gelatin dilemna
Posted by allularpunk on Sep 10, 2008 · Member since Apr 2008 · 608 posts
yeah i know i spelled dilemna wrong, sue me.
ok so my problem is this: i just went to the store to get some desperately needed cranberry pills (fighting off a UTI) and i looked at the ingredients of EVERY SINGLE bottle, and they all have gelatin as the coating. i seriously, seriously need some, so i bought a bottle. but i haven't taken any yet. i feel terrible... but i really need to take some soon and this was the only store i could get to (driving my boss's car while running errands for work). what would you guys do?
am i a bad vegan? :-[
In cases of medical emergencies, I say do what you gotta do. If there are no other choices and it's down to you having to take a pill with animal ingredients or feeling like shit for longer than you have to, do it.
AP, I don't think you're a bad vegan! You looked at every pill to try and find one without gelatin. If this is something you really need for your health, then go ahead and take it. Most medications have some kind of animal by-product or are animal tested, so its hard to get around. Maybe there is something you can order online in the future, or just drink a lot of cranberry juice?
If you need them now, you need them now, but if you can wait there are brands that have a cellulose capsule. One is by Natural Balance and it's called CranBalance. The other is by Futurebiotics and it's called Cranbiotic.
Solaray has a product called CranActin which states that it is suitable for vegetarians, however it does list a gelatin capsule so I don't know what's up with that.
Maybe you could try calling around different HFSs from work to see if you can find one of those brands.
I personally avoid gelatin capsules, but I do know other veg*ns who feel that gelatin is a byproduct of an animal's death for consumption or leather and that it is ok to make use of it since the animals would likely not be killed just for gelatin.
Ultimately, if it's going to weigh heavily on your conscience, I'd say don't do it.
http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/remedy/Urinary-Tract-Infection-(UTI).html
I would be very careful though, a UTI isn't something to play around with.
Good luck!
PS - I'd use them if I had to. It's not going to make you a bad vegan.
ok i think i'm going to take some now, and after work drive around and try to find something different. maybe i'll donate this bottle to a friend or keep it in case of emergency.
drinking cranberry juice doesn't work for me - too sugary and not concentrated enough!
thanks for those brands, storm, i'll call up to my HFS after work to see if they have one of them!
I don't count medicines against animal-free diets. If you need something, take it.
You can usually buy 100% unsweetened cranberry juice at the HFS. It's fairly expensive and not very palatable though.
I don't think I've ever had a UTI. Is that something you have to treat within hours? Like if you waited until after work to get non-gelatin cranberry extract it would be too late? I know nothing about UTIs or their schedule.
HH, it depends on the body and the UTI (there's more than one infectant out there.) As a sufferer of chronic cystitis, I know that sometimes getting it in your body NOW is the difference between no big deal and hours/days of discomfort.
I take an herbal supplement called "Gayuba" in Spanish (bear claw, or bear grapes, I think in English) that is really goo but I have to catch the problem at the very start. If I don't, it's antibiotic time.
I really feel for you. I just got over one myself. But I had to go get antibiotics from the doctor. Sometimes cranberry/lots of fluids works for me sometimes it doesn't.
Really have to be careful since they can spread to other parts of the body. I once got pneumonia from a UTI as a child and ended up in an ER. Not to scare you - but just be vigilant, if it doesn't seem to get better don't hesitate to see a doctor.
There are also pain relieving pills (AZO brand) that you can find at most drug stores - I don't know if they are Vegan - but I think they are.
There are several vegetarian cranberry pills in the HFS, I got the brand Eclectic Institute.
But I also agree, that you shouldn't feel bad about taking gelatin ones if you have to. UTI's can be agonizing you don't want to put yourself through that any longer than you have to.
There's a really concentrated cranberry tea that I drink if I feel one coming on(Traditional Medicinals????). It's really sour, but it works for me. Good luck-no sugar or alcohol until its gone!
I buy cranberry extract and drink a shot or two of that. Seriously though, don't mess around with UTIs. I got an acute kidney infection most likely from an untreated UTI in college-- ended up emergency room at 2 am on a Wednesday night, vomiting, high fever, had to get an IV... Bad stuff.
For next time... or this...
UTIs suck! I used to get them a bunch.
Will you go to the dr?
There is a product that you can use to ease the symptoms almost instantly. Its called AZO. It doesn't cure it, but it makes it so you can't feel the pain until you can get treated. I'm not sure if its vegan or not (my guess is not) but I have used it to avoid my own suffering.
For the record :v) I don't think you are a bad vegan!
thanks everyone... i still haven't taken them because i feel bad. i know my body really well in this sense because a year or so ago i got UTIs almost every month for over a year and it was fucking terrible. i know when i need to go to the doctor, and it hasn't gotten there yet. it was actually feeling much better, but then i drank some beer last night and woke up with it feeling worse. i've been drinking water like a mofo for the past few days in hopes of clearing it up without antibiotics (can't afford them OR the doctor's visit to get em).
michael and i tried busting one open during my lunch hour, to see if we could just squeeze the liquid out of the capsule and mix it with water or something. it turned into a gooey mess... not sure i wanted to put that in my mouth, haha.. but i'm even less sure i wanna put gelatin in my body. stupid medicines and their stupid 'convenient' gelcaps.
Hmm... I would say take it! UTIs are bad news! However, if you are anywhere near a Whole Foods, their brand of Organic Cranberry Pure is vegetarian. Also, last time I had a UTI, I got that and a bottle of D-Mannose with CranActin by Solaray which is vegetarian as well. AND, you can get unsweetened 100% cranberry juice at Whole Foods. The combination of those three wiped my UTI out completely in like 3 or 4 days. Most of the discomfort was actually gone by the end of the first day. Hope that helps!
The standard antibiotic for UTI's is Macrobid. Which comes in a gelatin capsule. And if it gets up into your kidneys, you've got pyelonephritis, and then you're probably looking at IV antibiotics. Take the cranberry ASAP.
The femailes in our family have always used cranberry juice to good effect. But the last time we had to deal with such a problem we had no juice in the house but did have some frozen whole cranberries so for an experiment I juiced the cranberries in the blender and mixed them with something (which I can't remember now) to make them more palatable and it turned out pretty good and worked fine. But although I have been a vegan for 30 years I wouldn't worry about the little gelatine in the capsules you bought and next time follow the advice given and find some gelatine free. Good luck. You have us all worried about you now! :-\
I'm excited to have a 30 year vegan veteran on the board! Yay printerguy! ;)b
oh, btw, i took them. meh. feeling mostly better, though not 100% yet.
i'm not anywhere close to a whole foods (closest is over 5 hours away).. and my HFS is 20 minutes away and i've been trying to reduce my driving. i honestly could not justify driving 20 minutes ONLY to get cranberry pills without gelatin. it seemed a little counterintuitive, ya know?
next time i'm there though, i'll pick up a bottle so i'm better prepared. i had no idea i was running so low on them in the first place, usually i'm well stocked, since i'm highly prone to UTIs. this is just the first one i've had as a vegan. which is awesome, because that means i haven't had one in over 4 months. woot!
anyway, thanks for all your advice. :)>>>
Can't you just open up the capsules and eat the insides?