<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

My original post was precipitated by concern that my daughter, age 11, 9 months gf, had taken too many vitamins.  She had recently gotten worse, and when we took her off all supplements, she seemed immediately better the following day. I wondered if we should do anything else or anything different.

Most people believed that she had not suffered any lasting harm from possibly having too many vitamins.  Two professionals (a nutritionist and a dietician) offered their professional knowledge which gave me greater assurance that she had not taken too many vitamins.  From them, I learned that most vitamins, if in excess of the body's needs, are excreted in the urine.  The fat -soluble ones (A,D,, E, and F) are stored in the fat cells until needed.  Should there be toxicity of these, symptoms would be nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue, insomnia, etc., which she did not have.  Others to be concerned about would be retinol or preformed Vitamin A (not carotene, whcih is converted to Vitamin A and is not toxic), iron, manganese, and Vitamin B6.  I checked her supplements against the upper limits given for each of these for her age range, and none of the supplements exceeded the ULs.  One parent relayed a story of children visiting the hospital emergency room after getting into t..

A number of people wondered if the supplements contained hidden gluten. Several people said that Vitamin E can be made from wheat germ or from soy.   My daughter's were compounded by a local pharmacy that specializes in alternative, special needs clients and were supposed to be gf. I asked the pharmacist what measures they took to ensure that their formulas were gluten-free.  He replied that, no, they did not guarantee that their products were gluten-free.  They have too many suppliers to check the gluten status of the ingredients of each and every one.  This goes for special compounds that are requested as gluten-free and also the company's own brand of vitamins that are labeled as containing no gluten!  This from a pharmacy that advertizes in some of our CD publications.   

 Of course, I am sick that I may have been poisoning my daughter every day.  I am not sure that it was gluten in the supplements, but she was more and more tired and haveing heart palpitations, too, both symptoms she had before we knew what might be wrong with her.  She has never had gastrointestinal symptoms.

Several people recommended vitamins and brands that have worked for them, but I don't think I will list them here in case any one should be too trusting as I was and not check the gf status of their supplements out completely. I am not sure what action to take in regard to this company.  I will at least contact our local support group to dpread the word of caution.  I may send out another post about this company over this listserv.

Thanks to all who really helped on this, Diane

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *