The Fda

[mushroom]

Sitting here recovering from my third pharma glutening (the only glutenings I have had as I recall) and wonder if anyone has any ideas how we can break through the hold that pharma companies have over congress, and get somebody to kick the FDA into gear about labelling laws.

Briefly, I need a low dose of thyroid medication because I am subclinically hypothyroid. Synthroid is the only brand that makes a low dose medication which is imported by our drug company here (PHARMAC), and, the old story, would neither confirm nor deny that it is gluten free. Because I am tired of shivering in summer I decided it was worth finding out for them whether or not it contained gluten: Abbott, or whoever made it for you, it DOES!!! Spent last night with racing heart and belching for five hours where I could not lie down because I could not breath, and am an unhappy camper. Sure, it was a calculated risk, but one I should not have to take. HOW LONG ARE WE GOING TO ALLOW OUR PHARMA COMPANIES TO POISON US??? Surely, anything we ingest should come under the food labelling laws!

I know this is an old story, but maybe the time has come where we should try and do something about it. The New Zealand drug buying agency (PHARMAC) does not consider gluten when it is making its drug decisions, only cost, even though one in ten persons here is considered by Rodney Ford to be gluten intolerant. That is 10% of the population they are poisoning!!! And Pharmac mostly does not know whether or not they contain gluten because the American drug companies will not tell them because they do not know, because they are not required by congress and the FDA to know. If it is important to know what is in our food, it is equally important to know what is in our medications. This is where the alternative medicine field shines, when I would estimate 90% of the time their products are labelled as to whether or not they contain gluten. And the doctors wonder why we prefer alternative medicine????

I would appreciate hearing any thoughts as to how we can influence this process, apart from writing our senators and congressmen (in my case, Harry Reid) to let our thoughts be known. There must be something that can be done!!

[jststric]

I sure wish I had a great idea for us, but I don't. If we could unite, there's alot of us. But, unfortunately, the statistics say that 90% of the probable Celiacs haven't been diagnosed or even realize that's their problem. I, myself, am not a diagnosed Celiac but I believe "only" gluten-intolerant. And what adds to my concern is that a majority of us seemingly are intolerant of other things besides just the glutens also. I know when I stopped taking vitamins and such because I discovered most had something in them I couldn't deal with. I did find a company, Kirkman Labs that makes a nice selection of allergen-free vitamins and supplements, but I don't believe they deal with prescription stuff. You might contact them and ask what they may know about that realm or companies that you may not be aware of. They are very nice people and easy to deal with. Their website is www.kirkmanlabs.com. Good luck! And if you find out anything useful, please let us know!!

[ravenwoodglass]

Something that would help a great deal is if we report every time we are adversely affected by gluten in a script or OTC drug. Below is a link to the website to do so. Most of us don't report the reactions we get and if we report the reaction to our doctors since the reaction is to a binder and not the drug these reactions slip through the cracks. We need to get loud and do this as often as the issue arises.

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[luvthelake21]

I agree something should be done about labeling medicine. I have more problems trying to find out if medicines are gluten-free than I do with food.