...and I'm still taking it. It's a week-long course of antibiotics for an infection.

This isn't life-threatening infection, just a very uncomfortable one, and the amount of lactose consumed is minuscule. That's not really the point though - the point is, I'm knowingly and willingly consuming animal products.

How do other vegans handle non-vegan medicine? Are there often alternatives available? Is medicine the one exception, for some people?

I think medication is the one exception vegans will make. After all meds are ALWAYS tested on animals so its never vegan. But your health is important, and the exception is made for medications that are needed, like the kind you are taking. Not for things like advil ect.

There isn't a viable alternative to taking prescribed medication, so as far as I am concerned it's a good thing to take it, and to look after your health properly.

I think the best way to approach the unethical nature of medical animal testing would be to fund research into alternative methods, or protest against it/gather support against it. I don't believe avoiding the products would ever really work.

i would assume there would be lactose free antibiotics since so many people are lactose intolerant. have you asked your doctor if there is something else you could take?
but if there isn't an alternative to a medicine you don't really have a choice other than staying sick or dying

I didn't; I didn't realise they contained lactose until today, and I only need to take them until Saturday.

Unfortunately most medications do. Worse are the gelatine capsules. They make me nauseated. As far as I'm aware the lactose is an incredibly minute amount.

And the only thing I can say it's a necessary evil. Ill vegans can't look after animals as well as they could if the vegans were well.

One of the ways you can sometimes get animal-free meds is to request liquid formulations (sometimes they have bits too). If you have to take antibiotics in the future, you might try this. Also, a good pharmacist will let you see an ingredients list ahead of time so that you can make an informed decision.

That said, I wouldn't sweat taking these tablets at all. What sort of statement for veganism can you make if you're ill/dead?

Take your medicine and don't beat yourself up about it. Agree with other posts that their are things you can't avoid. I've thought of this myself. My surgery was surely not vegan. The medications etc. But what choice did I have. Surgery or suffer.

It would never hurt in the future to ask about an alternative, but if you need to take the medication, take it.

I have done this, I get children's meds.

Me too. I can't swallow pills so I always ask for the liquid versions.

I don't have an answer, I am lucky in the fact that I have not gotten sick since going vegan. (which really speaks loudly of how good being a vegan with a very clean diet can be, with exercise of course.).

The only medical treatment I've received since going vegan was a tetanus booster a while ago. While at work I was getting something in the clean utility room (with rusty shelving...) and I slipped and got a pretty savage wound on my hand. I think the tetanus boosters I got when i was a child were made with beef broth, but as far as i know, the current booster for DPT is vegan. I didn't really think to ask because I was in mild shock staring at the wound, and they just sort of gave it to me because they assumed I had only got my last booster a while ago (which they were correct, it had been twelve years).

If I need a medicine I take it. There's no such thing as cruelty free medicine. It's all tested on animals.

same reason as my hubby.

it's sad to think this is still true in 2011

If you need to take medicine, you need to take it. As a quote from Walter Bond, "Veganism isn't about perfection, it's about doing what you can"

I had to make the same decision a couple of day ago, as I have an ongoing flu that is not going away. Had the first round of antibiotics 3 weeks ago, and now I am on the second one... Unfortunately I need them to get better, so I am taking them. Last year an ongoing cold turned into bronchitis, and i don't want to go through that again. I even asked the doctor, if the antibiotics could be avoided, and he said no... sucks

Why is the doc giving you antibiotics for the flu? (which is a virus) Is it preemptive to try and stave off the bronchitis?

Sorry IamJen, it was a mistake to call it the flu, the symptoms are flu/cold like, but he thinks it is a bacterial infection, that is why he has given me the antibiotics. And yes it has to do with my history of chest infections too.
Having said that, they are making my digestive system sick...I feel horrible after I have them. So even though I am supposed to take them 3 times a day, I have managed to take it only once today, and I am going to have to see him again

Oi, poor you. One of my sisters has some particular susceptibility to bronchitis too. Are they different antibiotics than you took the first time around? Sometimes that helps. (had to do this once when I couldn't kick Strep after like 10 weeks). I don't know if you've tried this already, but sometimes taking the antibiotics just a short while after you've had some food helps.

Hope you feel better soon! I wouldn't stress about the animal bits though at all. As someone mentioned earlier, it's about doing the best that you can.

Thanks IamJen! Yes, they are different antibiotics, the first round were milder I think because them didn't affect my digestive system like this ones I have now. The new ones are much stronger. I do feel a lot better today, I think it must be all the different things I have been doing to get better, I do give some credit to the antibiotics too.
And yes, I have been taking them after food, cause I know an empty stomach is worse.

Cheers!

I need to remember that.