Why Can Compounding Sometimes Be Better than a Conventional Medication?
Compounding is both helpful and imperative for patients who don’t respond well to pre-manufactured medications. All pharmaceutical medications cause side effects of one type or another, and some of them can be deadly. Compounding provides a way for a pharmacist to create a safe and effective alternative specifically for one patient. Second, as you know, most of the drugs sold by prescription or over-the-counter in this country are pre-manufactured. Chemists cobble together their ingredients, blend them in vats and out pop pills, losenges, capsules, solutions, etc. They come in certain specific sizes, strengths, dosages, flavors and/or textures. They are FDA approved and must be sold to patients “as is.” In other words, those medications are available only in certain pre-determined strengths and dosages. At most pharmacies, pre-manufactured medications are the only drugs available to you. If you’re allergic to one of the ingredients in that drug, you’re out of luck. But that’s not the c
