Shaking My Head

[jennyj]

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.

[jerseyangel]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[almostnrn]

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]

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]

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

[celiacgirls]

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]

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.