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Old 09-17-2010, 01:54 AM
 
11,944 posts, read 14,735,333 times
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Yesterday I had to visit the emergency room after getting an acute case of hives reacting to something in the 10 mg pill form of acidophilus. When I called the company's 800# asking what reactions they've recorded, they responded by claiming there are no known adverse effects despite the warning label on the bottle; "Discontinue use and consult your doctor if any adverse reactions occur". Other claims on the bottle; "no artificial color, flavor, sweetener, preservatives, sugar, starch, milk, lactose, soy, gluten, wheat, yeast, fish or sodium". In other words free of the most common causes of allergies/ reactions that don't pertain to me except soy.

Looking around online I've come across information that some supplements have been known to have other trace drugs in them, and at times have been caught with heavy metals in their compounds. My lesson learned-- I would have been so much better off with grocery store yogurt (never reactions to that ) minus the body chemistry experiment that stabilizes it for pill form. As per ER doc, the majority of the cases have to do with manufacturing methods that aren't best practice. No MSDS sheet is available for dietary supplements, which is apparently par for the course when FDA isn't regulating. This product came from a reputable long time established name brand, not a fly by night company. I won't mention the name because this isn't about muckraking and I'd rather not see an industry hobbled with ham handed legislation over petty issues.

I've notified them of my hospital visit and they're sending me an envelope to mail the product back for refund & investigate if this batch somehow went foul but it might just be anecdotal. They appear worried about litigation, but I'm worried I'll have to find out the hard way again exactly what I'm reacting to. I hope they don't cowardly hide behind lawyers to decide for us both because everyone loses that way. The very last 'other ingredients' on the list is vegetable magnesium stearate, which by some declaration online (I've yet to find the solid science, but here's the link... Side Effects Of Magnesium Stearate & Stearic Acid | LIVESTRONG.COM) is being referred to as toxic. The article claims reasoning that cottonseed oil commonly used to formulate magnesium stearate has the highest concentration of pesticide retention and mentions this ingredient is present in about 95% of all supplements.

Whether this batch has too high a concentration despite listing on label as the least ingredient remains to be seen. If the sample is deemed perfect and no one else is having reactions, it will change my ability to utilize any of them permanently. I'd hate to see that happen too because 'preventative medicine' is something I agree strongly with as responsible behavior. When preventive care becomes destructive to health/ safety, it's defeating it's mission. That's something that the supplement industry needs to oust or they risk credibility. As per ER doc echoing medical community sentiments-- they consider all supplements as non credible. There's got to be a better way stuck between these two attitudes, both of which are guilty of conducting themselves against health yet calling it 'standard business'. That being the case, this non standard is non business and has no business calling itself health care.
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Old 09-17-2010, 11:26 AM
 
8,411 posts, read 39,180,016 times
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Hives can come from a lot of things, stress, yeast die off, your laundry detergent, etc. But you can be allergic to anything and that allergy can develop at any time in your life. Its very important to know about anything that you take. Get a full allergy panel. Also with purity tests, you have to look at what they use and any certifications. Everything has a level to where it is toxic to the body. (even water)

That same doc also would tell you that gardasil is ok. Even though:
Has Gardasil been bad to you? - Healthy Living on Shine

"As of the end of May of this year, there have been 16,140 reports of adverse side effects from the vaccine to The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)"

" 8% of "serious" reports included hospitalization, death, permanent disability, or a life-threatening illness. This is unnerving, especially considering that some of the serious effects have been blood clots and developing Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare muscle weakness disorder."



That is way too high in my eyes. Who knows what it will do in 20 years because its in you forever.
I think about the 20 years down the road with anything I put in my body. Like with the western med stuff. I don't take it unless its been used for over 20 years.
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Old 09-18-2010, 08:17 AM
 
Location: Southern Illinois
10,364 posts, read 20,727,235 times
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I'm not saying that it wasn't the acidophilus, but I'm wondering. I've had something like this happen twice in my life and I hadn't taken any pills. The second time it happened, I had gone to a dinner that my husband had cooked, so all of the foods were familiar, and fresh since I had just bought them that day. After I ate I began to itch a bit, so I left early and started itching like fire in the car and was covered with hives by the time I got home 10 minutes later. Then I started getting cramps and got a bout of diarrhea and then I was fine. Hives went away and everything. I still have no idea what could have caused it since I went to the dinner hungry and there was nothing on the menu that was cooked by anyone except my husband and it was all stuff I'd had before. It was obviously caused by the food though since it was such an immediate reaction. Don't assume that food never causes illness though--recall the egg recall. Spinach. Meat. Dairy products. These things happen all the time, so I wouldn't be surprised if you got a bad batch of A, but then I wouldn't be surprised if you took another one out of that bottle and nothing happened. I'm guessing you won't be doing that though.
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Old 09-18-2010, 08:52 AM
 
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FWIW, many reactions to foods can take a while, even as long as 24 hours from the time of ingestion. Magnesium stearate is in many many pills and I would rule that out.
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Old 09-18-2010, 01:37 PM
 
11,944 posts, read 14,735,333 times
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Thanks for your input. There's a false sense of reality afoot that appears to be getting worse and needs light and air.

The allergy end of things; I do accept the fact that I just might be one of those people and the company might not be at fault. Some kids find out the hard way they're allergic to bees, peanuts or strawberries. Older people can develop them, I do understand and accept that as a part of life & being an individual. I ate yogurt last week so it's not the active live culture acidophilus causing the problem. It's not rice flour because rice is in my regular food list and rice milk (also made from rice flour) never made a dent. Gelatin= jello. No problem. Maltodextrin is common ingredient in cereals that never caused problems. Silica is relatively inert and only becomes toxic for vascular diseases if chronic exposure is involved (2- 10mg pills in 2 days= even if it were 2- 10mg of pure silica dioxide, it can't be). Vegetable magnesium stearate is the only thing showing up on net search as potential problem. I'm discovering a couple of more potential reasons why as I search the net. Here's another story of someone equally frustrated having to find out the hard way by wading through convoluted language to detect a corn allergy. Finding Hypoallergenic Nutritional Supplements and Avoiding Food Allergens in Nutritional Supplements (http://www.actualcures.com/food-allergens-in-nutritional-supplements-hypoallergenic/ - broken link)

I'd love to take your advice about getting an official full panel screening of allergy testing, but the 'gold' standard is no standard at all (the exact same silliness hiding behind 'proprietary privilege' mucking up plain English ingredients on a label). It's hobbling doctors ability to diagnose properly. Take a gander at this...
IgG Food Allergy Testing by ELISA/EIA What Do They Really Tell Us
The context of the testing standards and the standards of labeling have a gaping hole the size of the grand canyon. If this really IS a reaction to vegetable magnesium stearate, which specific component of that vague formula (cottonseed or corn or pine based) is it? Which is attributed to the manufacturing process changing the chemistry to something my body sees as toxin vs the natural occurring compound in raw food that has never been a problem? If the test assay for rice flour is vastly different from the manufacturing floor vs the supermarket rice? Additionally to the $280 already spent, I could incur upwards of $3,000 on elaborate tests/ consults that may or may not give me solid answers because it's deviated too far from scientific method controls hiding out under that very same vague banner of proprietary rights. This policy of Healthcare is not only rendering professionals blind/ ignorant, but exacerbating costs needlessly looking for needles in haystacks.

Your 20yr test rule of thumb looks on the surface to be a good strategy, however, when you witness how often things get reformulated as 'new and improved' on a store shelf, that too becomes suspect all over again. People think they're buying cranberry juice from ocean spray but they're really buying corn syrup that a cranberry ran past at 40 mph. Dig deeper and that corn might not even be mother natures corn in light of genetic modifications afoot by agrabiz. Maple syrup often has no maple in it at all, and imitation vanilla is what exactly? The mystery cloak of proprietary information isn't fooling anyone but consumers because a thieving competitor can easily hire a chemist to break down components for a knock off. This happens in perfume industry often, making perfumes common culprits in allergic reactions. In an attempt to guard their business, they are in effect poisoning customers with the very license we issued them. I think we've got to find a better way to protect all parties involved fairly particularly when health and safety is being considered second priority to someones profit margin. That attitude flies contrary to the spirit of our laws.

As for gardasil, the general sentiment in my hometown on Long Island- they were very leery early on at the first sign of trouble, but when there was talk of mandatory requirements being imposed, they got vocal and I'm glad they did. They have my full support against the mandatory requirement using children/ prepubescent teens as guinea pigs. The law is obliged to protect them to a higher degree than ordinary adults because of minor status. As for the nasty lawyering tactics aspect of my original post, you'll find a gardasil example in the link below. Companies claiming customers prey upon them with litigation hoping to win the lottery--- the hostile treatment, playing dumb games, and invasive nature illustrated by Rosemary's experience is classic example of deflecting their guilt by blaming the victim. It's sickening to even listen to legalized injustice. Another Gardasil HPV vaccine victim - Long Island parenting | Examiner.com

They have created their own monster through their own institutionalized policies of misconduct and need to take responsibility or lose their license to operate. The lawyers who encouraged/ advised them to intimidate/ play nasty games need a swift kick in the pants as well. Anyone committed to tort reform ought to start their repairs with the entire legal profession first (judges included) because the truth is the first thing sacrificed by suits in a court room. I think it best I spare the mods edit work and start another thread about that in legal forum.
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Old 09-18-2010, 02:04 PM
 
11,944 posts, read 14,735,333 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harry chickpea View Post
FWIW, many reactions to foods can take a while, even as long as 24 hours from the time of ingestion. Magnesium stearate is in many many pills and I would rule that out.
Just to clarify, I'm in generally good health and don't have a history of allergic reactions or problems. Vitamin E made with soy oil applied to a scar was my first experience of problems when it gave me heart palpitations (heart & BP are perfectly healthy) and a taste of tofu sent me to the can quickly... the doctor agrees no more soy for me. That Vietnamese tempeh is yummy but I'm left out.

The problem with the loose standard labeling of "vegetable magnesium stearate" is that it's derived from many unspecified sources. The chemistry is not identical making it impossible for allergy testing to pinpoint exactly what I need to avoid to remain responsible for myself. Additionally the variances in manufacturing processes can alter that same chemical compound turning what should be innocuous into something experienced as a toxic. Lets say for the sake of an argument it's the rice flour... if I'm actually 'allergic' to their manufacturing process, will I now be forced to avoid all forms of rice for life and still find myself at the mercy of others randomly using the same mfg process because I'm blind to that fact (and so is the entire medical profession)?

I think we adults should be able to put our heads together and find a better way. I just want the truth and fairness all around. Once upon a time that was standard good business practice/ quality control and it desperately needs a come back.
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Old 09-18-2010, 05:53 PM
 
Location: In the real world!
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If you mail them the package with the remaining pills, you have just gave them what you need to prove your case if the pills were bad..
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Old 09-22-2010, 09:36 PM
 
11,944 posts, read 14,735,333 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Laura707 View Post
If you mail them the package with the remaining pills, you have just gave them what you need to prove your case if the pills were bad..
Absolutely correct, and doing something as simple as offering good faith efforts cooperating to get to the bottom of things- caveat emptor you're a fool to trust what I remember growing up with- a standard contract of common decency. I truly detest that about the relationship consumers and businesses have today. Honesty IS the best policy until lawyers convince too many people that lying is the only way to survive. How far are we going to continue on that road of Machiavelli before American Business standard is renamed the liars olympics? Who in their right mind wants to live in a place where making an honest living went extinct?

I don't mean to take my itches out on anyone with a rant. Sorry.
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