreens in NJ, ill have to find out if they can make these. Most BIG places are compounding places, like someone else said, they can mix/make the drugs not just distribute stuff.

I havnt used stuff like that or painkillers in general geesh in probably 10 years, but i didnt know all that crap was in them, not that im not suprised :/

[Mrrple]

I just quit taking pills altogether. Although I do take a multivitamin.

[jenni-anti-fur]

thanx I had no idea...but I have a motto...If there is an alternative I will take it...but if you need the meds take them..