I can certainly understand the position that medical professionals find themselves in. For decades, most consumers/patients have traditionally expected their doctor to "fix" whatever problem they are having at the time, and when they go there they fully expect a prescription for a pill that will cure their ills, and many of them are not happy unless they receive that rx. No self-respecting American wanted to change their diet, or anything else about their lifestyle, if they could possibly help it. The traditional American way to resolve medical/health issues has been to pop a pill (or 3). Some patients view this as their "right".
But speaking of pills, the universal acceptance of pills to treat every ill seems to be beginning to change, and thanks to the availability of information on the Internet, many people are beginning to accept responsibility for their own health. This seems to upset a lot of doctors (who advise patients to stay away from the Internet — as if their patients are actually going to take that advice), but physicians should embrace the trend, because if they choose to fight it, they will wind up just like an MC patient who refuses to embrace his or her disease — stuck in denial, and unable to progress past the first stage of grief.
People are becoming more concerned about what they put into their body, and how it affects their health. Already, many food manufacturers are proudly announcing the removal of artificial ingredients/dyes/flavors/etc. from many of the products that they manufacture, and many more will follow. Once a trend of this type begins, everyone begins falling all over themselves to get on board.
But one area that is notably absent from this trend is pharmaceutical products. Many/most pharmaceuticals are formulated with complete disregard of the needs of patients who are most likely to be using those products. Case in point — many of the anti-inflammatory medications sold to treat IBDs that contain lactose derivatives. Anyone who knows anything at all about the human digestive system knows that one of the first consequences of enteritis is the loss of the ability to produce lactase enzyme, resulting in lactose intolerance. But the dumb asses who specify those formulations incorrectly assume that such a small amount of pharmaceutical grade lactose shouldn't hurt a thing. Obviously they are wrong, because patients have been complaining about that mistake for years (there are certainly plenty of posts complaining about it on this discussion board, dating back to 10 years ago when this board was first created).
The Food Allergen Labeling & Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) was passed in 2004, 11 years ago. Soy is one of the 8 listed allergens that have to receive special labeling treatment on most consumer products regulated by the FDA. But not pharmaceuticals — they were exempted from the law because the drug manufacturers can afford the kind of lobbyists who get the job done. So has the industry ever voluntarily done anything to clean up their act?
Fat chance. Pharmaceutical products are loaded with soy derivatives, which may or may not be mentioned on the label. And to add insult to injury, the so-called "experts" claim that soy oil and soy lecithin cannot cause any reactions, because they are free of soya protein. Such blatant ignorance shouldn't be tolerated, but unfortunately it is. Any engineer (and remember that engineers are the ones who design those processes) can tell you that there is no such thing as a perfect process — all mechanical and chemical processes are imperfect, and every last one of them results in a certain percentage of residues that are typically ignored, because they slip through as "within the allowed tolerances" for the process. And the "experts" are naive enough to believe that as long as tolerance limits are enforced, the process results in "pure" products. That's hogwash. Those small contamination levels do not slip past many immune systems, unfortunately. Most standards for such products are developed using "normal" people as test subjects. Well guess what? Sick people are not "normal", and they are the ones who use such products, rather than "normal" people.
So has any pharmaceutical manufacturer updated their products to remove lactose-based ingredients, or soy-based ingredients? If they have, I missed it . In fact, some have added it in recent years. That cavalier attitude has to change. If it doesn't, pharmaceuticals may be the next wave of changes forced by public outcry. Or maybe not, because the pharmaceutical industry has enough money (and enough political clout) to pretty much do what they damn please, whether consumers like it or not.
Now I'm not criticizing the local pharmacies and pharmacists here. I have the utmost respect for them. As far as I can tell, they're stuck in the same dilemma as physicians — dictated to and dominated by industry practices that are beyond their control.
Tex
