11.17.05
I’m Allergic to my Allergy Medication!
My seasonal allergies have been REALLY bad this year. To the point where I decided that I HAD to get a prescription from the doctor. After taking Allegra and Flonase, I’ve been feeling pretty good. A couple of days ago, I noticed that my throat was feeling kind of froggy. I didn’t think much of it and just assumed that I must have inadvertantly eaten something with corn in it.
Yesterday or the day before, I happened to be perusing the Accidental Hedonist’s website, checking to see what new HFCS (high fructose corn syrup)-containing items had been added to the list, and what comments people had left recently. One happened to catch my eye. The comment was from a woman who has a severe allergy to corn. She mentioned that many allergy medications have corn products as one (or more) of the inactive ingredients. So off to Google I went!
I looked up Allegra and nothing seemed problematic… except for the ‘pregelatinized starch’. Hmmmm… ‘Starch’ in the United States usually indicates the presence of corn (the corn industry is HUGE here), so I emailed the company that makes Allegra, Sanofi-Aventis. When I got home tonight, I had a message from a very nice gentleman who informed me that, in fact, the ‘pregelatinized starch’ is derived from corn.
So I started to look up possible alternatives to talk to my doctor about. Google and rxlist.com are my new best friends. Just google
” [medication name] ingredients” and see what comes up.
Zyrtec: Corn starch (”sugar syrup” in the liquid form; read: dextrose, maltose, or other corn derived sugar). And for my lactose intolerant friends, yes, it has lactose in it. Don’t ask me why, I can’t fathom it.
Claritin: Corn starch (and lactose). No big loss here since it doesn’t do anything for me.
Alavert: “sodium starch glycolate” Doesn’t sound good. The ’starch’ is probably derived from corn.
I could go on.
Oh yeah, and my acid reducing meds have corn starch, my BC pill has corn starch… WHERE DOES IT END???
The moral of my story. Check the INactive ingredients on your medications as well as the active ingredients. There might be something in it that you are allergic to. Some people, like me apparently, are very sensitive to allergens and need to steer clear of the allergen completely. I guess I’ll go find myself a neti pot. Bleh.
Ed Stern said,
November 18, 2005 at 1:32 am
Well medical dude here so you have some options… 1st Syrups of some drugs such as Zyrtec Sugar free would probably be safe. Also in looking at Singulair (my new favorite) has inactive ingredients which at first blush seem safe for you (http://singulair.com/singulair/shared/documents/english/singulair_prescribing_info.pdf) The other thing to consider is volume relative to benefit. Allergy meds are all basically antihistamines (so is your stomach medication by the way) of various sorts (while Singulair works differently) to have an allergic reaction while on an H2 blocker (technically if you’re taking the stomach drug and the allergy drug you’re on 2 H2 blockers)is “reduced” and blockers like Zyrtec are clinically proven to work on broad range histamines. So the question is, risk vs benefits.
Bottom line, is if you like the benefits and are worried about the side affects, just keep working on the possible med…. There are some goos ones (and there’s always shots… ouch)
Smile, we’ll find a way to make you feel good.
Heather said,
November 18, 2005 at 9:44 am
That sucks. Who knew corn starch was in so many things! I hope you feel better soon.
Purple_Kangaroo said,
August 10, 2006 at 7:01 pm
Hi! My daughter is corn and soy allergic, and Pfizer verified for me today that the sugar syrup in Zyrtec is actually corn-free. No corn syrup and no corn derivatives. However, it was the glycerin and natural flavors I was primarily worried about, and they flat-out refused to tell me whether there was corn/soy in them or not. My most recent post on my blog is about that, if you want more details.
Purple_Kangaroo said,
August 10, 2006 at 7:03 pm
Here’s the link to my post about corn in Zyrtec if you want to read it . . . feel free to remove this comment if you don’t want the link here, but I was afraid it would be way down the page before you got a chance to read it.
True Epicure » Finding Corn said,
September 11, 2006 at 8:03 pm
[...] Powdered sugar, the typical baking powder, and many breakfast cereals all contain corn starch. Corn starch is used in the first two as an anti-caking agent. Most companies and home cooks use corn starch to thicken sauces and pie fillings. I’ve mentioned corn starch in medication before, but it is worth repeating again. Many vitamins or vitamin ingredients can be derived from corn as well. Unless the label says “does not contain corn”, I avoid it. [...]