On Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 11:08:25 PM UTC-4, Julie Bove wrote:
> This is a strange one. I do up our pills, two weeks at time in those
> oversized boxes with sliding tops that are marked off for 4 times of the
> day. I keep mine near the computer and Angela's were here too but hers were
> in a bad place and kept getting knocked off. So I put them on top of the
> little refrigerator. It is not actually in the kitchen proper but at the
> edge of it, under a piece of countertop that sticks out into the dining
> room. On the other side of it is the laundry room.
>
> Angela takes Colestipol which is a cholesterol med. She does not take it
> for that reason. It is off label for the problems that her Glumetza
> (Metformin) is causing her.
>
> I noticed last night that some of the Colestipol pills had a split down the
> side. Some but not all. Then by this morning, they were split wide open..
> And now? It's as though they exploded from within. They are still split
> but are HUGE!
>
> I did have something like this happen before with some L Carnitine tablets.
> Then I read on the bottle that they must not be removed from the original
> bottle or this would happen. This didn't work for me so I switched to the
> capsule kind.
>
> I just called the pharmacy. I should have known better. Was just there to
> get my own refill and was waited on by an Asian woman who not only is slow
> but doesn't speak English well. I had difficulty understanding her but it
> was worse on the phone.
>
> She told me that maybe it involved moisturizer in the bathroom. Uh huh. I
> think she meant moisture and I know enough not to put pills in there.
>
> I haven't done anything in my kitchen or laundry room in the past few days
> that would have caused excess moisture. I did cook green beans and rice the
> other day. But the rice had a lid on it and there was only 1/2 a cup of
> water in the beans.
>
> So... Has anyone else had a problem like this? The pharmacist didn't know
> and said that she would have the head pharmacist call me tomorrow. They did
> switch to a different brand and some of the pills appear to be harder than
> the others. These appeared to be rather soft from the start and they're
> HUGE! So I don't know if she could even take the exploded ones because of
> the size and I don't know if it would be safe to take.


I have had the same problem and my pills have not been near or exposed to moisture. It really freaked me out. I haven't yet taken them back to the pharmacy but I do intend to over the weekend. They are still in the original bottle they came in so I have no explanation as to why this would happen. Weird.