Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: lauring vocal bomb. Here people turn to medications to help
Speaker 1: them feel better, but sometimes the inactive ingredients found in
Speaker 1: prescriptions can have just the opposite effect. While you might
Speaker 1: assume that only the active ingredients in a prescription are
Speaker 1: going to have any impact, the inactive components, which often
Speaker 1: make up more than half of every dose, can affect
Speaker 1: you as well. The inclusion of inactive ingredients isn't optional, however,
Speaker 1: they perform necessary functions. They can help extend the life
Speaker 1: of the drug on the shelf or make drugs more palatable.
Speaker 1: Enactive ingredients are also necessary to simply hold the components
Speaker 1: of a tablet together, and there are critical part of
Speaker 1: many sustained and immediate release capsules. The actual active drug
Speaker 1: ingredients are usually only a small percentage of the complete drug.
Speaker 1: Many times potentially problematic inactive ingredients are everyday allergens like lactose,
Speaker 1: peanut oil, dyes, sugars, and preservatives. Lactose and other types
Speaker 1: of sugars appear in about half of all medications and
Speaker 1: can cause gastro intestinal distress and patients. Other ingredients like
Speaker 1: gluten and peanut oil are less common, but can cause
Speaker 1: much more severe reactions. So here's the good news. If
Speaker 1: you think you have an allergy, and especially a severe
Speaker 1: allergy to any of these components, you can consult an
Speaker 1: allergist to obtain a diagnosis, and then work with your
Speaker 1: doctor or pharmacy to identify what commercial medications contain inactive
Speaker 1: ingredients that you're sensitive to and what alternatives are available.
Speaker 1: Another option for people with specific requests who want an
Speaker 1: added layer of security is to turn to a compounding
Speaker 1: pharmacy to fill their prescriptions. Before drugs were manufactured in mass,
Speaker 1: one size fits all quantities, all medications were compounded. That is,
Speaker 1: when a prescription came in, the active ingredient was handweighed
Speaker 1: and packaged specifically for the individual patient. So if you
Speaker 1: want to avoid gluten, or dyes, or peanut oil or
Speaker 1: all of the above, a compounding pharmacist can put it
Speaker 1: all together in a way that's in line with your
Speaker 1: needs and preferences. Gelatine capsules have become something of a
Speaker 1: sticking point for people who wish to avoid animal products
Speaker 1: for personal or religious reasons. This is because gelatine is
Speaker 1: typically derived from mammal products, and often from cows. But
Speaker 1: these days alternatives made from other sources are available, capsules
Speaker 1: made from fish or vegetable products like seaweed. Our bodies
Speaker 1: are not one size fits all, and our medication doesn't
Speaker 1: have to be either. Today's episode was written by Ali A.
Speaker 1: Hoyt and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia's How Stuff Works. For more on this
Speaker 1: and lots of other topics, visit our home planet, how
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. And for more podcasts from my
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.