UNDERSTANDING ALLERGY: DRUGS’ ADDITIVES. ALLERGIES TO ILLEGAL DRUGS
Drugs have additives
At times, the allergy isn’t to a drug itself but to one of various additives. Artificial colours and flavorings are routinely added to drug compounds to make them both more palatable for consumers to swallow and easier for doctors, nurses and pharmacists to identify. Preservatives, fillers and coatings all show up. And an additive in a drug is just as likely to cause allergy as one in a food. For example, in his book Why Your Child Is Hyperactive (Random House) Dr Benjamin Feingold tells of two young women taking birth control pills who developed wheezing and coughing, watery eyes and laboured breathing. They were afraid they’d developed asthma. As it turned out, however, they were simply allergic to artificial colouring in the birth control pills. (Incidentally, the hormones themselves can cause allergy like symptoms – stuffy nose, itching, hives – even asthma.)
Many antihistamines, antihistamine-decongestants, corticosteroids, bronchodilators and theophylline (a muscle relaxer), among others, often contain the yellow dye tartrazine. Ironically, those drugs are the mainstay of medical treatment of asthma and respiratory allergy.
A capsule or tablet can also contain non-chemical additives you could be allergic to – for instance, starch derived from corn, potato, sorghum or other food. Or medications can have a binder made from pork, beef or lamb fat, a potential problem for anyone allergic to those meats.
Allergies to illegal drugs
Most people take drugs that are either prescribed or bought over-the-counter in a supermarket or chemist. Some drugs, however, are bought on the street – they’re illegal. Aside from ruining health, abused drugs produce their share of allergic reactions. Barbiturates can trigger not only rashes but overall shedding of the skin, and can also raise large blisters around the mouth and at pressure points such as the hips and ankles. Amphetamines can cause rashes and asthmatic attacks. Cocaine, too, can cause serious asthma.
Marijuana harbors some of the very moulds that trigger allergy in asthmatics. If that’s not bad enough, smoking marijuana releases some of the same nasty chemicals (such as benzopyrene and hydrocarbons) as regular cigarettes, making marijuana as abrasive to an asthmatic’s lungs as tobacco. Even if a person doesn’t have asthma, marijuana can cause red, inflamed eyelids (conjunctivitis), diarrhoea, dryness of the mouth, hypoglycemia, muscular incoordination, nausea, respiratory depression, spasms and urinary frequency.
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