Hi - probably a question with an obvious answer (like when you ask a shop assistant where the toothpaste is and you’re standing next to it) - but how do you know if your Pred is coated or not? Mine comes in different coloured boxes, blue and white or brown and white and neither make it clear as far as I can see.
Coated Pred : Hi - probably a question with an... - PMRGCAuk
Coated Pred
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Thelmarina
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64 Replies
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The pills are coloured for coated. White pills for uncoated.
5mg red 2.5mg browny black.....never had coated at other dosages ...
Thelmarina in reply to
Brilliant. Thankx
maria40 in reply to
1mg coated are yellow.
in reply to
That’s not the case for me my 2.5mg are yellow an uncoated ... my 5mg are white and coated
in reply to
I haven't seen that before.
Ps and will say gastric resistant on the box.
Plain tablets are white.
Coated tablets are coloured. 5mg red, 2.5mg can’t remember!!! 😂😂😂 1mg ochre. And they look like they have a sugar coating. The box will say ‘Gastro-resistant’.
in reply to Soraya_PMR
When i washed the colour off the 5mg...there was so much red colouring I looked liked I had killed someone.
Soraya_PMR in reply to
E120, Carmine, a little goes a long way!
5 mg Coating:
polyvinyl alcohol, titanium dioxide (E171), purified talc, lecithin, xanthan gum (E415), polydimethylsiloxane, polyethylene glycol sorbitan tristearate, silica gel, polyethylene glycol stearate, benzoic acid (E210), sulfuric acid, polyvinyl acetate phthalate, polyethylene glycol, sodium hydrogen carbonate, triethyl citrate, purified stearic acid, sodium alginate (E401), colloidal silicon dioxide, lactose monohydrate, methylcellulose (E461), sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, carmine (E120), indigo carmine aluminium lake (E132), beeswax (E901), carnauba wax (E903), polysorbate 20 (E432) and sorbic acid (E200).
Oooooh! Tasty!!!!!!!!!!
in reply to Soraya_PMR
That list is ridiculous!! I have trouble with these additives as not veggie a lot of time. If I can I decant gelatin capsules into veggies ones. Drives me mad.
in reply to
Ridiculous indeed! Why not use beets if they must have red? No red, maybe carrots for orange? Other foods for other colors? Or how about just a size difference, like the white ones? I wonder what they add to make them white?!?!
in reply to
Titanium dioxide I would image. It's in everything white..
Plastic food medicine etc.
in reply to
Thanks! At least just one ingredient!
in reply to
Not just that ...that just the whitener. I will be checking now though!
in reply to
inactive ingredients: anhydrous lactose, colloidal silicon dioxide, crospovidone, docusate sodium, magnesium stearate and sodium benzoate.
in reply to
Bah! Sodium benzoate; my sis is allergic and I try to avoid it, as we share some food sensitivities. I don’t even recognize some of those other ingredients. Why do we need them to white anyway? 😉
Thanks!
Love the thought of E901 and E903!
That’s the bit that makes you rise and SHINE in the morning 😉
It’s no wonder pred is associated with gastric issues....sulfuric acid!!!???
in reply to Soraya_PMR
Yikes
No wonder they give us the belly ache!
Thelmarina in reply to
😂
pigeonCl-HU in reply to
As Soraya says, E120 Carmine. Made from the little bodies of the cochineal beetles, poor little things. Used a lot in lipsticks.........uuuurrrgggg!!!
pigeon.
Nooooo - I'm fond of pigeons!!!
I feed the pigeons in the park every day. In my garden I only get he wood pigeons, the ferals used to come in the past, but no longer, don't know why. I get lots of other birds though.
Soraya is blessed she gets parakeets at her garden.
pigeon.
When I went to Australia many years ago the tree in my sister-in-law's garden was covered with little jewelled parakeets. Never forgot it.
..and they are chirpy little things too, I'd have their music any day.
pigeon.
First I didn’t know 2.5 Pred existed all the annoyance of chopping 5s in half with wobbly fingers.
I’ve 20+ Pigeons in a loft at the end of my garden. We race them. They are going to France tomorrow for Fridays race. Weather permitting. The birds kept Parker sane during the bad days of PMR and my hip op. Now I don’t work I have learned a lot of Pigeon stuff.
I feed the wild birds too loads of them in the garden with fledglings. The down side is bird droppings every where. Pigeons fly out empty and have never left any droppings in 20 years. Other than in the loft after they are fed that is. One of Parker’s joys is “Scraping Out” I won’t go in to detail.
in reply to Estellemac
I occasionally get a racing pigeon or two in my garden...must be on a route or my house looks like a pigeon loft. My old neighbour started feeding one and it stayed for days. They usually rest I have water outside if they drink(?). Usually now they fly off in an hour or two.
Estellemac in reply to
They only come down for a drink when they’re off course or tired. Sometimes they get attacked by hawks and it separates them from the team. They hide then till it goes off to eat songbirds. If someone reports having a Pigeon we have to go and get it as they are all registered. That’s one of my jobs now. Pigeon Rescue. Bit like Thunderbirds are Go. 🐦🤪😂
in reply to Estellemac
😂😂😂 I do try and get the detail if they will let me close enough. Like you say once they have had a drink and a rest they disappear. Can you feed them or as athletes do they have specific diet. That's a serious question believe it or not!
Estellemac in reply to
You could probably only catch it if it was injured and couldn’t fly so no worries about reporting it. They do have address rings too but the RPA just need the ring number. They do have specific food and they get used to it so they wouldn’t eat any thing else. Even starving on there last legs!! To be honest they are quite resilient. One came home with a big hole in it crop. As it eat the corn it started to come out of the hole. The blood scabbed over it and within 2 weeks it was back out you wouldn’t know it had been hawked.
in reply to Estellemac
Omg that's one tough bird. 😮
in reply to pigeonCl-HU
Horrid. It uses millions to make a bit as well.
pigeonCl-HU in reply to
True, and all to make lips 'desirable' and puddings red....among other million uses.
pigeon.
in reply to pigeonCl-HU
I thought your dog had a black Mohican.....it's a hand on his head! Cute.
pigeonCl-HU in reply to
Poopadoop, never thought about it, but now that you have mentioned it? yeah it looks like a black Mohican....would have suited him too, you must have thought I dyed his fur or something.
I loved him so, he was my Soulmate, now is in heaven.
pigeon.
in reply to pigeonCl-HU
Oh no. Bless him. Mine 12 now but still fit. Hopefully taking her swimming soon. 😟
pigeonCl-HU in reply to
Swimming, how nice, I like her pink sunglasses!
She looks younger there, in the current pic she seems to have a little more white?.....don't you just love them so much more (if that is at all possible) when their muzzle begins to turn grey....
pigeon.
in reply to pigeonCl-HU
Yes. It stands out in the darkness now. The sunglasses were a serious purchase 😂😂😂 Her pupils are
dilated all the time and she has retinal damage. She seems ok when it's not too sunny. I hoped the sunglasses would help stop the blurriness she must have. It's must be like having those drops in at the opticians. She is ok wearing them but they almost fall off when she's running. They do become your best mate. She lost her "boyfriend" just before Xmas. Took her a month to act normally on the way to walk without him in the car.
pigeonCl-HU in reply to
Poopadoop, How thoughtful of you to shade her eyes.
You sure did the right thing, as dilated pupils cause blurriness, they would have diminished her enjoyment of the outdoors.
The glasses obviously don't bother her, as otherwise she would have immediately knocked them off with her paw.
She must have said 'thank you mum'.
pigeon.
Thelmarina in reply to
Yuk.
Yellowbluebell in reply to
Why did you wash colouring off?
in reply to Yellowbluebell
Mainly to see if it was that that caused me to.itch. But now I know it's cochineal for certain...
Yellowbluebell in reply to
I thought you were losing the plot at first but it makes sense now!!
in reply to Yellowbluebell
😂😂😂
PMRproAmbassador
The box will say if it is gastro-resistant or enteric coated. Most enteric coated in the UK is red for 5mg, brown for 2.5mg and yellow for 1mg. The pills are also usually more rounded - look a bit like a Smartie/M&M - whereas plain, non-coated pred are plain white (occasionally yellow) and have flat faces.
I dream of the day I get my hands on some of those red, brown, and yellow pills so I don’t have to get up at 2am to take the white ones!
Lots of people have taken the plain white sort as late as possible together with food and found it did the same.
You can buy GR empty capsules on line. I was preparing for that when my GP agreed to coated tablets. Still not quite over that shock 😮
Was just discussing that as an option with hubby this weekend. Quite pricey though, about $150. for 20!! Thanks so much!!
What? I don’t recall prices like that! I’d have been looking in UK though.
Yoghurt is good for me when swallowing non coated Pred.
I have one tab coated and one not - the uncoated has a powdery white surface and the coated is black and shiny. I take after porridge to avoid indigestion and drink mint tea if get pain
Thanks everyone - all very helpful
UK pharmacies working within the NHS will dish out whichever brand of Pred they can buy cheapest. The colours will definitely vary with different brands. My uncoated 5mg are from CoPharma, flat, white, circular with beveled edges and a break-line on one side. The company also makes 1mg tablets, also white but biconvex not flat and no break=line. My current 2.5mg tablets are from Actavis and are pale yellow, round and flat with a break-line. The same company also makes 5, 10, 20, 25 and 30mg tablets, which can be either red, yellow or white. Each tablet is marked clearly with the number of mgs. The two brands also have very different co-ingredients although both are compatible for veggies.
It pays to read the paper leaflet included in the boxes. I have no experience of coated Pred but I know from experience with other meds that the coatings vary enormously from company to company, both in veggie-compatibility and in the number and type of coating ingredients. However, that are usually a much "rounder" shape without a break-line, and can be much brighter colours, which makes distinguishing the different strengths easier but can add to allergies from the colourings.
If in doubt, always ask your dispensing pharmacist - they can be a mine of knowledge concerning ingredients, far beyond what most GP's bother with !!
Info not on the boxes or leaflets. Will rely on pharmacist!
I have only had un-coated Pred from Almus 5mg and 1mg both white.
My doc told me they didn't do coated any more. Said it had all been a stunt by the pharma companies and it had been shown that it made no difference whether they were coated or not. She said my stomach would be OK as long as I also had omeprazole.I wondered if they they were cheaper uncoated and there was a cut back at the surgery.Guess they wont tell me. They also only gave me 5mg ones so when I was on 5omg that was 10 little fiddly pills to popo out!! Who do you believe
Lies. Absolute lies.
The research she refers to was done in patients with gastrointestinal problems - which skews the results for a start.
There was a 17-fold price differential but when the NHS advised that plain pred plus a PPI should be used the pharma companies promptly raised the price of plain pred so the difference is minimal. GPs agreed to the switch - until patients appeared complaining of gastro problems and they realised that for long term patients it makes a major difference. It matters not a jot for the patient on pred for a few weeks but for those of us who are on it for a long time, the long term use of a PPI adds in all sorts of problems in terms of loss of bone density (not just pred) and the other extra side effects of PPIs.
I will be fair and say the price of 20 or 10mg tablets is very high - the ones used a lot are realtively cheaper.
Suspect it depends on where you live (country) and manufacturer. I'm in the UK like you. The 5mg and 1mg have always been white for me. Only 2.5mg are coated on the NHS so I understand and are shiny with an obvious coat coloured nearly black.
in reply to PMRsince2014
I get 5mg too.
Not true - 5mg, 2.5mg and since 2016 1mg enteric coated are all available on the NHS. You might have to convince your doctor and even the pharmacist - some were not aware of the yellow 1mg enteric coated version until patients educated them. Boots downright lied they weren't available - but trusty independents aided and abetted us 
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