Allergies to medicines
By emeraldisle
@emeraldisle (13138)
United States
February 25, 2007 4:29pm CST
For those of you who have read some of my other messages you know I'm allergic to iodine and I've had problems with it due to being in other medications. For those of you who don't know iodine is often in other medications under the listing of povidone (which is a form of iodine). Now it is a trace amount and if you are taking it rarely or occasionally it's not a problem for most; however if you are taking it all the time it can be.
For myself I have to take over the counter medications for pain. I'm in pain daily due to physical ailments. I recently discovered the ibuprofen I was using had povidone in it, I checked after my leg and foot swelled to at least twice it's size. So last night I spent a good 30 minutes at Wal-Greens and going through the medications. That was lots of fun especially reading all those little areas in the inactive ingredients area. It turns out all I can take is name brand Tylenol or a couple of name brands of Aspirin. All the generics have povidone but the name brand doesn't. All the other name brand pain relievers have povidone in them.
I was not a happy camper last night in having to pay two to three times the price for the name brand of medication. I cannot understand why the generics have to have the povidone in it if the name brand doesn't? That makes no sense to me. Why use a chemical that many people are allergic to for a filler if they don't have to? That makes no sense to me. Let alone the fact that they make it so hard to read the inactive ingredients in medications. I had such a headache when I left I really needed that Tylenol then.
I don't know if this will be a problem for anyone else, if it is then it's something for you to check on. If it isn't then thank you for letting me rant on about this. I feel much better after getting some of that out.
4 people like this
6 responses
@kitchenwitchoftupper (2290)
• United States
27 Feb 07
Emerald, Talk with either your doctor or his/her nurse. I had to do this today and it was such a simple solution. I take Adderall XR for the type of hyperactivity that is non-active but I am unable to focus, I am unable to have a quite time in my mind (I type in my head as I am talking), and I have no concentration ability without this medication. Medicare/Medicaid will not pay for this and it is very expensive. When I had my appointment today I took in the paper that said my plan would not pay for it and the nurse called the Plan and got prior authorization for another brand that is just the same, but it has another name. Please try to do this. It may work for you and you can get the meds you need. At least you won't be any worse off than you already are. Blessed Be ~Donna
2 people like this
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
27 Feb 07
Right now I don't have any insurance so it's all out of pocket anyways. Sad I know but just how it is. I know how that goes with Medicare/Medicaid not paying for things though. My sister goes through that a lot. She's on medicaide while fighting to get Social Security. The problem is some doctors won't do the over rides/prior authorization. It's crazy I know but they won't. So she either has to do without or they try to find one that will work that she's not allergic to. Royal mess.
I'm glad your doctor will do the prior authorization. That's great that he does. Wish the ones around here would :(
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (120775)
• United States
20 Mar 07
Oh, I know the struggle to get and retain insurance. I know the trouble of getting on disability as well. Have you attempted to get free medicine from the many organizations that offer it? Sometimes it takes a little time, but if you have a need, usually they can meet it.
I am probably telling you stuff you already know, but I just know how hard it is, and I hate to see anyone else suffer.
@tess1960 (2385)
• United States
20 Mar 07
Your should ask for medication samples at your dr. office. I have asked for samples before of a new med to start to try it and I jhave insurance and the doc gives it to me if he has on hand. they usually will definitely give out samples to people with no insurance but you have to ask. The pharmacueical companies give these samples to the docotrs free so it is not costing them anything. It is worth a try.
I am allergic to Naprosyn. I cannot even take the generic form. It causes me severe uncontrollable vomiting, and migraine level head pain. I took it for three days and it liked to killed me. Took about 2 more days to get it all ou of my system.
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
26 Feb 07
Well I have to say that is a bit strange. I would have thought that the Ingrediants have to be the same in the Medication to do the same work. So I do find that really strange and I am not suprised that you are mad at the fact that you have to pay extra for the same Medication becuase you have to buy the Brand Name one.
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
26 Feb 07
The main medication or active ingredients are the same, it's the inactive ones that it varied on. I would think they'd be the same as well but they weren't. Just goes to show you have to check both; wish they made the typing there bigger so it's easier to read. Yeah it gets me I can get generic of if for between 2 and 3 dollars but name brand is around 8 for the same amount of pills.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
25 Feb 07
I know what it feels like to be in pain 24 X 7. I have been in that shape for years now. I also know what it is like to be allergic to medications. It is hard. I am allergic to iodine but I have a very long list of medications that I am allergic to. I am so sorry that you are so much pain. Someone has to be in pain constantly to understand what it feels like. I cant even talk over the counter medications because of all teh prescriptions that I take. I hope you feel better really soon. I never start a new medicaion without talkint to the pharmacist first. They have all of my medication allergies in the computer at the pharamacy but I cant take a chance of them missing something. It is scarey all the time.
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
25 Feb 07
Thanks. I think you are right that it can be hard to understand unless you have been in that situation.
Exactly you do have to check. You can't be sure they will check into everything. We've had problems with them allowing things to go through even though it has iodine or sulfa products in it. They figure it's a trace amount it's not a problem or they figure you are allergic to sulfa that doesn't mean sulfates or bisulfites etc. So I always get a full listing of everything now. I double check for myself on it.
2 people like this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
26 Feb 07
You have to double check yourself. I went to the ER once and I carry a paper with all my medical info on it. I was in so much pain that I could not talk. My husband gave them the info. They hand wrote my allergies to medicines. When the Nurse came in to give me medicaion in my IV, for some weird reson, I was able to speak and ask what it was. It was one of the medicines that i was allergic to. She had the medicine all ready up to my iv port. My husband said "Stop,she is allergic. The nurse, immediately went out and sure enough it was on my ER sheet. This mistake passed through the Dr and two nurses. I am very scared when I go to the ER these days. We ahve to take care of ourselves. Nobody else will.
1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
26 Feb 07
That does not surprise me. I've had similar happen as well. It really makes me wonder if they read the charts. I had gone to the ER and they ended up having to do a lung scan, they took me down to do an Iodine based one. She was all set to go and I realized what was going on and asked. She was not happy that the doctor had ordered it and the nurse hadn't caught it. They then had to call in someone for a Nuclear Medicine test. I don't even want to think what would have happened if I hadn't of caught it.
2 people like this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
19 Mar 07
!
i have an iodine allergy too-i had never heard of that
i am definetly making a note of it.thank you for posting this :)
2 people like this
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
19 Mar 07
You're very welcome. I know how that goes. I am finding more and more medications with it, not just pain relievers. It's used as a binding agent. Normally it's not a problem because it's a trace amount but when you are something long term it can build up and cause problems.
2 people like this
@Kythe42 (1412)
• United States
27 Mar 07
I don't have an iodine allergy, but I have a question about it. Do you also suffer from hypothyroidism? I ask this because I used to have hypothyroidism and was taking meds for it for years. Then after doing some research about the condition, I found out that iodine is a main factor in regulating the thyroid.
So I got myself tested for an iodine deficiency and it turned out I had one. So after taking iodine supplements for awhile, I was able to go off of my thyroid meds. I suppose if I ever developed an allergy to iodine I'd have go back on the thyroid meds which I don't want to do because of the side effects.
1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13138)
• United States
3 Apr 07
So far I don't but my sister and mother both are on thyroid medication. They have to take one particular brand due to the iodine in the others. Makes it hard when the insurance wants to pay for generic only. Hopefully I won't have to worry about that but one never knows what will happen in the future.
