From Clan Thompson newsletter:

Good grief! They won't tell you?

Yeah, that's about as ludicrous of an answer as I can imagine.



Rachel

Thats when the words "potentially fatal allergy" come in handy. (even if its an exageration) You should read my commentary on getting corn andgluten free tylenol.

I get a lot of "ask your dr" and then from my dr "Just call around."

I also once got a "How did you get this number?" (it was for medical professionals only, LOL, but hey...they got me connected to someone who could answer my question right away.)

I've heard that the new labelling laws do not extend to medicine. And that pharmaceutical companies get more leeway for proprietary formulas, but, I can't verify that.

Well, if they don't want to be bothered, then they should be providing a resource with the information.

At least we have figured this out at the dentist. She just doesn't use "product" on my daughter's teeth.

Cara

I got curious, since I use Flonase myself, and looked around on the internet. I found the ingredients pretty quickly:

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed...fo.cfm?id=1283

It doesn't look like there is any gluten in it.

Getting one bad answer from a customer service representative doesn't surprise me. I figure I just need to find the right person to talk to.

Anyways, it doesn't look like it's top secret information.

Claire

Dextrose is one ingredient that may be made of wheat. This site mentions that the although there may be wheat protein in the dextrose , it is within the 200ppm codex guideline.

The "safe" amount of gluten is still being debated.

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/science...nions/681.html

What the ingredients are actually made of may be "secret".
Anne

microcrystalline cellulose can also be made from wheat (or corn, or any fibrous plant) although originally it was made from trees.

I wanted to contribute something valid to this thread but I can't.

I did, however, want to say that I'm aghast and appalled at this behaviour from a medical company that is supposed to be selling us something to keep us healthy!

I'd like to see a reference of this. I did a quick search on the internet, and found microcrystalline cellulose to be made of wood or cotton fiber. Here are a couple of websites I found:

http://www.nbent.com/details.htm

http://www.aapspharmscitech.org/view.asp?art=pt030211

And from Frontier's website:

It seems that most dextrose is made from corn. So, if you have a corn allergy, you might have a problem. Here's an interesting website with an opinion on dextrose derived from wheat and it's affect on those with celiac disease:

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/science...nions/681.html

Oops ! It's the same reference that Anne provided. This is specific to the one company in Europe that proposed to use wheat derived dextrose in their products. It's not to say that wheat derived dextrose is used in Flonase.

I found it on the Food Safety Risk Analysis Clearinghouse website from the University of Maryland. More interesting stuff here.

Anyways, I think the real problem comes down to pharmaceutical labelling laws. The food allergy labelling should apply to prescription drugs as well!

Claire

Hi All,

My husband once tried Flonase, and he found it VERY IRRITATING. He stopped using the Flonase very soon after he had first tried it. Then, years later, he came out positive, on Dr. Fine's EnteroLab stool sample testing for gluten sensitivity.

In between his trying the Flonase, and his discovering that he is (non-Celiac) gluten sensitive, I came up with "some sinus tips", which I had mostly found from a good book called "Sinus Survival" by Dr. Robert Ivker.

I put these (some sinus tips) into my website, (Can't Breathe? Suspect Vocal Cord Dysfunction!) on webpage 10. Scroll down to see Appendix A, on webpage 10, at http://cantbreathesuspectvcd.com/page10.html

If these sinus tips help anyone to be able to get off the Flonase (my tips are drug-free), then they won't have to worry about whether there is or isn't gluten in this particular product!

Below the sinus tips, you'll see Appendix B (some gastric reflux tips), where I try to tell people about food protein sensitivities (gluten, casein, corn, soy, etc.), and below this, are some ergonomics tips (which, like with the other tips, I also learned from other people).

At a VCD/vocal cord dysfunction conference in Denver (sponsored by Nat'l Jewish Medical & Research Center), that I attended, one of the speakers said that he thinks most sinus problems come from GASTRIC REFLUX problems. And, gluten sensitivity & other food protein sensitivities, CAN AND DO produce gastric reflux!

So, in my opinion, and from my own experiences (and others' too), I believe that by finding and eliminating foods that one is sensitive to, the reflux should lessen, and this should improve one's sinus conditions.

And, by removing bad things in the air that are also irritating the sinuses, this should also decrease the supposed "need" for Flonase, etc.

And, a good ENT may also find other problems that need to be addressed, regarding sinus problems.

However, I also agree with what everyone else wrote, and to me, it's sickening that these mega drug companies won't come clean, and tell anyone who asks, about exactly what's in their products, and exactly what the sources of their ingredients, etc. are!

Carol
http://cantbreathesuspectvcd.com