Lactose in medications.

[Vanessa]

So in my month long quest to find my medication (0.5mg clonazepam once nightly) without lactose or aspartame in it, I found a compounding pharmacy that was trying to help me with this issue. They informed me that the government had a hold on the clonazepam powder and it would not be available for them to get. They did not have an explanation as to why. My problem has been everytime for the last 3 months when I have swallowed that pill it makes my stomach burn. Never did this before (I've been on it a year). Would the miniscule amounts of lactose be causing this. A lot of tablets contain it and many of you are on medications. Just wanted to know others experiences with this. I know that lactose is bad for us and should not be ingested. My other option is to start the long arduous process of weaning down and getting rid of it or taking the " excito" toxin aspartame.

Back story....I had six months of twenty watery trips to the loo a day before being diagnosed. ( All without anxiety, worry and fatique but not anxiety)I then found this life saving forum and did the pepto treatment. I made it two weeks before I had blurry vision, tremors, hyperventilation and being wide awake for 4 days. I felt like over night I was put into a manic uncontrollable state which I could not get out of. My very first post on here you can tell how out of my mind I was. Even after obtaining these sedatives it took a few more weeks for the tremors in my legs to stop. Now getting my methylation report and finding that my body does not like salicylates (food or drug) I'm pretty sure I was having an allergic reaction. However, the brain does not forget and that was the most terrifying experience I have ever had. Of course I told the Dr. my suspicion and they did not even take it into account. Anyway, with everything on my plate and cutting this pill out ever so slowly, I will still go without sleep since my GABA receptors have been suppressed for so long.....and we know how that effects our bowels. I knew this going on this stupid pill but did not have a choice at the time.....bellvue or medication
Just wanted to know others experience with the lactose thing.....I've seen a lot of improvement with adding allegra, cutting sugars, and switching my menu to foods not so high in salicylates...burning still remains. Sorry for the novella.

[tex]

Vanessa,

That's a tough question because for some of us, the small amount of lactose in pills virtually never bothers us. While for others, it's a significant problem. The difference is due to our actual ability to produce lactase enzyme. When we have enteritis (intestinal inflammation), our small intestine rapidly begins to lose the ability to produce lactase. As the enteritis becomes more severe, we may totally lose the ability to produce even tiny amounts of lactase. But that isn't chiseled in stone, and most of us will still be able to produce a tiny amount of lactase even when our intestines are severely infamed.

There is a way to magnify the effectiveness of this tiny amount of lactase (provided that we have a tiny amount of lactase available). If you can tolerate cocoa powder, a small amount of cocoa powder will usually magnify the effectiveness of limited amounts of lactase enzyme by up to 6 times. I learned that trick back when I was reacting, and it did indeed allow me to drink a glass of milk whenever I tried it. Without the cocoa powder I couldn't drink any significant amount of milk without getting sick.

This is why many people choose to drink chocolate milk (over regular). They probably don't even realize why they choose chocolate, but in many (not all) cases, it's because they can digest much more of it without getting sick.

Tex

[Vanessa]

I will try the cocoa powder trick before I try and wean myself down. I never heard of this trick! I must have a small amount of lactase because once every 2 months my husband and I enjoy sushi and I eat small amounts of cream cheese without problems. Definitely worth a try before I throw in the towel. Thanks Tex! Of course it could be one of the other fillers...but they all seem pretty benign.

[Gabes-Apg]

There are tablets specifically to help digest lactose.... Taking small amount with the medication might help...

I put raw cocao in my rice protein shakes - lots of health benefits with the raw unprocessed version.