Kathy--

My daughter (16 mths) also has reactions to Amoxicillin suspension (Trimox).
Her reactions occur on a cumulative basis, so I had difficulty determining
that the medicine was part of the problem.  Like you, I have been unable to
determine if the medication has any dairy or not, (asking the but I know her
symtoms go away after she has been off it for a week or so.  I have learned
to trust my gut instinct when it comes to Jordan and her reactions to food
and medication.

Thanks for sharing your experience.  I am glad to know how others are
handling these problems. I have had a problem convincing the doctors of
Jordan's allergies. Even after bringing them my research, they are still
reluctant to admit allergy possibilities.  After insisting, she will be
going through allergy testing at the end of the month.  Hopefully, knowing
the specific triggers will help me deal with them more effectively.

Laura.

At 01:34 PM 1/3/98 -0800, you wrote:
>More nightmares of my holiday travels :-)
>
>My daughter and I both had colds when we left home to travel.  No real
>problem, but after 2 weeks, decided to seek medical attention.  After
>waiting 2 days for an appointment, my daughter (9 1/2  months) was
>diagnosed with an ear infection.  The doctor prescribed Amoxicillin.  I
>immediately asked if there was any dairy in it and described a problem we
>had with carmel coloring in some prescription vitamins that was dairy
>sourced.  He didn't know, but suspected there was not.
>
>I filled out the appropriate questionaire at the pharmacy and indicated a
>dairy allergy for my daughter.  I didn't ask the pharmacist then about
>the ingredients, but should have.  After about a day and half of giving
>her the med, her eczema was terrible, she was spitting up, and generally
>more cranky than with just the ear infection.  Back to the pharmacy to
>find out what's in this stuff.  The PharmD was actually pretty helpful,
>but we still couldn't conclusively determine if there was anything dairy
>- nothing obvious, but had flavorings and such.
>
>It's now New Year's Day and it's getting much worse.  All the doctor's
>offices are closed, so I called home to the advice nurse at our ped's
>office.  She was a bit skeptical of the situation but at least nice about
>it.  Told me to take her back to the doc there to see if she really was
>having an allergic reaction since we didn't know if it might be the
>penicillin itself as this was the first time with antibiotics.
>
>Friday, we called the pharmaceutical company to try to find out.  They
>weren't all that helpfull off the cuff and I didn't have time to wait for
>them to research it.  I will on Monday.  I did specifically ask if it was
>made on the same line as the chewable tablets since those list lactose as
>an ingredient.  We also had found a web site for another pharm company
>that listed their capsules as gluten and lactose free, but neither the
>suspension or chewables.
>
>The real fun came when I finally got the on-call doctor at our ped's
>office to call me back.  This guy all but called me a nut job for
>thinking that the eczema breakout had anything whatsoever to do with the
>amoxicillin.  Since she didn't have hives, it was "obviously" not the
>amox and "of course" there's no dairy in it.  They "use amoxicillin to
>treat allergic and asthmatic kids all the time - even those with dairy
>allergies".  Since he has been doing this for over 40 years, he obviously
>knows best even though he has never even seen my daughter (and won't if I
>have anything to say about it!)  I was told that one has nothing to do
>with the other and just treat the eczema they way I normally would.
>Well, I normally treat it by keeping the both of us strictly dairy free!
>When we do this successfully, she has no eczema.  I could not get this
>man to listen to me.  I was so furious.
>
>So, meanwhile, I'm giving my daughter something to treat an ear infection
>that is obvously making her miserable.  Her legs are just red and scaly.
>She has allergy shiners that she has never had before.  She can't sleep.
>Has terrible gas and loose stools.  But I have everyone telling me to
>give her this stuff for the ear infection.  The pharmacist said to stop
>the med for a day and see if she clears up, but I knew it would take
>longer than a day and I didn't want her to fly with the ears hurting.
>
>Has anyone else had a problem with dairy in meds?  I still don't know if
>this might be some other ingredient or the amox itself.  I can't get to
>see our doctor till Monday and want as much ammo as possible.
>
>Kathy
>
>
Laura Klopp
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