Gluten Free Medicine?

[Benshell]

Hi - I'm new to this and doing TONS of research for my 6 yr old daughter who was just diagnosed with Celiac (no symptoms though) and we are going on the gluten-free diet (I'm doing it with her for support).

I had read that some medicine's contain gluten, but I'm not sure exactly what to look for/ask for, especially when it comes to prescription meds.

Does anyone know if gluten is in regular OTC medicine's that I commonly give my daughter when she's sick like children's liquid tylenol, children's liquid motrin, any cold/allergy med's?

I will have to ask the pharmacist if she gets prescriptions for antibiotics. The only other med she's on is synthroid since birth (no thyroid).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. BTW - you all have made me feel very welcome and I've learned more on these forums than from any doctor or book. So thank you.

Thank you.

M

[mushroom]

I'm sorry to say that a lot of the time with pharmaceuticals it is a bit of a crapshoot. The pharma companies change their suppliers routinely, and a lot of the suppliers do/will not state gluten content so that the ultimate provider cannot certify gluten free. I just faced this issue with my pharmacist today. He had done everything he could on a new prescription, but said he could not guarantee gluten free, so I agreed to give it a try and risk being glutened, because there was no guaranteed gluten free product in the country. You have a greater availability and wider variety in the U.S. so you might have greater success. You always have to get in contact with the manufacturer either directly yourself or through your pharmacist, since pharma has managed to avoid the gluten labeling requirements--you can imagine why for yourself

Gluten will most often be found as the filler in a tablet; sometimes corn is used, sometimes wheat. Now that they are making biofuel out of corn I guess wheat is cheaper.

[lovegrov]

Your best bet is to call the company. Many will give you the CYA statement -- we don't put gluten in it but we can't guarantee our suppliers. When you hear that, you're almost certainly safe.

The reality is that VERY few medications in the U.S. have gluten. It's really a very tiny risk for us.

richard