Thursday, December 4, 2008

SCD legal medication...well, not really

I went to Rite-Aid on a break today, because I needed contact lenses and epsom salts for my bath.

I then decided to be responsible, and talked to the pharmacist about both doxycycline and generic plaquenil. See, I could have typed out hydroxychloroquinine sulfate, but generic plaquenil is just a bit easier.

My rhematologist has decided that he would like to try me on one of these two medications. So, I wanted to see if they were SCD legal, and if not, if I could get them compounded.

I talked to them and asked about the inactive ingredients in the two medications. The two of them, not surprisingly, failed to find any information of the sort. Can you imagine what prescriptions are like for people with genuine life threatening food allergies? Yeah, it's not cool.

They provided me with manufacturer information. I called back later to get the NDC, which is a code assigned to each different type of medication. Each dosage strength or form (capsule, pill, liquid) has its own code.

So. The particular form of doxycycline carried by the pharmacy has lactose in it. Boo. I should really not have lactose.

I asked the Rite-Aid pharmacist about a compounding pharmacy. She told me there was one right up the street. Hooray!

I called said pharmacy. They only compound creams, not capsules. Boo. They gave me another number. I called.

The second pharmacy did compound medications -- but they were far away. And they don't ship. But they knew of another pharmacy!

They gave me a third phone number. At this point, I hesitated and called my doctor's office. I left a message asking about the dosage strength as well as the form, because there is doxycycline hyclate and there is doxycycline monohydrate. It's probably the hyclate one, but I'm not positive.

And then it could be really expensive to compound it, so I may just take the chance with the damned lactose after all. Sometimes you have to take the medication. But I'll keep you all posted on what I find out.

3 comments:

alz said...

Hi! Did you check out the ingredients in the plaquenil?

GFree_Miel said...

That's so terrible that you have to go through so much trouble just to find medication. Should awareness about these dangerous food allergies and intolerances be more prominent in this country, life would be so much easier.

Anonymous said...

I have no idea how to comment or post or do anything on a blog...I just came across this when because I have a google alert set on "compounding" as I work at a compounding pharmacy. More importantly and to the point, I am also the mother of a 10-year old son with autism (who is now basically "recovered" if there is such a thing) that was once on the SCD (and previously the GFCF). He is now on nothing but B12 injections, EFAs and minerals. Anyway, you can find many compounding pharmacies that will ship. Mine(www.wedgewoodpharmacy.com) does business in every state except for NC. Lists of others can be found at the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacies web site. I know two that particularly practice in medication for autism. Stokes Pharmacy in NJ has a specialty in GF drugs, as the previous owner's son had celiac's disease (and autism). The other is in NJ as well, and they are Hopewell Pharmacy. Either of these should be able to help you (or us!) Good luck!

Marcy
mkelly@wedgewoodpharmacy.com