Albuterol

[SilverNightLight]

Hello, I am going to copy and paste this from the FAS FB page. I posted it last night and they directed me here. Here was my post:
Hello! Glad to have found you! I am trying to research this answer but am having difficulties.... thought one of you may have a fast answer. My son has a milk protein allergy, and currently is recovering from a nasty upper respitory infection. After talking with the Dr today we are going back to the pulminologist for an official diagnosis, but am told he has some form of asthma, which landed him in the er this weekend. He now is on albuteral for a nebulizer and the inhaler type for a chamber.. does albuteral contain milk proteins? His rash has flaired since going to the er! And the inside phamplet for the meds say to stop use if a rash appears... thoughts? As far as i know he has had no dairy contamination...

[rebekahc]

Sorry to hear your son has been sick!  As far as I know albuterol does not have milk protein, but it would be dependent on which brand/manufacturer and what their added ingredients are.  You should be able to look up the brand online or find the patient insert from your meds and it will list all the ingredients.

One thought, could whatever triggered the upper respiratory infection and asthma also be causing the rash?  It's not uncommon for people to get viral hives or for atopic people to have their skin flare from illness.

[SilverNightLight]

I have the insert that came with both meds... and all it talks about is the chemical makeup... and what I found online is the same stufs
his rash had pretty much been clear till that night... they did give him apple juice and a ottor pop type popsicle and we are not a juice family and certainly not the popsicle either! so I don't know... I guess it *could* be from being sick... but so far that hasn't been him (than again we have only had the dx for about 2 months now....) ugh
But I guess at this point the meds are more bennificial than preventing a rash, since breathing is improtant and all.. lol, hope he heals fast!

[AllergyMum]

My son also has dairy allergies.  When picking up any medication I always have them run a complete check on it for all of his allergies.  I remind the doctor of his allergies & then have the pharmacist do a double check, as many medications do contain dairy & egg.

I would suggest that you call the pharmacist and have them review the medication for any allergies.

Hope your son feels better real soon.  So glad that you found us.

[booandbrimom]

We've had no problems with either albuterol or Xopenex (an alternate to albuterol). However, Advair does contain milk.

[Tummyache]

I've used Albuterol..it was fine.  But, don't let the doctor switch him to ADVAIR because it has lactose in it.  I am allergic to lactose, casein, whey -- all the milk factions. Just posted about Advair.

[joanna5]

As others have said, we've used albuterol many, many times for our FA kiddo with no issues.  Advair does have lactose, as do some dosages of Singulair.   Our pharmacists have always flagged us for the allergies and give us the inactive ingredient listings for all meds- I'd ask for those if I were you.

[GingerPye]

Singulair has milk?  My DS is on it. 

I've had drs tell me that the milk or lactose in meds is ---- can't think of the term --- medically engineered?  that it will not affect milk-allergic people.  I suppose because the protein is not there?  I don't know.

My pharmacist scoffed at me one time when I said I wanted him to check for milk in an antibiotic.  He checked but wasn't happy about it.  Since then he's been good about it, so I suppose he has figured out that some meds have milk. 

[joanna5]

GP, some dosages of Singulair do have lactose.  Our allergist said that medical grade lactose is very, very low risk, but that since another option is usually available, it's better to avoid just in case.

[twinturbo]

joanna, what is the alternative to Singulair you use for MA child? We're exploring the use of Singulair right now. TIA

[CMdeux]

Singulair comes in brand name and generic tablets, chewables, etc.

So the medication itself probably comes in at least 3 or 4 distinct formulations.  I can't recall off the top of my head whether it's the chewables or the tablets that contain lactose.

[joanna5]

We use the 5 mg Singulair chewables.  It's the 10 mg tablets and the 4 mg granules that have lactose in them.  Singulair has been great for us.

[jacob]

We were given albuterol this past week, my son has a severe milk allergy and this medication triggered that allergy and landed us in the er.  It was latered confurmed by the pedeatrician that this medication in rare instances will cause someone with a milk allergy to react.

[booandbrimom]

Dry inhalers of all types can contain medical-grade lactose. I should have specified...when we use albuterol, we generally use it in the solution form through a nebulizer. We no longer worry about MGL in oral meds though.

Here's a link about medicines that contain milk protein. http://www.aaia.ca/en/milk_proteins_and_allergy_medications.htm

[Macabre]

I saw this today on twitter and thought it might be helpful here:

http://www.aaaai.org/ask-the-expert/hives-levalbuterol-inhalation.aspx