The traditional role of compounding pharmacies is to make drugs prescribed by doctors for specific patients with needs that can’t be met by commercially available drugs.
I’ve been working at Stacy’s Compounding Pharmacy, in Atlanta, Georgia, for 20 years, and many customers have walked in the lobby and asked “just what is a compounding pharmacy?
Here are some tips to hopefully ease your frustration!
I work at Stacy’s Compounding Pharmacy in Decatur, Georgia, and I hear owners stressing over trying to get pills or capsules into their cats. I’ve never had to do this myself, I would probably opt for the suspension or transdermal (rub in the ear pinna), but I thought I would see how it’s done.
It works by slowing activity in the brain to allow for relaxation.
Meprobamate is a carbamate (category of organic compounds that is formally derived from carbamic acid) derivative and is used as an anxiolytic (anxiety-relieving) drug.
Just get vaccinated
There have recently been videos touting the use of Hydrogen Peroxide as an inhalant to treat the symptoms of Covid-19. These are not only false, unproven claims, but can be very dangerous to your health. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and health experts have warned that inhaling hydrogen peroxide can have harmful effects on the lungs.
capsule
[ kap-suhl, -sool, -syool ] Pharmacology. a gelatinous case enclosing a dose of medicine.
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I’ve been working in a compounding pharmacy for over 20 years at the time of this blog post. I have made over 40, 000 sets of capsules with the Jaansun Capsule Machine from PCCA. They had it when I started and they still use it today. It can make from 1 to 100 capsules, in one load, sizes 4 – 000.
What are chemical suspensions?
We make suspensions, all day long, at Stacy’s Compounding Pharmacy for dogs, cats, children and even adults. But, exactly what is a suspension? Dictionary.com defines it as the state in which the particles of a substance are mixed with a fluid but are undissolved.
You might want to sit down for this… Cod Liver oil is a dietary supplement derived from the liver of cod fish. We use it at the compounding pharmacy for making medical suspensions for animals. This got me wondering about the history of this oil. It contains the omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) which play an important role in the human diet and in human physiology. Cod liver oil also has vitamins A and D and was historically given to children to prevent Rickets (weak or soft bones in children). A tablespoon contains 4,080 μg of retinol (vitamin A) and 34 μg (1360 IU) of vitamin D.
We use medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) to make eye drops at our compounding pharmacy and I decided to do a little research. It seems that they can be derived by fractionation from Coconut Oil to be used for medical applications, special diets and cosmetics, sometimes also being used as a carrier oil for fragrances.
We had an order at the compounding pharmacy for a prescription with Emu Oil. One of our pharmacists, Katie, was curious about where Emu Oil comes from, which made me decide to do some research. I suggested that they ring the oil out of the Emu’s necks and it seems that I wasn’t far off.
I was opening 135 capsules, the other day, for a compound I was making in our pharmacy lab and got me thinking about the procedure. Some capsules open easily and some are, sometimes, seemingly impossible, even within the same lot of capsules.
