My naltrexone isn't dairy-free

It's really not what you want to find out after you've been taking it for a month and a half.  :(

I've been dairy-free (and gluten-free) for over a year and half in the hopes that it would help improve our fertility.  I wrote about the encouraging changes on my chart as a result of that diet change here.  My chart is still more or less the same since then.  I get a couple additional green stamps post-peak in cycles where I use HCG.

Anyway, I had read—just before starting LDN—that sometimes lactose is used as a filler when the drug is prepared.  It didn't concern me at the time because I assumed at least one of the following would be true: 1) perhaps they don't use lactose as often these days since lactose intolerance seems to be fairly common, 2) the pharmacy would ask me if I could tolerate lactose before filling the prescription, or 3) the pill bottle or accompanying info sheet would inform me that lactose was an ingredient.  Food labels are quite good at labeling lactose; why wouldn't a drug label be the same?  I just figured I would find out somehow and didn't give it another thought.

Yesterday I was searching for a website I could send to my NaPro doc explaining how one might compound LDN in her own kitchen in case he had not heard of this possibility.  (I still hadn't asked him for this.)  One website I was reading again mentioned lactose as a filler, which made me start to wonder if my LDN had lactose in it.  I went to check the info sheet that usually comes along with a prescription (listing common side effects, etc.) and realized I never received one.  Thinking I was being paranoid, I thought it wouldn't hurt to call Kub.at's and find out for sure.  Judging by the employee's reaction to my question, I'm guessing not a lot of people ask about this.  He confirmed, yes, there is lactose in my LDN.  :(  I asked if they had lactose-free LDN available.  After some searching, he said that they did have it, but that my doctor would have to specifically order lactose-free LDN for me.  (Really?  I can't just say, "Please send me the lactose-free kind?")

Since it would be faster to have a new prescription filled locally (as opposed to mailed from Kub.at's), I started to call local pharmacies asking if they had lactose-free naltrexone.  I started with a chain store pharmacy which I've used in the past.  The pharmacist almost chuckled when I said "naltrexone" because he said it's been ages since he has dispensed that drug.  Not a good sign...  He said he could order naltrexone but since he's at a chain store, he can't choose the manufacturer. (The chain store just ships him what they have in stock, which could be from a handful of different manufacturers.)  So there's no way to guarantee that the drug he receives is lactose-free.  I could tell he was frustrated he couldn't help, but he did give me names of two other non-chain pharmacies in town that would have more freedom in ordering.  I called one of them, and the only naltrexone they carry is lactose-free.  :)  And the cost for approximately one year's supply (compounded by me) is less than what I am paying now for one MONTH'S supply (compounded by the pharmacy)!  I know, I know—I should have arranged all of this sooner.

Now I just need to wait to hear back from my NaPro doc that he agrees to let me compound LDN myself...

If only I had known I was going to be ingesting lactose and thus breaking my dairy-free diet, I would have splurged for something much more satisfying like some good chocolate**!!  Or a mocha!  Oh, how I miss mocha...


**Fear not, I am not totally deprived of chocolate.  Our grocery store sells some dairy-free chocolate.  :)