The use of Lactose

[Sparx88]

Been seeing this in some star comps and some old posts and am wondering if it's something specific to lactose (carbon count etc) that it can't be sub'd with sucrose, fructose or maybe "sugar alcohols" like splenda or raw erythr? I can get lactose, just like to know the options if any. Because you know, experimentation never killed anyone for not trying it ... get it

[nater]

Lactose is a fuel that burns fairly cool. In smokes, it can be subbed with sucrose. I am not sure about other star comps. I have some, but I am only just now beginning to experiment with tweaking comps to my liking and substituting different chems than listed.

[taiwanluthiers]

It could be good for playing pranks on someone who is lactose intolerant...

[LambentPyro]

It could be good for playing pranks on someone who is lactose intolerant...

The Lactose we purchase from our chem suppliers should never be used for human consumption (as it also reads on the packaging). Along with SGRS and Creamora as well.

 

I have a little rule for myself, whatever I bring into the lab stays in the lab. For example, if I bring a bowl of some sort from my kitchen to the lab, I'd never use it for food again after countless times of washing and scrubbing it.

[krakra]

Sucrose decomposes at fairly low temperature while lactose melts without decomposition at higher temperature.

[nater]

It could be good for playing pranks on someone who is lactose intolerant...

Are you suggesting that you expose pure lactose to someone whobis lactose intoletanr?!

 

That is not even a funny idea. Some inhaled asthma medications use lactose as a carrier medium. Should you accidently give these to someone who is lactose intolerant, you can do some serious damage to their digestive system beyond the discomforts of typical lactose intolerance.

[hindsight]

S.J. Perlman once said that humor is sadistic, and the notion of feeding lactose to someone with an intolerance fits.

Nater, the use of lactose in powdered asthma inhalers, could theoretically cause some gastrointestinal upset if the small amount of lactose were ultimately ingested. The more likely problem would be an asthmatic who also has a milk protein allergy if the lactose (originating from milk) also had enough milk protein in it to trigger a reaction. True lactose allergy would be remarkable, I think; and it doesn't seem likely that a lactose intolerant person (someone whose brush border is lactase deficient) would suffer serious damage to their digestive tract from a lactose-containing inhaler, if that's what you are saying. There is a confection manufactured by the Hershey Company which contains large quantities of lactose, that has resulted in gaseous distention, abdominal, and diarrhea in lactose-intolerant people until the products are eliminated from the gastrointestinal tract. If this candy were truly damaging to the guts of the large number of persons who cannot digest milk sugar (lactose), it would be off the market in the U.S., no?

[nater]

An inhaler with lactose is inhaled directly into the lungs. It affects the body differently than when it is ingested through the GI system. My wife was prescribed said inhaler by a pulmonologist who overlooked her being lactose intolerant. It caused some problems and one lead to another, but all directy related to the inhaled lactose. She does not have a dairy allergy, just the intolerance. This inhaler is contraindicated with lactose intolerance by the way. Complications are rare, but possible.

 

In any case, what the poster is suggesting is very mean and irresponsible, even if it only lead to an uncomfortable evening for the victim.

[hindsight]

Nater,

Alright, you have aroused my curiosity.

Inhaled lactose would, of course, have a different effect than ingestion of lactose in a normal person, and the same is true in a lactose intolerant. In either case some of the disaccharide would be swept into the oropharynx and into the gastrointestinal tract. Once in the intestines, the intolerant individual would experience the bloating, pain and diarrhea.

 

This is the reason, presumably, that lactose-containing inhalers have been labeled as contraindicated in patients with lactose intolerance. Another possible reason for the labeling is that some people with milk allergy are misdiagnosed as lactose intolerant, and to inhale milk protein (accompanying the inhaled lactose) could be devastating to these people.

 

In both normal and intolerants some of the inhaled lactose would be dissolved and a small amount absolved systemically. System absorption of the amount lactose delivered by an inhaler would be inconsequential to anybody, lactase deficient or not. To my knowledge there is no lactase enzyme in the linings of the lung. So the inhaled component of lactose that does not reach the intestine would not affect a lactose-intolerant individual any differently than it would a normal person.

 

I am sorry to hear of your wife's difficulty, and pray that there have been no long term consequences for her. If your pulmonologist gave you an explanation for the severe reaction I'd like to know it (without exposing confidential details pertaining to your spouse), because this is a mystery to me.

[nater]

I will send you a PM a little later since this is a public forum.

[psyco_1322]

In any case, what the poster is suggesting is very mean and irresponsible, even if it only lead to an uncomfortable evening for the victim.

 

Ban him!

[MrB]

Bring forth stakes, tar, feathers, and fire. First we stake him. Then we tar and feather him. After which i have trouble deciding... Skin him alive first, then burn him, or burn, then skin?

 

I actually think there is something of a over-reaction going on. Talk about feeding methylene blue to people isn't normally meet with this reaction, and that is possibly lethal if combined with the wrong medics. It's time to move on. Nobody intended to waste a pyro chem on stupid pranks towards lactose intolerant people anyway...

B!