There's considerable debate out there about the most common causes of
allergic reactions: proteins (including milk protein in this case),
carbohydrates (including lactose), or even fats. Most allergists agree that
proteins are the most common likely culprits ... but it's not quite certain,
and may not be true for everyone, etc.

If your child is not yet "ready to start popping pills" then s/he's probably
young enough to have the chewable Singulair, which is fine. And for those of
us grown-ups on the list ... well, the children's Singulair tastes better
than the dangerous lactose-laden adult tablets anyway! ;)

Hope this helps,
Weavre Cooper

What we haven't learnt since the beginning of time is that if we stand in
the mid-day sun, our shadows on the ground are the same colour.  
--Jim T., Amnesty International discussion group participant on Care2.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Milk/Casein/Lactose-Free List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of R. Pellerin
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 3:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: any thoughts on prescriptions containing dairy?

Just a question from a curious parent, as my milk allergic child is nowhere
near ready to start popping pills but Singulair was offered for his asthma.

Is the lactose a problem for those with lactose intolerance (which I totally
understand) or also for those with the milk protein allergy (which my kid
has)?  This particular hiccup never occurred to me and I must thank the
original poster for mentioning this.  This is valuable information for
future prescriptions for my son!



On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 2:58 PM, Eric Schlesinger <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Well, my Dad was research Director for Schering for a long time, and he
> warned me about the lactose in many, many pills - including and
> especially (in his opinion) multi-vitamins, where it's used to separate
> layers of reactive vitamins from one another.  It's cheap, easy to get,
> and very very inert.  However, I've never heard that pharm-grade lactose
> was advertised not to have LI or allergic effects - all I ever knew was
> that it was purified so that there were no contaminants (minerals and
> such) that might impact or interact with any of the desired effects of
> the medications.  My Dad certainly believed that it would cause
> reactions in me.
>
> Weavre Cooper wrote:
> >
> > Loratadine ... Singulair ... regular Advair ... and sooo many others ...
> I'm
> > sure it drives my pharmacist and doctors nuts trying to find substitutes
> for
> > all the pills that contain lactose.
> Loratadine is a generic name for what used to be Schering's Claritin.
> Allavert 24-hour tabs (no water required, if you can stand the taste)
> have not had lactose for a long time, while most of the other OTCs do.
> However, they have a new flavor out, and I've never checked that one.
> >
> >
>
>