Medication And Wheat/gluten

[Kaukaukka]

Weird question

 

I work in a Pharmacy and I handle hundreds of pills in a day with my hands.  I have been really not good laetly, loosing and breaking SO much hair.  Getting tests done, to understand whats going on.  My question is could I be getting contaminated by the meds I touch everyday. Been doing this a year. 

 

I appreciate the feed back.

 

Rebecca 

[kareng]

I suppose it's possible. But you wash your hands before you eat. There isn't really a lot of flour dust in the air. And very very few meds actually contain gluten and the few that might , have a very very small amount to get out of the pill somehow, and into your mouth.

[ravenwoodglass]

Put on gloves please before you handle meds. I am surprised your pharmacey even lets you handle meds without them. That will take care of any possible contamination.

[kareng]

Put on gloves please before you handle meds. I am surprised your pharmacey even lets you handle meds without them. That will take care of any possible contamination.

 

 

Oh!  Yeah.... good point!  And I work in a bakery!  You would think I would have thought of that!  That is just gross and unsanitary.

[Kaukaukka]

Does YOUR pharmacist where gloves?  Nope...None do.......Its not gross or unsanitary at all.  In no pharmacy do you see pharacists or or the staff wearing gloves.  For lots of reasons. 

[kareng]

Does YOUR pharmacist where gloves? Nope...None do.......Its not gross or unsanitary at all. In no pharmacy do you see pharacists or or the staff wearing gloves. For lots of reasons.

You are actually touching stuff that goes in our mouths with your bare hands? No food service, food prosessor, etc would be allowed to do that! We really need some laws and goverment oversight on that!

I have seen them count out pills, but they never touch them with thier hands. They have plastic funnel type thingies and push the pills with sticks. Not sure of the correct terms.

[ravenwoodglass]

I have seen them count out pills, but they never touch them with thier hands. They have plastic funnel type thingies and push the pills with sticks. Not sure of the correct terms.

Exactly!  In addition there are meds that can be absorbed through the skin and that should not be handled by anyone other than the person for whom they were prescribed. In handling meds with your bare hands you are endangering not only the person for whom they were prescribed but also yourself.

[kareng]

Well... anyway - even on the small chance that a medication has gluten in it & the gluten is able to rub off onto your hands - touching gluten isn't a big deal.  It cannot be absorbed through the skin,  I would worry about touching any that might be.  I have seen a few meds that warn about touching them.

[StephanieL]

Does YOUR pharmacist where gloves?  Nope...None do.......Its not gross or unsanitary at all.  In no pharmacy do you see pharacists or or the staff wearing gloves.  For lots of reasons. 

 

No, but I also don't (and haven't) ever touched pills while working in a pharmacy.  You pour them out, count on the tray with the spatula, dump those not being used back and the ones to be dispensed into it's bottle.  There shouldn't be any contact between you and the pills anyway.

[anthony colatrella]

Clearly, it is inappropriate to be handling medication with your bare hands---there are definite guidelines regulating how meds should be handled by pharmacists and their assistants and they do not involve touching with your bare hands---I find it hard to believe your pharmacist allows this---PLEASE STOP---there is the potential for transmission of infection and adversely affecting the medication and yourself

[LauraTX]

In the pharmacy field, touching meds with your bare hands is a no-no.  It does happen out of ignorance or sometimes when a pill runs astray, etc.  I recommend you utilize tools available to you such as a spatula, counting tray, counting machines, flat tweezers to pick cotton out of bottles and open seals, etc.  I understand that sounds harsh, but people are putting those into their mouth, and you handle many other things in addition to pills in a pharmacy.  In my pharmacy career I have only come across people who handle medications with bare hands because they have never been taught any different.  If you feel you can't count quickly enough/work efficiently enough without using your hands, get your employer to stock non-latex gloves for you to use.  However, staff in pharmacies handling pills generally do not use gloves because they use tools and utensils to prevent direct hand contact with the medications.  Once you get the hang of it, you can count pills much faster with a long flat spatula and counting tray rather than the awkward human hand.  While a transition to using a counting tray make slow you down temporarily, once you get the hang of it, it will be much better for your workflow.  And if you are in a retail pharmacy setting where you are also handling cash and dealing with sick people, avoiding direct handling of pills with unwashed hands can prevent the spread of infection to your most vulnerable patients, among other benefits like you not absorbing active ingredients, some of which may be possible to absorb through skin.  Examples of this would be with cytotoxic agents, hormone preparations, or females handling finasteride which CAN be absorbed through the skin and harm an unborn child.  This practice gets into OSHA stuff so if your employer is not supportive of proper practices, please go to a higher up.  You can read more by googling "pharmacy counting pills with bare hands".

 

On the gluten side of things, one cannot absorb gluten through their skin.  The majority of the medications on the market do not contain gluten anyways, and if they do it is usually something like wheat starch where there will be just a trace.  If you are losing hair, and you cannot find the cause, my first recommendation would be to yes, stop handling medications with bare hands.  There are countless things that you may have been exposed to in the past year that very well could be causing your symptoms.  I understand what I have written is a little harsh and scary, but this is a reality of working in the pharmacy field, and it is not your fault as you have not have adequate training in this area.  Go to your higher ups/corporate and ask them to amend their training practices.