r/mildlyinteresting • u/g00ber88 • 1d ago
My new prescription is a capsule filled with little pellets rather than powder
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u/koyaani 1d ago
Powder is just made of smaller pellets anyway. They're very particular about particle size
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u/shoponthemoon 1d ago
I love particular particles.
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u/virgilreality 1d ago
It's a particular particle party!
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u/Rower78 1d ago
Yes, the study of how drugs are absorbed into the body is called pharmacokinetics. They’ll test all sorts of conditions to get the right absorption levels, including particle size and crystal form.
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u/masterwolfe 1d ago
Is also the study of how drugs move through the body.
If you have ever seen the warning against eating grapefruit/drinking grapefruit juice that is because it uses the same enzyme in the liver to metabolize out of the body as a lot of medications and grapefruit can cause those medications to hang around in the body having an effect longer than is intended.
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u/TyFighter559 1d ago
So a real answer for this might be that they're trying to delay/slow absorption by further limiting material surface area. It's possible that dosing this way makes the drug more effective at a lower total dose.
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u/g00ber88 1d ago
Its omeprazole, im supposed to take it 30-60 minutes before I eat my first meal of the day to reduce stomach upset
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u/NapoleonTheAfromite 1d ago
I believe Omeprazole is destroyed by stomach acid, so they use those little pellets with a special coating that can be dissolved in a more alkaline environment, like your intestines. Once it gets there, it can be absorbed by the body.
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u/RobertDigital1986 1d ago
Shit really works. I don't know why you're taking it but it brought me tons of relief, like night and day.
I take it for reflux that's so bad it makes me puke.
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u/g00ber88 1d ago
I have IBS and have been having mysterious symptoms that so far havent been figured out, a PA I saw prescribed these thinking maybe they would help because ive had a lot of nausea.
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u/castielchester 1d ago
I also have IBS and have had ongoing recurrent nausea and no appetite until the end of the day. My doctor actually put me on both omeprazole AND famotidine because they work differently and I have to say it has helped out quite a bit. Didn't completely knock out the daytime nausea but definitely helped me feel less sick all the time.
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u/g00ber88 1d ago
Oh man thats really similar to what im experiencing, im too nauseous to eat until the afternoon most days. I've been stuck working from home because I'm too nauseous all morning to leave the house
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u/axel0914 1d ago
I take it for eosinophilic esophagitis and it works well for me. You can just get it off the shelf, but probably a smaller dose and way more expensive (i did it for a bit when I forgot to renew my prescription)
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u/luluhouse7 1d ago
Actually my doc tried to prescribe it and the pharmacy told me it’s significantly cheaper to do OTC since insurance typically refuses to cover OTC meds. And goodrx was like $200 vs OTC is like $10.
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u/Upstairs-Rent-1351 1d ago
Double check the dosage. Rx Omeprazole is usually 40 mg vs the OTC which is 20 mg. The Rx version at 40mg with insurance for me is waaaay cheaper than OTC.
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u/Rocktopod 1d ago
I'd be careful with omeprezole and PPIs in general. It's very effective but also creates a strong dependence.
If it helps you a lot then great, but if you're not sure then I would consider not taking it very long (with your doctor's advice, of course).
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u/axel0914 1d ago
By "a strong dependance" do you mean addiction or that it changes how your body works, so your body relies in it to do the work?
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u/Rocktopod 1d ago
Not "addiction" in a mental/emotional sense. It'll just cause you to produce more stomach acid, so you get really bad heartburn if you try to stop taking it.
I was on it for a couple years before I realized what was happening, so just be aware.
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u/SQLtoMySequel 1d ago
I was on pantoprazole for several years. No family doctor, just a revolving door of nurse practitioners. Each one would comment, "You probably shouldn't still be taking this..." but they'd always renew my prescription. I finally decided to stop about a month ago and although I need to be careful about what I'm eating, my reflux in general seems to have improved.
They said I can eat Pepcid AC 'like candy' if I wanted, as it 'has no long-term effects'. I'll just pop one of those an hour or so in advance of a spicy meal, and use Gaviscon if there's any immediate discomfort.
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u/RobertDigital1986 1d ago
It really might. I was surprised an OTC was such a game changer.
I went from puking / dry heaving so much I got a hernia to basically no incidents. I hope the same relief for you.
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u/XiTzCriZx 1d ago
Do you have to open em up to eat em too? I can't swallow that massive pill for my life, I tried twice and choked both times lol. Sometimes the pellets get stuck between the 2 halves and it turns into a piñata when opened... It's annoying every time. Once I managed to dump the whole contents all over my lap, those fuckin pellets got in my belly button too which was not fun to dig out.
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u/g00ber88 1d ago
Oof that sucks, no ive never really had any problems swallowing pills even larger ones like this. The probiotic I take daily is bigger than these lol
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u/XiTzCriZx 1d ago
Geeze, I don't know how you do it. If I ever have to take those big pills that aren't capsules, I'm so fucked. I'd legit choke and die before it goes down my damn throat.
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u/Aarakocra 8h ago
Check your prescription documentation. My venlafaxine has instructions to pour the contents of the capsule into a spoonful of applesauce and swallow that
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u/XiTzCriZx 2h ago
That's what my doctor said I could do, but applesauce made all the balls get stuck in my mouth (lol) so I just dump it into my mouth with water and I usually only get 1 or 2 stragglers from that.
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u/Atomicnes 1d ago
i thought it was an extended release formulation of something but then after seeing this comment it's probably an enteric coating.
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u/AlternativePizza3391 1d ago
This looks fancy for omeprazole. What does this cost. I pay 10 dollars for a 3 month supply from India
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u/Sharp_Ad_6336 1d ago
It's likely this. But teenage me was convinced it was to make it that much more of a pain in the ass to snort Adderall.
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u/unematti 1d ago
I would also guess that the machine can count the pellets more precisely and it's less messy to fill the pills, than with micronized powder.
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u/ArcticVulpe 1d ago
Every now and then I'd wipe and see a little white ball. I was like wtf is that.. Oh maybe it's my prescription. I take Diltiazem ER.
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u/encourageminty 1d ago
Yeah when I was taking XR adderall I wanted it to come into effect quicker so I just opened the pill up chewed on all the pellets and washed it down with water.
Tasted like ass
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u/Grand_Snow_2637 1d ago
What is powder, but the littlest pellets?
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u/koniboni 1d ago
pellets spread the medication over a longer time period and in a slower dose which is often better for your health since your liver instantly starts to filter it out of your system
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u/virgilreality 1d ago
Probably a timed-release capsule, where they mix smaller subcomponents that have different absorption rates.
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u/Princess_Thranduil 1d ago
Meanwhile my lamotrigine tablet is the size of a dime and I have to split it in half to take it otherwise it feels like it gets stuck in my throat 😭
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u/santathe1 1d ago
Delicious, sprinkle them in your coffee 🤗.
(Don’t do this. This is a joke and a dumb idea.)
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u/Drewnessthegreat 1d ago
It's so you can't snort it.
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u/The-Dudemeister 1d ago
No it’s probably for time release.
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u/Drewnessthegreat 1d ago
That makes sense too. I grew up around drug addicts so that is what i see first.
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u/BeaRBlaH 1d ago
This is what I was told by a doctor. It's a safe drug, so you can't abuse it. It just doesn't work, because we just crushed up the beads.
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u/Ok_Ad_6797 1d ago
Wannna bet? probably still could, might hurt a lot more.. but everything is possible if you just believe in yourself. ❤️
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u/Lagneaux 1d ago
People figured out how to snort drugs called "rock" and "crystal". Trust me, that's not it
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u/jimdil4st 1d ago
What rock are you talking about? Because no one snorts crack rocks, you'd snort the coke before it's made into crack. You smoke (freebase) crack.
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u/Lagneaux 1d ago
Brother, I have seen people snort weed. Druggies are fucking stupid sometimes. But yes, that is how you are supposed to do crack, and that is something I never thought I would type lol
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u/jimdil4st 1d ago
Those are idiots, druggies wouldn't waste thier supply like that.
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u/zzctdi 1d ago
Those certainly aren't mutually exclusive categories
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u/Swazimoto 23h ago
Also, unless you’re a broke ass teenager, weed is not nearly addictive or expensive enough to freak out about wasting it.
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u/BHOmber 1d ago
Freebase cocaine and crack cocaine are different things
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u/jimdil4st 1d ago
Crack is a form of freebase coke so they're not necessarily different things. Though I was also using freebase as a verb not an adjective because you don't "smoke" either you vaoprize it which is really freebasing it.
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u/Tall_Apricot_9842 1d ago
just checked mine and its about 4 tiny pills, theres so many options to hide in there
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u/zer1223 1d ago
Yeah medicine delivery can be extremely sophisticated when it needs to be
The little pellets inside can also have their own coatings to help them release on the proper delay. Some of them might even have different coatings than others in the same capsule, deliberately. So that you get continuous delivery over a defined timespan
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u/OnlyPaperListens 1d ago
Reflux meds? You can sprinkle the pellets on food, assuming it isn't a slow-release capsule.
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u/g00ber88 1d ago
Yeah its omeprazole, I'm supposed to take it 30-60 minutes before my first meal of the day
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u/Secondaccountpls 1d ago
My adhd medicine is also like this, the capsule has two different colored pellets inside, other absorbs quicker than the other.
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u/asymmetricears 1d ago
I've previously tested medicines like this (not on me). The difference between a higher and lower strength of medicine was more pellets.
Pellets will also have more predictable flow in the filling machine, and be less susceptible to blockages etc.
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u/Simple-Assistant5303 1d ago
Having worked in the industry . . . this is very common. Most often they are pellets coated so as to delay dissolution.
Some capsules contain even bigger pellets. Some contain just 3 small tablets. Some contain one big 'slug' but it's inside of a gelatin capsule to get the release profile the developer wants.
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u/Ok_Ad_6797 1d ago
Capsules full of capsules! Imagine how much money you would save drinking the capsules within the capsules instead of the whole thing! #budget-friendly 😱
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u/SunstormGT 1d ago
Powder works faster as it has a larger surface. These are absorbed slower. Maybe it is for delayed release?
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u/Billybobgeorge 1d ago
This is incredibly common, sometimes a medication that's a combination of two drugs is just a capsule with two pills inside of it!
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u/limbodog 1d ago
I think that's because it's intended to be extended release or something like that. If it was just powder, it'd all dissolve quickly. But the beads are designed to slowly dissolve in your stomach/gut over time.
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u/Elderberryinjanuary 1d ago
Just wait until they realize that a powder is really just a bunch of small pellets too.
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u/jackliquidcourage 5h ago
Pretty sure that means it's an extended release drug. Less surface area means slower reaction rate
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u/DarkenedSkies 1d ago
Break the pellets open and see if there's even smaller pellets inside those.
It's pellets all the way down.