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Aussie Barb
Research Team
| Joined: | Thu Jul 22nd, 2004 |
| Location: | Australia |
| Posts: | 19444 |
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Posted: Sun Oct 30th, 2005 22:36 |
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How do I take 25mg of minocycline/antibiotics when the capsules only come in larger dose size?
Have the medication compounded
Since minocycline is no longer under patent, it can be compounded in any dose you need by a good compounding pharmacist. It can also be compounded without fillers, dyes, etc.
Dollar Drug (low cost prescriptions) are a compounding pharmacy and they ship just about anywhere. they make up whatever dose you need. They accept Medicare, Med-Cal and most other insurances.
Dollar Drug
1055 West College Ave.
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
800-728-3173
The Peoples Pharmacy compound medications.
In Georgia and Alabama
Contact Information: Matthew
Telephone: (770) 421-1399 or (800) 547-1399
FAX: (770) 426-1965
Address: 431 Commerce Park Drive Suite 106,
Marietta GA 30060
Email: Pharmacist: pharmacy@millercompounding.com
College Pharmacy in Colorado Springs will ship all over the world. Their website is http://www.collegepharmacy.com/about/
Split Tablets
Ask your Pharmacist if minocycline is available in tablet form where you live, and buy a pill cutter. A 50mg tablet would be most convenient in case you need to take 25mg mino as a frequent dose to dampen immunopathology. See Pill cutter/crusher combinations
How to divide capsules
You can open the capsule and measure the amount of minocycline you need and put it in a soft food like applesause so it won't hurt your throat or esophagus.
Minocycline deteriorates rapidly. When dividing capsules, discard the remaining portion or buy empty capsules from the health food store to put the divided portions in. Store them in an airtight container in a cool place but not the refrigerator (too damp).
The literature says that doxycycline is not stable in water, and minocycline may not be either. Do not add minocycline to water to preserve it. If you cannot put the remainder in another capsule, throw it away.
CAUTION: Be sure to be measuring the dose carefully, shaking the FULL contents of the capsule right out to divide accurately.
How to divide the dosage
Click on this Link for many helpful suggestions.
Members' helpful hints for dividing capsules
-Drug stores may carry the empty capsules. Health stores or health food stores carry them though. Try Wild Oats, or The Vitamin Shoppe, or whatever you have locally that's equivilent (call first!). I use size 0. You can get smaller sizes if you want, although the bigger capsules are easier to scrape the powder into. ~Alayne
-Vegetarian "gelatin" capsules are used only in the health food vitamin marketplace to my knowledge and the mainstream chemical/ pharmaceutical industry uses the animal bone rendered real gelatin which is cheaper. Vegetarians that must avoid animal products for religious reasons can buy rice paper and fold up the contents of the opened gel-caps before swallowing. ~P.B. See http://www.capsuline.com/pills_vegetarian.php
UK clear caps: http://www.myprotein.co.uk/now-foods/gelatin-caps-00/gelatin-caps-00.cfm
-when splitting the capsules, totally empty them, the caps are packed tight . not totally emptying can cause uneven amounts adding to strong herxs sometimes due to a higher dose. ~LH1953
-I use a pill crusher (inexpensive and available at most drugstores). Then dump the powder on a little mirror and divvy up the portions with a razor blade. Then use a little funnel (also inexpensive) to pour the portions into empty capsules. ~Alayne
-I found that I can divide the mino really easy if I cut the edge of a straw and slit the end of the straw just a little bit so that it will fit into the capsule and when I divide the meds into 1/4th I just scoop it into the straw while the straw is in the capsule and lift it up, tap the straw gently and the meds go into the capsule. Done deal. This has made the dividing of the meds a lot easier for me. ~wytnez
-to divide the pelletised mino 50mg capsule into 2 x 25mg:
Open the new empty capsule from the Health food store.... Put a tiny funnel in it. I made one out of the piece of plastic off my tens unit patch.... Open the mino capsule, with the biggest end at the bottom... Pour half of the pellets into the funnel and there you have 2 x 25mg capsules. Replace the lids on each capsule. ~Barney
-Just finished breaking down some of the 50mg Mino caps into 25mg caps to prepare for the next step. Wal-mart Pharmacy has Gel caps 100 caps for around $7.41 for anyone interested. Buy the No. 4 caps separate them and fill the longest end of the cap to the top and this seems to give a pretty even split. I drilled a hole in a piece of wood to support the capsule so it doesn’t dance all over the place and then I made a small funnel with paper and scotch tape. Do this only on your steady days. ~mic
-We have a product here in Japan for taking powdered medicines. It is a wafer thin sheet of potato starch which one folds into a funnel or other convenient shape, inserts the medicine, folds or twists the top over then swallows whole. The paper is called "oblatto" in Japanese which derives from the Dutch "oblaat". A little tricky if your hands are clumsy but it obviates the need for any other measures and thus far has saved me the experience of discovering what phase two antibiotics taste like together. Maybe similar products are available in other countries. ~whiowhio
-I purchased a digital scale that is working just great. It measures down to a mg of accuracy. I also purchased a large quantity of empty vegetable capsules to have on hand. This makes dividing drugs a breeze compared to the guessing method and I have seen a more level pattern to my symptoms since I am getting exactly the same amount each time.
I use it for all my drugs. I also have a stack of pharmacy papers (nothing sticks to them) courtesy of my pharmacist. I just weigh the powder from the capsule and do the math from there based upon the desired dosage. Here is the link where I purchased my scale. (lifetime warranty also). http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/ ~VEZ R.N.
-I purchased what seemed to be the most reasonably priced scale sensitive to the mg. (Well, almost to the mg in practice.) It is the Mack 20 Digital Jewelry scale. It comes with a small tray that has a little pour spout on one side that can be used to direct the powder into a small funnel for getting the powder into the capsules.
Description:
The Jennings / JScale Mack 20 Digital Jewelry scale has 20g capacity with 0.002g resolution. It weighs in g, gn, ozt, oz, dwt, ct, t, and mg and features JScale's WeighMeter, backlit display, built in wind screen and calibration weight. The Mack is powered by 4 AA batteries (included). $89.50 + s/h
The manufacturer (Jennings) recommends this store (among others): oldwillknottscales.com, for purchasing their scale. ~Joyful
-I used a small light pine wood piece and drilled a hole about the size of the capsule. Now, how to get the powder into the capsules? My homemade funnels weren't holding up for me. After trying to think of something really clever and searching the internet for really tiny funnels (they exist in quantity for large labs), I ended up buying some paper snowcone holders and cutting one down to make a small funnel. The first couple I tried to make were either cut to large or fell apart. (The one that is working now has added tape on the outside.) Even though the snowcone holders are waxed, the powder still doesn't want to go through the small hole and into the capsule, so I added a toothpick to my "lab kit" for tapping the powder down into the capsule. And it still is quite the balancing act to get the funnel to stay in the capsule while filling it. (Arg!)Remember, this is all with the larger capsules. I have no idea how to fill the smaller ones without some special tools. It is beyond my skills and tools to accomplish! I have figured out a way to minimise the air contact with the powder in the larger capsule. I tap the powder into the shorter (larger diameter) end of the capsule and then place the longer (smaller diameter) half of the capsule in backwards. I push it in once to compact the powder and then pull it slightly out to add a light bit of moisture to "seal" the gel capsule once I put it all the way in. This means that I am not worrying about the Mino losing it's potency before I get around to taking it. ~Joyful
-I use glassine paper, which powder doesn't stick to very much. That is used in labs for weighing powders. Ask your pharmacist if she/he can give you a few sheets. You can use the sheets over and over if you keep separate ones for each drug.~Morris
-You can also order the gel caps from http://www.NEEDS.com. I usually find it easier to call them to order (1-800-634-1380). I get the large, double O caps: NOW-5262-250 that is for 250 caps.
-First I open the empty capsule and set it aside and then I pull the Mino, etc. capsule apart over a tiny cardboard box, for example an earrings gift box. Then as I start to partially pour the Mino/etc. capusule into the empty one, I hold them both halves above the box.
The result is that any escaping powder/micro beads fall into the tiny box. This makes it very easy to gently shake the powder into one corner of the box which can then be used as a funnel for emptying the powder reminants into the apppropriate capsule. I tap down both 1/2's of the capsules on the box or another flat surface which helps me to visually estimate how much is in each capsule. This method has worked better for me than any other I've tried. ~DStog
-I believe that the large envelopes the post office uses to hold stamps are made of glycine paper if anyone is looking for an inexpensive way to obtain this paper. ~Joyful
-My problem right now is that the minocycline powder actually seems to gain a gram or two simply while sitting on my scale (humidity?) and gets clumpy, making hard to manipulate.
I don't have this problem with other powdered antibiotics, they seem to flow easily, not clumping at all. I could keep on dividing these doses out of the capsules, but I just wanted to find out how much it would cost to aviod this job.
Last summer, I paid $30 for #100 of 50mg generic minocycline capsules. That batch expires in January of 2009. But, I have to work with the powder directly to divide them. (Fifteen cents per 25mg.)
I called my pharmacy and they offered me #15 of 50mg Dynacin tablets that I could split in half myself for $45. That is $1.50 per 25mg! (Not a good option.) Since I am paying out of pocket, this was definitely not a reasonable option. I am pretty shocked by the price of this one tablet form they found available.
Then I asked for a quote for them to compound the 25mg minocycline for me. They offered to make #100 of 25mg of generic minocycline capsules for $60. (Sixty cents per 25mg , or 4x the price of the 50mg capsules.)
I suppose that someone with insurance could even beat my price for the 50mg capsules, but getting an insurance company to pay for compounding would be a little more difficult. My research doesn't offer any inexpensive options for avoiding hand dividing the capsules.  ~Joyful
Potency
If you are splitting antibiotic doses and putting it into new capsules, you do not need to be concerned about loss of potency.
See also What should I know about Minocycline?
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Barb: Dx Inflammatory Disease Endocrine Imbalance 2003| 24+ years not Dx| ABCofMP
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