Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Shaking My Head


jennyj

Recommended Posts

jennyj Collaborator

I called my doctor this morning to find out what I could take for a cough that kept me up all night. His nurse told me that my pharmacist would be able to help me, doctor wasn't there. So I went to my pharmacist and asked for a cough syrup that is gluten free. He said " I don't think there are any that are glucose free. We have a few that are sugar free." I repeated gluten free, you know no wheat rye, oats, barley, malt. He said " I have never heard of luten free." I repeated again GLUTEN, I have celiac sprue and cannot have anything with any of the items I mentioned. He said he didn't know if they had any but gave me some Tussin DM and said he thought that that was something I could take. I read the label and it looked safe so I took it. So far so good. I just can't quit shaking my head. :huh:


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



jerseyangel Proficient

Hi Jenny,

I can really sympathise with you on the pharmacist--the one at my drugstore is never any help when it comes to gluten--and neither is my GP.

I always call the manufacturer myself to check to see if a medicine (Rx or OTC) is gluten-free. Even if all of the ingredients look fine, I would still suggest calling and making sure.

Hope you feel better soon :)

darlindeb25 Collaborator

I didn't go into this and check for you, but here is a website: Open Original Shared Link You may be able to find the info you need here. I have the same problem here with the pharmicist at our local CVS store and I was told he is very knowledgeable about such things.

Corkdarrr Enthusiast

That reminds me when I first went gluten-free, and I was at the drugstore looking for vitamins. I was searchign by myself when the pharmacist came up to me and asked me if I needed any help. I told him I was looking for gluten free vitamins and got pretty much the same response as you - luckily I found NatureMade which clearly states on the side of the bottle that they are gluten free. Which I pointed at and gave him a short explanation for his benefit.

At least he's heard of it now!

Courtney

jennyj Collaborator
Hi Jenny,

I can really sympathise with you on the pharmacist--the one at my drugstore is never any help when it comes to gluten--and neither is my GP.

I always call the manufacturer myself to check to see if a medicine (Rx or OTC) is gluten-free. Even if all of the ingredients look fine, I would still suggest calling and making sure.

Hope you feel better soon :)

Thanks for the info and the thoughts. I will call.

aaascr Apprentice

The pharmacy that I use has one clueless

(and wants to remain that way)

pharmacist and another who knows about

celiac (his MIL has it). So if I have a new

prescription I find out when he is there and

walk in and talk to him about it - he always

looks things up for me and will even print

out the info so I can look at it.

He's so cool I can never thank him enough!

:)

debmidge Rising Star

The glutenfreedrugs site needs to be updated; I find it to be old information. Until it's updated I call the manufacturers. I go to store, look at product I intend to buy, take down the 1-800 number and sometimes call right from the store. If that doesn't work I also write down the UCP number and call from home or visit the manufacturers website.


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



almostnrn Explorer

I am so sorry this has happened to everyone! I have worked in a pharmacy for 13 years and have personally never worked with pharmacists or even techs that are unwilling to provide information or educate themselves about something this serious. I am willing to get a list together for everyone if you give me some suggustions of what you need to know about. At the very least I have access to the pharmaceutical companies phone numbers and can call them when I get home from work. I can even check out inserts of specific meds at work. I can tell you that I have seen gluten-free printed right on the label of one or two things even. If you don't feel comfortable posting the info on this string just send me a PM and I'll get back to you asap.

jerseyangel Proficient
The glutenfreedrugs site needs to be updated; I find it to be old information. Until it's updated I call the manufacturers. I go to store, look at product I intend to buy, take down the 1-800 number and sometimes call right from the store. If that doesn't work I also write down the UCP number and call from home or visit the manufacturers website.

I agree completely, Deb. The info there is constantly being outdated. Plus, there are so many generic drugs out there. I just call on everything :)

Tim-n-VA Contributor

Who do you call for generic drugs? If the brand name equivalent is gluten-free can you reach any conclusion on the generic?

celiacgirls Apprentice

I've only called about one generic drug but the name of the manufacturer was on the prescription label. Then I looked it up online to see if they said anything about it. They didn't but I did get the phone number that way and called. If you don't see the name of the manufacturer, try asking the pharmacist. They should be able to find out.

almostnrn Explorer
Who do you call for generic drugs? If the brand name equivalent is gluten-free can you reach any conclusion on the generic?

No you can not guarantee that because the brand name is gluten-free that the generic will be. To further complicate things, there may be several different manufacturers of a generic (whereas with a brand name drug there is only one company that produces it) and some may be safe while others are not. A pharmacy may not always have a choice in which manufaturer they receive in an order. If your pills look different you will need to recheck the status.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Donate

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Recent Activity

    1. - Jay Heying replied to Jay Heying's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      6

      Celiac friendly probiotics

    2. - Florence Lillian replied to Jay Heying's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      6

      Celiac friendly probiotics

    3. - slkrav posted a topic in Introduce Yourself / Share Stuff
      0

      Gluten free beer ?

    4. - cristiana replied to Colleen H's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      16

      Ibuprofen

    5. - Mari replied to KathyR37's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
      5

      New here


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):



  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,883
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    antsgimino
    Newest Member
    antsgimino
    Joined

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):


  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.4k
    • Total Posts
      1m

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):





  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):



  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Jay Heying
      Thank you so much for the advice!! I will try to make a batch this weekend. Have a great weekend,
    • Florence Lillian
      In response to your questions regarding probiotics.  I have had Celiac for 40 years.  Stomach issues: digestion, IBS to chronic constipation, bloat after eating anything.  I was unable to eat a healthy variety of foods, tried probiotics supplements - some made me worse, others made no difference.  After reading about people with Crones, IBS, etc, who made their own probiotics I started making Milk Kefir: not water Kefir. There are 10 probiotics in milk KEFIR. After 3 weeks I was able to eat more, no gas, no IBS.  If you have a computer just ask for videos on making milk Kefir. I branched out and make my own Kombucha for even more probiotics. I do not make my yogurt because there are only about four probiotics in that. I started this when I was 82 and I still make my own Kefir and Kombucha. My stomach issues were fixed with the Milk Kefir alone. If you decide to try making it, make certain you order MILK GRAINS. The finished product tastes a bit like Buttermilk. I hope this helps in your journey to good health.
    • slkrav
      Help me out here. Lauren Dam gluten-free beer from Spain is listed as gluten free. Yet its made from Barley Malt. I thought barley and any form had gluten. Anybody have any more information about it?
    • cristiana
      Ferritin levels.  And see what your hemoglobin looks like too, that will tell you if you are anemic?  You can have 'low normal' levels that will not be flagged by blood tests.  I had 'low normal' levels, my lab reading was. c12, just over what was considered normal, but I had small benign lesion on my tongue, and sometimes a sore mouth, and a consultant maxillofacial ordered an iron infusion for me as he felt my levels were too low and if he  raised them to 40, it would help.   Because you are not feeling 100% it might be worth looking at your levels, then discussing with your doctor if they are low normal.  But I stress, don't supplement iron without your levels being monitored, too much is dangerous.
    • Mari
      Hi Katht -  I sympathize with your struggles in following a gluten-free diet and lifestyle. I found out that I had Celiac Disease a few months before I turned 70. I just turned 89 and it has taken me almost 20 years to attain a fairly normal intestinal  function. I also lost a lot of weight, down to 100 lb. down from about 140 lb. What Trents wrote you was very true for me. I am still elimination foods from my diet. One person suggested you keep a food diary and that is a good idea but it is probably best just to do an elimination diet. There are several ne and maybe one for celiacs. I used one for a while and started with plain rice and zucchini and then added back other foods to see if I reacted or not. That helped a great deal but what I did not realise that it would only very small amounts of some foods to cause inflammation in my intestine. Within the last few years I have stopped eating any trace amounts of hot peppers, corn and soy(mostly in supplements) and nuts, (the corn in Tylenol was giving me stomach aches and the nuts were causing foot pains). Starting an elimination diet with white rice is better than brown rice that has some natural toxins. In addition it is very important to drink sufficient plain water. You can find out how much to drink for your height and weight online. I do have difficulty drinking 48 ounces of water but just recently have found an electrolyte supplement that helps me stay well hydrated, Adding the water and electrolytes may reduce muscle cramps and gag spams you wrote about. . Also buy some anti-gluten enzyme capsules to take with meals. I use GliadinX advertised here. These are a lot of things to do at one time as they reflect my 20 years of experience. I hope you do what you can manage to do over time. Good luck and take care.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.