What is a compounding pharmacy?

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I'm glad you asked. For those who are only vaguely familiar, it might be of interest to know that a compounding pharmacy will take a medication and put it in another form. For instance, you might, as I did, want a 10 mg tab of Lotensin turned into 10 x 1 mg tabs for your kitty. They can also put it in capsules, compound it with other meds someone has to take so there's only one tab/cap to take, or put it in a suspension with liquid that's palatable (strawberry for the kiddies, tuna for the kitties, beef for the doggies, etc.). They can also put the med into a transdermal form, so all you have to do is rub it on your skin or inside your pet's ear or wherever there's no hair.

The one in Durham has a good sense of humor, too. I saw a sign that talked about diabetic shoes so I asked how often they require insulin. The staff roared with laughter. It wasn't to humor me because I was spending a lot of money--I wasn't. When I said how much to convert these big pills into little pills, the woman said "$14." "For how many?" "Well, you said you had a stash--however many you have." I decided to do just 30 (i.e., 300 x 1 mg tabs) and see how it goes from there. I might want to add other meds by the time Polly goes through that lot. Or I might not need any more. . .

-- Anonymous, September 22, 2002


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