Jump to content



Photo

Counting Pellets & Gelcaps


  • Please log in to reply
11 replies to this topic

#1 tria

tria

    Good Friend

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 101 posts

Posted 22 May 2015 - 04:23 PM

Hi again - forgot to ask this question in my previous post (pounding headache, brain not working well)...... Do you those of you who are weaning by counting pellets purchase empty gelcaps anywhere?  I asked my dr and two pharmacists about it but didn't have much luck.  One told me that you had to have the "right kind and size" of gelcap so the medicine dissolved where it was supposed to (ie not in the stomach but small intestine just as an example, I'm not sure where Cymbalta is absorbed?).   Not sure if this is true or not?  One pharmacist also told me that some of the pellets may contain only inert ingredients, that every manufacturer is different so this would make getting an accurate dose even more difficult by removing "x" number of pellets each week. She said I'd have to contact the manufacturer and try to find out if this is the case with their drug.  Since I am reducing the dose by such a small amount (1 pellet every 2 weeks), I'm not going to bother trying to find out, but thought I'd mention it in case anyone else was interested. Thanks in advance for any help!!!


#2 TryinginFL

TryinginFL

    Site Partners

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 6,274 posts
  • LocationFlorida
  • why_joining:
    Now that I have been off this poison for over 6 years, I hope to help others as they join us

Posted 22 May 2015 - 04:36 PM

Hi Tria!

 

So good to hear from you again, but so sad that you are having such terrible symptoms.  Since I was one of the cold turkey doers, I can't give you any info regarding the bead counting.

 

I would recommend TM and FH as 2 of our most knowledgeable members to help you out with that.  I do know that you can purchase the gel caps in health food stores if that is any help.  Hard to believe your informants didn't even know that!  Yikes - what asshats!

 

I wish that I could help but I can offer my support and know that one of our more knowledgeable members will be on here soon to give you more of the information you need.  Please be kind to yourself and I will keep you in my thoughts.

 

Liz :hug:


#3 tria

tria

    Good Friend

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 101 posts

Posted 22 May 2015 - 05:34 PM

TFL - Thanks for your post!  I just googled empty gelatin capsules and came up with a bunch of sites that sell them. The one pharmacist I spoke with made this sound like I shouldn't do it, but I knew folks on here had used empty gelcaps while weaning.  Guess I can give one of them a try.  If anyone has a brand of empty gelcaps they've used successfully, please let me know.  Also, there are different sizes.  I'm assuming the smaller sizes (0 or 00) would be ok for me since I'm only taking 32 pellets but again I welcome any advice that our more experienced members have.


#4 fishinghat

fishinghat

    Site Partners

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 13,869 posts
  • LocationMissouri

Posted 22 May 2015 - 05:44 PM

Your pharmacist is absolutely correct. However, every town usually has at least one pharmacy that will customize your medicine. These pharmacists can spec out the right size and thickness of gel cap that will assure you it dissolves in the intestines. In addition, gel caps dissolve in the intestines while the original Cymbalta caps contain plastics that can help block the digestive tract. The fact that some beads may contain only inert ingredients is not a problem. By doing bead counting you will go slow enough to compensate for this variable. It will still be a slow steady drop in Cymbalta.


#5 tria

tria

    Good Friend

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 101 posts

Posted 22 May 2015 - 06:15 PM

FH - the pharmacist I spoke with was at a compounding pharmacist and she was the one who said I shouldn't be reducing the dose this way.  I tried to explain how slowly I was reducing the dose but she just kept going back to how some pellets may have inert ingredients only.  Didn't sound like she would be willing to help me out on this issue but maybe I can find another compounding pharmacy that would be more helpful.  I will check with some of my other pharmacies but if anyone knows of a reputable mail order compounding pharmacy, please let me know.


#6 fishinghat

fishinghat

    Site Partners

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 13,869 posts
  • LocationMissouri

Posted 22 May 2015 - 06:17 PM

You might do a search on this site. I remember someone in the past that posted info on one.


#7 lady2882Nancy

lady2882Nancy

    God-like

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,271 posts
  • LocationSaskatchewan, Canada
  • why_joining:
    I need help and I know I will feel better if I can offer help to others

Posted 22 May 2015 - 07:03 PM

Hi tria

 

I see in your posts that you have mentioned headaches a lot. I also had terrible headaches while withdrawing from Cymbalta and the only things that worked for me was L-theanine (suntheanine) which I got from a health store (Sangsters) that I trusted. I would take 100mg first thing in the morning with a glass of water before breakfast and then on bad headache days I took another 100mg about an hour before supper again with the glass of water. I don't know if this supplement would conflict with any of your other meds but it is a natural supplement and it sounds like you are well used to researching things before you take anything.

 

Take care of you and be well


#8 Cse70

Cse70

    Advanced Member

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 93 posts
  • LocationCalifornia

Posted 22 May 2015 - 08:52 PM

Tria,

There is a facebook group called Cymbalta Hurts Worse that lists a compounding pharmacy.

I bought gel caps at the Vitamin Shoppe, however, I'm not sure they dissolve like the original ones.

Hope this helps!

#9 Cse70

Cse70

    Advanced Member

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 93 posts
  • LocationCalifornia

Posted 22 May 2015 - 08:58 PM

I asked a pharmacist who is a friend of mine about inert ingredients inside the capsules and he said, "the companies making generics wouldn't add anything that increases their costs". Made sense to me!

#10 tria

tria

    Good Friend

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 101 posts

Posted 23 May 2015 - 06:32 PM

Thanks everyone for all your posts! The way the pharmacist who told me about the inert ingredients explained it to me is that sometimes they are necessary to help absorption of the drug (or at least that's the way I understood it).  Didn't make a lot of sense to me but like I said, I couldn't really get my point across to her so maybe we weren't even on the same page as to what info I wanted. I'm going to ask my pharmacist at Target who is really nice and just see if he can give me any info.

 

Thanks for the info on headaches.  I had taken L-theanine briefly (I believe for anxiety but I am not sure), don't remember it doing much for me but maybe I'll look into it again.  I have chronic headaches and migraines to start with.  The ones from the Cymbalta are pounding headaches that are relentless.  The only way they ease up is if I stay at the same dose for about 3 to 4 weeks.  My old neuro (who retired) used to give me a shot of toradol which would often break the cycle but so far no other dr will do that for me.  Oddly blasting LOUD music helps -  I have my iPad streaming music thru the tv at almost full volume right now!


#11 lady2882Nancy

lady2882Nancy

    God-like

  • Active Members
  • PipPipPipPipPipPipPipPip
  • 1,271 posts
  • LocationSaskatchewan, Canada
  • why_joining:
    I need help and I know I will feel better if I can offer help to others

Posted 23 May 2015 - 10:24 PM

Just remember that the L-theanine is absorbed best when taken when your stomach is empty. It is not easily absorbed with food.


#12 ButterflyWings63

ButterflyWings63

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 43 posts

Posted 04 June 2015 - 01:10 PM

Just a quick suggestion:

 

What I've done is bought Cinnamon in gelcaps to use to put the beads in.  I dump the cinnamon into my Cinnamon spice
container and have the empty capsule left.  It's only $5 for 90 capsules.  So I don't feel like I'm wasting anything ;)





0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users