Sexual intercourse could trigger drug reaction
Q. I am currently taking amoxicillin for a sinus infection, but my wife is allergic to penicillin. Is there any possibility that she would have a bad reaction if we had unprotected sex?
A. There are reports in the medical literature of women reacting to a medicine in their husband’s semen. The concentration is usually very low, but for sensitive people, even a little exposure can be risky. More than 20 years ago we heard from a reader who reported the following reaction:
“I know this sounds bizarre, but I’m convinced I have been reacting to the penicillin my husband has been taking for a strep throat. When I was 10, I had an allergic reaction to penicillin. Last week I experienced hives and wheezing soon after we made love.”
Men might also react to medicines their wives are taking. It would be prudent to use a condom.
Q. When I was a child, my sister and I used to compete for first dibs on licking the bowl and beaters when Mother baked. It was a part of growing up.
Recently, I was baking with my grandchildren and asked which of them wanted to lick the bowl. Their mother, my daughter, swooped between them and me with the bowl, and said: “No! No! Don’t put that in your mouth! It has raw eggs in it!” Do raw eggs – especially this minute amount – really hurt you? Or is my daughter just an especially picky mother? Why were my sister and I not damaged as kids by our bowl-licking habits?
A. You may think that your daughter is being especially picky, but she is actually following accepted recommendations for food safety. Back when you were little, nobody worried much about salmonella in raw eggs. Perhaps that was because eggs were less likely to be contaminated.
Food-safety scientists might not have realized then that licking the bowl did make some children sick. It makes sense to be careful even though it means one of childhood’s pleasures – licking the beaters – is taken away.
Pasteurized egg whites in liquid or powdered form are available. Your daughter shouldn’t object to the children licking the beaters if the eggs are pasteurized.
Q. My husband and I are 63. I am on nine prescriptions, and my husband is on four prescriptions for his asthma. Our insurance does not cover prescriptions.
We estimate our prescription cost this year is approximately $11,000. Do you have any suggestions where we can buy our prescriptions to save money?
A. Without drug insurance or Medicare coverage, you are vulnerable. You get charged full price at the pharmacy, whereas insurance companies and the government negotiate discounts.
Buying brand-name prescription drugs from Canada can save you money. Be careful, though. Not all online pharmacies that claim to be Canadian are legitimate. Look for the Provincial pharmacy license number on the Web site.
Generic drugs also can result in substantial savings, but we worry about lax Food and Drug Administration oversight. Readers of this column have reported many problems with generic drugs.
We are sending you our Guide to Saving Money on Medicine with tips for using generic drugs safely and guidelines for buying medicines from Canada. Anyone who would like a copy, please send $2 in check or money order with a long (No. 10), stamped (58 cents), self-addressed envelope to: Graedons’ People’s Pharmacy, No. CA-99, P.O. Box 52027, Durham, NC 27717-2027. It can also be downloaded for $2 from our Web site: www.peoplespharmacy.com.