I found out yesterday that the mefenamic acid capsules I have been taken for a few years to deal with period pain contain gelatine, in the coating. There is no way I could take the powder from the capsule, because I think mefenamic acid has effects on your digestive system.

I've bitched before about animal rights activists with diabetes or asthma or some other illness which requires regular medication. I'm not an animal rights activist, but it distresses me that I am probably committing hypocrisy. Luckily my period finished yesterday, so I don't have to come up with the answer for another month or so.

What do you think? I'm now going to look for different forms of mefenamic acid on the net.

It took you that long to read the ingredients?

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I know, I thought that too. This post does make me look a bit of an idiot.. I suppose I just thought "why would they have animal-derived products in?" though I look at the ingredients on everything else, so it doesn't really make sense. The important thing is that I read them eventually.

Guess you'll have to live with period pain then, because most other painkillers and stuff have gelatin coatings, too.

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my multivitamins have pork gelatine in them.

but i'm going to keep taking them because it saves me having to have a balanced diet.

and there are 180 of the little things, i'm not throwing them out and trying to buy veg multivitamins.

i should care but somehow i don't.

i've been a vegetarian for 6 fucking years.

hell it's not steak. i do my best.

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you'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking

I wonder if my ventolin is animal-derived?

My other meds aren't in gelcaps, and my chewable vitamins aren't gelatiney.

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it's nearly impossible to be a perfect vegan or vegetarian, especially since people define the terms to best suit their beliefs and lifestyle. it's such a small amount that i think the gain will outweigh the loss. cause i mean, there's gelatin in a lot of random things (tires, film, etc.)

i dunno. i'm vegan but will occasionally break my own rules (eating foods that may cotain traces of milk/eggs) if there's nothing else in the house/have no money. i wouldn't worry about being called a hypocrite. the way i see it is it's not about being perfect but giving up as much as you can with the resources you have. because, i mean, even though 'it's the principle' (an argument i use often), having pills that are coated in a bit of gelatin isn't going to erase all the things you have given up.
i don't know if i've explained my thoughts well at all.

I can't believe you never thought of that! I have been emptying out my doxycycline capsules for years into yogurt to avoid that. Anyhoo, just go to your doctor and ask for the tablet form (this is from the BNF):

Mefenamic Acid (Non-proprietary) Prescription-only medicine
Capsules , mefenamic acid 250 mg. Net price 100-cap pack = £5.25. Label: 21
Tablets , mefenamic acid 500 mg, net price 28-tab pack = £3.37. Label: 21
Paediatric oral suspension , mefenamic acid 50 mg/5 mL. Net price 125 mL = £79.98. Label: 21

Maybe tell him you have converted to Islam and can't eat gelatin that doesn't specify whether or not it is from pork. Doctors are wankers when it comes to being empathetic about vegetarianism (however they are terrified of insulting religious minorities). If he/she still won't budge, just ask if you can get it on private prescription. £3.37 won't break the bank. You are just lucky it works for you period pain wise....

In a way I think vegans should be in favour of using gelatin. If you are a realistic vegan that accepts that for the time being at least animals will be killed for food by some people, you should fully support at least using the animal efficiently, not slicing off some meat and chucking the rest away to rot. Naturally if you don't want animals killed then either is bad, but I think killing a cow, taking a few choice cuts and then discarding the rest would be particularly degrading to that animal.
It's not as if any animals are killed specifically for the evil gelatin corporations, so a need for gelatin isn't a cause of animal death. Is it?

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Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

I personally (as a vegetarian of 16 years) don't actually have that much of a problem with animals being killed. I just find the idea of eating them particularly repellent. Its the same way, I guess people in the army don't mind soldiers being killed, but they sure as hell wouldn't want to eat them. Eating something that has been dead for several days seems gross gross gross. So eating their boiled up hooves/bone marrow/other icky bits is even more gross.

I doubt it is animal derived, whilst it is a corticosteroid, which are produced by adrenal glands in the kidneys (one of the reasons long term oral steroid use is so bad for you), they have a synthetic version of it. However you can guarentee that as a very wildly used drug, and one which is licensed for paedeatric use, it has been tested the fuck out of on animals.

Actually, you were quite eloquent and I get your rationale. The fact that people are thinking about ways in which they can stop exploiting our animal bretheren is admirable. What irks me is how some people take delight into turning the subject of animal rights into the equivalent of "my dick is bigger than yours". A friend of mine, who by all accounts tries her best to adhere to the principles of veganism, was pilloried for taking antibiotics to clear up a case of a near acute respiratory ailment because said antibiotics were from Merck who carried out animal testing. She was in an oxygen tent and asked where the antibiotics came from and after the fact, she was SHUNNED for opting to take them by two of her friends. I mean, WTF?? Animal exploitation has been round since time immemorial, ANYONE who tries to navigate their way through this minefield should be commended for taking steps to readdress the balance and not be told they aren't "doing enough". Questioning and addressing issues is one thing, one-upmanship and scoring points is counter-productive.

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*Huggy Ragnarsson Is My Co-Pilot*

"coming up on kittyradio, an erotic thriller featuring Shannon Tweed..."

To be honest, I am all about shunning animal rights activists who protest against animal testing, who then accept medicines. Its like "Oh, its okay for this medicine to be used to save MY life, but no future medicines can be developed and tested on animals because no one else's life in the future is worth saving". Like this woman who is a MAJOR anti-animal testing (for medicine) activist in the UK developed kidney cancer and decided it was alright for her to take medications tested on animals "because its prolonging my life to keep fighting a good cause". Like no one else's life is worth extending.... I think all anti-animal testing protesters should be forced to go visit people on cancer wards and explain to the people dying in there that they would rather delay/prevent new medicines being developed as opposed to let rats and mice die. Cause if you ever watch someone you love die of cancer, you would do anything in the world to save that person and the thought that their life might not be lost because someone has campaigned/intimidated laboratories working on these drugs makes my blood boil.

As I said, the subject of animal rights is, and always will be a minefield.

The example of the woman you cited, yes, I see the hypocrisy.

The thing is, what is wrong with exploring possibilites where clinical trials with willing volunteers may be a preferable option? Animal testing in the field of medicine is a contentious issue, but is there anything genuinely wrong with exploring the possibilities where it isn't always necessary to go down the vivisection route? Saying that animal testing should be eradicated overnight is foolhardy, but to not address any potential alternatives is any less foolhardy how?

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*Huggy Ragnarsson Is My Co-Pilot*

"coming up on kittyradio, an erotic thriller featuring Shannon Tweed..."

True, but the problem is that a) virtually no animal rights protesters are going "I'm okay with building that lab, but please explore viable alternatives as well" and b) thanks to our sue sue sue culture, if drug companies don't show that a drug has been shown to be safe by the standard method (hundreds and hundreds of animals), they are wide open to a huge law suit.

I get very annoyed over the anti-vivisection lobby thanks to being a student in Ox til recently. The animal rights activists were disrupting unrelated study, burning down buildings etc to stop a new lab being built. However, one of my friends now works in medical research there and says the reason they want to build the new labs is that the current facilities were built in the 70s, to pretty low standards, and the conditions for animals aren't that good there- one of the reasons they are trying to build the new lab. Which means animals are suffering for longer than they should because of misguided protesters. Who incidently almost all wear leather shoes. Alright for cows to die for shoes, but not for medicine that saves thousands?

[quote=Insomnia;876781]

The animal rights activists were disrupting unrelated study, burning down buildings etc to stop a new lab being built. However, one of my friends now works in medical research there and says the reason they want to build the new labs is that the current facilities were built in the 70s, to pretty low standards, and the conditions for animals aren't that good there- one of the reasons they are trying to build the new lab. Which means animals are suffering for longer than they should because of misguided protesters. Who incidently almost all wear leather shoes. QUOTE]

I quoted only part of your response simply because it's late, I need to get to bed and am so tired I can't process everything you brought up.

I'm curious as to why that information wasn't general knowledge, I would have thought the Ox research facilities would have employed a PR machine to get that particular point across.

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*Huggy Ragnarsson Is My Co-Pilot*

"coming up on kittyradio, an erotic thriller featuring Shannon Tweed..."

I take the same as you and I am a veggie...you can get the med in tablet form...you just have to ask your doctor to change it to tablet instead of capsules. I couldnt live without my period pills..

Well I imagine that as a university who i