Stevioside

Both AJ and M&M are complaining of headaches and fatigue. AJ is definitely ill and is starting to cough up a storm.

I'm feeling a little better after getting a short nap this afternoon. Right now I'm sitting with Baby E while she eats pear slices (I've been working on this post off and on since before dinner, when I needed to sit down with Baby E for one reason or another), and then I'm going to go to bed. I'm hoping to get to bed by 11:30 tonight.

DH is feeling much better tonight, though still coughing and tired. He even went grocery shopping on his way home from work.

That was especially nice since I ended up spending the time I had planned to go shopping on the telephone, talking to the children's hospital and a pharmacy.

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We scheduled an upper GI study in x-ray at the children's hospital for Baby E tomorrow afternoon.

Then I called the compounding pharmacy--the same one that mailed Baby E's medicine to our doctor an hour or so away instead of to us a few weeks ago.

We're getting close to needing a refill on the Nystatin. Baby E has had eczema on her cheeks off and on (but more on than off), and has seemed to be having an almost constant low-grade reaction for a month or two now--since just about when we started the Nystatin.

Before I started giving it to her I had our doctor call and ask the pharmacy about the ingredients in it, particularly the components used to extract the stevia. They assured her that there were none of E's allergens in it. But I thought I'd ask myself, anyway.

I asked about the ingredients in the Nystatin liquid, and especially about any stabilizers or extractives in the stevia used to sweeten it.

They let me talk directly to the compounding pharmacist. I must say, it was one of the most clueless reactions I've had from one of the most highly-trained professionals to date.

It took forever to finally get the pharmacist to understand what I was asking. She wouldn't tell me whether the suspension was in a base of water, glycerine or something else. And she kept telling me that what they added to the nystatin was just pure stevia extract, with nothing else in it.

"But the stevia has to be extracted in something--either glycerine, alcohol or water," I said. "If it's alcohol or glycerine it almost certainly contains corn. And if it's a powder, it probably also has something in it to stabilize it, standardize it and make it free-flowing--like dextrose (which is corn) or silica. I need to know what's in it. Doesn't the package say anything about that?"

"I'm sure it's just stevia."

"Could you look at the package for me, please?"

"It's just pure stevia extract. It's a white powder, so it must not have anything else in it. It's just white stevia powder. It's from the stevia plant. There wouldn't be any corn in it."

"I know it's from the stevia plant," I said. "But that doesn't mean there's nothing else in it. There is an extensive process used to extract the stevioside from the leaves of the plant and turn it into a powder, and that process has to use other ingredients."

"But it's just pure stevia powder. There couldn't be any corn in it."

"Look," I finally said. "It's not green. They don't just grind up the plant and call it Stevia powder. They have to extract it and stabilize it with something."

"Oh. Yeah."

She went and looked at the box.

"Oh. It says 90% stevia extract."

"There you go," I said. "I need to know what the other 10% is."

"I didn't think it would have anything else in it. Most things we use are just 100% whatever chemical it is. All the times I've looked at this box, and it just never registered that it said 90% stevia. I thought it would be 100% stevia."

"Yes, but a plant-derived extract is different from a pure chemical," I said. "That's why I was asking about it. That other 10% could definitely be enough of something to make my daughter sick. I also need to know what was used to extract it, even if there's technically none of it left in the product. My child reacts to anything that has been processed with corn derivatives, including things like vanilla extract and citric acid grown on corn."

"Well, the package doesn't say. I don't know how I would find that out."

"You would have to call the company and ask."

Silence.

"Can you at least tell me the name of the company, so I can call them and ask about it myself?"

She started to give me the information, and then realizing that there was a 1-800 number on the package, said she would call herself and ask.

I wonder if I should have just called them myself.

I did find out that the standard method for making stevia powder is through extracting and refining the stevioside from the plant in alcohol. Almost all alcohol used for such applications is corn-derived, of course.

There is at least one brand of Stevia that is extracted in water. I have some here. I think I'll probably just end up having the compounding pharmacy make the Nystatin without the Stevia, and I'll add it myself at home.

Maybe that will make a difference in Baby E's reactions. It seems that when she's constantly having low-grade reactions it takes less to create a worse reaction and is harder to poinpoint the cause.