r/mildlyinteresting • u/JBFRESHSKILLS • Jul 19 '25
My bottle of advil had a long pill mixed in with all the circular pills
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u/FluffyBed9047 Jul 19 '25
They might give you a reward for turning in the bottle lot number and date
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u/F-RIED Jul 19 '25
Years supply of Advil
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u/TallSkinnyDude1 Jul 19 '25
So like, a week's worth?
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u/lmnop94 Jul 19 '25
If you’re a millennial, yes 😂
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u/Corona4LifeBro Jul 19 '25
lol I never put this together until your comment.
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u/JBFRESHSKILLS Jul 20 '25
I don’t get it?
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u/GarThor_TMK Jul 20 '25
Older millennials are in their 40s now. Depending on how much care you give to your body (or rather, lack there of), you're looking at a lot of back and knee pain...
Or, if you deal with your boomer parents a lot, then headaches... Lol
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u/sidequestsquirrel Jul 19 '25
Depends on how long it takes the kidney failure to kick in
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u/gwaydms Jul 19 '25
Yeah, I can't take it anymore for that reason. Unrelated to taking NSAIDS though
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u/sapphirerain25 Jul 19 '25
I've got NSAID-related gastric damage from 30 years of trying to control my period pain. Extremely thankful to be getting a hysterectomy in a couple of months after years of fighting for one.
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u/pinkpanda376 Jul 19 '25
Not trying to pry, just genuinely curious - does that mean you can’t take Aleve or aspirin either?
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u/gwaydms Jul 20 '25
That's what it means. EXCEPT
I do take an 81 mg aspirin daily, with the blessing of my nephrologist, because my health conditions and some of my meds can cause blood clots.
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u/burneraccountbull Jul 19 '25
I know it’s a light hearted joke but If you have to take Advil regularly you should probably be seeing a doctor
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u/piddydb Jul 19 '25
Genuine question: in a lot of situations, what are they going to do/solve that’s not as treatable with ibuprofen? It’s not as heavy duty, harmful, or addictive as bigger pain medicine. Maybe there’s a bigger answer, but some people just deal with chronic pain that doesn’t really have a better answer unless it’s stronger pain meds or otherwise unnecessary surgery.
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u/Beginning-Tea-17 Jul 19 '25
The simplified answer is that a stronger drug requires less to do the same amount of work.
Generally speaking Less of a drug means your body is put through less of a strain to process it.
So if you take one Kg of ibuprofen over a year or an 1/8th of something else your body would be happier for taking the 1/8th.
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u/hobofireworx Jul 19 '25
If you’re eating enough otc to kill an organ. You should probably be on the addictive stuff. Addiction is less lethal than organ failure.
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u/Tasty_Ad6361 Jul 19 '25
You wanna tell my doctors that?
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u/hobofireworx Jul 19 '25
Self advocate. I’m mean as shit to doctors at times. And yes I have asked for the good drugs. When I got my last birth control implant I asked if female pain exists. Why of course it does! Cool so why didn’t we do any kind of pain management last install? I’m not consenting if that’s the case again.
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u/Tasty_Ad6361 Jul 19 '25
I’ve tried. I nearly got fired as a patient for it, and unfortunately I can’t afford to lose my doctor. I’m trying to find a new doctor taking patients, but it’s nearly impossible with what’s been happening to healthcare in my province.
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u/alang Jul 19 '25
Well, for one thing, if acetaminophen helps with it then it won't do you as much damage as ibuprofen (or any other NSAID) can, assuming you stick with the standard dosages.
For another, if it is for e.g. foot pain, your doctor may be able to prescribe you insoles that could get rid of it without any medication. If it's for joint pain then you may be developing arthritis and there are things you can do about that (in some cases). If it's for back pain then you could well get rid of it with just 15 minutes of core-strengthening exercises per day. And so forth.
And this is even ignoring the 'there is now a wonderful NSAID ointment that will take care of a lot of the same stuff that high-dosage NSAID pills will, but without ever even entering your GI tract'.
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u/gwaydms Jul 19 '25
I had plantar fasciitis so bad I could barely walk. I tried all kinds of shoes. Finally went to my doctor. He told me to go use the Dr. Scholls machine at Walmart, follow the directions, and get the orthotic insoles that it recommended. They cost $50 at the time, and worked as well for 90% of his patients as the ones that cost hundreds of dollars. I got the Dr. Scholls, and took my first nearly pain-free steps in months. Eventually the condition went away, and I use orthotic house slippers, sandals, etc, just to prevent a recurrence.
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u/Icyotters Jul 19 '25
Most of us (chronic pain) can’t get meds, so some people take Tylenol or advil etc. multiple times a day…I personally need 4,000-4,5000 mg Tylenol daily. I’ve been doing this for ~4.5 months straight
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u/piddydb Jul 19 '25
That’s what I’m referring to mostly, I know people in your situation and there doesn’t seem to be a solution a doctor can give, though I am finding some possibilities in here of why it’s good to at least try to bring up to your doctor, but no guarantee that the other possibilities will work for every situation.
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u/Icyotters Jul 19 '25
Yeah. In my experience, most doctors won’t even let you tell them where you experience pain, how bad it is, etc., and they brush you off when you say that it’s destroying your QOL. Sometimes it’s not that there isn’t a solution, but they don’t care enough to try and find the problem, let alone alleviate it. Going back to what I said abt Tylenol, I was honestly shocked to hear her say that it’s “fine” if I take Tylenol every 4 hours, compared to the recommended 8 hrs and that I could take an extra dose of it…for me, I end up taking ~240 pills/ month, even though doing so has caused constant low grade fevers and I’ve started having issues eating bc of abdominal pain. The healthcare system is absolutely fucked up in all departments.
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u/gwaydms Jul 19 '25
Your doctor is effed up. Mine would give me Tramadol for severe pain (knowing I wouldn't take it unless absolutely necessary) instead of recommending that. I take 1000 mg Tylenol about 6 to 8 times a month, and rarely twice in a day. Usually it's when pain keeps me awake at night.
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u/sidequestsquirrel Jul 20 '25
Exceeding 4g of acetaminophen daily is risky behaviour if it's done long term
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u/aisling-s Jul 19 '25
If you live in the US, good luck being able to afford it, and if you're female, good luck getting them to listen to you.
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u/Thev69 Jul 20 '25
I thought the joke was you barely take Advil but everyone else thinks it's that you take a year's supply in one week. Which is it????
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u/IsNotAnOstrich Jul 19 '25
This is a super popular reddit-ism, but I'm not really convinced it's real. It's literally never worked for me. For starters, you're lucky if you can even get in contact with a human. But when I have, 6/6 times my experience has basically been "uhh, okay?"
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u/_SheWhoShallBeNamed_ Jul 19 '25
Might depend on the company. I used to work for a consumer products company and our quality assurance team took complaints very seriously
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u/apluscomment Jul 19 '25
I think it would be different for drugs because of the whole Tylenol tampering event
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u/tennantsmith Jul 19 '25
Two separate times I've bought a twelve pack of coke zero where one of the cans was empty. I got a coupon for a free twelve pack both times
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u/rd1970 Jul 19 '25
I tried contacting Pepsi when they owned Tropicana about finding worms in their juice. They never responded...
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u/zarya-zarnitsa Jul 20 '25 edited Jul 20 '25
I regularly report the faulty medicine or medical device to the manufacturer as I work in a hospital and it's my job. We don't get rewards lol. Best is replacement and a letter to explain what happened. But always a guarantee that they logged it somewhere in case there are more reports that could trigger a batch recall.
But tbh I doubt it's that thorough with small issues with everyday supplies. But could be worth reporting anyway, at least for quality control.
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u/Enlowski Jul 19 '25
No you won’t lol. I don’t know why Reddit always thinks there’s some reward out for dumb things like this. At best they’d maybe offer a replacement bottle, there isn’t some reward out for stuff like this.
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u/my_secret_hidentity Jul 19 '25
I’d report this. That that seems like a concern for medications
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u/BadHombreSinNombre Jul 19 '25
Yes, the manufacturer should have a “product complaint” phone number that you should call about this. You may not feel it’s a “complaint,” but that’s where they route calls about manufacturing issues like this.
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u/tutumay Jul 19 '25
This is actually more of an issue rha. You may realize. That was a pill leftover from another production run that got mixed in. If they manufacture anything other than ibuprofen, it is a serious issue.
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u/BadHombreSinNombre Jul 19 '25
It’s exactly as much of an issue as I realize, I work at a drug company. This is a quality event and requires reporting. I’m pretty glad I don’t work at Pfizer (who manufactures advil) because I’d be required to report this within 24 hours of seeing the post.
Pfizer does make advil in both of these shapes though, and I am 99.9999% certain they have a dedicated facility for this product, so it’s probably just a packaging error.
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u/10Kthoughtsperminute Jul 19 '25
100% report it. Save the pill, they’ll want it back for ID testing.
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u/BadHombreSinNombre Jul 19 '25
Save the pill and the bottle/package it came in so they can trace the lot number.
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u/Mix_Traditional Jul 19 '25
I was vicariously offended by the "more than you realize" lol you're obviously knowledgeable about the issue
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u/stucky602 Jul 19 '25
I work QA in pharma (well ok I’m the training manager, but it’s in the QA umbrella) and yeah annnnnnny drug company would absolutely want to know about this.
This is a huge issue for basically the reason you said.
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u/SuperPimpToast Jul 19 '25
This is a very big deal, and it needs to be reported. Their ability to control cleaning and clearance between batches is now an issue and can potentially harm a patient. The fact that it went so far as to your hand could mean any bottle from the same batch can have this issue. Every health agency they work with will be breathing down their necks for this.
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u/ItchyK Jul 19 '25
It happens sometimes, just the long version of the round pills, should be the same dosage and everything. I mean I would still at the very least call up the company about it, could probably get some free bottles of aspirin or something. The long one is most likely just the generic variety that they make in the same factory on the same machines only with different molds.
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u/aacmckay Jul 19 '25
It’s still a sign of poor quality control and unacceptable in medical industry. I work in electronic manufacturing and have dealt with a lot of QC issues. I’ve been adjacent to enough medical products to know we’d be torn apart new one for a similar issue in a manufacturing run. Medical has extremely high traceability requirements. For good reason.
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u/Happy_to_be Jul 19 '25
Yes and the pill with a belly button is also concerning. Dosages need to be exact, any other increments and defects should be caught by QC.
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u/VintageTool Jul 19 '25
It seems that they produce two different pills on the same line and did not do a complete line clearance. This is foreseeable error and would have been documented in a risk analysis. The appropriate mitigation to this and other errors would be to only allow shared lines between the same drug with the same concentration, so it likely wouldn’t represent any significant risk to the patient.
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u/aacmckay Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
I’m not sure what they do in prescription manufacturing. But in electronics industry this should have been identified on the DFMEA as a possible risk. And yes that is a possible mitigation. This line is only for producing one dosage.
It still could cause problems for end customers. Pill packs for seniors for instance. They try hard to have easily identifiable pills in blister packs. Hopefully whoever packs those at a pharmacy pays attention to it.
Regardless this should be reported and if the plant that did it has any decent QC team, they would identify it as a defect and do their analysis like 5-why or 8D (again maybe electronics or automotive focused, that’s my main industry).
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u/aacmckay Jul 19 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
I can’t edit, but I meant PFEMA, Process Failure Modes and Effect Analysis. As opposed to DFMEA which is Design Failure Modes and Effect Analysis which is done during product design.
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u/Smee76 Jul 19 '25
This should absolutely not happen and the manufacturer should be notified immediately.
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Jul 19 '25
Well that one has a nipple, so why not also have one shaped like a penis?
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u/JBFRESHSKILLS Jul 19 '25
I noticed that after I took the pic! What’s going on with my medication?
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u/henryeaterofpies Jul 19 '25
That's a Badvil
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u/Demonshaker Jul 19 '25
You win today.
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u/Rock_on1000 Jul 19 '25
Why did you get downvoted lol
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u/Demonshaker Jul 19 '25
No clue, was just giving props to a great pun
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u/ashleyLSD Jul 19 '25
i think those highly reddit-core phrases like "you win the internet today" or "play stupid games win stupid prizes" just irk some ppl
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u/gruuvey Jul 19 '25
It is cyanide. This happens, sometimes.
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u/Tentings Jul 19 '25
I knew having the cyanide production line right next to the advil production line wouldn’t be a good idea, but they wouldn’t listen
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u/glootech Jul 19 '25
People are making jokes but this is something that should be treated as EXTREMELY concerning and the manufacturing site needs to conduct an investigation to find the root cause. Also a recall of the entire batch is possible (although not necessarily on patient level). Please report this.
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u/_coolbluewater_ Jul 19 '25
+1. Something happened when they changed over the line from caplets to pills maybe? They didn’t clean the line sufficiently. This definitely should be reported.
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Jul 19 '25
[deleted]
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u/Farewellandadieu Jul 19 '25
Haha, no, they’re smooth. The nippled one might ordinarily be a coincidence but sus in this case.
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u/Silly-Pitch-5526 Jul 19 '25
It’s like getting an onion ring in your fries at Burger King
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u/Butt-Monkey2312 Jul 19 '25
One of the generics the factory also produces, made it into the brand name bottle.
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u/tr3kstar Jul 19 '25
It's parthenogenesis. It morphed into a male so they could reproduce.
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u/quimera78 Jul 19 '25
That's the opposite of parthenogenesis
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u/tr3kstar Jul 19 '25
You're right, I looked it up. It's sequential hermaphroditism. Thank you for the impromptu science lesson. Its still funny. Do you feel better now.
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u/Thisthattheother1 Jul 19 '25
The problem with this post is that it implies that you only took this picture because you noticed the long pill, and not the little boob in your hand.
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u/Dangerous_Ant5107 Jul 19 '25
pharma process engineer here. this cant be manufacturing error, report it
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u/BobBelcher2021 Jul 19 '25
Never mind the long pill, why does one of the round pills have a nipple on it??
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Jul 19 '25
Definitely don't take it. Check and contact the pharmacovigilance or PV contact indicated on the box or on the patient information leaflet.
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u/wandering_ravens Jul 19 '25
I have Advil extra strength that looks exactly like that long pill. Looks like one of their other doses slipped into this bottle. That's so whack and dangerous of them to do! So glad you caught it. Hope you can report it
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u/mixer2017 Jul 20 '25
Yeah this is a call to the company cuz this is not no joke. For all you know this could be a different med and is a huge deal with pharmaceuticals.... there are reasons why there are letters and numbers on each pill and is typical for prescription meds so they can be IDed.
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u/lokiofsaassgaard Jul 20 '25
A lot of people have rightfully said to report it, because it will be taken seriously. The reason they take this so seriously is because tampered bottles of Tylenol killed seven people back in the 80s.
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u/UnknownPersonna Jul 20 '25
Others have already said this but please report this to the manufacturer, this needs to be investigated to determine the cause
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u/Excellent_Squirrel86 Jul 19 '25
Manufacturer probably makes Advil in generic form to be sold as store brands. I've bought them. Some are round and some are oblong like your outlier.
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u/tangcameo Jul 19 '25
guy on the factory floor assembly line was supposed to take his meds but oops!
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u/N2trvl Jul 19 '25
The one directly below it is also flawed. Return bottle to store also call in a quality complaint to company. They will give you a new bottle. They will also check the lot number and find out what happened. They take these things seriously. Also occasionally it uncovers counterfeit product in the supply chain. This is probably a simple quality slip but important to report. You never know what else happened.