r/mildlyinteresting
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u/Lexaprofessional1998
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9d ago
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My Walgreens brand Tylenol capsule is just a pill with a removable shell on either side.
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u/NewsJunkie4321 9d ago
Use just the two shells…
Placebo!
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u/Fracture_98 9d ago
See, the thing about placebos is that they work, and they don't have side effects.
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u/Yuuwaho 9d ago
Not if you believe there’s side effects.
Nocebo effect go brrrr.
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u/WillTFB 9d ago
Placebos could have side effects
"Sir, you're going to take one of these pills before each meal"
"They'll take care of my stomach aches?"
"Yeah, but if they start causing any kind of muscle aching or headaches, come to see me again"
If you ran an experiment like that I'd bet there'd be a small yet statistically significant amount of people who would feel those side effects.
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u/stumbling_forward 9d ago
There was an experiment that compared outcomes amongst patients who had arthroscopic knee surgery vs patients who got a placebo surgery and the outcomes were the same. And like ten years later, the outcomes were still the same.
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u/Meecus570 9d ago
Placebo surgery? That's fucked up!
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u/chiniwini 9d ago
Is it? I think the fucked up part is the real surgery, when a placebo one is just as effective (in this case).
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u/animazed 9d ago
I wonder if they charged the same price for both. That’d also be pretty fucked up.
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u/IceFromHell 9d ago
If it's a study there is a chance they didn't charged for the procedure itself. If they did, they had to charge the same or the blinding of the control would be lost.
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u/nyetloki 9d ago
Negative placebo effect, the nocebo, is a real and studied phenomenon in drug trials. Apparently it's worse than the placebo because people report/believe negative effects quicker
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u/meraero2
9d ago
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Rearrange the caps to make red pills and blue pills. Play The Matrix with your friends whenever they get a headache.
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u/Teripid 9d ago •
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"Neo.. you didn't have to take that as a suppository. "
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u/DadJokeBadJoke 9d ago •
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"For all the good that suppository did, I could have shoved it up my ass."
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u/Braincain007 9d ago edited 9d ago •
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I actually discovered this same thing last night and did exactly The thing you said. I spent an hour and have a small bottle of red and blue pills.
Edit: Damn why do people jump to the conclusion that I am a liar/there is something wrong with me. I was watching a video about the Matrix, saw the Tylenol, thought "what if?", figured out it worked, and did it mindlessly while watching YouTube.
Edit 2: It has been a long day, but one last edit for you. Thanks to all the kind people responding positively! It really makes my day that people like you still exist on the internet. To the people that decided to delete their comments after I provided proof, I forgive you. :)
I'm off to bed now. Soon I have to Wake up.
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u/pfabs 9d ago •
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Now you just need friends.
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u/sbear37 9d ago edited 9d ago •
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The real friends were the pills we made along the way.
Thx for the awards, friends
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u/Scaniatex 9d ago
Yes, yes they are.
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u/Rydralain 9d ago
Lie still little bottle Shake my shakey hands Black coffee's not enough for me I need a better friend
One pill out the bottle Singin' my favorite song I know I must investigate I hope that I can sing along
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u/Lanzo2 9d ago
The friends come when you start to see a light
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u/meat_sword 9d ago
I think that's a migraine
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u/Zkenny13 9d ago
Or you took to much tylenol
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u/LaconicLacedaemonian 9d ago
It's okay, I washed it down with some vodka.
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u/SmokeAbeer 9d ago edited 9d ago
I like to mix them all together. I call it a Purple Russian.
Edit: Don’t mix pills and alcohol. In case anyone needs to know that.
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u/Beginning-Idea2170 9d ago
That’s when we find out the colored shell is actually the medicine, and the interior pill is just for structural support lol
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u/thejustducky1 9d ago
Damn why do so many people jump to the conclusion that I am a liar/there is something wrong with me.
That's redditors for you... if they aren't calling it fake they're judging you for it. Doesn't help that reddit is chock full of toxic hate subs.
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u/The_Minstrel_Boy 9d ago
Or stack three pill halves on a virus of the same colour to kill it.
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u/MrBobaFett 9d ago
I'm pretty sure one of them is just a little smaller than the other so they nest. So I don't think that would work. (Or it might be tapered)
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u/DeusExHircus 9d ago
Probably exactly the same size. Look, they don't even connect, the gray band is the original tablet underneath
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u/handsy_octopus 9d ago
As a pharmacist this bothers me way too much... I've never seen such bullshit
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u/RandomCandor 9d ago
If it's any consolation, it probably wasn't a pharmacist that came up with the idea
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u/DeusExHircus 9d ago
That gray band is part of the look of name brand Tylenol capsules. This probably gives manufacturing engineers a stiffy because someone came up with such a simple, cheap, elegant way of copying the look of the original by using less material
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u/bionicmook 9d ago
You’re probably right, but you could probably finagle it to fit. I used to make giant straws at Wendy’s when I was a kid. Just gotta freak it right.
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u/brucecampbellschins 9d ago
I'd guess the capsule shell makes it easier for some people to swallow. Notice how when they get wet they get very slippery.
edit: found a site claiming, "Capsules are easier to swallow and are used by manufacturers when the drug cannot be compacted into a solid tablet. They are also useful when the drug needs to be mixed with oil or other liquid to aid absorption in the body."
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u/nakfe 9d ago
Probably helps with avoiding the taste also.
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u/meontheinternetxx 9d ago
Yes! At least if fully closed. I had to take antibiotics that came in capsules. I asked if opening them was ok (because I am terrible at swallowing them) and they said it didn't matter.
It was just for the taste. Oh my, the taste. It was the definition of bitter.
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u/fullywokevoiddemon 9d ago
All fun and games until the paracetamol touches your tongue. My god ITS AWFUL.
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u/BENDOWANDS 9d ago
The worst one I've ever had is Mucinex D. The big 1200mg pill, the taste is so bad. And the fact it's a massive pill makes it so much worse to get swallowed.
But, the relief it gives is unparalleled most of the time (for me, different drugs for different people of course)
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u/yabadass 9d ago •
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Everyone needs to know that filling your mouth with liquid before adding a pill to swallow makes taking pills so much easier and also reduces the chance to taste the pill. If I can help one person learn this it was all worth it.
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u/BENDOWANDS 9d ago
I've always done that, people give me crap for it all the time "that's not how to take medicine", "water after the pill", etc are all things I've heard way to much.
I don't get not putting water in your mouth first, but hey... I'm not the one having to taste every single pill I ever take.
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u/Corno4825 9d ago
You always fill the bowl before you shit so that it doesn't smear everywhere.
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u/Corgiopteryx 9d ago
Water, pill, water is how I've always done it. Rarely even feel the pill, let alone taste it!
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u/hiddencamela 9d ago
Do they understand that if one does not salivate much, it just sticks to the throat/tongue?
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u/CRINGE_DETECTED 9d ago
Yeah as an occasional dry pill taker it sometimes sticks to your tongue and dissolves a little xd
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u/foundinwonderland 9d ago
Yes! I had to relearn how to take pills as a preteen because I had an orthodontic expander that changed the shape of my soft palate. Struggled for years before I figured out the water THEN pill strategy. I’ve found that it works better with tablets than with capsules, because the capsules tend to float so sometimes they hit the back of your throat kinda weird, but overall, water then pill all the way.
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u/penguinophile 9d ago
Stupid trick with the floating capsules, look down and then swallow them, they’ll float to the back of your mouth
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u/Pliskin01 9d ago
Jesus, such a simple strategy. I take floaty pills every day and never considered doing this. Thank you!
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u/foundinwonderland 9d ago
OH MY GOD why didn’t I think of this. Usually I’ll just make sure not to tilt my head back and hope for the best, this is GENIUS.
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u/CRINGE_DETECTED 9d ago
I have no problems swallowing pills but I recently discovered this, just prefer it now
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u/ShearGenius89 9d ago
Ive been taking gabapentin for ~10 years and at some point I was moved to a high enough dose that they no longer offer it in capsules. The tablet I had to take was like dried paint thinner pressed into a horse pill. It was so astringent and bitter, I had to get another prescription of lower dose capsules and take 2 at once.
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u/BILOXII-BLUE 9d ago
Don't people usually switch to Lyrica if they need that much gaba? It's very chemically similar and much more concentrated
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u/combuchan 9d ago
I have bad acid indigestion and once coughed up a partially dissolved ibuprofen liquigel. That acridness is so unforgettable I'm surprised I actually had a throat left.
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u/SmokeSerpent 9d ago
Bare ibuprofen is one of the worst ones. That's why usually even the cheap stuff if it doesn't have an actual candy shell kind of has a sweet shellac on it. I ended up with some prescription ones that had no protection once and they were so bad tasting.
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u/jamesonm1 9d ago
I’m convinced there’s nothing more bitter than prednisone. Wish they’d put that in capsules. Maybe they do now.
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u/nerve-stapled-drone 9d ago
One time I put an Advil liquid gel capsule in my mouth to swallow, but then I couldn’t find my water. By the time I found my drink the capsule leaked on my tongue and it was the literal worst taste ever
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u/nnutcase 9d ago
This one time I spilled M&Ms in my purse and continued reacching in and eating them while driving. I totally forgot that I keep loose advils in a pocket inside of my purse. I must have reached and picked an advil, chewed it up like it was an M&M, and suddenly needed to pull over BECAUSE OH MY GOD, I HAVE NEVER TASTED ANYTHING MORE SHOCKINGLY BITTER IN MY LIFE. The flavor just coated my entire mouth and would NOT go away for probably an hour, no matter how much water and food I tried to wash it down with.
Wtf, advil coating is more delicious than any other pill, but holy crap, do they have a secret
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u/FailedCriticalSystem 9d ago
It can also help wait until pill gets past the stomach as some pills upset folks stomach.
Enteric coating is a common procedure in the development of oral pharmaceutical dosage forms. The main advantage of enteric coating is that it protects the drug from acidic pH and enzymatic degradation in the stomach while protecting it from the undesirable effects of some drugs
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u/spelkingerror 9d ago
Also helps prevent pill esophagitis
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u/mightylordredbeard 9d ago
Is that when you swallow something it feels like it’s still stuck in your throat?
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u/_JuicyPop 9d ago edited 9d ago
Essentially.
I have eosinophillic esophagitis and it's a pain in the ass to swallow pills because my esophagus is "corregated" like you might see on a flexible plastic rain gutter.
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u/integrate_2xdx_10_13 9d ago
“I can’t swallow food, never mind pills”
“You’re being a baby”
one endoscopy later
“Holy fuck. We need to stretch out that throat and check you annually for cancer”
Good old NHS.
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u/NebulaNinja 9d ago
Yoooo! This is no joke! I used to be fine swallowing pills without water until I took a Tylenol once and it didn't go down all the way. I took a nap and woke up and it totally screwed up my throat for weeks. Imagine that feeling when you swallow a chip wrong but it's every time you swallow. I probably should have got it checked out.. but it got better on it's own eventually.
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u/Taolan13 9d ago
True of capsules, but rhis is a "caplet"
Caplets are this: a capsule shell used to enclose a tablet.
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u/Ken_from_Barbie
9d ago
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You can save the shells and puth meth in them so it's easier to use at work
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u/Lexaprofessional1998 9d ago •
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Thanks! ☺️
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u/Prinzka 9d ago •
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The wholesome blush 🤣
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u/Somnacanth 9d ago edited 9d ago
👉😊👉
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u/Prinzka 9d ago
👈😊👈
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u/Corruptotron 9d ago
👆😋👆
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u/Automatic-Formal-601 9d ago
Whats going on
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u/MuteStarNeet 9d ago
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u/thewick_39 9d ago
HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA
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u/DannyDoubleTap47 9d ago
And so I wake in the morning And I step outside And I take a deep breath and I get real high And I scream from the top of my lungs…
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u/Fuggaak 9d ago
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u/MuteStarNeet 9d ago
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u/Drarok 9d ago
Zoop!
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u/FibonaccisGrundle 9d ago
Zoop!
that meme is six years old now
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u/Drarok 9d ago edited 9d ago
Fuck, I’m old.
Edit: “only” 5 and a bit, ackshewally.
https://reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/7ddjaw/_/dpxaos1/?context=1
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u/Dr_Troglodyte 9d ago
The gel capsule becomes slippery when wet and makes it easier to swallow, especially for the elderly.
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u/GeneralKenobyy 9d ago
Meanwhile my 1/4 sized esophagus says no to basically any type of tablets lmao
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u/breakfastburrito24 9d ago
The real life pro tip is always in the comments. 🙏
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u/InternetPharaoh 9d ago
Eh. Seen it before over on /r/meth.
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u/Kagdama 9d ago
This guy meths
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u/Carloscj6 9d ago
Don't meth around
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u/dynastydeadeye 9d ago
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u/The_RockObama 9d ago
Mike Tyson went to the strip club once.
But they were clothed for the evening.
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u/mentive 9d ago
Holy crap... I had to click over to it out of curiosity. Yikes.
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u/InternetPharaoh 9d ago
Watch out for /r/cocainewithoutcommunism after their split with /r/cocaine over all the communism.
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u/SophiaofPrussia 9d ago
This is very confusing because the top post on the (alleged) “communist” cocaine sub is a mod post telling people if they need money they can’t post there asking their fellow sub members to help. If they’re communists it kind of seems like they’re communisming wrong?
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u/lasyke3 9d ago edited 9d ago
If you really wanna get in the ideological weeds, you could argue that they're engaging in charity, and charity is a bourgeois construct.
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u/MikeofLA 9d ago
Or to take a bunch of coke on a plane. Contrary to popular expectations, the dogs at airports are trained to detect explosives, not drugs (your mileage may vary, I'm just a guy on the internet)
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u/fuck_huffman 9d ago
dogs at airports
In Hawaii there was an agriculture, just a little pooch.
Miami has (or used to) a cigar dog looking for those Cubans.
Here in Utah who have a kiddie porn dog trained to sniff out hard drives, phones, USB sticks, SD cards and such.
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u/Codeofconduct 9d ago
Is your comment about Utah a joke? I can't tell lol
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u/fuck_huffman 9d ago
I can't tell lol
Feels like the Onion huh?
True story.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/utah-police-now-have-a-kiddie-porn-sniffing-dog
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u/Mffr 9d ago
Ok I’m very confused by this. Doesn’t everyone have a cell phone? Or like idk a tablet or something for entertainment in flight? How the hell can the dog differentiate?
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u/gophergun 9d ago
It can't. I think the idea is probably seeing if someone has electronics that seem hidden.
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u/Ken_from_Barbie 9d ago
I took 2.5 g of crystal meth thru tsa in a pill fob attached to my carry on zipper. No one took it away from me, fam
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u/MikeofLA 9d ago
That and the TSA has come right out and said they don't care if you take weed from a legal state into a prohibition state. Add to that, their point of existence is security (theatre) not drug law enforcement.... CUSTOMS on the other hand... Do Not Bring Drugs Through Customs.
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u/slipshady 9d ago
I flew across country borders with acid, not my best decision in hindsight, but was easy to do because it’s tiny pieces of paper.
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u/maryfisherman 9d ago
You shouldn’t do meth on an airplane!
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u/MikeofLA 9d ago
who said anything about doing it on the plane. Might want to get all spun in whatever city you're traveling to.
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u/ShadowBomber 9d ago
Wow I'm pretty positive this whole thread is the funniest thing reddit has ever done
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u/barryandorlevon 9d ago
Finally, some truly mildly interesting content.
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u/TotallyInOverMyHead 9d ago
Red pill ? Blue pill ? on second thought, one half of both.
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u/Lexaprofessional1998 9d ago
Take the only true pill, the gray pill.
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u/Beaveropolis 9d ago
Instead of staying in or leaving the Matrix, where does the grey pill take you? Hoboken, NJ?
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u/SnooConfections4719 9d ago
You better stack them with the same color in columns 4 times to eliminate bacteria
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u/Narezza 9d ago
That’s an immediate release capsule. Marketing says the tablet has fewer binders in it so as soon as your stomach breaks through the gelcap, the tablet will fall dissolve pretty quickly and hopefully be absorbed faster than a standard tablet.
You can take without the gelcap covering, but it’ll probably taste bad and may start coming apart before you swallow if you’re too slow.
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u/cookletube 9d ago
PSA TO NOT MESS WITH CAPSULES
Sometimes drugs, if ingested directly into the stomach, can cause damage to the stomach lining. They're coated with capsules so that the drug may be protected from the stomach acid for a short period of time before making it to the intestines where it then breaks down to be absorbed. This may not always be the case but it's a good general rule of thumb to not break them open.
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9d ago
Anyone live through the Tylenol murders? we bought nothing that was not demonstrably sealed and they had people showing their new packaging in the store because no one bought any drugs for months
I bet the FDA remembers
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u/Raspbers 9d ago
Was about to comment " I remember that." Only to google and see it happened 7 years before I was born. Most definitely watched something about it though. xD
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u/wheresthebody 9d ago edited 9d ago
Anyone else hearing the dr mario music?
Edit: I have to add that I can probably kick your ass at this game
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u/funtimefrankie1 9d ago
You now have two large condoms.
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u/SixtoMidnight_ 9d ago
That's average
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u/9hNova 9d ago
It's labled. It has an "L" on it for large and a "5" for the number of times you can use it before changing it.
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u/FailedCriticalSystem 9d ago
That sucks, I normally strive for an dozen uses. Flip it over and its good as new
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u/yuzhnan 9d ago
I told my bros this 🤏 is 6 in and no one believes me! Thanks Reddit, I needed the self validation.
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u/Deslah 9d ago
Gelatin shells provide an means of 1) protecting the contents from light, atmospheric oxygen, contamination and microbial growth, 2) protecting the swallower's throat and 3) masking the taste and odor on the way down.
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u/69420trashpanda69420 9d ago
The shell’s purpose is to make the outside slick when wet so it’s easier to swallow
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u/jonathanlake91 9d ago
Could be an enteric coating (EC) it’s so the acids in your stomach don’t destroy or alter the medication while travelling to the intestine where it can be absorbed
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u/DubyaShrub 9d ago
having the caplet exposed between the halves of the capsule means it's irrelevant as a way to bypass gastric degradation
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9d ago
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9d ago edited 9d ago
Not with the middle exposed, no. Tylenol dissolves incredibly easily in water, nevermind stomach acid. It will all leach out in probably less than a minute and just leave the empty capsule.
It's probably to help with swallowing though, rather that for cosmetics. Due to how immediately Tylenol tablets start to break down (dissolving, as above), they can be a bit sticky and hard to get down. The caps just need to stay on for that.
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u/BFeely1 9d ago
Capsules are made from gelatin. An enteric coating would be something like shellac that a tablet would be dipped in for that effect.
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u/PM_ME_CUTE_FEMBOYS 9d ago
Gelcaps do help it go down easier, at least in my experience between gelcaps and compressed pills.
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u/the_steffie 9d ago
I have those too but i switched the ends of them so i can feel like im in the matrix.
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u/trav110 9d ago
That is the saddest looking pill