Hello,

Since there's one active discussion here at the moment, I thought I'd toss
out another one as well: has anyone else had problems with medicines
containing pharmaceutical grade lactose?

Pharmaceutical grade lactose is supposedly "purified" so well that it won't
trigger an allergic reaction in people sensitive to dairy. Of course, I
didn't even know this until I was in the hospital after a reaction caused by
the pharmaceutical grade lactose!

It's a VERY common ingredient in medications delivered in tablet or powder
form. I'm thrilled that Advair came out with its new HFA delivery method,
which doesn't use lactose as its binding agent. And, I'm glad my insurance
company approved my using the children's chewable Singulair after I had a
reaction to the adult formula--which contains lactose. Even if they were
going to use this in medications not related to allergy, why is lactose used
in allergy medications? Am I one of a very few people sensitive enough to
have had a problem with this, or have others also experienced difficulties?
If it's happening to more than a couple of us, is there anyone else who'd be
interested in trying to request a change from the manufacturers?

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. I've certainly gotten to know my
pharmacist as well as any of the rest of my health care team because of this
issue!

Any thoughts from anyone else?
Weavre Cooper