Gluten Free Medicines?

[Guest 648]

I don't know if its on this website I seen it or somewhere else but it was info about trying to find out if your prescription medicines are gluten-free or not.  I can't find it on this website unless I overlooked it.  Could your pharmacist tell you if all of them are gluten-free?  Is there a way to look them up by manufacturer?  Any leads?

I hate the time that it takes to sort out everything that gluten-free or not.  Its very time consuming.

....648

[RMJ]

There is this list, although it hasn’t been updated since 2019.

Gluten Free Drugs

You can also search for the drug on this NIH website:

Daily Med

Enter the name or NDC# of the drug, click the search symbol (magnifying glass), then scroll down to Ingredients and Appearance. If you have the drug already the container should have the NDC# (National Drug Code) which will get you to the correct manufacturer. The label should also have the manufacturer’s name.  Inactive ingredients may not be the same for all manufacturers of a drug.

I have a friend who is a pharmacist.  I asked her if pharmacists have any special sources of information beyond what I can find by looking online or calling/emailing the manufacturer and she said No. 

When I get a new prescription the first thing I do is to look at the ingredients either on Daily Med or the package insert.  If I’m going to be taking something long term I will also email the manufacturer and ask if that medication is gluten free.  

[Guest 648]

Thats a great help RMJ.  I appreciate your time in posting it.  Just for the heck of it the next time I go to the pharmacy I am going to ask the pharmacist about this and see what he says.

Two folllow-up questions if you may know:

1) If you get a prescription and find it does have gluten what do you do?  Can it be exchanged for a different manufacturers without gluten?

2) What if you cannot find out if it contains gluten or not?  Do you still take the medince and keep your fingers crossed it gluten-free?

I printed out your  mini-tutorial to use for reference.

[RMJ]

I have not run into either of these situations.  There aren’t many prescription medications that contain wheat (for example, as wheat starch) as an ingredient.

Some manufacturers may not be willing to claim a medication is gluten free, even though based on the ingredients it shouldn’t have any, so any gluten would be contamination.  In that case I would take it anyway because the amount I would ingest from a small pill with a possibility of a small amount of contamination would be extremely small.  I’m sure there are others who would not accept this risk however.

[Guest 648]

7 hours ago, RMJ said:

I have not run into either of these situations.  There aren’t many prescription medications that contain wheat (for example, as wheat starch) as an ingredient.

Some manufacturers may not be willing to claim a medication is gluten free, even though based on the ingredients it shouldn’t have any, so any gluten would be contamination.  In that case I would take it anyway because the amount I would ingest from a small pill with a possibility of a small amount of contamination would be extremely small.  I’m sure there are others who would not accept this risk however.

Thanks again.  Yeah they I had terrible reactions I can't blame them for not taking the risk.

[Scott Adams]

Just my two cents, but I think between the two links that @RMJ shared, this one would provide the most accurate info:

NIH website: https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/index.cfm

[Guest 648]

13 hours ago, Scott Adams said:

Just my two cents, but I think between the two links that @RMJ shared, this one would provide the most accurate info:

NIH website: https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/index.cfm

Noted and Thanks.  That'll be my first stop when looking.