Compounding

What Is Compounding?

Pharmacy compounding is the art and science of preparing customised medications for patients. With the doctors consent we can change the strength of a medication, alter its form to make it easier to take or add flavour to it to make it more palatable.

We can also prepare the medication using several unique delivery systems, such as a sublingual troche or lozenge, sprays or a transdermal gel. Or for those patients who are having a difficult time swallowing a capsule, we can make a syrup instead.

Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT)

Peri-menopausal and menopausal women and men (andropause) can be helped by use of bio-identical hormones. These hormones are appealing to patients because they help to mend a hormonal imbalance with hormones that are identical to those produced in the human body.

A compounding pharmacist can tailor a hormone regimen, which mimics what a female’s body has been doing for the past 50 years or so. All women are not the same; therefore, a compounding pharmacist can make a medication specific to “fit” the patient, with the appropriate strength and form.For male patients, a supplementation of the basic hormone testosterone has shown to be an effective treatment for most men experiencing andropause.

The compounding pharmacist working with the patient and the doctor can start and maintain BHRT. Together they can choose the dosage route and strength that is most beneficial and pleasing to them.

Skin Rejuvination - Cosmeceuticals

Just as every face has its own distinctive features, so does every person have his or her own skin type. Custom prepared biocosmetic creams help provide a number of dermatological health benefits, including reduced acne, skin irritations, rashes, redness and inflammation.

Though the aging of skin can’t be stopped in many cases it can be slowed down. In fact, some of its effects are actually treatable, particularly that of skin related aging. Recently factors have been identified that cause the wrinkling and loss of elasticity that come with age. These factors include sun, cold, wind, smoking, fatigue, stress, poor nutrition and environmental irritants such as soaps.

While we can’t turn back the clock, we can begin to protect undamaged skin and rejuvenate skin that has already begun to age – through innovative biocosmetic products.

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Veterinary

As a pet owner you want your pet to receive the highest quality of veterinary care and you are well aware that animals may be extremely difficult to treat with medications. For example, cats are notorious for refusing to swallow a tablet. Dosages can also be tricky in dogs due to their varying shapes and sizes.

The pet who refuses to take medication because of the taste is often a prime opportunity for compounding. Because pets come in different shapes and sizes not all commercially made medications are appropriate. Also, sometimes a manufacturer will discontinue a medication.

In these types of situations your veterinarian can prescribe a tuna, liver or chicken flavoured suspension, or a gel that can be applied to an ear with an amount that is exactly right for your pet’s size and condition.

Paediatric

Children are full of life, energy and the curiosity to try new things with a smile.

Bring a medicine bottle out of the cabinet, though and those smiles may turn to tears. Kids just don’t like medicine. Sometimes there is nothing you can do about that; there’s nothing fun about being sick, and taking medicine just makes it worse.

While there’s no guarantee that taking medicine will ever become an entirely pleasurable experience, there are some ways to help.

Working closely with a compounding pharmacist, your child’s doctor can prescribe medications for pain relief, respiratory disorders, oral thrush, diabetes, head lice, nappy rash, skin disorders, cold sores and more. Because children vary in size and weight, we are able to help in formulating a medication which comes in the exact dose needed for a child of a certain age and size.

Dozens of flavours, such as bubblegum and chocolate, are available to enhance the taste and colour of a medication. Alternate dosage forms for children include lollipops, chewable lozenges, syrups, ice blocks and transdermal gels.

Pain Management

Pain is the most common symptom for which individuals seek medical help. Everyone experiences some sort of pain in their lives. It can take the form of stress-induced headache, a muscle group strained from sports activities, or the result of an injury at work or car accident. For some, pain can be chronic in nature and something they live with on a daily basis. Acute pain can easily evolve into chronic pain, which can become difficult to treat.

Struggling through chronic pain problems like arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraine headaches and nerve and muscle pain does not have to be a daily activity. Compounding can help.

Many commonly prescribed pain medications help with the symptoms associated with chronic conditions such as arthritis, but they can also result in stomach irritation and other unwanted side effects. Compounding can provide alternate methods of delivery by combining the ingredients of traditional oral pain medications in a topical gel, cream or spray form that can be applied directly to the site of the pain.

Compounding can also provide alternate treatments not yet commercially available for chronic pain management.

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Supplements

We can make multi vitamin and mineral formulations specific to your needs determined by your doctor through hair analysis. For example formulations containing zinc picolinate, selenium picolinate, boron picolinate, molybdenum picolinate, manganese picolinate, chromium picolinate, copper picolinate and many more... Mineral uptake by tissues in our bodies is far greater when the mineral is a picolinate. As our bodies utilise picolinic acid to absorb and transport certain minerals, and our cells recognise mineral picolinates and readily use them, it makes sense to use them in supplementation.

Sleep Disturbances

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone found in most animals, including humans. Circulating levels vary in a daily cycle, and melatonin is important in the regulation of the circadian rhythms of several biological functions including sleep. The use of melatonin as a drug can synchronize the circadian clock to environmental cycles and can have beneficial effects for treatment of certain insomnias.

Production of melatonin in the body is inhibited by light and permitted by darkness. For this reason melatonin has been called "the hormone of darkness" and its onset each evening is called the Dim-Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO). Secretion of melatonin as well as its level in the blood, peaks in the middle of the night, and gradually falls during the second half of the night, with normal variations in timing according to an individual's chronotype. For this reason supplementation with melatonin, can induce sleep without a ‘hangover’ effect the next day.

Dermatological

Skin conditions such as psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema, infectious diseases, wounds, rosacea and acne can all be treated with various compounded medications. Traditionally many of these conditions have been treated this way. Examples of these traditional treatments are salicylic acid, menthol, phenol, coal tar solution, ichthammol, zinc oxide and dithranol. These still play an important role in treating these conditions.
There are also many new medications that are not available as proprietary products that can be extremely useful in treating skin conditions; for example, tacrolimus, clobetasol propionate, hyaluronic acid and tretinoin.

Is the base of your cream, ointment or gel not suitable? If so we can change it for you. We stock a large range of bases that you can select from.

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Products

Some of the products we compound are as follows. This is just an example. We can make almost anything you require in any strength or form. Please contact us with any queries.

• Melatonin Capsules and Solution
• Dexamphetamine Slow Release Capsules
• Vitamin Capsules
• Vitamin and Mineral Capsules
• Minoxidil Solution
• Triiodothronine (T3) Capsules
• Tacrolimus Cream
• Levothyroxine (T4) Cream
• Lignocaine Acyclovir Gel
• Thyroid Extract (porcine) Capsules
• Ketoprofen in Lipoderm
• Gabapentin, Oestriol, Amitriptyline
• Capsaicin Cream
• Hydroquinine and Retinoic Acid Cream
• Biest HRT (Oestradiol, Oestriol) Capsules, Cream, Gel, Troche
• Triest HRT (Oestrone, Oestradiol, Oestriol) Capsules, Cream, Gel, Troche
• Oestradiol Capsules, Cream, Gel, Troche
• Oestriol Capsules, Cream, Gel, Troche
• Progesterone Capsules, Cream, Gel, Troche
• Testosterone Capsules, Cream, Gel, Troche
• DHEA Capsules, Cream, Gel, Troche
• Pregnenolone Capsules, Cream, Gel, Troche
• Boric Acid Pessaries
• Omeprazole Suspension
• Hydroquinone, Kojic Acid, Retinoic Acid Cream

Special Requirements

• Flavouring Troches ­ You can chose from peppermint, spearmint, orange, vanilla, marshmallow, vanilla butternut, raspberry, orange cream.
• Troche Base – Can be either the gelatin soft troche base or the harder PEG base. Please specify which you prefer.

If you have any allergies or intolerances we can make your medication to suit. We can make:

• Lactose Free Capsules - we can use lactose free fillers such as methylcellulose.
• Vegetable Capsules are available for those who prefer not to take gelatin capsules.

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