Hidden wheat in medicines
IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE YOU READ THIS BLOG: Please read this blog with a large dose of caution and DO NOT stop taking your medication. If you have a wheat allergy and are injecting blood thinner then DON'T STOP, it's vital that you continue with such an important treatment. Perhaps you might want to ask your doctor or pharmacist to investigate whether it has a wheat base if you are having some strange reactions. But NEVER NEVER STOP taking your medication unless you have discussed it fully first with your doctor, hospital or other registered health professional responsible for your care and they have given their approval.
Medicines are an interesting issue in relation to wheat content. I've always been conscious of making sure that any medicines I buy over the counter don't contain wheat, but I've had a few problems with doctors prescribing medicines that contain "starch", even though they know I have a problem with wheat. The rule is "if it doesn't identify what type of starch it is, it's wheat".
But with my husband currently giving himself blood thinning injections for a blood clot after cancer surgery I was told a true story by the mother of the person it happened to that made my hair stand on end.
Her daughter has a wheat allergy, and when her daughter got pregnant she was told she would have to inject herself daily with a blood thinner to ensure that she remained pregnant. She had major problems. It was only after investigation that she found out that the drug thinner she was taking had a wheat base, but by then it was too late. Even the pharmacist didn't know this from his drug literature because it's not something that is evidently listed.
I obviously can't name the actual blood thinner because there may be legal issues involved, however it's a truly terrible consequence of hidden wheat.
And to be honest the way that drug companies hide what is in their medicines sucks. I am continually frustrated buying medicines or collecting prescriptions for medicines where there is no list of ingredients, medicinal or otherwise. So I have to trust the pharmacist that he knows it's marked in his database as gluten free. But of course, as my example above has just proved, that information is not always present in the drug database. And gluten free is not the same as wheat free. Wheat starch with the gluten removed can also sometimes be used.
Her daughter is now happily pregnant again, and once again injecting blood thinners daily, though of course a different type.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please read this blog with a large dose of caution and DO NOT stop taking your medication. If you have a wheat allergy and are injecting blood thinner then DON'T STOP, it's vital that you continue with such an important treatment. Perhaps you might want to ask your doctor or pharmacist to investigate whether it has a wheat base if you are having some strange reactions. But NEVER NEVER STOP taking your medication unless you have discussed it fully first with your doctor, hospital or other registered health professional responsible for your care and they have given their approval.
