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Gluten-Free Prescription Meds

missceliac2010

By missceliac2010
in Doctors

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missceliac2010 Apprentice
missceliac2010
Posted

Hi all!

I am still working on the fine tuning of my new gluten-free life. I take a few pills every day that are prescribed to me from my doctor. I have heard that some pills can contain gluten, but I am a little overwhelmed about how I find out this information?! Do you ask the pharmacist? Your doctor? Do you look up the drug name/manufacturer/ingredients online? It's not like RX's come with an ingredients list right? Or does it?!

Here is what I take, but I don't know the manufacturers just yet, I'll call Rite Aid tomorrow and get details, but if anyone has experience with any of these, I'd love for you to chime in!

Atenolol - blood pressure

Prozac - depression (although since going gluten-free, I don't think I need them anymore...but that's another story!)

Xanax - anxiety

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psawyer Proficient
psawyer
Posted

Ask your pharmacist. They may have to ask the manufacturer.

In North America, gluten in Rx meds is relatively rare. When starch is needed as a binder for a tablet, it is typically corn starch that is used. Corn is abundant and inexpensive here.

sa1937 Community Regular
sa1937
Posted

Hi all!

I am still working on the fine tuning of my new gluten-free life. I take a few pills every day that are prescribed to me from my doctor. I have heard that some pills can contain gluten, but I am a little overwhelmed about how I find out this information?! Do you ask the pharmacist? Your doctor? Do you look up the drug name/manufacturer/ingredients online? It's not like RX's come with an ingredients list right? Or does it?!

Here is what I take, but I don't know the manufacturers just yet, I'll call Rite Aid tomorrow and get details, but if anyone has experience with any of these, I'd love for you to chime in!

Atenolol - blood pressure

Prozac - depression (although since going gluten-free, I don't think I need them anymore...but that's another story!)

Xanax - anxiety

I asked my pharmacist at Rite Aid and while he didn't know, he/she can print out the ingredients for each of your meds so you can check them for yourself. I even had him print out the ingredients in my eye meds.

Brand name meds would be easy to check out by contacting the company.

Alprazolam (generic Xanax) by Greenstone is gluten free. It does have corn starch in it.

Skylark Collaborator
Skylark
Posted

If you don't think you need Prozac, get off it! Taking it for a long time made me bipolar!

missceliac2010 Apprentice
missceliac2010
Posted
  • Author

If you don't think you need Prozac, get off it! Taking it for a long time made me bipolar!

I'm going to see my doc this week and getting off Prozac is a priority. Thanks for the advice skylark! The fewer meds the better in my book. I'm still amazed at how much better I feel gluten free. Gluten is some nasty stuff...!

Thanks to all of you for the wonderful advice you gave me. As usual my "celiac friends" came to the rescue again! Honestly, I don't know what I would do without these boards. Having this companionship is helping me keep my sanity, no matter how much I feel like I'm spinning out of control at times! Thanks all....I promise I'm not getting all choked up ;)!!

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

I don't know about the others but name brand Xanax is NOT gluten free. The generic alprazolam made by Sandoz is, at least the last time I filled my script. There are other companies that make it also.

The best way to check is to call the company although my doctor called them himself while I was sitting in the office to check on the Xanax most don't and don't know.

Any generic drugs need to be checked at each refill as the binders can be changed at the will of the maker.

I also state when I call that I am allergic to wheat, not gluten, the reason I do this is because in some areas wheat starch is considered safe for us.

Kim27 Contributor
Kim27
Posted

I have had good luck checking with glutenfreedrugs.com and emailing the clinical pharmacist that runs and updates the site. He lists an email on the site. He is always very helpful and seems to know his stuff.

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Frances03 Enthusiast
Frances03
Posted

I had to change pharmacies. We were using Walmart 10 months ago. They were completely clueless when it came to gluten. I had a pharmacist tell me something was gluten free, and when I read the ingredients and saw starch, I asked her what is this starch from, and she said we have no idea. I said then how can you say it's gluten free?? She didn't answer. So I left the prescrip there, transferred to Costco, and they are fantastic about it! Any prescrip I get, they check for me automatically now. If there is any question, THEY call the manufacturer for me. I haven't had any issues at all. Once they found something they weren't sure of, the zofran I take for hyperemesis in pregnancy, and they just switched to a different manufacturer for me. So I recommend finding a GOOD pharmacy that understands your needs.

CarolinaKip Community Regular
CarolinaKip
Posted

Hi all!

I am still working on the fine tuning of my new gluten-free life. I take a few pills every day that are prescribed to me from my doctor. I have heard that some pills can contain gluten, but I am a little overwhelmed about how I find out this information?! Do you ask the pharmacist? Your doctor? Do you look up the drug name/manufacturer/ingredients online? It's not like RX's come with an ingredients list right? Or does it?!

Here is what I take, but I don't know the manufacturers just yet, I'll call Rite Aid tomorrow and get details, but if anyone has experience with any of these, I'd love for you to chime in!

Atenolol - blood pressure

Prozac - depression (although since going gluten-free, I don't think I need them anymore...but that's another story!)

Xanax - anxiety

Open Original Shared Link

My dietion told me about this site and my pharmacist uses it. Has anyone used this site before?

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

Carolina Your link didn't work work for me.

One other thing to note is that if any of your drugs are generic you or the pharmacist should be checking with the company at each refill as the binders can be changed at the companies will. With name brand drugs the binders need to stay the same. Also any list can be out of date as of the day it was last updated so IMHO it is always best to double check with the maker.

CarolinaKip Community Regular
CarolinaKip
Posted

Carolina Your link didn't work work for me.

One other thing to note is that if any of your drugs are generic you or the pharmacist should be checking with the company at each refill as the binders can be changed at the companies will. With name brand drugs the binders need to stay the same. Also any list can be out of date as of the day it was last updated so IMHO it is always best to double check with the maker.

Sorry about the link, it was glutenfreedrugs.com that was mentioned. I didn't see that mentioned before. I try to stay brand name, if not they are pretty good at calling. Thanks for the info.

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

Sorry about the link, it was glutenfreedrugs.com that was mentioned. I didn't see that mentioned before. I try to stay brand name, if not they are pretty good at calling. Thanks for the info.

Just make sure you check brand names as sometimes brand names will not be safe but generics will. I take a med that is like that.

mushroom Proficient
mushroom
Posted

Sorry about the link, it was glutenfreedrugs.com that was mentioned. I didn't see that mentioned before. I try to stay brand name, if not they are pretty good at calling. Thanks for the info.

Carolina, thanks for the tip about emailing Steve at glutenfreedrugs. I had emailed the manufacturer and received no reply, but Steve was able to get the answer for me. What a great guy :)

Lynayah Enthusiast
Lynayah
Posted

Ask your pharmacist. They may have to ask the manufacturer.

In North America, gluten in Rx meds is relatively rare. When starch is needed as a binder for a tablet, it is typically corn starch that is used. Corn is abundant and inexpensive here.

Peter, I agree with your wisdom. Any time I have a prescription OR any time I buy over the counter meds, the pharmacist has been able to help me make sure it is gluten-free.

There is also glutenfreedrugs.com, but I prefer checking with a pharmacist in addition to useing glutenfreedrugs -- that way, I'm making double sure I'm getting the most up to date information.

mushroom Proficient
mushroom
Posted

Peter, I agree with your wisdom. Any time I have a prescription OR any time I buy over the counter meds, the pharmacist has been able to help me make sure it is gluten-free.

There is also glutenfreedrugs.com, but I prefer checking with a pharmacist in addition to useing glutenfreedrugs -- that way, I'm making double sure I'm getting the most up to date information.

I have spent weeks with pharmacists (hospital and otherwise) not being able to guarantee gluten free and the pharmacist who filled the prescription threw up her hands and said we can't find out. I emailed the generic company who manufactures for Sandoz, and they didn't respond :unsure: It's not always that easy :ph34r:

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

I have spent weeks with pharmacists (hospital and otherwise) not being able to guarantee gluten free and the pharmacist who filled the prescription threw up her hands and said we can't find out. I emailed the generic company who manufactures for Sandoz, and they didn't respond :unsure: It's not always that easy :ph34r:

I get much better results from calling makers rather than emailing. Here is the number for Sandoz

1-800-526-8747

Perhaps they have the info you need as they should know about all the meds sold under their name or perhaps they can give you a phone number for the other company.

  • 3 weeks later...
Celiactapper Newbie
Celiactapper
Posted

I always call the manufacturer directly (I no longer trust the pharmacy to do so). You can find the phone number by looking up the manufacturer online. Many manufacturers will return your call even on a weekend. It's tempting to simply e-mail, but sometimes there is a long lag time before they respond--or they never respond. However, when I've phoned, I've ALWAYS received a response within a few hours' time.

Regarding Atenylol, it was gluten free when I used to take it....but it turned out that it had a severe side-effect that I didn't connect with it: it gave me horrible spinal pain. It took me two years to figure out that it was the Atenylol causing it. Just FYI.

SGWhiskers Collaborator
SGWhiskers
Posted

I agree with McPhena, the best thing you can do is find a good pharmacy and get to know ONE of the pharmacists there. I had the best luck when I explained my situation, educated them on the monthly meds that I alread knew about and then asked them for the phone numbers of the manufacturers of any new med I was prescribed. I would give them the script, ask for the number, and tell them to wait to fill the script until I called to say it was OK. As it turned out, they started calling the manufacturer for me of their own initative. I felt comfortable with that one pharmacist and then eventually with the second pharmacist and the tech because it was a slow transition from having me call to having them call. They knew my face and even reminded me that I needed to have a med checked for gluten one time. I would say about 15-25% of my new scripts did have gluten in the name brand or more commonly the generic. They were helpful enough to find alternative manufacturers and order them in if there was time or to give me the manufacturers name so I could call around to other pharmacies looking for the antibiotic I needed.

This great service came from the small community hospital's pharmacy at the building where I worked. Having them educated about gluten made me feel better about getting the safe pharmacy care I would need if I ever landed in the hospital. (Now, I would NEVER eat the food though).

Travisevian Newbie
Travisevian
Posted

If you don't think you need Prozac, get off it! Taking it for a long time made me bipolar!

How does Prozac cause manic depression?

  • 2 weeks later...
one more mile Contributor
one more mile
Posted

CVS has an 800 number you can call. Sometimes they find the information. Sometimes they give you the manufactures number. I also use my cell phone right in the store and dial the number on the package of any new pill.

I was given a fibro pill last year that had gluten in it.

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