Could Your Pharmacist Help Keep You Gluten-Free?

took me from April to June to determine if my new medication was gluten free; 3 pharmacists said I should do more research, one said they did not have a contact number for their supplier and said I should look the product up on their website, after many misdirections finally found it but it only stated what it was used for no ingredients, no mention of gluten, no info on how to contact them; few days later stumbled across o number, left message, on gluten status, reply I got back was " we don't add gluten to any products; but our overseas supplies do not list ingredients" so who knows what the American public is receiving in medications? let alone gluten status?  how can this be legal??  I have yet to find a pharmacist who will guarantee gluten free; only say "checked for gluten"   Which is not confirming it is gluten free so I have invested in a devise to check this for me before using.

With all we know about celiac disease and why people need to be protected against cross-contamination, there is absolutely NO excuse why drug manufacturers are allowed to get away with NOT TESTING their end product.  They should be mandated to test for gluten and then label appropriately.  This is insane.  We have a pharmacist who goes over and above to check for gluten but if manufacturers themselves use disclaimers about their products, what can we trust?  I would love to become involved in a group who advocates and pushes for legislation so people don't have to get "poisoned" from the medications they are being prescribed.  Someone needs to be accountable. Pharma is getting paid a ton of money for playing with the health of those paying it!

I went through multiple pharmacies trying to eliminate wheat (usually flour or starch used to bulk up and bind the pill) and lactose as well, since I've lost the ability to tolerate that. Three major chain pharmacies were clueless, they each have limited distributors they can buy from. A fourth (the mail order pharmacy that my insurer uses) took a whole week but then gave me specific (NPN?) numbers for the gluten free meds they could find listed as being made. Tried to order then, only to be told by the next pharmacy rep that one was no longer in production and the other was not available from their distributor. SO, they were useless. And my insurer seemed to think that giving me drugs that contained allergens was perfectly normal and acceptable.

Then last week I bought a vitamin supplement in Costco, looked just like the one I had been buying online, same company, same packaging. When I got it home I realize each pill was 1/2 the dose. OK, no problem, I can use them anyway. Nope. The larger dose pills had no gluten, no wheat. The exact same product, same maker, smaller dose? Contains wheat starch.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to get the drug companies to do what the food companies were forced to do: List the allergens on the package, prominently, and TRY TO GET RID OF THEM.

One of the pharmacists where I go insists that the amount of gluten contained in pills could in no way cause damage.  He still said this even after I stressed it was celiac disease.  The others there say to call the company.  The company says they don't add any gluten, but they don't know about their suppliers.  This should be illegal!  Why do we have better standards for the food industry?