Ingredients in Benadryl - Watch out for Polyethylene Glycol!

[Gloria]

I've been trying to find the active ingredient: Diphenhydramine HCl in a pill that has as few inactive ingredients as possible and no dyes.

Here are the ingredients in Benadryl:

Active Ingredients: in each tablet: Diphenhydramine HCl (25 mg - Antihistamine)

Inactive Ingredients: Candelilla Wax, Crospovidone, Dibasic Calcium Phosphate Dihydrate, D&C Red 27 Aluminum Lake, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Magnesium Stearate, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Polyethylene Glycol, Polysorbate 80, Pregelatinized Starch, Stearic Acid, Titanium Dioxide

I decided to look up Polyethylene Glycol. Here is what I've found:

POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL 3350 (pol ee ETH i leen; GLYE col) powder is a laxative used to treat constipation. It increases the amount of water in the stool. Bowel movements become easier and more frequent.

That's just great. We take an antihistamine to control our mast cells, which cause diarrhea, and the antihistamine contains a laxative. Not only that, it is used as a colonoscopy prep:

Whole bowel irrigation (polyethylene glycol with added electrolytes) is used for bowel preparation before surgery or colonoscopy. It is sold under the brand names GoLYTELY, GaviLyte-C, NuLytely, GlycoLax, Fortrans, TriLyte, Colyte, Halflytely, Softlax, Lax-a-Day, ClearLax and MoviPrep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_glycol

Benadryl makes a dye-free product called "Benadryl Dye-Free Allergy Relief, Liqui-gels," which contain the following ingredients:

Active Ingredients: in each softgel: Diphenhydramine HCl (25 mg) (Antihistamine)

Inactive Ingredients: Gelatin, Glycerin, Polyethylene Glycol 400, Sorbitol, Softgels are Imprinted with Dye-Free Ink

Far fewer ingredients, but they still contain Polyethylene Glycol. The other issue is that they are gels, which can't be cut in half like pills.

When I was doing a search for compounding pharmacies in my area, to my astonishment, the company my son-in-law works for was on the list. I called my daughter and asked her if her husband's company is a compounding pharmacy. She said it was. I knew it was in the pharmaceutical business, but had no idea that they did compounding. I think they only sell to hospitals, but my SIL said I could call customer service tomorrow. Maybe DD will talk to him about seeing if they can help me.

Gloria

[tex]

What can I say - the drug manufacturers don't have a clue.

Good luck with the lead you're working on. Hopefully that will pan out.

Tex

[Gloria]

I don't blame the drug manufacturer as much as I do my PCP, who recommended taking Benadryl. I would be using it to treat an intestinal symptom, which is not one of the listed conditions on the package.

I've been searching all other pills containing Diphenhydramine HCl, and there are many. (See the bottom of the page at this link: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drug ... 82539.html)

The one with the least inactive ingredients seems to be Sominex. It contains Blue #1, and I had a score of 2.8 on the MRT test for that dye.

Nytol doesn't have any dyes, but it contains Polyethylene Glycol.

Regular Sominex seems to be scarce OTC; I'll consider ordering it online.

Gloria